The power of effective writing for the Web has been recognized as more marketers strive to create sites reflecting higher standards of usability.
Yet, despite this good news, there's an overwhelming abundance of bad writing on the web. Convoluted prose, complex paragraphs, repeating phrases and vague navigational elements may cause visitors to abandon pages that might have the information or products they want, but which they're not willing to wade through to find.
Here's a few points to remember:
• Effective web writing... is clear, concise, descripitive. It reflects and reveals interior contents and site purpose.
• Ineffective web writing... is repetitious, complex, convoluted and wordy.
• Bad web writing... is disorganized and poorly written, to the point where visitors fail in performing basic tasks.
The irony is bad web writing may be rhetorically admirable, well informed, and possess an interesting style or personality. This comes from a distinction between pixels and printing. Whereas we're conditioned to read printed books, articles, and magazines in a linear, sometimes reflective consciousness, the web is about delivering usable data and nuggets of information that visitors are actively seeking. Usually, their quest is very specific and directed.
So, the writer's style can get in the way, even when the writing itself may work reasonably well in print (say in a book or article). Dump that article online and it looks daunting! A dense sea of text which fails to reveal its contents easily or quickly. In usability studies, visitors may navigate to right area of a site, only to find themselves defeated by a thicket of words. Sometimes the content is vague. When attempting to caraefully read through, many visitors simply don't get it, and leave the site.
You may be thinking, "this isn't true for me. Not for our site." However, you may want to recheck just to be sure. Sometimes site managers and content experts are too close to what they're doing. They don't realize the phrases, acronyms, common industry terms, or products they work with everyday, may not intuitively easy or accesssible for others. Also, attempts at clever writing, metaphor, lengthy descriptions and examples often break down on screen, as visitors lose their patience.
Great images help.
Good design helps.
The right words help.
Especially when you get to the point right away.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Effective Writing for The Web
Writing for the Web is very different than writing advertising copy or corporate white papers. Web visitors surf and search with specific goals. They scan for simple descriptive labels. They make decisions quickly. They avoid complex, busy pages, with confusing labels and link names. They're impatient with over-written copy that's boastful or filled with marketing hype.
Some direct mail writers do poorly at first in this new medium due to their hard sell conditioning. Yes, product benefits should emerge. But the writer must remember the visitor is already in search mode, looking for solid, creditable information. He's landing on the site, fully prepared to investigate; she's predisposed and ready to learn. They want technical information, product comparisons, frequently asked questions, etc.
This is not the time to hit them over the head with your marketing. When people enter a query, they end up with a "million hits" on their desktop. Their first task is a ruthless leap through the pages they don't want to see. And, these days it doesn't take long. Usually, a smart marketer has figured out how to design, write and optimize a site with great usability factors, one that ranks high in the search engine response pages.
The short of it: if your site won't satisfy; they won't stick around (assuming they even find your site).
Style Tips
Serve up the major point of each page in the first two sentences.
Give 'em text bullets, short sentences and short paragraphs. Get to the point!
Some direct mail writers do poorly at first in this new medium due to their hard sell conditioning. Yes, product benefits should emerge. But the writer must remember the visitor is already in search mode, looking for solid, creditable information. He's landing on the site, fully prepared to investigate; she's predisposed and ready to learn. They want technical information, product comparisons, frequently asked questions, etc.
This is not the time to hit them over the head with your marketing. When people enter a query, they end up with a "million hits" on their desktop. Their first task is a ruthless leap through the pages they don't want to see. And, these days it doesn't take long. Usually, a smart marketer has figured out how to design, write and optimize a site with great usability factors, one that ranks high in the search engine response pages.
The short of it: if your site won't satisfy; they won't stick around (assuming they even find your site).
Style Tips
Serve up the major point of each page in the first two sentences.
Give 'em text bullets, short sentences and short paragraphs. Get to the point!
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Support Deep Link Visitors to Your Website. Here's Why
An important aspect of web usability has to do with the "deep link" and what it may mean to the success of your website.
A deep link is the initial visit to an interior page made by a new visitor. Instead of entering through the home page, these visitors will see an interior page through a search engine or third party link.
What's important about this? According to Jacob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger in their landmark book, "Prioritizing Web Usability" deep links account for nearly 60% of initial page views. Additionally, the visits to the interior pages account for an average of 60 seconds, well past the 20 to 30 second average for the typical home page.
The important thing for you to remember is to actively support this characteristic of the web. Don't fight it, as many still do, because you're proud of the home page and want everyong to gain access to your site through the "front door." It's virtually impossible to control where the traffic will come from. As the old stock market saying suggests, "don't fight the tape; make the trend your friend."
Many rich sites are akin to a house with a thousand doors. Deep linking will enhance usability of your site. It gives visitors a chance to find the very nugget of information, or point of discuassion, their looking for. An unmediated, inside scoop direct to the most cogent page. Why try to control their access to this information? Deep links enhance usability "because they are more likely to satisfy user needs." A generic link that takes someone to the home page of a site is often less useful than a direct link to an article, or a product, which is the real subject of the search engine query.
Supporting deep linking is not a difficult thing to do. But you must consider this aspect of your site when you design it and build out the site.
Better still, when you create your strategy for search engine optimization, you should consider which pages on your site are the most useful and optimize them accordingly. You should encourage search engines and third party sites to link directly to these high content, high value pages, the ones that address specific issues.
You'll end up with more traffic, more satisfied readers and visitors overall.
A deep link is the initial visit to an interior page made by a new visitor. Instead of entering through the home page, these visitors will see an interior page through a search engine or third party link.
What's important about this? According to Jacob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger in their landmark book, "Prioritizing Web Usability" deep links account for nearly 60% of initial page views. Additionally, the visits to the interior pages account for an average of 60 seconds, well past the 20 to 30 second average for the typical home page.
The important thing for you to remember is to actively support this characteristic of the web. Don't fight it, as many still do, because you're proud of the home page and want everyong to gain access to your site through the "front door." It's virtually impossible to control where the traffic will come from. As the old stock market saying suggests, "don't fight the tape; make the trend your friend."
Many rich sites are akin to a house with a thousand doors. Deep linking will enhance usability of your site. It gives visitors a chance to find the very nugget of information, or point of discuassion, their looking for. An unmediated, inside scoop direct to the most cogent page. Why try to control their access to this information? Deep links enhance usability "because they are more likely to satisfy user needs." A generic link that takes someone to the home page of a site is often less useful than a direct link to an article, or a product, which is the real subject of the search engine query.
Supporting deep linking is not a difficult thing to do. But you must consider this aspect of your site when you design it and build out the site.
Better still, when you create your strategy for search engine optimization, you should consider which pages on your site are the most useful and optimize them accordingly. You should encourage search engines and third party sites to link directly to these high content, high value pages, the ones that address specific issues.
You'll end up with more traffic, more satisfied readers and visitors overall.