Writing for the Web
By Elena Fawkner
When researching this week's article, I went looking for resources related to "writing
for the web". I found a great deal of useful information, which I'm going to share with you
in a minute. But in my travels, I came across this little gem from the website of a professional
writer, no less, trying to sell me on why I should use his services if I want to make a good
impression on my website visitors:
"Today's readers and Web browsers demand frankness and verisimilitude, so your written
communications require exacting professional integrity with accurate and adequate research.
"For concrete, colorful and dynamic written material that willfully attracts customers,
Bob Tony* will work with you to develop unrivaled written communications for your marketing
materials, grants, newsletters, Web site, or other publications and articles. To ensure your
writing tasks with pacesetting presentation and unparalleled, consistent editorial power, give
your deadlines to Bob Tony*."
* Name changed to protect the ostentatious and largiloquent.
Good grief. "Verisimilitude"? I had to look it up. I’m sure you all know what it means
but in case there's another ignoramus out there besides me, it means "the quality of appearing
to be true or real". How ironic. "Willfully" attracting customers? And does that last sentence
even make sense?
Consider that a shining example of how it’s NOT done (writing for the web, that is).
Before we get to "how" to write well for the web, a brief pause to consider "why" it’s
important to do so at all. The reason is that the Internet is an information medium. As a general
rule, people are looking for information about something when they come online. You have to
supply some of the information sought by part of that market (i.e., your target market) if
you want your share of traffic to your website. You do that by creating quality content. In
order to create quality content, you need to be able to write for the web. Is writing for the
web really all that different from writing generally? Yes. And here’s why.
Why Writting for the Web is Different
The first thing you need to understand is how users read on the web. Unlike reading a
book, online readers scan, or skim, the page, looking for particular keywords relevant to the
subject about which they are interested. They don’t start at the top of the page and work their
way down, reading every sentence.
Some other things you need to know about your typical site visitor (let’s just call him
Sam to make it easier): Sam detests hyperbole. Nothing turns him off faster. So keep the marketing
hype to a minimum and instead make your content objective and somewhat restrained.
Sam is also an impatient sod. He’s going to quickly scan the page (as we've seen) and
he’s going to rely on your headings and subheadings to orient himself. And he doesn’t want
to have to hunt for your point. Give it to him upfront. Also, because Sam really hates this,
avoid lengthy webpages that make him have to scroll to keep reading. And keep the whole thing
short and to the point besides. If you don’t, he’s out of there in five seconds flat.
So, now that we understand a little bit about Sam, what can we do to capture his attention
and keep it long enough to give him what he wants?
Scannable Text
To help Sam scan your text and find what he's looking for quickly, highlight keywords
and phrases (either by bolding, using color, a different font effect, whatever will catch his
attention). Make sure you use meaningful subheadings, i.e. ensure your subheading makes sense
without having to read the text below to put it into context.
Avoid lengthy paragraphs and make sure each paragraph deals with only one idea. Instead
of long paragraphs, use bulleted lists containing short, high-impact sentences.
Another crucial point is to use the "inverted pyramid" principle. This just means that
you state your conclusion or most important information up front, and then use the rest of
the body of your text to elaborate and explain. Kind of like a newspaper story.
And because Sam hates to scroll, break your text into logical stand-alone sub-parts of
no longer than a single page (or screen) and then link (with a meaningfully-worded link) to
the next section which starts on a new page.
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