As you settle into your autumnreading list, I bet you're eager to devour pages upon pages ofchecking account prose. Few things burst creatively as a shareaccount description, or grip you with the suspense of a credit cardapplication how-to guide. You certainly appreciate the subtlecharacter differences between a home equity loan and aHELOC.

No? Well, let's face it. As much as we love them, credit unionproducts and services don't automatically lend themselves toexciting written content. But that doesn't mean they can't beturned into engaging and informative content, if you take adisciplined approach.

First, let's dispel the notion that writing is glamorous andeasy. It's a grind that requires focus on the craft if you want asuccessful outcome, especially when you're revamping your creditunion's website and implementing a consistent tone and voicethroughout.

You'll need to determine the proper tone to match your creditunion's personality. Then you'll need to conduct the proper searchengine optimization research to meld your new content with popularsearch terms that are related to your credit union. This inboundmarketing component is vital to the success of your rewrittenwebsite. Without it, your website won't attract the amount oftraffic that a well-conceived and well-executed SEO plan canachieve.

Now that you're ready to tackle your content, take apage-by-page approach to maintain the integrity of your creditunion's website. You can't assume that any visitor will read morethan one page during any visit, so give each page yourattention.

Tips on Writing Stronger Web Copy

• Use energetic and descriptive words as much as possible. Activewriting engages your audience more effectively.
• Compel your audience to take action by transferring themsmoothly from one page to another, either to learn more or tocontact your company.
• Don't misspell words. Your credibility takes a hit when youpublish typos on your website.
• Use your analytics tool to research the topics people aresearching through your site search tool or through search enginereferrals, and then write more about those topics (on a blog, forexample) to cater to them. As the adage goes, “Know youraudience.”
• Give visitors valuable, concise information and provide aclear, trackable mechanism (e.g., contact form) to learn more aboutyour products and services.
• Write more. You can't take one writing course and expect to bea good writer. Improvement is an ongoing process that requires manyhours and many projects.
• Know when to get out of the visitors' way and provide thestraight-forward info they need to take action.

To that last point, let's imagine you're a credit union thatportrays a witty or slightly quirky personality that you'vedetermined helps attract and retain members. When you're writingyour website, keep in mind there's a line between entertaining yourvisitors and bludgeoning them with your tone.

When a visitor is ready to take the next step toward a purchase,you don't want to slow down the momentum with buttons orcalls-to-action that are too cute. At this point, they're committedto whatever it is you're selling them, so keep things simple andclear.

The same theory applies to your navigation, forms, and pageswhere you publish disclosures and other no-nonsense information.You can easily annoy your audience and neuter your tone'seffectiveness if you overuse it.

While we're on the subject of this microcopy, keep in mind thatsome of the most important content relates to your SEO strategy,the header (H1) tags, title tags and meta descriptions included onthe page. If you're responsible for writing this content, focus onkeywords that are specific to the topic and content of each uniquepage. This will help search engines determine that your page isrelevant.

Nothing about a website rewrite is easy. But you'll reap therewards when you focus on writing compelling content that guides,informs and entertains in the appropriate locations.

Doug Malan issenior writer at ZAGInteractive in Glastonbury, Conn.