Slow and sorrowful;
Lazy and lethargic;
Crummy and crude;
Out-of-touch and out-of-date;
Prosaic and pitiful.
You’ll have several different pages of content on your website. And you want none of them to be described as that. What you do want is for:
- Each one of these content pages to be unique, even if they’re all pretty much saying the same thing;
- Each one of these content pages to be interesting and informative;
- And each one of these content pages to look good.
People reading on the web tend to read slower than average, or at least that’s what websites on ‘writing a website’ will all claim. I also hear that people who read on the web are a bit finicky as well. So you might need to change the way you write normally. When you’re writing a website, it’s therefore important to consider a few things to make you stand out.
- Short and Sweet: People reading websites don’t read much. They skip about a lot. And they look for main points. Keep things simple, short, and to the point.
- Readability: Make your website content writing easy to read. Break it up into blocks. Keep the sentences short. Make it look good.
- Headlines: Make the key information stand out. Give strong headings that make sense. Use subheadings that are easy to read and easy to find. Tell everything in as few words as possible; it’s the most that people will read anyways.
- Bite the Bullet: You might want to put everything into big blocks, but don’t. Use bulleted lists, and use them frequently. But don’t overuse them.
- Links: Always open a link in a new window. Why would you want people having to hit ‘back’ when they go to your linked site? It’s easier if all links open up a new tab on your visitor’s browser, making it easier to get back to you.
- Scrolling: People have mouse scroll balls and laptop scroll pads. And they use them to good effect. Break things up, give them a heading, and don’t get scrolled out of town.
- Be Up-Front: Don’t save the best for last when it comes to writing a website. Give your best information right at the top of your page, and say it loud and clear. Put the boring stuff last.
Now, if you were reading this on a website, I’d expect that you would have made it this far down the page. I’ve used bulleted lists, and I tried like hell to grab the reader’s attention right from the get-go. So now I can go back and write like I usually do, right?
Perhaps. That’s why there’s no formula for writing a great website content page. Websites change everyday, and the best site from last year is done and gone, at least if they’ve got the same old boring content. Things happen quickly on the web, and information is spreading and changing all the time. If you can hook people in, give them good information throughout your content page, and then get them to the end, that’s your handle.
Use your final bit of content to really reel them in. You’ve got them this far, now how can you convince them that everything you just said was factual, made sense, and wasn’t a legitimate waste of their time?
You can’t. Your content has already spoken for you. Anything you say now will just be redundant. So go back and make what you said earlier, better. That’s what website content writing is all about, after all, the continual process of change. Bit of a bummer, huh?