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Writing Web Copy That's Easy to Scan
It's easy to hold some romantic notion that someone's going
to brew up a mug of coffee, curl up with her laptop on the
couch, and browse your web site for a while. Trust me: that
never actually happens (except in commercials). If people are
visiting your site, they're there for a reason. As much care
and love as we might put into crafting captivating copy,
the honest truth is that most visitors won't actually read it.
In reality, they'll probably scan it for a second or two to see
if it's what they're looking for, and move on if it's not.
Create Visual Hierarchy
Creating a consistent visual hierarchy throughout your site
gives your readers visual cues to the importance of various
elements by using color, contrast, size, and relative placement.
Working with a graphic designer at this stage can be critical.
You can use style sheets to apply these rules consistently
throughout your site.
Make it Easy on the Eyes
Don't tire reader's eyes with small type, brash color combinations
and wide columns. Conventional print wisdom tells us to use
serif fonts for body copy and sans-serif for headlines, but
Web Marketing Today's user survey found that web readers tend
to prefer sans-serif fonts. Type vendors have made strides
over the last decade to optimize popular fonts for screen
readability, but remember this golden rule: you can specify
any font in your web pages, but people will only see the fonts
actually installed on their computers. For this reason, I
usually recommend commonly-installed fonts like Verdana or Arial.
Intro. Body. Conclusion. Repeat.
Remember back to fourth grade when you first learned to write
essays? I can hear the teacher now: "Intro, Body, Conclusion."
Dust off that phrase and hum it like a mantra while you're
writing your web copy. Start by creating outlines -- for each
page and every paragraph within that page. Intro - Body - Conclusion.
Summarize the page content within the first paragraph.
Now go back to each paragraph and summarize its content
in the first sentence.
Headlines can Build Interest
Legendary adman David Ogilvy once stated that "four out of five
people don't read past the headline, so when you've written
your headline, you've spent eighty cents of your ad dollar."
Though you may feel you've spent lots of time fine-tuning your
copy, it's time to go a step further and give your paragraphs
a heading. Your first aim is to summarize content, but if you
can tease readers' interest, that's even better. Why not ask
a question to be answered by the subsequent paragraph? (And
while you're at it, see if you can use one of your key search
terms in the heading or subheads to boost rankings).
Practice Makes Perfect
Like many art forms, writing effective web copy is a skill
that grows with use. You don't have to change your site's copy
all at once. I recommend starting with your most visible pages
and working your way through the rest of your site applying
these principles. Creating an easy-to-scan site enables visitors
to find what they're looking for, read what's most important,
and get further into your content-rich site without feeling
bogged down.
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Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.
Henry Van Dyke
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