The Content Writer’s Cheat Sheet
Like any other industry, professional content writing comes with its fair share of jargon. If you’re new to the corporate environment, there may be some terms you don’t know. That’s all well and good, but you don’t want to look clueless when your new boss asks you to replace the dummy text with some keyword-rich copy that will boost your KPIs.
So for all you new writers out there, here’s a handy guide to content writing terms from your friends here at Wix. (Learn these and you’ll sound like a pro from day one.)
Above the Fold: With its origins in the world of newspapers, this refers to the information at the top of the page, or above where the newspaper is folded. When translated to web, “above the fold” is what appears first on someone’s screen, before they scroll down.
Anchor Text: Clickable text, which links readers to another webpage, either on the same website or a different one.
B2B (Business to Business): A B2B business sells their products or services to other businesses. When writing content that’s B2B, you want to strike a professional tone.
B2C (Business to Consumer): B2C businesses sell directly to customers. They can be anything from your local hair salon and diner to Doritos and Uber.
Brand Voice: All of the content at a given company should be written in a consistent style, be it friendly, professional or light-hearted. This is the company’s voice. Read about how we created the Wix brand voice.
Body: The main part of the article or story you’re working on. You know, the meat.
Brief: A document given to a writer that outlines the key aspects of the project and the reasoning behind it. It should include things like target audience, keywords, length, purpose, tone, deadline and title. At Wix, the brief is the starting point of any piece of writing. As the writer, make sure you have reviewed the brief and understand the project goals before you type a single word. Check out our blog on how to create a brief with your PM.
CTA (Call to Action): A message or button on a web page that invites you to take an action or respond to a request. Common CTAs are “Buy Now” and “Sign Up.”
CTR (Click-Through Rate): The ratio of users who click on a link as compared with the number of users who view it. This ratio is often used to measure the success of advertisements on Google and Facebook and in email campaigns. The higher the percentage of clicks, the better the campaign is performing
Clip: A sample piece of your writing that you include in your portfolio.
Conversion: This is when a member of your target audience performs a desired action, such as buying your product or signing up for your service. The goal of any advertising campaign is to get people to “convert.” A high conversion rate indicates a successful campaign.
Copy: The words you write.
Copywriting: Writing text to promote a brand or business.
Customer Persona: A fictitious customer, described in depth, who represents your business’s ideal customer. A persona can be imagined as a typical member of your target market. (Secret revealed: At Wix, we never user personas in our marketing. Instead, we talk in terms of market segments.)
Deliverable: A completed, final project, either for a customer or project manager. A deliverable is specific and measurable—and may we recommend that you always “deliver” on time.
Dummy Copy: Fake content used as a placeholder or filler text. Websites often use the Latin text that starts “lorem ipsum…” Incidentally, this text is pretty meaningless in Latin.
Evergreen Content: In the world of online content, this is your golden egg. Evergreen content is always relevant and never goes out of style. It’s the article that visitors keep reading and sharing, long after it’s published. Evergreen content is particularly valuable for SEO and can bring many potential customers to your site through Google.
Editorial Calendar: This is a guide to all of the content your company plans to publish, with dates, deadlines and deliverables. A good editorial calendar will provide you with a road map of the months to come and let you know what content you need to write, with whom and by when. It can include details about graphics, target keywords and more. All of the blogs at Wix use a shared editorial calendar so everyone knows exactly when we will publish posts and who is responsible for writing, editing and creating the images.
Hook: Want readers to stick around your site? Give them a hook. This is text near the beginning of a piece that entices people to keep reading. It could be a promotion, a question or simply a compelling story. Your hook should be designed to appeal to members of your specific target market.
Inbound Link: Any link to your website from an external site. Also called a backlink, these links are fundamental to SEO. If your site has lots of inbound links from high-quality websites, you can boost your ranking in search engine results.
Influencers: Key people on the Internet with a large and active following, there are influencers on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and more. If an influencer in your field tries out your service or promotes your business, it can be a great way to attract new customers. Wix has partnered with some amazing influencers like Rhett and Link and James Veitch.
KPI (Key Performance Indicator): What you’re measuring as the result of your content. KPIs can be clicks, shares, purchases or opens. The goal for your content will always be to increase KPIs.
Keywords: All of SEO is based on keywords – the key terms or phrases that people are looking up on search engines (like Google) to find a business like yours. You want to use keywords in your content to help search engines understand what your business does. This will make it easier for your potential customers to find you online.
Kill: To cancel a piece of writing or another project.
Landing Page: A web page created with a clear goal – driving visitors to click through to a specific action.
Lede: The first sentence or two of an article or blog. This is your chance to really hook readers, so make it compelling!
Mockup: A visual model for a web page including design, text, typography and colors. The mockup is the final stage before a website is created and it is used to test aesthetics, flow and usability.
Newsjacking: Something crazy, big happening in the news? Then plan a marketing campaign around it! This practice is called newsjacking and it’s highly effective in the instant, digital age.
PM (Project Manager): Usually a team leader, they are the person in charge of all aspects of a project from idea to execution.
PPC (Pay Per Click): A marketing strategy where a business puts paid advertisements for their website or product in different places around the web. The business then pays a certain amount each time someone clicks on one of their ads. PPC advertising is commonly done in Google as well as Facebook.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): The art of trying to get more visitors to your website from search engines like Google. To succeed at SEO, you usually need to create great content and have high-quality links to your website. To help your web pages rank high for relevant search terms, you will often be asked to write content that includes specific “keywords.”
TK: An abbreviation for “to come.” It’s often used as a placeholder for text, such as a title or caption, which hasn’t been written yet.
Target Audience/Target Market: The group of people that you want to read your content, use your product or try your service. If you are working on an advertising campaign, you want these people to see and be impacted by your ad.
UI (User Interface): Everything a user sees and interacts with as they use your online product or service. The interface includes screens, buttons or galleries.
UX (User Experience): The way a user interacts with a website or app. If you are a UX writer or UX designer, you want to use text and words to help make this experience a good one. A website with “Good UX” is easy and intuitive to navigate. Did you catch our blog about the “accidental UX writer at Wix?”
White Space: Blank space on a webpage. Using white space around text and images can help make them stand out.
Wireframe: A model of the structure of a website, the wireframe should provide an overview of the key pages to be included and should also explain how users will navigate among those pages. At Wix, we often use Sketch to put together a wireframe and then present it using software like Zeplin and Invision.
If this little content writer’s glossary helped you avoid an awkward moment or two in the office, then our job here is done! Think we missed some key writing terms? Write them in the comments and we’ll add them to the list.
Rachel Olstein Kaplan
