FreeCopywriting.com - Structure, Flow and Style of Web Copy

By Glenn Murray, Director of Divine Write Copywriting

The structure, flow and general writing standards you use in your copy can really impact its readability and effectiveness in big or small business marketing. Especially when it's web or brochure copy of any length.

Structure

Generally speaking, the following structure is effective.

Identify reader's need / problem (to illustrate domain awareness and to engage the reader - e.g. "If IT is core to your business operation, you can't afford downtime. Unplanned downtime can result in significant loss of profit, possibly even business failure.")
Discuss the generic solution (e.g. "The most effective way to avoid unplanned IT downtime is to ensure you have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan in place. Disaster recovery...")
Discuss your client's specific delivery of this solution (e.g. "Widgets Disaster Recovery Services is Australia's leading provider of disaster recovery and business continuity solutions. We have data centres all around the country, and blah blah blah..."
Summarise with a brief statement which subtly but explicitly links the client's delivery of the solution with the resolution of the reader's problem or resolution of their need (e.g. "Widgets Disaster Recovery Services has the experience and expertise to help ensure that your business doesn't lose business due to unplanned IT downtime.")

IMPORTANT: Please overlook the simplistic copy in these examples. Obviously the quality of your copy would need to be much higher than this. I just wanted to illustrate each section.

In practice (depending on the length of the copy), sections 2 & 3 often overlap (or are combined).

Narrative Flow

While the above structure is very important for most copy, you can't just bung in painfully rigid sections and be done with it. You need to couch the structure within a narrative-type flow. In other words, you need to link each sentence to the previous, and each paragraph to the previous. (This may seem like Writing 101, but don't just start each sentence with "Widgets Co. is...", "Widgets Co. does...", "Widgets Co. was..." Be a little bit creative.) From a structural perspective, this means placing related sentences next to each other. But it's more than just that. You also need to ensure that the sentences SOUND like they're linked as well. For this, you can use conjunctions to start a sentence ("And", "But", "However", etc.) or things like "Of course", "What's more", "Furthermore", "Additionally", "Importantly", "No matter which options you choose...", "Just as importantly", etc.

General Writing Standards

The following writing standards should keep you out of hot water.

Commas should be used with a conjunction (and, if, but, etc.) to join two main clauses. A main clause is one that could stand alone as a sentence... e.g. "I thought it would be long, and it was."
A comma should not be used with a conjunction to join a main clause with a dependent clause... e.g.: "The cat sat on the window-sill, and occasionally glared at passers-by." THIS IS WRONG - do not use a comma in this instance.
If, however, these rules cause problems, make an exception... e.g. "The second variable tag (sTag2) replaces the substitution string that has a substitution number of 2, and so on." Technically, this sentence should be without a comma, because "and so on" is a dependent clause, but if you remove the comma, you cause ambiguity... Is the substitution number "2 and so on"?
Use a semi-colon to join two independent clauses without a conjunction (clauses that could stand alone as sentences). You'd typically do this if the clauses are so closely related that separate sentences might not be appropriate.
For "e.g." and " i.e.", make sure you separate each letter with a period.
Use a single space between sentences.
Use second person active language (e.g. "You can increase your return on investment by...").
Unless it's a real old-school audience or a very formal document, feel free to use contractions (e.g. "It's" instead of "It is", "you're" instead of "you are", etc.)