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A Guide to Writing for the Web
Mike Hopkins and Chris Madison
Agenda
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Reading on the Web
Writing Web Content
Tips
Resources
 Note: Writing for the web is about so much more than the
written word
How do Users Read on the Web?
 “They don't”
 Jakob Nielson, Alertbox for October 1, 1997
 (data validated again in 2006)
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Most web readers scan pages
Pick out relevant words and sentences
79% always scan a new page
16% or less read every word
How Do Users Read on the Web?
 Web a visual medium
 Construct meaning from
 headings,
 sub-headings
 links and bold or emphasized text
 Print longer text to read offline
Users’ State of Mind
 User driven medium and users want to feel they are
active on the web at all times and get tasks done
quickly.
 Users are in an engaged and action-oriented state of
mind.
 Constantly deciding whether to jump to anther part of
the page, site, web, etc.
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3-10 seconds to get their attention and keep it before they hit the
back button or another link (perhaps much less)
The back button is the most frequently used browser command.
 Web medium and net culture encourages behavior
with hyperlinks, etc.
Users Read Text Before Images
 People tend to read text (3/4 of the time) before they
look at any images – exact opposite of what they do on
paper.
 Think of how you scan a newspaper – we tend to read
the headlines and pictures first.
 Go to briefs and captions first, then scan pictures.
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Stanford and Poynter Institute study on reading online
newspapers. http://www.poynterextra.org/et/i.htm
Writing Web Content
Preparing to Write
Know your audience
Know your audience
Know your audience
Know Your Audience
 You are not your audience
 Take yourself out of the design process
 Who are your audiences?
 Write for the 80%
 Write for primary and secondary audiences (if significant)
 Do not write for the exception
 Don’t even consider writing until you know who you
are writing for and how to engage them
Basic Demographics
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Age and gender of target audience?
Educational level?
Spending habits??
Occupation and hobbies?
Geographical location?
Are they expert (professionals) or novice? (consumers) with your
subject area?
Why are they coming to your site?
What do they want to do/find?
What is their reading level?
Level of comfort with browser, web, etc.?
User Research
 Demographics are just “the facts” not the meat
 What is your user’s worldview?
 We employ many research methodologies; qualitative
user research, task analysis, etc.
 For this class if you can, interview someone else
about your subject are; How do they think about the
subject of your site in their daily lives? What
perceptions or misconceptions do they have? What
information interests them? What questions do they
want to know about the subject? What tasks might
they want to do? What features might they want?
Web Writing Style: Inverted Pyramid
Print
Web
Build up to conclusion  State conclusion first
through the points and
 Summarize your main
detail
points in the first
paragraph
 Provide detail or
supporting material at the
end
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Writing Style: Inverted Pyramid
Header
Blurb
Background info,
supporting details, links,
call to action
Islands of Content
 Each page is an “island of content”
 User can land on it from anywhere
 Writing for 3D hyperspace
 What is this page about?
 Who is it for?
 Expert, novice, type of user
 Where is this page in relationship to the rest of the
site?
 What can they do?
 What do you want them to do?
How to Write for the Web
 “How to Write for the Web”
 By John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen
 Results show most usable writing style is:
 Concise
 Scannable
 Objective
Writing for Scanning: Use
Hierarchies
 HTML naturally designed for hierarchy and
users create meaning from the hierarchy
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Page title
Topic title or heading
Sub-topic or sub-heading
Topic Sentences: Some viewers read ONLY the first
sentence in a chunk.
 Bold words (italic is not easy to read on the web and
should generally be avoided)
 Links (see below for developing a linking style)
 Other forms of emphasized text (with visual
treatment, etc.)
Structure Content: Concise
Information Chunks
 What is a chunk? Any idea that needs to be accessed
individually.
 One idea per chunk.
 Not more than 100 words.
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Every word within a chunk is visible on the screen at one
time.
 Organize chunks into CLEAR hierarchies
 A well constructed chunk provides the reader with all
of the information they need to know as well as links
to related or supporting pages.
 Readers may or may not have read the page before the one
they are on and may not read the following page.
Be Concise and Objective
 Remove extra “marketing” words when not
needed, avoid hyperbole
 Promotional text adds to cognitive load as users
have to evaluate truth
 Cut text by 50% from a (non-web) written version
 1 page on the web = 1/2 page of print
Be Concise and Objective
AND Personal!
 The web is a personal medium. You are talking
directly to your users on a one-to-one basis. Engage
them!
 Capitalize on their action oriented engaged state of
mind
 Use action oriented voice, imperative statements such as
Order Now! Start Here!
