The Dos and Don'ts of Website Copy
There’s a lot to consider when building or updating your martial arts school’s website. One of the most important things is the copy you use. What exactly do we mean when we say copy? Well, in the simplest terms, “copy” is the written words that you use on your site. In a more in-depth sense, it’s the persuasive, marketing-driven language that’s used within those words! A number of factors related to your website copywriting can determine how you rank online against your competitors and the message you send to potential clients. Take a look at why custom, original copy is necessary and see what is important to focus on and what to avoid.
WEBSITE COPY DOS
Use Relevant Keywords in your Copy
The most important factor with your copy is using it to create a strong SEO presence. Plain and simple. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) ultimately boils down to prioritizing copy that is written for both search engines and the human reader. It’s imperative to put writing on your site that helps you rank high while flowing with enticing copy that helps visitors understand what you’re all about and why your school is special. Now – how do we do this at Kicksite?
Here, we go through an interview process with website clients and ask questions to find intriguing, important facts and information to tell your customers (see the next section). Additionally, we make sure that plenty of relevant keywords and phrases are strategically incorporated as we write your custom copy. These keywords are determined through research and tools that help us find what people search for, their purpose (transactional, informational, etc.), and how competitive the words are to rank for.
We know – that’s a lot. But it’s details like these that can influence if potential local customers have their attention glued to you or are checking out your competition.
Make Your Copy Personal
Google has a general framework they use to rank content called E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust. All of these boxes can be easily checked by focusing on writing website copy that uniquely details your individual history, achievements, and knowledge.
At Kicksite, we go through detailed questions to learn more about you and your school’s background. This process covers a broad range of topics, from your daily focus on the mats to how your martial arts school has improved over time. From there, we can tell customers the story of how you’ve become the school you are and represent the values you hold.
Emphasize What Sets You Apart
Every martial arts school is different. Some are competition focused whole others are all about kids martial arts classes. Some offer programs or equipment beyond martial arts. With custom copy, you can emphasize those differentiators and highlight the things that make you special.
Instead of having generic, run-of-the-mill descriptions on your site, custom copy allows you to tell customers what makes you the best spot around. Do you have a sauna? Cold plunge? Weightroom? Anything else unique? If so, then write about it! Let the audience know that you offer more than your competitors. Your school is the best place for them to learn martial arts lessons and they need to know why!
Preemptively Answer Questions
When someone is going through your website they’ll inevitably have internal questions. What is this school’s culture? What classes do they offer? Can we sign up as a family? And so on and so on. A way to grab their attention is to answer these questions right away. For example, you can mention early on you are a school that focuses on competitive Jiu-Jitsu, or that you. Now the potential customer knows an important fact they were curious about to begin with. This effort also aligns with Google’s prioritization of content that is reliable, helpful and people-first.
You won’t necessarily be able to have all the answers on the homepage, but stay organized. By creating a strategically structured site with focused page sections, your potential customers can scan through without having to hunt down information. Headings, CTAs (Calls to Action), and other eye-catching features with important information can make the process of exploring your website easier and less stressful.
WEBSITE COPY DON’TS
Use Copy Straight from ChatGPT
Is ChatGPT useful for some purposes? Yes. Can it expedite processes for many things? Yes. BUT, that doesn’t mean it is should be used for everything.
To begin with, ChatGPT is not mistake-free. It tells you that itself! Second, there are so many factors you lose using ChatGPT. The personal touch is taken away when copy is written solely by an AI chatbot. And, there’s no guarantee of uniqueness – because these LLMs are scraping pages across the internet to build their responses, the copy you end up with could look similar to many others who want to find a quick solution. While Google doesn’t outright penalize AI-generated content, they do stress that original content is key.
Use Someone Else’s Copy
Duplicate copy is when the writing on one of your pages is identical to another page on your site OR other websites. This is another one of those complex areas in terms of penalties issued by Google, but there are definitely potential impacts to your SEO. Duplicate content confuses search engines as to which page should be considered the true authority. At worst, this can lead to lower rankings (and in turn, reduced traffic) and at best a worsened brand image when people see that your copy is nearly identical to another school’s website. You’d never want it to look like you’re plagiarizing. With custom copy, this doesn’t happen. Your website will have its own original copy, with unique attributes, stories, and offers to show clients.
Overdo it on Keywords (Keyword Stuffing)
Of course – as we mentioned earlier – placing strong keywords into your copy is crucial. Without them your SEO rank could plummet. Still, you shouldn’t inorganically force them into your website copy in a way that doesn’t sound like a human being would actually speak. If you do so, it will trigger red flags for Google as potential spam and end up hurting your ranking.
Make sure all the keywords you use are written naturally. If you haphazardly wedge them into your copy in an attempt to manipulate search rankings, your website will sound unprofessional and stiff and perform poorly.
Set it and Forget it
You have just finished your copy, launched your site, and are ready to relax, never having to worry about your website content again. Not true! When you create a martial arts website, you must stay involved to stay at the top of the game. This will include updating your site with blog posts, creating new pages as needed (when programs are introduced, instructors are added, etc.), and more, giving search engines more content to index. Continually adding new, relevant content indicates that you are an informative resource in the martial arts world. Don’t think you are just completely done with your website once it launches – building SEO is a long-term process!
How Kicksite Helps
Copywriting is truly a crucial part to your website’s success. It can both improve SEO and keep customers intrigued and engaged, making them more likely to commit to a trial or sign up for a membership. When you sign up for Kicksite’s martial arts website design services, we’ll write custom copy that is EXCLUSIVE to your school – not just a boilerplate template where we drop in your school’s name and location. And that is just one part of how we help. Alongside our copywriting efforts, Kicksite also provides other benefits as part of our website services:
Those include:
- Search Engine Optimization and Custom Copywriting (of course)
- Regular Maintenance and Backups
- Updates done FOR you, not BY you
- Analytics and Reports to evaluate your growth
- Lead Capture Forms that integrate with your Kicksite software
- Custom designs to show off your school’s brand