Maximizing Your Website - Entries tagged "Writing for the Web"

MonMondayAugAugust16th2010 Better Web Writing Part 2: Words As Pictures

Posted Monday, August 16 2010 @ 9 AM byTriplePixel Tagged Best Practices for Organization Websites Writing for the Web 0 comments Add comment

Writing Compelling Content for Your Organization or Business Website.

There's a saying that "pictures are worth a thousand words." On the Web, because attention spans are so brief and space is so important, words have to be pictures. Confused? Use the advice below to start crafting your text into word-pictures.

Care how it looks.

Web content is a visual medium. Visitors like text that looks good on the page. If a page is not attractive, why would someone stay on that page, let alone read its content? If the text is distracting, visitors move on without reading what you have to say.

Use white space to break up chunks of text to allow the reader to scan the content. Use lists, bullet points, and tables to organize your blocks of text. Use bold and italics to make important words, phrases, and headings stand out. Limit the use of all caps and exclamation points. Include images whenever possible.

Instead of this...

Help us serve those in our community by providing for their needs and DONATE TO OUR ORGANIZATION!!
Our current needs include: cereal, instant potatoes, canned vegetables, baby formula, and pasta.
Please help us by dropping off your boxes or bags of NON-PERISHABLE foods in the Food Pantry bins in the lobby at our headquarters!!

Do this...

Help us serve those in our community by providing for their needs. Donate to our Food Pantry.

Our current needs include:

cereal

instant potatoes

canned vegetables

baby formula

pasta

Drop off your boxes or bags of non-perishable foods in the Food Pantry bins in the lobby at our headquarters.

Shorter the better.

Use short, choppy sentences. Chunk these sentences together into brief paragraphs of 2-3 sentences so as not to intimidate the reader with long blocks of text.

Like a newspaper article, answer all the important questions at the beginning (who, what, when, where, why, and how) and explain in more detail as the article continues. Cut out unnecessary information, adjectives, and adverbs. Adhere to the "Keep it Simple" attitude.

Example of short and choppy:

Calvary Baptist Student Ministries:

Impact is our ministry for students in High School. Impact students are committed to a single purpose: living for the glory of God. They meet three times a month in home groups and at a large group meeting twice per month.

Xtreme for Christ is our ministry for students in Junior High. They meet each Thursday at 7:00 P.M. in the Youth Room. Each week is filled with small discussion groups, worship, and hang out time.

Jesus And Me (JAM) is our Children's Ministry. JAM meets every Sunday morning and evening during our main worship services. Each child is given a Bible-based lesson, activity, and memory verse every week.

MonMondayAugAugust2nd2010 Better Web Writing, Part 1: Finding Your Voice

Posted Monday, August 02 2010 @ 9 AM byTriplePixel Tagged Best Practices for Organization Websites Writing for the Web 0 comments Add comment

Writing Compelling Content for Your Organization Website.

Visitors will come to your organization or business website because of flashy imagery, but they'll keep coming back for fresh, well written content. Writing for the Web is different than writing for other mediums. Web visitors have shorter attention spans than any other medium, so it is important to know how to write to keep their attention as long as possible and keep them coming back for more.

Over the next several blogs, we will give you tips for improving your Web writing. The first step to becoming a better Web writer is finding and developing your writing "voice." Your voice, like your speaking voice, is the tone projected by the words you use and how you use them.

Here are three keys to developing your voice:

Know your audience.

Before you begin crafting the words directed toward your website users, it is important to understand their expectations and wants so you can meet them.

Your clients or members want to feel in touch with your company and want to sense being cared for by staff from the minute they walk in your door. They want to interact with you and not feel like a number. You want them to feel at home, too, so when you greet these visitors to your business or organization, you smile, welcome them, and give them your undivided attention. Your writing voice should do exactly the same thing.

Be friendly.

Your tone has the power to invite people in or turn people away. Use informal language. Say "we" and "you" instead of "our clients" or "organization leaders" to make yourself more relatable. Use your page as a handshake and your text as a "welcome."

Example of friendly voice:

If you are interested in learning more about , we invite you to attend Meet the Pastors.

Meet the Pastors is a great first step towards becoming involved at Calvary. If you are investigating or have recently decided to make Calvary your church home, then we welcome you to join us at Meet the Pastors.

Please register for Meet the Pastors today. We would love to see you there!

Be firm and use active voice.

Use active voice when writing news articles or blogs to energize the content and involve the reader. Use strong commands when writing ad content to promote action. Use the present tense and confident words to give your text authority.

Example of firm, active voice using present tense:

Join us at one of our two Sunday services. We meet at 9:30 A.M. and 7:00 P.M. each week. We invite you to engage in Christ-centered worship and an application-filled study of God’s Word with us.

Visit our "What To Expect" page to find out more about our services and our beliefs. If you have a question or comment, fill out a Contact Us form.

SOURCES FOR THIS BLOG/FURTHER READING ON WRITING FOR THE WEB

The 10 Commandments of Internet Writing: Web Pro News

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