Writing Good Web Copy For Restaurant & Hotel Websites

'Content is King!' - a phrase well used when it comes to websites; rightly so too. However, there's also the issue of how to present that royal content and I aim to look at a few methods of rolling out the red carpet for your content.

The Voice

First off, I would suggest creating a 'voice' for your site. It's how you write the copy, the impression you want it to give off. Are you aiming for strictly formal? Friendly and approachable? Wacky and offbeat?

All of this can be portrayed in the voice you choose to write your copy in and it is as much a part of your general branding as your logo and color scheme.

So choose the voice you want to represent yourself with and use it for all your content.

For myself, I choose to write as if I was having this chat with a friend over a few drinks in a pub. It's your round by the way ;)

Presenting your content

The Web is a weird beast - it is possibly the largest repository of information in the world today (although I would love to look in the Vatican archives!). However, whilst it has that mass of information, and possibly because of, it also seems to have developed ADD.

This means you need to make your content easily scannable for a viewer so they can find what they're looking for quickly and simply.

The way to do this is to present your information in a way that makes the relevant parts stand out for the viewer.

So how do we present our relevant points so they are quickly scannable and understood?

• Use headings to divide content into relevant sections
• You can use bolding to make text stand out
• Keep your paragraphs and sentences short
• Lists are a good way of grouping information

Summing up

Just look at this article.

More than likely you skimmed through some of the text. However, I'm willing to bet that the list above did stand out and that you took in the information contained in it (or are possibly quickly looking up at it again to double-check).

Have a look at your own feelings based upon what, and how, I've written here. What are your impressions of me? How does that reflect on Ignite itself? That's the 'voice' in effect.

There you go then, a few simple tricks that can have a profound effect on how your content is received, absorbed and understood.