Seven
rules for making words count on your business web-pages. Helpful hints
from a writer who understands. (CONTINUED ... To return to Page 1
click here.)
Words on the Web
1. Website copy (PAGE 2)
Rule 3. Keep Home Page text to the minimum
Say just enough to index your site, but avoid details. Most visitors
are browsing and you need to win your audience before blasting them
with too many words. Separate casual visitors from committed enthusiasts,
rewarding the committed with shortcuts to all the information they
could wish for, but sparing casual visitors the deepest mysteries
of your trade. An over-wordy Home Page will frighten away many of
the people who searched for your page and all of the people who found
it by accident. Don't hit visitors with an encyclopaedia of industry
jargon as soon as they click on your site. [Update July 2004:
Search Engines have changed their approach, so we
all need to adapt. Don't spare the words so much that the 'spiders'
fail to list your site. Most importantly, make sure your 'keywords'
and phrases feature in the actual text of the page. It's an awkward
balance to achieve, but write for both men and machines!]
Rule 4. Create a hierarchy
Build your message through a hierarchy of pages that draws potential
clients into your territory. Click one should provide headlines
and small, but attractive images (Home page); click two should expand
the details on the visitor's selected subject; click three should
give them the full story.
Rule 5. When they get to the substance, give them an easy
read
Why do you need that extra sentence? Does that exclamation mark
increase the impact, or make you look trivial? Avoid the kind of
sentences that need re-reading. Be descriptive, but avoid clichés
("excellent!" is not a description). Trim out unnecessary
adjectives and almost all adverbs (if you feel the need to add an
"-ly" word, you have probably chosen the wrong verb).
Keep paragraphs brief so readers can focus easily. They can mark
their place with a finger if they are reading a book, but website
copy is on-screen.
Rule 6. Use readable language in the right style for your
subject
When you get to the meat of your message - product specifications,
service descriptions, technical details and client appraisals -
you can pile on the words. But keep it readable. Create 'sticky
content'. Give each subject a beginning, a middle and an end, just
like a good story. Choose appropriate descriptive words that make
your point without over-hyping the subject or using excess words.
Write in an appropriate style and, if you're not sure how, see how
professional writers handle language in your industry's magazines.
Edit, and edit again to cut out unnecessary, ambiguous or long winded
text. Recognise the relative difficulty of reading from a computer
screen, compared with a magazine.
Rule 7. If you don't have the right skills, get someone else
to write your copy
Recognise your own limitations and that quality counts. Writing
is as much an art as drawing and painting, and no technology replaces
artistic flair. If you can't draw you wouldn't exhibit your doodles
in an art gallery. So why put your untrained word-skills on public
display? But, if you have a way with words - welcome to the web.
©Derrick
Phillips
2001
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