Time for a Workout: Trim Down Your Copy

Have you ever skipped a paragraph because it just looked to large? If you're like most people, the sight of a huge block of text is repelling more than inviting—especially in the blazing-fast pace of online navigation.

If you're worried that your site is text heavy, then it probably is. Here is an exercise that can help you trim your text while keeping all the essentials intact.

1) Take the text of the entire page and reduce it it to one (or two if you have to) paragraphs. If it was easy to do, then you probably didn't need so much in the first place. If it was difficult, it was definitely worth it because you just took the power of the whole page of text and packed into a single paragraph.

2) Here's the really hard part: reduce that entire paragraph into one sentence. This can be a painful process, forcing you to eliminate all but the most basic information your visitors should know.

3) Finished? You have just created the most important sentence of your page, possibly your website. This newly crafted, streamlined sentence should be the first thing visitors read on that page or on your website.

4) Use your power-packed paragraph to describe your products/services/purpose in more detail. If you need to go into further detail, direct visitors to the bottom of the page or to another page where they know they will be reading larger amounts of text.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

Make the Most of Each Website Page

When creating each page for you website, you have the ability to greatly enhance your rankings in search engines with the page title and description. High-quality, keyword-rich writing is as crucial in these areas as much as the copy on your page.

Think about the last time you have looked for something on Google, Yahoo, MSN, or another search engine. When you enter your query, blue headings for each site display. This is the page title. Below that, the page description gives a short blurb about what the site is all about. Not only is it important to ensure that both the title and description are worded so that they match the wording in a search, but they need to appeal to the visitor who will spend seconds scanning them to determine which site to choose.

Optimize Titles and Descriptions
An ideal page title should include the most search-relevant keywords possible while still acting as a title—not just a jumble of words. Though recommendations vary, generally the title should be between 70 to 150 characters long.

An ideal page description should share what the site has to offer in a concise way. Remember, keywords are important to get the search engine's attention, but the primary purpose is to persuade people that clicking on your site is worth their time.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.