Writing for the Web

Writing for the Web:
Today’s Best Practices

Dalya Massachi

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Today’s Speaker

Dalya Massachi
Founder,
Writing for Community Success
Assisting with chat questions: Hosting:
April Hunt, Nonprofit Webinars Sam Frank, Synthesis Partnership

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YOUR WEBSITE:
A KEY PART OF YOUR
OUTREACH STRATEGY

IMPROVED CONTENT:
RESULTS TO EXPECT

 Better educate, support readers
 Reach new, varied audiences
 Accomplish mission more
efficiently

OUTLINE
I. Intro

II. Today’s web users

III. Best practices to increase
usability & accessibility

IV. A bit of technical info
(All stats come from leading web usability expert,
Jakob Nielsen.)

WHO ARE YOUR READERS?
 Clients, Potential Clients
 Partners/Colleagues
 Researchers
 Funders
 Press
 Activists
 Casual web surfers

DATA YOU NEED TO GATHER
 Demographics
 Geographic location
 Limitations ($, education, tech)
 Values, hopes, and fears
 What they already know or believe
 Info or tools they need to act

ASK YOURSELF:

 What info do they want from reading
your website?

 What problems can you help them solve?

EXAMPLE:
ENVIRONMENTAL
EDUCATOR
As a middle-school science teacher, you’re always
looking for fresh, up-to-date material on today’s
pressing issues. With diminishing resources in our
public schools, you may find it increasingly difficult
to keep up with the times.
On the Eco-kids website, you will discover a wealth
of up-to-date classroom resources that reflect
changing frontiers in the environmental sciences. Get
teaching materials that will inspire your students with
over 50 lively discussion starters and activities!

HOW DO WE FIND OUT?

 Check web statistics
 Review event and service evaluation forms
 Take online or print surveys
 Hold focus groups
 Attend gatherings where they congregate
 Study published opinion polls
 Review other online media they use
 Ask others who also know about them

TODAY’S WEB USERS
In general, they…
 Have short attention spans
 Rely heavily on first impressions
 Need to know content is relevant first
 Read 25% slower than on paper
 Scan: Usually only the first 2 paragraphs,
headlines and/or the end
 Will spread your content if it’s good

TODAY’S WEB USERS
They are looking for:
 Benefits to their community: NOW
 Expert advice that’s easily accessible
 A “quick hit” on the new
 Inspiration & hope: we can do this!
 Reasons to trust you

BEST
PRACTICES TO
INCREASE USABILITY
& ACCESSIBILITY

DEFINE SITE/PAGE PURPOSES

 Increase readers’ understanding of issue
 Remind how you benefit the community
 Keep readers up-to-date
 Offer convenient purchase or donate system
 Project professionalism; encourage trust
 Keep readers connected to your org
 Be a landing spot for links from elsewhere
 Coordinate with social networking work
 Act as a pointer to other valuable related sites

COMMON WEBSITE SECTIONS
 Home: tagline; brief summary; what’s new; where to
go from here
 About Us
 Our community: “about you”; who this site is for
 Our Programs: what we do, how we do it
 Why We Do It: community need/benefit, values
 Blog
 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
 Calendar of Events

ABOUT US
Having a good About Us section helps users
understand your site as a whole.

 Summary: 1-2 paragraphs at the top about
the organization's mission/vision and main
accomplishments.

 Detailed info: people involved; strategic
plan; history; partners; include photos if
possible

REMEMBER…
Your web writing must be:

 Timely and valuable enough to justify the
time, mental engagement you take up

 In the "need to know" category

 Relevant NOW

 Scannable and a quick read

LEAD WITH THE MOST
IMPORTANT INFO
 Inverted pyramid format
 Summarize the main point:
who, what, when, where, why
(big benefits to gain, problems solved)

 Tell what the page is about and why anyone
should read it (2-4 lines)

 Start with an overview and link to details

This heat map shows where
users’ eyes traveled on a page.
Red and yellow are where they
spent the most time.