 Nike Home
Write for Scanning: Bulleted Lists
 Bullets
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Bulleted lists are easy for users to scan
Most effective list is 3 – 5 items
If list is to long loses effectiveness
Break into logical subgroups or combine elements in the list
Write for Scanning: Tables
 Tables can help organize information
 Especially good when users need to compare options
or understand sequential order
 Examples: Program Summaries
 Compare All Programs
Optimization
 Optimize every part of the page
 Headers and sub-heads
 Catchy names don’t give users the information they need
 Summaries and other micro content
 Site Point Guidelines
 Tibco Example (move and relink)
Embedded Linking
 Links can mislead!
 Users scan links to determine content
 Link carefully
 Don’t link users OUT of your content before you
want them to leave the page or your site
 Users tend to click on the first link they see
 Don’t link just because you can
 Typical example:
 SU school pages often mention Stanford
University in first paragraph and link to SU
Home. User clicks out of the site and never
returns.
Embedded Linking Style
 Lower usability
 This embedded link is surrounded by text.
 Embedded link is followed by text.
 Higher usability
 Example:
 This is not an embedded link
 The additional descriptive text appears as a
separate line
Get Important Content
“Above the Fold”
 Users are now more comfortable with scrolling
 When in a hurry they don’t always do so –
miss content
 Very audience dependent
 Online shoppers may not scroll
 Prospective students are highly motivated and
are more likely to scroll
 Even experienced users often miss important
information if it is not “above the fold" or
amount of content that displays in their monitor
 EXAMPLE of solution
Writing for Printing
 All content is not appropriate for web writing style
 If it is a document you intend the user to print and
read:
 Provide a brief summary of the document so that user knows
whether the document is relevant to them.
 Sub-divide the info, add TOC, subheadings, links, anchors,
 Assume the user will print the entire document to read it.
Make SURE the entire document prints with one print
command – never break up text that needs to be printed in
one document – process, job aids, research papers, etc.
 Use Cascading Style Sheets to control print (removes
navigation and extra graphics)
Writing to be found – Search
Engines
 Various types of search engines
 Crawlers
 Human Power Directories
 Hybrid of both (getting more common)
 Test content periodically with various search
engines - make sure the results are what you
want
 Check Search Engine Watch regularly for
updates
 Best info now requires membership
Writing to be Found – Search
Engines
 A few tips from Search Engine Watch
 Search engines will also check to see if the search keywords
appear near the top of a web page, such as in the headline
or in the first few paragraphs of text. They assume that any
page relevant to the topic will mention those words right from
the beginning.
 Frequency is the other major factor in how search engines
determine relevancy. A search engine will analyze how often
keywords appear in relation to other words in a web page.
Those with a higher frequency are often deemed more
relevant than other web pages.
 Go explore more! Search Engine Placement Tips and
other articles
Writing to be Found Accessibility
 There is no usability without accessibility
 Basic guidelines for accessibility can be found at:
 508 Checklist
www.webaim.org/standards/508/checklist?templatetype=3
 WC3 Consortium http://www.w3.org/WAI/
 Mike quick recap here
Writing for the World
 “Start with Plain English”
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Use short sentences
Use simple, common, concrete words
Use “you” (second person)
Use the active voice mostly
Use positive language
Put the main idea first
 Be stricter than usual about sentence
length
 20 word maximum
 P. 47 & 50 Web Word Wizardry
Adapting for
World Wide English
 Try to avoid slang, hidden metaphors, and idiomatic expressions
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Just around the corner
The tip of the iceberg
In the ballpark
 P. 50 Web Word Wizardry
 Be specific with dates
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Example: 3 February 2006
 US: 2/3/06
 Others: 3/2/06
 Others: 06/2/3
 Etc.
On a form, give them the date format such as mm/dd/yyyy
 P. 56 Web Word Wizardry (adapted)
Adapting for
World Wide English
 Avoid phrasal verbs (two or more words)
 Instead of pick up , write collect
 Instead of pick up on, write notice or observe
 Instead of pick out, write choose or select, etc.
 Use simple tenses
 Beware of short common words with many
meanings
 Double-check the clarity of, it, they, this, these,
that and those
 P. 52 Web Word Wizardry
Example: Bechtel page!
Jargon Free Zone
 Avoid domain jargon
 Avoid abbreviations unless they are universally
recognized (USA ok)
 Write for the un-indoctrinated
TIPS
A few tips on writing your content
Home Page Content
 First time visitor needs to immediately know what your site will do
for them
 Home page is an ad for the rest of the site –
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Must sell users to continue their exploration and return again and
again if that’s appropriate
 Include:
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What is this site about and who is it for
Why should I be here?
What is the benefit of continuing to explore the site
What are my options, what is the site hierarchy?
Timely content and teases for the rest of the site
Search, short-cuts, registration, etc.
Where do I start?
Write to Brand
 Everything about a site is the brand
 Site architecture, information architecture, visual design, and
every word you write
 What is the brand? How do you want it be experienced?
