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Writing for the Internet: 17 Rules to Keep 'Em Reading Your Content
Have you ever received an email in which the formatting has been lost and all the lines run together? Did you try to decipher it? Not likely. Delete.
Email recipients read with one finger on the delete key. One click and your email is gone. Internet users surf the Web with their finger poised on the mouse button. One click and they're gone. As a web site owner or ezine publisher, you must have good content, but to keep your customers from clicking away or hitting the delete key, you must strive to make their online reading experience as easy as possible.
Reading online is about 20% slower than reading from print and a lot harder on the eyes. And although people browsing the Web are looking for information, they're also very impatient. For these reasons, most visitors to your web site will only scan your content; they won't read it.
You probably scan when you read the newspaper so you know what I mean. You glance at the headlines and from there choose the article you want to read. This happens on the Web, too, but even more so. Within an article or web page, people will scan for sub- headlines. So, whereas they'll read the whole article in the newspaper, they'll only read bits and pieces of it on the Web.
Armed with this knowledge, you can make your content much easier for people to read.
1. Provide a Table of Contents at the beginning of long pages.
Adding a Table of Contents to the beginning of your article or ezine enhances a reader's experience.
Here's a comment from one of my ezine subscribers: "First off, I really like the 'Tell-em-what-they're-going-to-get' approach to the header of your ezine. Just had to tell you."
He's talking about my Table of Contents, something so simple, yet it warranted a comment from a reader.
If your article or ezine is in HTML format, use the "named anchor" tag to make the items in your Table of Contents "clickable."
Note: Not everyone's email software renders HTML properly. Always offer your readers a plain text version of your newsletter. One day we'll all use HTML for our ezines, but we're not quite there yet. Some autoresponders and email management software will "sniff out" a recipient's ability to render HTML and deliver the appropriate email (for this to work, you have to write two versions of your newsletter -- one in plain text and one in HTML).
2. Break up your page with sub-headlines.
Provide your readers with the ability to scan your page and pick out the topics that interest them. If you don't provide sub- headlines, there's a very good chance your readers will skip the page entirely.
On a web page or in an ebook, use a different colour for the sub- headlines or bold them. Use underlines on web pages cautiously as readers may think the text is a link. In a text-based ezine, you should indicate sub-headlines with bullets, asterisks, numbers, or arrows (made up of dashes and a right-angle bracket).
You can also type headings in all capital letters, but this will make them harder to scan. Most people use shape to help them recognize words. If you use all capital letters, you
remove this ability and slow the reader down. Remember, impatience is the norm on the Internet, so try not to put up any roadblocks to easy reading.
3. Break up passages.
Notice how all my paragraphs are short? No more than a few lines each? I strive to keep each paragraph to no more than 100 words. That's to provide small chunks of information that can be easily digested.
Note: Just because a paragraph is 109 words, doesn't mean you have to automatically try to break it into two smaller paragraphs. Just use common sense and you'll be fine.
4. Create white space to reduce eye-fatigue.
Breaking up your page into small paragraphs creates plenty of white space to rest the reader's eyes. It's important to minimize readers' fatigue so they'll keep reading. If this article were written as one long chunk, you wouldn't be reading it by now, especially if you were reading it online.
5. Use short sentences.
As you may also have noticed, this article is not made up of long, convoluted sentences. Each sentence is fairly short and therefore easily read at a glance.
You don't want to tax readers thinking either. Shorter sentences are easier to understand and digest. If you want people to "get your message," keep your sentences short.
6. Use short lines of text.
When writing your ezine, use a text editor and set it to put a hard return after every 65 characters. That will ensure your ezine articles have short lines that can be read at a glance. I use TextPad for this (http://www.textpad.com).
When I'm finished writing my ezine content, I cut and paste the text into my autoresponder and it retains the hard returns. You can also cut and paste your text into the body of an email.
On your web page, use a table to contain your text. Do not set your table to 100% width. If you do, it will stretch to fit any sized browser and your lines of text will end up long and difficult to read.
7. Use bullets.
Bullets are read even by scanners.
8. Enclose text in boxes or indent it.
If you indent text, put a Horizontal Rule before and after it. This trick makes it look boxed, but is more sophisticated than using a table with a border.
