The average time spent glancing at an internet page is 15 seconds.

Most people do not want to read long and wordy marketing materials. Customers will take a quick look at your content and will try to extract the most relevant points for them. In the same way that young people, who are used to watching TV series of an hour or less, are increasingly less inclined to watch films of two or three hours, we are becoming readers that prefer light and short texts.

Best practices for writing marketing content

• Use a clear and simple style

The text must be easy to understand. Use fewer words and short sentences. Two short phrases are better than one long one. Customers do not have time to work out what you are talking about in complex structures. If a sentence is longer than two lines, it is too long.

• What do you want to say?

Think about the message you want to communicate to your customers. Write it in a direct and concise way. Avoid empty marketing gibberish.

• Why should they pay attention?

Ask yourself: why should anyone be interested in what you have to say? If you cannot answer this, then it's better not to say it. “We sold a million items last year”. Does this matter to the customer? They may only need one item... So it would be better to say: “We delivered a million items last year, always on time. If you need an item urgently, call us now”.

• Do not write in a way that only specialists can understand

Remember that anyone can read your online content. If you use specialist jargon, nobody will understand what you do. Every day we come across corporate websites where we don't understand what they do or what they are trying to sell. Result: you leave the page without making any purchase.

• SEO: make sure they find you

To reach the audience you want to connect with, it is important to create content that is optimised for search engines such as Google. Understand how people search for the products or services you provide. The age, level of education, profession… of your main target audience conditions the language you should use to align yourself with them. Thousands of years before the internet was invented, the most famous orators from ancient times, who were masters of the art of persuasion, knew that the first rule for winning people over was that their discourse had to adapt to the audience. Research the keywords that people are most likely to use in order to search for you, and structure your message around them in a natural way, without using forced language. Keywords should represent less than 10% of the website's content. Make sure you include the main keyword in one of the first sentences and use subtitles to divide your text into sections. This will also make it easier to read.

• What do you want it to do?

All too often, after reading a text you ask yourself: “What is the point of this?” If you want a potential customer to do something, make sure you include a clear and specific "call to action". Tell them what you want them to do next: call us, send us an email, request a quote… Be specific.

• Look around

Think about the websites you like the most. Why do you like them? How are they written? What do they ask of you? Why do you find that website easy to consult? What are they doing that you could also do?

Three key tips 

1.  Get to the point quickly (15-second rule)

2.  Simplify (short and concise sentences)

3.  Include a clear call to action (what do you want them to do?)

If you follow these three guidelines, then you are on the right path.