Websites
Introduction
Just as when you write an essay, when you write for the web, you want to make sure your ideas are clear and that you consider your audience as you write. However, there are some important differences between writing a traditional essay and writing for the web.
When you write for the web, you should keep these key differences in mind:
- Both your sentences and your paragraphs should generally be shorter. You don’t want heavy text on your web page.
- You’ll generally use a tone of voice that is a little more informal than a traditional, academic tone. When you write for the web, your audience is broader than an academic audience.
- Use subheadings to help your audience easily scan for main ideas or content that is the most important.
- Use links, images, videos and other relevant media to make your page more interesting and appealing. Just be sure that the media is relevant to your content.
Free Web Space
If you’re required to create web pages for your courses, be sure to check out the many free sites that not only offer free web space but also provide easy-to-use site building tools. Thanks to site building software, creating a web page is now as easy as pointing and clicking, choosing your design, and inserting text and images. This could be applicable to a college project, a blog, or even a professional website.
Writing Web Content
When writing for the web, one of the first things you’ll want to consider is your audience. You need to think about the type of questions your customers need answering before they’re ready to commit to working with you.
You might consider:
- Who is my audience? (This will vary by your purpose – is your website for academic or professional purposes?)
- What does my audience want to see?
- What information needs to be front and center?
- How can you make your content visually appealing?
You could put most of this on one page of your website or write a whole page about each individual topic if you need to.
Do you have a Unique Selling Point?
If you specialize in one particular area, make sure you put that information in a very prominent place on your website. Make sure customers can see why your service is a good match for their need.
Who Do You Work With?
“I offer a dog walking service in and around Bradford”
Make it clear exactly who you help. If it’s not obvious that they’re on a web page that can help them they’ll probably click the back button and try another site.
If we work together.
“This is what happens when you contact me. First we’ll chat about what you need and see if I can help…” People are afraid of contacting a professional. Let them know exactly what will happen after they phone you.
What Services or Products do you offer?
State clearly and exactly what you can do for the customer. You’re hoping that when your ideal customer reaches your web page they will immediately think “Aha! This is exactly what I need.” That’s the whole point of writing good website content.
Case Studies and Testimonials
Can you show your website visitors evidence of work you’ve done in the past? You’re hoping they will think “I want the results that these other people have got”. If you can get real people to vouch for you by providing a testimonial that’s even better. The higher status of the person giving the testimonial, the better.
About Us
Provide a bit of background information about you, what you do and why you are the best placed business to solve their problem. Try to come across as, a competent and easy to work with adviser who will get the job done with a minimum of fuss.
Contact Us
Make sure website visitors can easily see how to contact you. If your customers visit your premiss, add a Google map to your contact us page. Make sure they can easily find your phone numbers, email address, location and post code, etc.
Photos
If you perform a service such as painting and decorating, collect before and after photos to put on your site. If you sell products, take good quality photos of the products you sell. If you offer a service such as mentoring, show some photos of the actual people who do the work and make them look like they would be pleasant to work with.
Summary
There are many reasons to develop a website. You may consider developing a site to host content for academic (essays, research, presentations, portfolios) personal (blog, vlog, family website) or professional (resume, work samples) purposes. When writing good website content you should consider your audience:
- They’re in a hurry so be concise.
- They don’t intend to think too hard when figuring out what you’re talking about so get to the point fast.
- They want your information to be easy to find, so use headlines and sub headlines that explain exactly what each section of the page is about. There should be no confusion.
- Customers don’t want to be overwhelmed, so don’t put more than one big idea in any single paragraph.
- Parcel your words into easy to understand bite size chunks.
- Your site visitors want to get the information they need from your site as quickly and easily as possible.
Sources:
Glendhill, P. (n.d.) Writing good website content – a simple guide [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://philipgledhill.co.uk/writing-good-website-content/
“Web Pages.” By Excelsior Online Writing Lab. Retrieved from: https://owl.excelsior.edu/online-writing-and-presentations/multi-modal-writing/multi-modal-writing-web-pages/ Licensed under: CC-BY. Adapted by The American Women’s College.
