A Sneak Peak into Web Writing

The words that make up a webpage, or an entire website for that matter, have to be strategically written in order to appeal to visitors, customers, and search engines alike.  And if you have ever found yourself in charge of crafting the perfect paragraph of web copy filled with search engine-friendly keywords and customer-informing verbiage, you know this can be quite a complicated task.

And because this deceptively elementary, but highly essential part of maintaining a successful website has haunted our dreams and tormented our reality with the gruesome task of pleasing both humans and computers, I have come up with a "Web Writing Sneak Peak" in hopes all of you will stop banging your head against the wall and start banging out the web copy.

METADATA

In order to facilitate the needs of search engines, it is important to remember the behind the scenes HTML code that search engines use in order to locate, display, and rank a website.  This behind the scenes code called Metadata consists of four common HTML elements.  These elements include description, keywords, title, and alt text.  Metadata is extremely important for search engine ranking, as well as for converting a searcher on a search engine to a visitor on your website.  If you would like to examine your own or any other website's Metadata, simply locate your favorite browser's View source option and search for "meta."

ONLINE READERS SCAN, NOT READ

A 2006 study conducted by the Poynter Institute school of journalism explored the differences of users when interacting with words in print versus words online.  Poynter tracked the eye movements of nearly 600 participants while the subjects were reading both the printed and the online version of various publications.  Poynter found that nearly 50 percent of the participants viewed the web version substantially different from the print.  While reading online, the subjects deviated from the left-to-right reading standard and haphazardly scanned the computer screen for relevant information.  Because of this, it is safe to say that people have a certain expectation when it comes to browsing the Web, and therefore, web writers should focus more on writing short paragraphs filled with relative keywords and less on creating long and drawn out paragraphs that take minutes to read.

USEFUL, USABLE, ENGAGING, FINDABLE

For web copy to be useful, you must remember to anticipate the keywords your visitor is interested in.  Also, make sure your website is easy-to-use.  Strive for clear navigation cues, labels, page titles, and URL names that make sense.  Engage your visitor.  Be personable.  The purpose of your website is to answer a question just as a customer service representative would, so personable text counts.  Last, but not least, make sure your website offers "findability."  Findability is an industry term that refers to how well your user and a search engine can locate information on your site.  Try to use action verbs and keywords together, but try to avoid clutter and keyword repetition.

Although these tips are highly celebrated as ways to become a better web writer, there are many other methods you can employ in order to improve your website's content.  Regardless of this fact, I hope this sneak peak into web writing has jump-started your interest and fine-tuned your web writing skills. 

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Sunday, September 05, 2010