Everything you ever wanted to know about writing for the web

(But were afraid to ask)

With Sue Keogh from

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

AND WHAT DO THEY WANT?

Before you start writing, think…

• Why are people visiting your site?

• What are they after – information, advice or to be entertained?

• Are you talking to other businesses or consumers?

• Is it a specialist audience or are they just passing through?

• How much of what you say will be familiar and how much will you have to explain?

• Which part of the site are you writing? A homepage can be broad brush strokes, whereas the inner pages can be more detailed

A search for ‘bank holidays uk’

Search result no. 2

Lots of waffle to wade through and an artificially high level of Google and getting the banner ads seen…but doesn’t make for a

Search result no. 1

GOV.UK have spent time identifying user needs, which in this case is to find holiday is. And there it is, in massive letters at the top of the page. No waffle, know people need.

PUT THE GOOD STUFF FIRST

Front-load your content

• People scan content, rather than read every word on the page

• Put the relevant bits first so readers know exactly what they’re going to get. Don’t make them work for it!

• Putting keywords at the start of your titles and start blog posts with a summary

See how news organisations like the BBC front-load their content

Important keywords placed at the beginning so you can scan in a typical F formation and find the stories of interest to you.

Each title makes sense in isolation.

Abstract titles

These titles only make sense when you read them in the context of

But if the title isn’t strong enough, no one will click through to read

Tip: Never underestimate the power of a good title in your content! good title is time well spent.

Engaging titles

These titles make sense even when you don’t see the content.

The summary from Brainpicker picks out interesting nuggets encourage you to read on.

Front-loading works in social media too!

Putting those keywords at the start help readers who are media feeds.

USE PLAIN ENGLISH

Why use plain English?

• It’s not dumbing down. It’s making sure your content is more easily read and understood by everyone

• Words over 8-9 letters long can cause the brain to ‘stumble’, meaning the reader retains less of what you’re saying

• Go for shorter words that people recognise by shape alone

George Orwell: Rules for writers

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.Politics and the English Language, 1946

(worth bearing in mind when writing for the web, particularly point 2!)

Quiz! What can you say instead?

• Culmination

• Majority

• Opportunity

• Possibility

• Regulation

• At the present time

• Requirement

• Utilise

• Articulate

• Subsequent

MAKE IT EASY TO READ

How to make it easy to read

• Break it up! More white space helps you recognise

the words simply by shape

• Make friends with line breaks, headings and bullet

points

• Keep sentences below 25 words

Why is this so difficult to read?

Why is this easier to read?

PEOPLE WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT GOOGLE

Why so?

• When you rely on Google for new business, it’s easy

to get hung up on SEO.

• But try to write for humans, not robots.

• Create quality content that is interesting, useful or

helpful.

PEOPLE DON’T WORRY ABOUT GOOGLE ENOUGH

Why so?

• If you don’t use the language your audience is using to search, people won’t find you.

• Find out what keywords people are using when searching for your product or service. Include them in your titles, summaries, meta descriptions and headings.

• Tag and describe everything. Otherwise Google won’t know it’s there!

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Everything you ever wanted to know about writing for the web

(But were afraid to ask)

With Sue Keogh from