Tips for writing great website content

Writing for the Web in general.

Everywhere we look we are bombarded with information, at the same time we have fewer and fewer minutes in the day to do all the things we need to do. This makes us impatient, particularly on the Internet when a visitor expects to find the information they want within a few seconds.

And that’s all the time you have to grab their attention and make them read on. That’s why writing for the Web requires a whole different mindset to your normal writing. Forget those days when you had to pad your documents out to reach a specific number of words; on the Web, less is more.
Studies have shown that people skim through web pages - they don’t read them in the same way they would a magazine or a book. They read the heading, and then scan the first two or three lines; only when they are sure that the content of the page is relevant will they skim through the rest. In fact they have to be REALLY interested to even scroll down the page.
(http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html)

So, to make sure you get your important points across remember the following rules:

  • Keep your content short and to the point; no more than 300 – 500 words as an absolute maximum.
  • Start with the conclusion.
  • Make headings bold and be sure they relate closely to the actual content.
  • Use bullet points.
  • Use plain English - don’t show off your mastery of the English language.
  • All your important information should appear ‘above the fold’ - in other words, be visible on the screen without having to scroll down.
  • Don’t become formal in your writing style; write as if you are talking to a typical tenant. There shouldn’t be any wherefores, hereins, etc. The golden rule is, ‘if you wouldn’t say it, don’t write it.’
  • Write in the first person saying ‘we’ and ‘us’ instead of ‘XYZ Business.’
  • Use contractions as they are more informal e.g. ‘We’ll do this’ or ‘We can’t do that…..’
  • Don’t self promote. No website visitor is interested in the team or person behind the scenes (unless the website is about you and your services like this one!)
  • Never, never use acronyms unless you have explained them first. For example “Social housing means homes that are owned by your local authority or a Registered Social Landlord (RSL). RSLs are also sometimes called Housing Associations. The John Doe Housing Trust is a RSL.”
  • Make sure your punctuation is accurate and you check for spelling mistakes and typos.

You can see a real life example of how a web page can be re-written to be more accessible and appealing to the busy visitor on the write and re-write page.

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