whiteinteractive blog

One of the major factors of good website design is to have well-written site copy that has been specifically written with the medium in mind.

It’s all too common to see copy simply lifted from other (offline) materials and re-used on web pages without any thought going into whether that copy is suitable for a web page or whether it meets good search engine optimisation criteria.

If you are thinking about a new website design, here are our top tips for writing the website copy.

1. Begin with the conclusion
Put the most important information, or a summary, at the start of the content – the ‘Inverted Pyramid’ approach – so users can quickly get a sense of what the page is about and what it contains

2. Short sentences
Keep sentences brief, with one main idea – but be careful to avoid the writing style becoming overly terse and functional as a result.

3. Link text
Ensure link text clearly and concisely reflect the page or target they link to. (Try to avoid the use of ‘click here’ for example as link text).

4. Jargon
Avoid jargon unless your audience will understand it and expect it. Also, expand any acronyms you use the first time they’re used on a page.

5. Paragraph breaks
Use a lot of paragraph breaks, because long paragraphs can be difficult for readers to scan.

6. Wasted words
Cut to the chase by reducing the number of wasted words. Also, typically avoid ‘welcome to website’ style content, instead focus on writing content that helps users achieve their goals.

7. List
Use lists. These are clearer and easier to scan on the web.

8. Main heading
Always have a good, relevant, main heading. It is crucial to help people assess and understand what is on the page. It is also important for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

9. Sub-headings
Add sub-headings to clearly group related information on a page, and to make content easier to scan.

10 Keywords first
Put the important keywords first in headings and links.

11. Tone
Who are you writing for? If you want to create an informal personal feel try writing in the first-person (using ‘I’), while the third person should be used to convey a formal air of authority (he/she/it).

12. Get it checked
Poor spelling, grammar, and factual accuracy can cast a negative image on the website owner.

13. People read differently on the web
In eye-tracking studies it was found that 80 percent of readers scan, they don’t read web copy line-by-line. Captions, headlines, crossheads and pull-quotes are therefore good ways to get information to people who are unlikely to read the text in detail.

14. Don’t just repurpose print copy
A brochure is not a website. A press release is not a web page. Use the tips above to determine whether copy needs to be changed, shortened, or re-written.