9. Avoid busy backgrounds on your web page.
To make text easy to read, there needs to be plenty of contrast between the background colour and the font colour. Purple text on a red background is unreadable. Any text on a busy background is difficult to read. If you want a patterned background, that's fine, just change the colour of the table cell in which your text appears to white or a pale solid colour and make your text black or very dark. Here's an example: http://www.racing-pigeon- fancier.com
10. Use plain English.
Most web pages, ezines and ebooks should stay away from academic writing. If you're not writing a thesis, don't write like a professor. Instead you should be aiming at a grade level of between 6 and 8. I'm not telling you to dumb down your text, but to make it clearer, shorter and easier to read.
11. Write in a chatty, conversational style.
Avoid corporate-speak. Corporate-speak is language that speaks to no one in particular. Instead, visualize one of your readers and write to that person. If you write to someone you know, your style will automatically be more casual, friendly and readable. People will feel you're speaking directly to them. Yes, your style might not click with everyone, but better that than clicking with no one.
12. Use contractions.
To make your writing easier to read, use contractions. "I'll tell you more next month" reads easier than "I will tell you more next month." It's also less formal. Your ezine or sales copy is not the place for formal writing. If you currently write for print publications and want to start writing for the Web, some of the rules you live by will have to be abandoned.
13. Choose a sans serif font for your text.
On the Internet, a sans-serif font like Verdana is much easier to read than Times New Roman (serif font). In print, the opposite is true and this confuses many people who go from writing for print to writing for the Web. Use serif fonts for headings, to provide variety. However, do not use more than two or three fonts altogether. Otherwise, your text will look amateurish. It will also be hard to read, as your visitors' eyes will constantly need to adjust to the changing styles. Note: Virtually every book you read in print is type-set in a serif font like Times New Roman...every page, even the chapter headings. It's not boring and no one thinks twice about it. In the same way, you don't need to use different fonts on every page of your web site. Just remember, online Verdana is the font of choice.
14. Specify a font in your HTML code.
Remember to specify a font in your HTML code. If you leave the font at the default, most web browsers will render your text in Times New Roman. You don't want this to happen.
It's a good idea to specify a family of fonts so PC and Mac browsers can choose their own pre-installed fonts. I use this family of fonts: "Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif."
Note: As a last resort, if none of the first three fonts are installed, "sans-serif" tells a browser to use any other sans- serif font it has available.
15. Clean up typos and spelling mistakes.
I know it sounds obvious to tell you to check your spelling, but bad spelling and typos are rampant on the Web.
Run your spell-checker, but also eyeball your content several times. Your spell-checker will not catch typos like "form" instead of "from." Print out your text and ask someone else to read it...preferably, someone who can spell.
I'm not just being picky, by the way. Spelling errors and typos slow a reader down and may even confuse them. You never want to do that. If the reader loses momentum, you're dead; they'll likely stop reading and go away.
16. Use exclamation marks sparingly!!!!
The Internet has spawned a love affair with the exclamation mark. This poor, beleaguered symbol is so overworked on the Web I'm surprised it hasn't up and quit. It's very amateurish to saturate your text with exclamation marks. It signals HYPE!!!!! And insincerity!!!
Prospects will become customers when they trust you. How much trust do you put in an ad or sales letter that's full of exclamation marks? Your readers are just as wary as you.
Note: There is a place for exclamation marks in impassioned advertising copy. Just don't over-do it. And never use more than one exclamation point at the end of a sentence.
17. Remove "that" wherever possible.
Example 1: Call now so you don't miss our July special. Example 2: Call now so that you don't miss our July special. What's the difference? You glide right over the words in the first example, but in the second example, the word "that" halts you for a split second. And as you know by now, any stumbling block, no matter how minor, can mean bye-bye reader.
This isn't all there is to know about writing for the Internet, of course. But if you follow these simple rules, you'll go a long way toward keeping your readers glued to your text. Hopefully, long enough to entice them to sign up for your newsletter, join your affiliate program, or buy your product.
Take-Away Tip: Remember, most online readers are actually scanners. To get scanners to stop long enough to read your content, you must make your text visually appealing and effortless to read. Use short, simple sentences, plain English, contractions, short paragraphs, lots of sub-headlines and a friendly voice.
About
the Writer of this Article
Simple Ideas for Quality Content
What is good quality content for a web site? We can usually recognize quality content when we see it. It is a total package deal; the words used, the grammar, the presentation, the supporting artwork. Daily I receive articles from people giving advice that quality content is one of the golden rules of the Internet. Without quality content your visitors just don't stay, and never return.
An entire industry has grown to support and help companies develop their web sites to present quality content. There are editors and copy writers, localization experts to name a few. These companies specialize in web sites. They help to develop compelling language, usually designed for the visitor who skim reads. They recognize that the visitor might devote two minutes or less, and unless in those few moments they 'are captured', they wont read anything in depth and result: NO SALE.
