The Right Way to Write for the Web
It takes a bit of time to adapt to writing for the web, which is different from writing traditional marketing campaigns. Internet marketers talk about ‘content being king’ for websites, but when it comes to writing for the web, often less is more.
I’ve come across all sorts of websites who haven’t really put much thought into their website content. I won’t name and shame here, but ‘let’s just copy our brochure’ or ‘get the secretary to write it’ comes to mind. When writing for the web, the forefront of your writing must be to engage visitors as early as possible, as people decide in a few seconds whether or not to stay on a website.
So what are some of the main principles of writing for the web?
Make sure your content is to the point, and doesn’t ramble on. Visitors to websites don’t like reading lengthy paragraphs and long scrolling pages, they want answers to their questions quickly without spending ages finding the information. I’m sure you’ve come across those horrible sales pages that some websites like to use to convince visitors to buy their product. Most people just scroll to the bottom of the page to find out the price, most of the content has been a waste of time.
Use bullet points to break up content and highlight points. Bullet points are a great way of allowing visitors to scan the web page and get the information they need without reading lengthy sentences and paragraphs.
Use bold to highlight words. Again, as with bullet points, bolding important words in sentence draws visitors to that information making the sentences easy to scan.
Add titles to the top of your page content. That way visitors immediately know what the content is about before they start to read the page.
Split your content out. Don’t try and cram all sorts of different information onto one web page. It’s confusing to visitors, is distracting, and makes it difficult to optimize content for the search engines.
Think about your keywords. If you’re optimising your content for the search engines, make sure your keywords are written into the content in a way that flows for visitors. Don’t sacrifice the visitors’ experience on your site by writing stilted content as you’re trying to cram your keywords in.
Include calls to action. The general idea is that once a visitor arrives on a website, you want them to do something such as make an enquiry, buy something or sign up to something. Make it clear what you want the visitor to do by guiding them through your site and making it easy for them to find what they want. Include strong calls to action if you want them to contact you.
Don’t bury important information. If your contact details, FAQs or other important information is buried, visitors won’t hang around looking for it. Make sure important information about your products or services is easy to find so visitors questions are answered and you gain their trust.
Finally, put time and effort into writing your website content. If you’re not comfortable with writing or don’t think you have the skills to write content that will ‘convert’ visitors into sales and enquiries, engage the services of a copywriter. A well written site will give you long term rewards, so it’s worth the cost of paying a professional!
Further reading:
Writing for the Web - long list of resources from Jakob Neilson
Writing for the web - useful guide from the LSE website
What's Different about Writing for the Web - more tips from Usability News
Content & usability: Writing for the web - tips from usability firm Webcredible
Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines - paid guide to writing for the search engines from High Rankings.
Category: Web Content
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