Tips about writing for the web

1. By Anna Young
Writing for the Web

2.  Why do People go online?
 How do you check web-sites?

3.  Why are things always in the last place you look
for them?
Because you stop looking when you find them.
 —Children’s riddle
 Web sites are about solving your customer’s
problems.
Vincentflanders.com

4. People visit web-sites because:
They need:
- Information
-Entertainment
-Connect with others
- Commerce

5.  The difference between how we see
people visiting our websiteblog and how
they really do that.
 What are your favorite web-sites? What
makes them your favorite? WHY?

6.  The Best websites fulfill the users
expectations with the least stress.
 - We don’t want to read pages – we
want to scan them.
 - We don’t make optimal choice. We
satisfy.
 - We don’t figure out how things work –
we muddle through.

7. Content is everything
The thing that most web-sites
can offer and that can make
them valuable for their audience
is CONTENT

8. The F Style reading audience
use
 F - FAST.
 You have less than 90 seconds to convince
your audience that your web-site your piece
has some valuable information.

9. Users often read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern:
two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe

10. Interpreting the heatmaps
 an article in the "about us" section of a corporate
website (far left);
 a product page on an e-commerce site (center);
 a search engine results page (SERP; far right).

11. Writing for the Web
 Users won't read your text thoroughly in a
word-by-word manner.
 The first two paragraphs must state the most
important information.
 Start subheads, paragraphs, and bullet points
with information-carrying words that users will
notice when scanning down the left side of your
content in the final stem of their F-behavior.

12. Don’t Make Me Think
 Be as obvious as possible
 Consistency – uniform layout
 Key words
 Because people focus on words that match:
- task
-personal interest
- words in our nervous system

13. Visual Headlines
 The WEB is a visual Media with Headlines.
- short
-rich in information
- understandable
- predictable

14. 1. Make sure the headline works out of context.
 New times call for new decisions

2. Tell readers something useful.
This headline is too broad:
Make better, faster decisions with data visualization
Contrast it with:
Data visualization helps you detect and prevent fraud
faster
3. Don’t succumb to cute or faddish vocabulary.
 Get the most bang for your buck with XYZ
 Increase productivity by 24% with XYZ
4. Omit nonessential words.
 Caster, a technology company, buys Mitchell, with assistance
from Jon & Smith, for $1.2B
 Caster buys Mitchell for $1.2 billion –or–
Jon & Smith orchestrates $1.2 billion deal for top technology firms
5. Front-load headings with strong keywords.
 (1) Behold the new technologies for creating 3-D imagery and
 (2) Creating 3-D imagery gets easier with new technologies

15. Visual Functionality
On a Web page successful
communication is influenced by
 - Text on the screen
 - Page layout
 -Images: graphics and photo
 - Color

16. Satisfaction or irritation?
If visitors find webpage confusing and difficult to
use, many will click away, feeling irritated and
unfulfilled.
If audience feels like they have a sense of
mastery over a web site, they will achieve
their goals and find satisfaction with the
experience.

17. Web habits
 Consumers stick with one web-site
as long as it delivers the information
they want.
 Rarely do web users start and finish
the web session in one place.
 Scanning and searching

18. Reading on the
computer is
tiresome

19. People aren’t reading
They are scanning
Provide visual hierarchy
on a web page with text
size, color and emphasis.

20. Prominence
 The more important something is – the more
prominent it is. For instance, the most important
headings are either
Largeror bold or in a distinctive color
Set off by more white space
Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think

21. Eyecatchingsource:http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

22. How to write?
Inverted
Pyramid is the
Best
“Five Ws” of journalism:

23. The Inverted Pyramid
http://journalism-education.cubreporters.org/2010/08/journalism-story-structure.html

24. The Martini Glass The Kabob

25. Get to the Point
Only 16% of web-users
read everything word by
word
79%
scan for words or
sentences

26. A Must
Headlines – less than 8
words
Sentences – less than 20
words
Paragraphs – les than 70
words
Pages – less than 400 words

27. WEB Readability
Divide information into logical
segments
One idea per paragraph
Highlighted key words
Subheads

28. Don’t Complicate
The computer screen
provides only limited view
The consumer would have
to remember what they’ve
read
“Chunking” information
help to orientate the

29. Hyperlinking
Never say “ for more
information click here”
Instead – link the words that
best describe additional
content

30. Headlines and Search Engines
 Headlines should include obvious
words that people would use when
searching

31. Try to be different
Don’t be afraid to be different. In
fact, being different is the
advantage on the market place
where there are fifty thousand
(sources) on the topic you have
chosen.
 Manolo. B

32. Be Active
Active Verbs
Active Voice

33. Know Your readers
Keep in mind who you are
writing for
- while
-before
- after
You wrote a story.

34. Constantly ask
 Why should the reader
care?
How can I make this
information useful for my
readers?
How can I make this
content more interactive?

35. How to write
 Write
 Read
 Cut
 Set aside
 Cut more
 Proofread
 Post

36. After you post
Twitter
Facebook
Share with sources
Share with topic influencers