Writing Your Alpaca Website Copy

A copywriter provides writing services to businesses, and some copywriters even specialize in writing websites.

While many alpaca owners may enjoy the writing process themselves, it's important to bear in mind the best practices that an online copywriter would follow when writing for your website. Two guiding principles you should keep in mind are: target your copy for your audience, not for your farm; and make your copy easy to read.

The tips below illustrate a few ways you can achieve this.

Use "you"-oriented language
Too many small businesses start all their sentences with "we" or "our". Your audience wants to know what's in it for them, so it's your job to draw that connection.

For example, instead of saying:

"We are committed to raising high-quality alpacas and we offer a wide range of Peruvian Suri at our farm."

…you could make it a little more reader-friendly with:

"You'll enjoy a wide selection of Peruvian Suri, with the peace of mind that comes from dealing with a farm committed to breeding excellence."

That's not to say that you should never use "we" or "our". Just remember that you're speaking directly to the individual who is reading your web page, and you’ll be more likely to engage them when you make the copy more relevant to them.

Vary sentence and paragraph length
Big blocks of text are very intimidating and unlikely to be read. Start out your page with a shorter paragraph, maybe just one sentence. Follow that with a longer paragraph and then another shorter one.

With the promise of a shorter paragraph up next, a reader is more likely to keep reading. In contrast, if they see a wall of text down the page, they may give up after the first couple of sentences.

Also, shorter sentences and shorter words can go a long way in making your alpaca website more reader friendly.

Use a conversational style in your writing
Your Alpaca website isn’t the place for the essay-style of English you learned in high school. Write like you speak – studies show a more conversational tone is easier to follow online and will engage more readers.

Since this is your chance to hold a conversation with your prospect online, make it personal – but do retain some level of professionalism.

Use subheadings to introduce topics
This helps pull the eye through the page and also makes it easier to understand the main points without reading every word, since most of your readers will not have the time to read each page of your site in full.

Your goal is to make it easy for your audience to take away the most important ideas on your alpaca website.

Incorporate calls to action
Guide your reader to take the actions you want them to take. This can include clicking to deeper information on another page, initiating contact with you, bookmarking your website to return later, etc.

Some common calls to action you may be familiar with include: "Call now for more information", "Click to get started today", or "Limited time offer – contact us now".

Use important keywords throughout your alpaca website
Knowing the keywords you want to target for your alpaca website’s search engine optimization efforts is crucial when you are writing your copy.

The words you use provide clues to the search engines about the topics and content on your website, to help determine how relevant your alpaca website is to the searcher’s needs.

For example, a website might contain optimized copy on one of its pages for the term “florida alpaca farm”. The copywriter would use this term throughout the copy on that page, making it much more likely to show in the results than other websites that do not use that keyword term consistently.

Search engines take into consideration frequency and placement of keywords on the page.

Important places to use keywords, if you can, include headlines, subheadings, the beginning (and throughout) in paragraphs, and also near the end of the page.

But a word of caution is required here. Overusing terms can get your site penalized by search engines, so it’s best to use your keywords consistently - but naturally.

If you find it daunting to write all the copy yourself or if you would like a professional editor to assist you with proofreading, inquire with your alpaca website development team. Many firms have a copywriter on staff and will be glad to talk with you about your needs.

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About SEO Alpaca: SEO Alpaca was created by SEO Advantage, an SEO firm serving the alpaca community with online marketing, web design, and SEO services since 2000. Learn more about custom alpaca website design and search engine optimization today at www.seoalpaca.com.

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