Writing for the Web is different from writing for print. The thesis of our May 2001 article, "Moving Beyond the Electronic Brochure," was that creating a Web site requires its authors to expand their view of what a Web site is all about. In particular, a Web site should not simply be an electronic version of the agency's paper brochure. As that article pointed out, paper-based brochures are not easily transformed into a Web site for a number of reasons, which includes how the words or content of the Web site are crafted.
Visitor reading habits
Studies of Web site reading habits indicate that people read information on a Web page differently from how they read paper-based media. One reason is the nature of reading print on a computer screen. Even on the best and highest resolution monitors, print on a computer screen is not nearly as crisp and sharp as the letters printed on paper. All this adds up to increased eyestrain and decreased ability to focus attention on a particular Web page. The net result is decreased Web page viewing time, which means you need to communicate your message more quickly.
Furthermore, considering the sheer volume of information on the Internet and the limited time people have for online viewing, you not only need to convey your message more quickly, but also more concisely. Regardless of what you have to say, it is the online visitor who decides what he or she will read. Your content must compete with everybody else's. There's no point in publishing extraneous "fluff," making the user wade through it - they simply won't bother and will go elsewhere.
Guidelines for writing Web content
How, then, can you communicate your message in fewer words and with more impact. In a nutshell, 1) be direct and concise, 2) write good headlines, 3) use hypertext, and 4) edit strenuously.
1. Direct and concise. It's easy for writers to write more than necessary. Nevertheless, some Web usability experts recommend that your Web site content should be up to fifty percent less than what you would normally write for a similar printed page. In addition to writing fewer words, you can strive to keep sentences simple, avoiding long clauses and extended parenthetical comments. In the Tri-State Insurance illustration (see "Notice the Difference" below), the first sentence of the original paragraph is 49 words long - a long-winded mouthful. While this kind of copy sounds nice in an agency brochure, it does little to entice a Web site visitor to read further, especially if it appears prominently and early in the Web page sequence.
Another way to make your Web content more concise is to omit unnecessary language and marketing fluff. In the Tri-State example, "dusty plains," "humble storefront," and "off came their St. Louis-tailored suits…" might appear colorful, but the phrases probably do little to enhance the reason why you created your Web site.
If your agency's market includes people of other nationalities and ethnicities, you should particularly strive for a "plain English" presentation that avoids metaphors, puns, and other descriptive language that could be misleading to those less familiar with the English language.
2. Good headlines and sub-heads. Headlines and subheads provide helpful clues about the content that follows. They're like the Roman numeral headings of an outline, describe the main topics to be covered, and provide the framework on which the content hangs. To be effective and helpful to users, headlines must be precise. For example, the headline "Don't Panic - It's Only a Dent" alludes to something about an accident. As an alternative, "How to Report An Accident" suggests something more definitive and implies helpful information.
Headlines are typically set in larger boldface type than the copy that follows. If well written, appropriately sequenced, and strategically positioned on a page, headlines can aid scannability. Scannability refers to the Web site user's ability to quickly scan and determine "what's going on here?" Well-written headlines followed by concisely written sentences and paragraphs create useful "chunks" of information that will enable the user to find information more quickly.
3. User hypertext. Sometimes, a particular segment of Web content may be unusually long. A common way to handle such length is to make one very long page and simply let the user scroll through it. That's the lazy man's solution, but it does the user a disservice. It may be that the specific piece of information a user wants is three or four screen scrolls down the page. When creating such long pages, you run the risk of frustrating the user who may decide to leave your site and go elsewhere. The better solution would be to rethink the lengthy content, break it into identifiable sub-points, and create links to additional pages that users can go to should they choose.
4. Edit strenuously. Most writers chafe at the idea of someone else editing what they wrote. Most likely, the person who wrote the copy for your Web site feels that way, too. But in addition to correcting the spelling, grammatical, and punctuation mistakes that may have been made, a good copy editor can offer an objective appraisal of your Web content and make good content editing suggestions. Copy editors typically charge an hourly fee, and a few hours of a copy editor's time could provide significant improvement to the usability and content of your Web site.
In concluding, keep in mind that the purpose of your Web site is not to showcase your creative writing ability, but to provide useful information. The kind of language used in your agency brochure, newsletter, and press releases simply will not be effective on your Web site if re-purposed "as is." True, the basic ideas may be found in them, but the content needs to be re-worked and massaged to become more useful to the Web site visitor.
Steven Brightbill is co-owner of Betagraph Integrated Information Solutions, a company that provides creative and technical services for marketing communication and publishing. He has also edited and contributed to other industry publications. He can be contacted at sebrightbill@qwest.net or 720-283-2660.
The following text illustrates several of the points covered in this article. The first sample (228 words in length) is a brief historical overview of a fictitious agency as it might appear in a typical brochure. The second paragraph (100 words) highlights the same general facts, but omits some unnecessary information, and would be a good alternative for a Web site. The third "About Us" paragraph (56 words) is a "bare bones" bullet list of facts that also might appear on a Web site.
Welcome to Tri-State Insurance When the door to Tri-State Insurance first opened on the dusty plains of southwestern Oklahoma in 1893, little did its founders imagine that their business would eventually grow to become one of the largest and most successful insurance agencies in the region to serve the oil and gas industry. From their humble storefront along the unpaved main street of Crawford Mills, Bill Hollister and Henry Ledbetter rode their horses into the oil fields. Off came their St. Louis-tailored suits and on came the over-alls. They saw the oil business up close and personal and knew their customers on a first name basis. That kind of personal attention quickly earned Tri-State an enviable reputation. In 1922, Tri-State passed to a new generation of ownership. Despite the economic downturn of the Depression and the "Dust Bowl" years, Tri-State continued to prosper and even expanded its services to the stricken agricultural and transportation markets. Then, as America's need for oil and gas grew sharply during World War II, Tri-State opened branch offices in Texas and New Mexico. Today, we're pleased to be a part of the lives of nearly 1,100 businesses and families in the Tri-State region. From 14 branch offices, our staff still visits customers in the field just like Bill and Henry did several generations ago. It's still a part of Tri-State's enviable service reputation. |
Brief History Tri-State Insurance was established in 1893 in the southwest Oklahoma town of Crawford Mills. The agency's founders, Bill Hollister and Henry Ledbetter, quickly earned a reputation for personal service by visiting their customers in the oil and natural gas fields. Under new ownership and despite the economic downturn of the Depression and the "Dust Bowl" years, Tri-State continued to prosper. The agency even expanded its services to the agricultural and transportation markets. During World War II, Tri-State opened branch offices in Texas and New Mexico. Today, the agency serves 1,100 customers from 14 offices throughout the Tri-State region.
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