How to write for the web
When you write text you must think about where that text will be displayed. If you are writing text for a billboard poster you want a short caption that stands out and catches the customer's eye. Writing text for websites also has its own requirements that you must think about.
How do people read text on the internet?
People who are using the internet are usually looking for information. They are time poor; they do a search, find a website, quickly scan the text and leave the site if they can't find what they are looking for. Then you have people who know what website they want to look at but they want more in-depth information.
Keeping the content simple
Writing text for websites is all about balance. You need your sentences to be short and sweet but you also need to give the reader enough detail. You can make text easier to read by using short spaced paragraphs and eyecatching headings. Bullet points and lists also work well.
Using keywords in your text
People are constantly scanning text on websites looking for a certain word or phrase that will stand out to them, so remember to use keywords that you think people will be looking for. Using keywords will also help with your search engine ranking. To learn more about this see search engine optimisation.
Your page layout
Obviously your web designer can help you with page layout but remember people in the West tend to read from left to right and from top to bottom. Keep important text at the top of the page so it grabs the reader's attention staright away. Also, do you really need lots of animated text and moving imagery? These techniques can be very distracting for the reader.
Have one topic per page
It's best to seperate your information into categories and then to list those categories on individual pages. If the information they want isn't on that page always try and have other relevant links that may interest them or have a way for the reader to contact your group or company.
If you would like me to write your website content please call 01457 838 010 or email: hello@eberle.co.uk