 “Experience is the brand” . . . Clement Mok
 See Resources section below
 Write to gain the trust and credibility
 Web democratizes – you need to stand out as reliable, up-todate
 Disclose who is behind the site, where you are located, etc.
Address Specific Audience
 Voice and emphasis can differ from section to section
or user segment to user segment if appropriate
 Examples:
 Prospective students versus parents
 Expert versus novice users
 Luxury purchase versus basic necessity
 In general a conversational tone is preferred by web
users (goes back to personal nature f the web)
Response Cues
 Web is an interactive medium - What do you
want the user to do?
 Don’t strand them at the bottom of the page –
direct them
 Every page can have a call to action.
 Call to action
 Fill out a form
 Proceed to deeper information
 Email
 Sign-up
 Invite them to act in their own interest to get them to
respond
 Tell them the benefits of their action.
Response Cues: Example
 “Just fill-out this form to make sure you get regular
updates on the latest research in biotechnology – and
you may win a free seminar of your choice! ”
Establish a Style Guide
 Develop a style guide for your site:
 Establish a glossary for you/your writers that shoes
how to address abbreviations, acronyms,
capitalization, gender, italics, numbers, quotes,
product names, proper names and trademarks
 Provide standards for bibliographies, references,
unusual punctuation
 More p. 136 The Web Writers Guide
Establish a Style Guide
 Include commonly missed web terms such as:
 Logon – noun
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Log on – verb
(sign-on better end-user term)
World Wide Web – formal name
WWW – formal abbreviation
web – web pages, website
Minimize Hyphenation
 Use online not on-line
 Email versus e-mail – your choice but pick a standard.
Some editors still prefer E-mail to make meaning clearer.
 More at:
http://www.webreference.com/content/writing/overcome.html
Content Development/Mgt.Plan
 For large professional sites we develop a content
development/management plan which includes the
whole world of information design as well as process
and technology
 Tool include: page templates, content templates
 Methods for presenting quantitative information, etc.
 As well as technical strategies like content management
systems, etc.
 Just be aware that all this exists when you venture out
into the world
Question Everything
 Question every idea and word you want to put
on the site – everything you write is for a user
– think and then think again about why you
want to include each piece of content.
 What is the benefit of every word to your
audiences?
Test Meaning!
What Meaning Did You Create?
 Web is a visual medium
 Test the meaning you have created
 Ask someone else to tell you what the page is
about WITHOUT reading the text – just the
headings, subheads, links, etc.
 Rules of thumb: reduce your text by 50% from print
 Red Cross Authorized Provider
Resources
Netography
 Jakob Nielsen’s useit.com
 http://www.useit.com/
 (search on writing for the web)
 Quality Web Content
 http://www.webpagecontent.com/
 (by author of Web Word Wizardry)
Netography (and writing
resources)
 Microcontent: How to Write Headlines, Page
Titles, and Subject Lines
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/980906.html
 Writing Headlines
 P.124 Nielsen, Designing Web Usability (book)
 Writing Hypertext Copy
 http://kbs.cs.tu-berline.de/~jutta/ht/writing/text.html
Netography
 Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr.
 Newsgroup on English language use
 http://alt-usage-english.org/fast_faq.shtml
 Writing Web for the Web; Quick and Easy Tips for Nonwriters
 http://www.webreference.com/content/writing/
 A List Apart: Articles: 10 Tips on Writing the Living Web
 Many many more – look up Writing for the Web
Bibliography
(linked to Amazon)
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The Web Writer's Guide
by Darlene Maciuba-Koppel
Hot Text
by Jonathan Price (Author), Lisa Price (Author)
Writing for the Web (Writers' Edition)
by Crawford Kilian
The Web Content Style Guide
by Gerry McGovern (Author), et al
Designing Web Usability: The Practice of
Simplicity
by Jakob Nielsen
Prioritizing Web Usability
by Jakob Nielsen, Hoa Loranger
Bibliography
 Web Style Guide
by Patrick J. Lynch, Sarah Horton
 Web Word Wizardry A Net-Savvy Writing Guide
by Rachel McAlpine
 Persuasive Online Copywriting
by Bryan Eisenberg, et al
 The Online Copywriter's Handbook
by Robert W. Bly
 Developing Online Content
by Irene Hammerich, Claire Harrison
 Words That Sell
By Richard Bayan
Bibliography
 The User is Always Right: A Practical Guide to Creating and
Using Personas for Web
Steve Mulder with Ziv Yaar
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Chapter Available:
 http://www.boxesandarrows.com/files/banda/long-live-theuser/Mulder_TheUserIsAlwaysRight_Ch3.pdf
 About Face 2.0 The Essentials of Interaction Design
By Alan Cooper and Robert Reimann
 Emotional Branding: the new paradigm for connecting brands to
people
Marc Gobé
 The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding
By Al and Laura Ries