Website content is unique for a good reason. With attention spans shrinking and people’s demands to receive information fast online, website copy has to deliver what consumers are searching for quickly.
Use this cheat sheet as your guide for writing for the web.
Make Sure the Most Important Info is Seamless to Find
As stated before, people are looking to find answers to their questions quickly, so make sure to give them what they want up front. Demonstrate your value by making sure your website content is always be tailored to meet your audience’s needs. Simple things such as organizing announcements from most recent to older or removing past events from an upcoming events page will do wonders for your user experience.
Make It Short and Follow Best Practices
The truth is, people will rarely read every word on your web pages, as they tend to scan the pages. Because of this behavior, your content should be short and broken up into bite-sized pieces.
Other website content best practices include:
- Bold, straight-to-the-point headings and subheadings
- Bulleted lists
- Short paragraphs and short sentences, and aim to have one idea per paragraph
- Link related words and phrases to other pages to continue the exploration (but don’t go overboard)
- Limit passive voice, long sentences, jargon and fluff.
Write in Your Company’s Voice and Tone
When you write content on behalf of your business, always write in your brand’s unified voice and tone throughout the entire piece. Try to talk directly to your users and encourage them to interact with your site. By writing in the same voice, you’ll not only develop trust with your audience, but also build brand recognition and resonate with your audience.
When in Doubt, Always Write for Your Audience
In business, one of the biggest mysteries you have to crack early is your audience. You need to know their goals, pain points, passions, and everything in between. When writing for your website content, it should always be written in a way that’s useful and valuable for your audience. If your audience responds better to more thorough information, don’t cut corners for them. If the majority of your website traffic is on a single page, make sure it’s easy to access on all web pages.
No matter the case, if you write content for your audience’s preferences, you’ll be very valuable to them.
Writing for the web can be a challenge to some, but with these tips, you should become an expert in no time!
To learn more about writing for the web, contact us today!
