Website Insight

Writing for the Web

I know I've said this again and again, but I've found it never hurts to repeat my mantra - Content is King! And if you can't read it - what the hell good is it?

I came across a web site the other day that was really hard to read and I put on my analyst hat and found that all I saw were long blocks of gray text. No paragraphs, no highlighting, and no headers. BORING! And very hard to read.

If the customer can't read about it, how will they BUY what you are selling?

People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. In a study of web surfers, 79 percent of the testers always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word.

So, if you want people to actually take in the information on your website, you need to use "scannable text".

• Always highlight keywords and key phrases
• Break it up with meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones - most people won't get your jokes) 
• Use bulleted lists
• Only one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph) 
• Use the inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion and then going into detail. Like good news writing - you always start with a "hook" that will keep the reader interested and give them all the important information first - that way when they want to "surf on" they still get your message.
• Half the word count (or less) than conventional writing 
• Be succinct: write no more than 50% of the text you would have used in a hardcopy publication 
• If you absolutely have to have a LOT of text, divide it into topics that make sense to your audience and put each topic on a separate page then link to those topics - use a list of topics at the top of the article so the reader can choose what is important to him.

Users hate "marketese"; ("hottest ever") on the Web. Web users are busy, they want to get the straight facts. Also, your credibility will suffer if you use that type of "hard sales" terms. 

Credibility is important for Web users, since it is unclear who wrote the information on the Web and whether a page can be trusted. Credibility can be increased by good writing, high-quality graphics, and use of outside links. Links to other sites show that the authors have done their homework and are not afraid to let readers visit other sites.

Call or click on Pouncy Designs for quality web site assistance at 253-847-0231! If you already have a web site, call for a FREE evaluation!

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