If we can hold these fleeting visitors to actually read our words with some care, and hence take our product offer seriously, our language has to support their initial good impression. Spelling errors, poor grammar, slow loading art, and countless other factors will all debase quality.
Little inconsistencies in our written language bother visitors. For example, hyphenating a word on one page and not hyphenating the same word on a different page. Visitors aren't necessarily even conscious of the errors; but they are left with negative feelings.
When we first develop a web site we devote considerable resources. We check and edit and test, may be take user surveys and then check it all again. And finally our web site can be described as finished. If only it were so simple. As most people who manage a web site will know, things change. And changes, improvements and enhancements to our web site are usually a continuing effort.
And because we are working mainly with that wonderful tool called language, we're working with a changing foundation. The Internet itself has added a whole new set of words. Over the past few months I've been developing an Internet support web site intended to help small businesses (it is http://www.selling-it.com/ ). Throughout the project I've been faced with choices about how to spell words. Should I write an e-book or an ebook? Which letters do I capitalize? If I'm a Webmaster why do I run a web site? Is it a Unix or a UNIX or a unix server that I'm using? Will people buy my products using checks or cheques? Technical words like php, .htaccess file and MySQL were all problems. In fact new words and phrases are continuously added to our language.
Then we have the traditional problems that English presents. Some words allow two quite acceptable spelling forms; i.e. inquire and enquire. Is it best to use British or American spelling on a web site? Numbers present special problems. Were there 25 enthusiastic testimonials or twenty five?
Initially I tried to rely on my spell checker but sadly it wasn't much help. I worked hard researching a variety of web sites providing advice on quality content. But no where was I able to find a categorical definition of correct spelling and capitalization of many technology related words. And you bet I tried dictionaries.
Many words are so new that there isn't a definitive spelling. On the positive side there was a message I could follow. When there isn't an accepted spelling, and to maintain quality content; spell the word consistently throughout the web site. I hope you'll agree that's great advice. It certainly simplifies the issue. But I was still left with a problem.
How can you ensure your entire web site's content is consistent? This takes special significance if you're content is developed by more than one person. Being consistent is one of the keys to making your writing exceptional.
My first suggestion for you is to use a style sheet. A style sheet is simply a list of words and phrases that you add to. You start with a big sheet of paper divided into eight boxes: ABCD, EFGH, IJKL, MNOP, QRST, UVWXYZ, Numbers, and Names.
Then every time you use a word that has more than one acceptable style you add the word to the appropriate box. For example, if you decide on e-Commerce as the form (which could be equally written as eCommerce or E-Commerce) add the phrase to the EFGH box on your style sheet. Then every time you go to use the word you check first against your style sheet, rather than looking back through earlier web pages you have written to see how you spelt it.
Over time your style sheet will build up to the point where you need a page for each box. But the style sheet allows you to have a single, easy to refer to place where you list all the words and phrases that you need to use consistently.
The style sheet also becomes an especially valuable resource when changes need to be made to your web site.
My second suggestion is to have a few rules to follow that allow you to avoid your weaknesses. For instance I have a problem in that I waffle. When I do this my sentences can easily run and run. So one rule I have is that no sentence can be more than thirty words long. Another problem I have is that I tend to use stale, stuffy phrases instead of simple words. So another rule in my edit list is to check to ensure I use simple language.
And above all the 'What's in it for them?'. What I mean is I try to focus on the visitor to my web site and write language from their perspective, needs and focus.
In proofreading the following helps:
Let it sit: Never proofread just after writing. You're too close to your words and your ego needs time away from the text in order to evaluate it subjectively.
Read it aloud: This gives a new perspective. As you hear the words you can better gauge sentence length and how your words will sound to someone else.
Exchange it with a colleague: Perhaps risky but a guaranteed way to improve. Give your text to someone you respect and trust. Ask for their feedback.
Read it backwards, from bottom to top: Reading backwards allows you to pick up typos, repetitions, and other mechanical errors. You will read the actual words written, not what you meant to write.
Use reference materials: Even professional writers use dictionaries, punctuation handbooks and spelling guides.
Finally, after you've carefully proofread your document ask:
Have I accomplished my original purpose in writing?
Did I tell the reader what I want?
I really hope this has given you some ideas to achieve quality content.
Grant McNamara has over 20 years experience in IT, and specializes in multi-lingual web site and software development and training. Visit his site for free advice and resources for the success of your web site at: http://www.translateme.co.nz or mailto:grant.mcnamara@translateme.co.nz
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