PixelMEDIA Inc.

Even after all these years, a handful of reminders help me get off to a good start whenever I sit down to write or edit a web page. It’s not about being creative and using big words, it’s about respecting the time and intelligence of the reader. By the way, most of these apply equally well when writing for print, direct mail, and everyday email.

1.  Be brief.

Most visitors come to your website to accomplish a specific task, and they do not want to spend a lot of time reading irrelevant copy. Write clearly, concisely, and assertively. Use better nouns and fewer adjectives.

2.  Make your content easy to scan.

To help impatient or hurried readers grasp what you’re trying to say, make your page easy to scan by breaking long copy into paragraphs of 150 to 200 words each, defined by meaningful subheadings (and don’t try to be cute or clever). The goal is to tell the essence of the story using only the subheadings, supported by the body copy.

Bulleted lists and the judicious use of bolded text can help readers scan the content.  Be sure bolding does not conflict with established standards for links and visited links.

3.  Use the inverted pyramid.

The “inverted pyramid” format presents a summary at the beginning of a story with subsequent paragraphs revealing more detail. It’s used in news and press releases to help readers grasp the important idea by reading the first paragraph. The readers can then decide whether the topic is of sufficient interest for them to read further.

4.  Use keywords to stay on topic.

Focusing on keywords and phrases can help you stay “on topic” and use terms that customers care about. If the list of keywords you want to include in the page copy is excessively long or diverse, consider creating separate pages. Using keywords and phrases in standard HTML headlines and subheadings (H1, H2, etc.) gives added weight in search engine rankings and makes the page easier to scan (see number 2).

5.  Consider page length.

To scroll or not to scroll? It depends on the page level and depth of information. On higher-level pages, which tend to guide users to more detailed pages, less scrolling is usually better. At the lower-level detail pages with longer content, assume the reader is interested in the subject matter. Scrolling is preferable to breaking the content into multiple pages.

6.  Avoid excessive cross-linking.

Too many highlighted links can distract the reader and clutter your content with multicolored links. Avoid linking to pages that are not related to the main topic.  If you want to cross-sell, make it clear that you are leading the reader to a different topic, for example, “You may also be interested in …”

7.  Use technical terms consistently.

Establish a guide to branded terms and industry terms and use them correctly and consistently to avoid confusion. Define any terms, abbreviations, and acronyms that are not familiar to the reader. If you use acronyms to save space, be sure to spell out the full name the first time it appears on each page.

8.  Write for an international audience.

Remember that your audience may come from non-English speaking countries. Keep the following guidelines in mind:

• Always include the country in mailing addresses, and format it appropriately.
• Do not refer to toll-free telephone numbers that cannot be accessed internationally; make sure you provide a means of making contact from outside your country.
• Avoid references to politics, race, nationality, religion, or lifestyle.
• Do not use the term “domestic” to refer to your local country, or “foreign” to refer to the rest of the world.
• Avoid cultural references, e.g., “American spirit,” or “German engineering.”
• Avoid abbreviations; they rarely translate correctly.
• Avoid jargon, slang, and idioms that are meaningless to other nationalities.
• For measurements, include both metric and American units if possible.
• Do not use #, `, or “to indicate pound, foot, or inch in American measurements.

9.  Avoid overly self-referential copy.

It’s good to imagine your web page as a “first date.” Limit “we” or “our” statements to a bare minimum (keep count).  Companies that talk about themselves a lot are often compensating for a lack of insight into what their customers want and need.

10. Don’t forget the call to action.

It’s amazing how many times this is forgotten. Most people come to your website to accomplish a task, so be sure to give them something to do. Better yet, give them a range of choices. Don’t rely on the general “Contact Us” link on every web page.

Tags: Content strategy