Content is King: Writing Good Web Copy
“Our company authoritatively fosters progressive
intellectual capital to meet our customer's needs. Our challenge
is to professionally initiate progressive paradigms to allow us to
enthusiastically disseminate error-free resources because that is
what the customer expects…”
Careful reading of the paragraph above can produce one of two reactions
-- “Huh?” or “Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz” -- followed
by clicking to a different site.
Although this particular passage was created by the “Mission
Statement Generator” at Dilbert.com, many corporate Web
sites feature copy that is all too similar.
We’ve previously discussed writing Web text that’s friendly
to search engines. But ensure that it’s
also friendly to human visitors! Your site’s primary obligation
is to communicate effectively with your target audience. Consider some
of the following points:
-
Tone of voice. Write as if you were
speaking to a typical member of your target audience. A site selling
luxury cars will have a radically different tone from a site advertising
tattooing and body piercing services or a site offering gardening
advice. Vocabulary, grammar, the brevity or expansiveness of your
text -- all should be appropriate to the visitors you want to attract.
-
Focus on the visitor. Make it readily
apparent what visitors stand to gain from your site/company. Address
their needs and concerns, rather than just giving a spiel about
your company or organization.
-
Avoid hype. Don’t use language
that sounds like advertising jargon. Your readers are already at
your site; now give them reasons to remain, and to contact you
directly. Give the sort of solid, objective information that fosters
credibility and that is of real service to your visitors.
-
Organize the content. As in traditional
writing, structure your text for easy readability. Use “topic
sentences” and one main point per paragraph. It also helps
to adopt the “pyramid style” used by journalists: Present
the conclusion first, then provide background and details. Follow
up with a summary.
-
Be concise. This does not necessarily
mean, “Be brief”. Lengthy, persuasive content can be
valuable for some involved readers. But prune repetition, passive
construction, tangents, etc.
-
Format. Although you should write as
carefully as if visitors are going to read and memorize every word
-- the fact is most people surfing the Web skim more than they
actually read. Long, dense paragraphs are intimidating, so break
them up by adopting some of the following aids: drop caps on opening
paragraphs; headers that are visually distinct from the content;
text lines limited to 10-12 words; bulleted lists; intelligent
use of white space; a reasonable amount of “eye candy” (graphics).
-
Hyperlinks. Help readers navigate your
site by suggesting an order in which they should read, and what
other sites they should consult. But practice restraint. Peppering
the text with too many links can mean that the reader jumps erratically
from one page to the next without fully absorbing anything.
-
Proofread! This is crucial. And no,
it doesn’t contradict the fact that people scan more than
they read. They do read some of the text. And nothing
can kill credibility faster than incorrect grammar and misspelling.
A variation of Murphy’s Law states: “If your 5-paragraph
Web page contains only one poorly-written sentence, that’s the
sentence people will read.”
Does all of this sound too daunting and time-consuming? No problem!
Here’s the simplest, fastest, and possibly most cost-efficient
one-step method of producing readable text:
Hire a marketing expert with copywriting expertise.
If you don’t have the time and experience to write credible
content, hire someone who does. Particularly if you’ve invested
in a professional design, don’t undermine it with poorly written
content.
Effective sites contain clear text presented within an attractive
page that is designed to appeal to a specific target audience.
Resources:
Do you have any questions about the design, maintenance or
promotion of Web sites? Contact
me and I'll try to answer them in upcoming articles.
Goodies & WWW news
- Is this the end of "free lunches" from Search Engines?
Yahoo!
Drops Google (Get Out Your Wallets)
- Think you're pretty savvy about Internet privacy
and security issues? So did I. Till I read some of the case stories
in The
Great American Privacy Makeover. Filled with not-hard-to-implement
tips to keep you safer online.
- It's not illegal...yet: Make free
phone calls, locally or overseas,
using your computer. (Please note that I haven't tried this yet, so
am not actually recommending it.)
I hope you enjoyed this month’s newsletter! If you have any comments
or suggestions for future newsletter topics, please don’t hesitate
to send them.
Janis Joseph
janis@atartec.co.il
Questions? | Subscribe | Unsubscribe
Privacy policy:Your e-mail address
is kept in strictest confidence. It will not be revealed to any third party.
|
