Writing for the web, Website Promotion, Online Marketing, Internet Marketing Services

Writing for the web

Ever wondered how to 'seal the deal' with your online prospects? User statistics and online behaviour studies show it's all in what you say and how you say it. That's because, in the online environment:

• attention spans are short
• information must be absorbed instantly, and
• stay-or-go decisions are made in a matter of seconds.

Web copy is possibly the most challenging but equally the most rewarding form of communication: make an instant connection and you get a direct response; overstate your point and your visitors will run a mile.

Web copy should enhance scannability and credibility. Here's how:

1. Scanning patterns

   Everyone seems to have the attention span of a goldfish these days, so instead of reading word by word we scan for snippets that will give us the gist of what's being said.

   Usability guru, Jacob Nielsen, tells us that users' eyes follow a distinctive "F" pattern when they scan a webpage. This means they sweep across and down the page just a couple of times before their gaze shifts elsewhere.

   • Place keywords to the left of your body text and key phrases in the first line of each paragraph.

2. Focus points

   When your visitors view a webpage, unless something jumps off the screen at them, all they see is a stream of words too long to mentally string together. So stop wandering eyes by giving them something to focus on:

   • Use subheadings, bold text and present information in bullet lists. But be selective – don't overdo it and certainly don't throw a confusing bunch of bold, italicised and underlined words at your visitors.
   • Use numbers and present them in numerals rather than words. Why? Numbers are compact pieces of information and their shape is distinctive enough to stand out in a sea of words. They also represent facts, which users relish, and enhance credibility.

3. Tell it, don't sell it

   Users don't have the time, the will or the energy to filter out the facts from hyped up marketing language.
   • Stick to factual information and real life scenarios and back up any claims to fame with evidence.

4. Hyperlinks

   Links enhance credibility, suggest you have done your research and imply there is accuracy and wider relevance to your claims.

   • Read widely on the Internet to identify external links that back up what you say.

5. Cull suspicious sentences

   Long, tangled, descriptive sentences are a waste of space. Users want punchy statements that are stripped down to the bare essentials.

   • Be ruthless with every sentence you write. Strip out the adjectives and adverbs and focus on your verb and your subject (Grammar 101).

6. Summing up

   A recent eyetracking study found that short blurbs increased the amount of time readers spent on an average page by 33%. These summaries also increased the likelihood of users scrolling down the page.

   • Place blurbs below headlines to give users a taste of what's to come. Don't give too much away – mystery and secrecy will leave them wanting more….