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Writing for the Web
In school, you learned to write documents that were formal, rigidly
structured, and relatively impersonal. While it still works in many
situations, that style won't earn you any A's from website visitors. When
you're creating text for your website, remember the "Three S" rule: keep
it Simple, Succinct and Scannable.
Simplicity Rules!
Your site should be easy to use and understand, so first create a clean,
simple design with an unambiguous navigation system. It's ok to repeat
yourself: the repetition of images, text, colors, and formatting
throughout the site ties it together. Visitors never have to wonder if
they've inadvertently left your site.
Make it
simple to read too:
- Use contrasting
colors for page background and text. Dark text on a light background is
easy to read.
- Careful with
background patterns: they often obscure a site's content instead of
complimenting it.
- Avoid blinking or
underlined text: Blinking text distracts and annoys visitors. The only
underlined text on your document should be hyperlinks.
- Spell check!
Spelling errors make your site look unprofessional. Use a spell checker
because it's often hard to find errors in your own copy.
But your writing style is most important.
Keep it informal and make the meaning accessible to the average user.
Avoid bureaucratic prose, third-person pronouns, and passive voice
whenever possible. They sound unfriendly and place a distance between you
and your visitors.
Carefully select the people who will write your website copy. Knowledge
and experience in a particular field doesn't always translate into
scintillating prose. For instance, the experts in your tax preparation
company may understand every aspect of the US Tax code, but that doesn't
mean they're qualified to write your website copy.
Which would you rather read?
"Further inquiries and/or requests for additional information regarding
our tax preparation and consulting services may be directed to our
customer service department. To avoid extended response delays, all
queries should be submitted online via user support form version 2.4."
OR
"Need more information? Our Customer Service Department is happy to
answer your questions about our tax services. We can respond more quickly
and completely if you use our online support form."
Remember that you aren't writing a term paper or a court brief. Be
personable and friendly. You're trying to entice impatient website
visitors to stay at your site and buy your products.
Get To The Point
User impatience isn't the only issue: fatigue is also a problem. A lot of
content can be hard to read online because reading from computer screens
is tiring on the eyes. Online reading is also about 25% slower than
reading from print.
Effective
page design can make it easier for visitors to read your content quickly.
- Columns: Format a
text-heavy page with a column format instead of presenting the
information in long lines of text that stretch all across the page.
- Aid reading flow:
Avoid too-narrow columns. Most people read by scanning groups of words,
not individual words. Extremely narrow columns break up that flow and
make online reading more difficult.
- Short paragraphs:
Keep them short and get right to the point in the first line. Try to
keep the total length to less than five lines.
You're competing with millions of other
pages for attention. Users are perfectly happy to skip to another site if
they can't quickly find what they need at yours.
Highlight Important Information
Once you've ruthlessly edited your copy, design a page layout that
visitors can scan quickly for important information.
Think about how you
read online. Most users scan the content quickly, read the headlines or
titles, and only then decide whether to read the actual content. Make your
document more scannable by including:
- Paragraph Headers:
Use paragraph headers and sub-headers to organize your document into
sections. Useful section headers aid navigation and help visitors
quickly locate pertinent information. Paragraph headers filled with
keywords will also improve your rank in some search engines.
- Bulleted Lists:
Break out important information into bulleted lists with brief
descriptions of each item. Visitors' eyes will naturally gravitate
towards those sections.
- Color and Contrast:
Highlight important sections using colored backgrounds or contrasting
text colors and fonts. A little goes a long way here: you lose visual
impact if everything on the page is colored and highlighted. You want to
emphasize important sections, not distract visitors from your content.
While you're modifying your page layout and
editing copy to appeal to online visitors, remember that you're also
writing to be found by search engine spiders. Sprinkle your keywords and
their synonyms throughout your copy, paying particular attention to
paragraph headers and subheadings.
SUMMARY: Your finished web site should include:
- Company logo (if available)
- Reflect your company colors
- Company tagline or motto
- Company overview or description
- List of services you provide
- Brief history of your company and/or
owners
- Pictures of your building, equipment, or
owners
- Pictures and background experience of
your employees
- List of associations and organizations
you belong to or support
(include website address i.e.
www.anycompany.com)
- List and description of products or
services your company provides
- Pictures of past and/or current projects
or jobs
- List of customers or clients
- Testimonials
- Awards and recognition that your company
or your staff has received
- Anything else that would be of value to
those that will be visiting your website.
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