 So you want to put your most
critical info in the upper left-
hand corner and at the left
column

 1st 2 words of a sentence or
paragraph: most seen

“CHUNK” YOUR INFO
 Use focused, easy-to-understand categories

 Give a meaningful 1-line subhead to each
major chunk of text

 Use subheads that tell the story, as if they are
the only things your reader sees

 Got a list of 3 or more items? Number
(sequenced) or bullet (random) it. Intro:
sentence fragment or a sentence w/colon

CULIVATE CONCISENESS:
LESS IS MORE
 KISSS: Keep It Short, Simple &
Scannable
 Cut any text from paper
 Tell how to act right away — and why
 Sentences: 14-20 words max
 Every word should work
 Each item: 1-3 screens

BUT…
 Complicated topics, background/tech info
often benefit from longer copy: readers need
time to make an informed and confident
decision
 Keep to same page (don’t chop it up) b/c
search engines like at least 250-300 words
 Add summary or Table of Contents at the top

ENGAGE BOTH THE
HEART & THE HEAD

 Even left-brained people
need an emotional understanding

 Your reader will remember how you make her/him
feel more than anything else

TELL SUCCESS STORIES

 Capture the essence of your work
with short quotes from people
similar to your target readers
or people they care about

 Talk about how people
have benefited: results and importance

LISTEN TO HOW YOU
SOUND
 Conversational/informal:
o use the second person (“you”)
o can include sentence fragments
o o.k. to begin with a conjunction (and, but, so)

 Friendly, warm; contractions o.k.

 Easy to understand (clear over clever)

AVOID JARGON

 Familiar words spring to mind when
users search for you; include them!

 If you must use technical terms or
acronyms, explain them the first time

 Avoid American slang

 Would readers use the term themselves?

EXAMPLE

“Are you sure you want to navigate away
from this form?”

“Are you sure you want to close this
window?”

TIE BACK TO YOUR MISSION
AND VISION…REPEATEDLY

 Always remember to summarize it in 1
sentence or less

 Evoke a vision of what things will be
like when you fulfill your mission

ISSUE CALLS TO ACTION

 Use in at least some sections
 Include all the details they need
 Provide easy ways to interact with you
 Feature a special offer (preferably with
deadline)
 Reminder of benefits they will enjoy by
acting now

USE LINKS
STRATEGICALLY
Use links in your sentences to:

 Send the reader to important background or
related material
 Explain unusual or technical terms
 Emphasize important info (repeat in strategic
spots to follow reader’s train of thought)

HOW TO PHRASE LINKS

 First 11 characters: most important
 Use plain, specific language
 Follow conventions for naming common
features
 Front-load with action and keywords
(first 2-3 words)
 Don’t mislead or promise too much

FOCUS ON YOUR HEADLINES
 Use a few words to tell the gist of the story
 Should include at least 3 keywords for SEO
 Use present tense if possible
 Often all people see on small screens or RSS
feed: must be accurate out of context
 Predictable before clicking

MORE ON KEYWORDS

 Need 2-3 “core” keywords and variations
(-ing, -ed) for each page

 Use them: 2-3 times on short pages;
4-6 times on longer ones
 Call them out with bold, italics, links, etc.

FOR MOBILE DEVICES
Use shorter blocks of text with just
keywords

Most relevant, useful info at the top

Create narrow, bulleted lists

Eliminate unnecessary white space
(it forces users to scroll)

SENTENCE STRUCTURE
 Subject-verb-object
 1-2 ideas per paragraph (1-4 sentences)
 Keep “if” before “then”
Click the “Edit” link if your address is
incorrect.

If your address is incorrect, click the
“Edit” link.
 Use basic verb forms: infinitives, commands,
simple tenses
 Stay positive (avoid negatives when possible)

COMPLEMENT WITH GRAPHICS
 Not just filling space as an afterthought
 Use short, lively captions with keywords
 “Micro-copy”: summarize your story/
highlight your message
 Add clear alt-text descriptions to images
 Identify people from L to R, double-check all
name spellings
 Use active, present tense verbs
 Find action shots, not “posing”

TRACK TRAFFIC
Website metrics tell you:
 How many hits did we get?
 How many are unique visitors?
 How are people finding the website?
 What search terms are they finding us with?
 What websites link to us?
 What are the most popular pages on the site?
 Who is the average visitor tech-wise (platform/
browser/ screen resolution)?

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

 Jakob Nielsen’s Website: useit.com

 The Yahoo! Style Guide

 Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content
that Works

SUGGESTION
Step 1: Go to your website.
Step 2: Find a colleague or two to play a
“new user.” You will take notes.
READER: Narrate your train of thought.
 What do you like?
 What’s missing?
 What do you skip?
NOTETAKER: Resist the urge to explain.

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Writing for the Web

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