Semalt Expert Explains How To Know When You Should Update Your Website Copy

After putting in the work for your website to have an amazing design and flashy features, you realize that you still aren't getting any results. Well, don't despair - the chances are that you need to take a step back and re-examine your website copy.

Are you wondering what a copy is? Well, let's paint a picture for you. 

A website copy can be considered to be the background hero of a website. Like the batmobile and Batman's tool belt is to Batman. Without the copy, there isn't a great website.  

A website copy is the core text that narrates visitors through your website. It is a copy of your website tells visitors what they need to know about your brand and site. Website copy appears mostly on your home page, about us page, products and services page, and other top-level pages.  

All too often, texts get shoved aside, and the majority of the attention goes to the flashy images and design trends. When the battle line is drawn, a website with no copy is more of an unfinished puzzle, a jumble of pictures and color schemes that's meaningless. 

Having a poor website copy devalues your site no matter how nice your design features are. So then, "How good is your website copy?" before you answer this question, consider the six signs we will be discussing below and re-examine your website copy. 

The realizations that your website copy needs to be updated doesn't always come as a kick in the rear. Sometimes, realizing that you're not having as many leads or high bounce rates as you should is enough indication that your website copy needs some improvement. However, there are other signs you may not notice, and these are the signs we will be discussing. 

For any SEO professional, monitoring keyword trends shouldn't be a new term. It is something we must practice if we want to stay at the top of SERP. However, for those who haven't updated their copy in a few years, there's a high probability that some of the keywords that were originally included have become obsolete and are no longer beneficial to your copy and website.  

Here's an example. In 2012, one of the most prominent ranking words was "penguin updates" or "penguin update recovery." But chances are you were wondering what they meant, and that's because they no longer matter. Having keywords like them on your website copy obviously wouldn't attract the same amount of interest, if any, at all.

Another example concerns Adobe BC. As you may have heard, Adobe is shutting down Business Catalyst on March 2021. With that being said, a website that is hosted on BC or websites that offer BC migrations with copy that use BC keywords will become old news. 

This shows that keyword trends are constantly changing - hence, a website copy needs regular updates.

This shouldn't make you change your website's copy every week, but if you want to take full advantage of your copy, you should keep close tabs on search trends. Better still get professional help from web managers like Semalt to stay ahead of your competition.

Like in our article on consumer-oriented marketing, we explained that in today's market, what matters is not selling a product or service. Instead, it is about selling solutions to consumers' problems. No one cares about what you're offering if it doesn't provide a solution to a problem they are currently facing. In business class, these are the first things you learn. When writing a website copy, your primary goal shouldn't be to sell products or services. Instead, you sell your understanding of the problem. Show your readers how they feel and then offer a solution. By offering empathy, your audience considers you a friend and not a sales rep, so they are more inclined to use the solution you have provided.

When you're using your copy for this, the magic lies in the finite details. Let's say Semalt, for example, offers web management and SEO services. And our copy will say something like "SEO is difficult." This doesn't empathize with the client or the problems our readers might be facing. For them to be here, they pretty much understand that SEO is difficult. To understand our target audience plight, we have to get down and dirty. And then, we change our approach to "keyword research is a process that takes time. You think you've got it right, but you don't see the results you expected". Now our audience knows that we understand, and they trust that we know what we are doing.   

Keeping your web copy in check with your solutions is more complicated than you might think. When you fail to marry the objectives of both, you end up leaving money on the table. For example, a client of Semalt's does tree services in Northern California. In recent years, that area has been subject to several large wildfires, and the client sees a new opportunity. This client wants to change and offer cleanup and land clearing services, which are in high demand. Depending on the niche, there is a good chance that Semalt's clients offering and the consumer demand will grow as the business grows. This is because Semalt can add land clearing and clean up website creation and management to its copy. 

Dominance on the internet is vital. It would help if you learned not to let your competition get so far ahead of you. Because once this happens, it is difficult to reverse. Take Google and Yahoo as an example.