Help your clients to “get the message”
We continue our series of tips to help you write effective website content. Here are three ways to help people who visit your website “get the message” as quickly as possible.
Tip No. 10- Break up long sections of text
When people use your website, they want to find things quickly. Don’t expect them to read every line word for word.
If you use long blocks of text, there is a good chance that what you are saying will not register with many people.
These techniques help them find information quickly
- Bullet point lists, like this one
- Short sentences, with an average length of about 20 words.
- Short paragraphs, about 40 words or less. One-sentence paragraphs are OK.
- Bolding of important words or phrases, in moderation
- Subheadings
The easier it is for your audience to spot the key points, the more effective your website.
Tip No. 11- One main topic per page
Following on from the tip above, another way to make web content easier to understand is to focus on one main topic or idea per page.
There are additional benefits in doing this
- It becomes easier to create a logical, customer-friendly site structure.
- Search engines can more easily identify what the page is about.
Think of your website as a series of topics through which people move. People move from one idea to the next and different people will take different paths.
Better to have short pages and link them, than to try covering a range of subjects on one long page.
Tip No. 12- Make the important stuff obvious
Do you want your readers to see important information first? Of course. Then forget what you were taught at school about writing essays with an introduction first and a conclusion at the end.
Writing for the web is different to writing an essay. Tell people what you want them to know quickly, before they get bored and go elsewhere.
For example
- Write a headline that actually says what the page is about.
- Include the main point in the first sentence.
- Make special offers or calls to action stand out.
- The golden rule is that the more important it is, the more prominent it should be.
Clue Design provides professional advice about planning and writing effective website content. contact us to find out how we can help you. info@cluedesign.com.au
