Writing for the Web

People don’t read online they scan.  It takes 25% more time to read online vs. printed materials.  Adapt your writing style for the Web.

1. USE INVERTED PYRAMID: Write the most important info FIRST. Readers may never make it past the first few lines.

2. GRAB READERS WITH HEADLINES:  Good headlines grab readers and make them stop.  Subheads help break up text on a page, making content easier to read. (Note: For SEO, try to include key words / search terms in your headers & subheads)

3. WRITE STRONG LEADS:  The first sentence on the page is called a lead.  Hook readers with the benefits, telling them what they’ll find on your web site. (Note: For SEO, include 3 to 4 key words / search terms in first paragraph).

4. STAY ABOVE THE FOLD:  Keep most important info above the fold (area before people have to scroll down).  Less then 50% of audience scrolls below the fold.

5. AVOID LONG SCROLLING PAGES:  Lot’s of short pages are preferable to few long pages.   If you have to use long text, consider allowing readers to print and read.  Another option is use FAQ format, that anchors a specific text link at the top (table of content) to a text block below.

6. LIMIT USE OF PDF FILES:  Not great for users.  Restrict PDF files for distributing long docs intended for print.

7. USE ACTIVE VOICE:  That is, the subject performs the action (ACTIVE) instead of receiving it (PASSIVE).  (Example: [Y] Search engines skip Flash pages, [N] Flash pages aren’t read by search engines.)  You might be using passive voice if you’re using verbs like: to be, there is, there are, or -it is.

8. EMPHASIZE 2ND PERSON:  Second person forces you to talk about benefits not features.  Use your or you explicitly as the subject or implicitly with imperative verbs, such as buy, review, call or sign up.  Possessives imply ownership, empowering consumers.  Get personal… your marketing copy must break the boundaries of the screen.

9. USE 1ST & 3RD PERSON SPARINGLY:  You can slide in some 1st person (our or we) – just don’t spend too much time talking about yourself and your business.  Your readers don’t care.  And don’t be impersonal or create distance with third person.

10. STAY INFORMAL:  In most cases, an informal, conversational tone works best; however,  that’s no excuse for obvious grammatical errors -such as subject/verb agreement.

11. KEEP IT SHORT:  We’re busy people.  Use short words, short sentences, short paragraphs and short pages – always placing the most important words and information near the beginning.

12. USE BULLET LISTS:  Think powerpoint style NOT essay; sentence fragments are fine.

13. INCLUDE TEXT LINKS: Link frequently to other pages within your web site, this helps people quickly find information they want and help move them through your site.  (Note: For SEO, if you happen to create links using some of your key words you may earn extra points for improved search engine ranking.)

14.  WRITE VIVIDLY: Use nouns and verbs rather then strings of adjectives and adverbs.

15. SKIP JARGON: Write language your readers will understand.

16. BE YOURSELF:  Let your personality shine through; use wit and humor to keep readers plugged in.

17. CHECK SPELLING & GRAMMER:  Start out in Word, check spelling, paste in text or csv to remove formatting and paste into web files.

18.  HAVE OTHERS READ WHAT YOU WRITE: It’s easy to get too close to your writing.  Have someone else read it for clarity, accuracy and omissions.

19. PROOFREAD: Read your text outloud.  It’s the fastest and easiest way to find mistakes.

AIDA for Web Design

Title: AIDA in Web Site Design

A = ATTENTION | I = INTEREST | D = DESIRE | A = ACTION

The four standard steps of direct marketing (known as AIDA) apply to web site design as well.

ATTENTION: Get viewers’ attention by using 1. graphics, 2. a grabbing headline and 3. a “quick glance” of the benefits (what’s in it for me).  You have 4 SECONDS to convince them they’ll find something of value on your web site.

INTEREST: Create interest with site design and EZ navigation.  Include intriguing options that pull people to additional pages on your web site.

DESIRE: Create desire and a sense of urgency as visitors move themselves toward taking action (i.e. Buy Now/Free Shipping, Bookmark Page or Forward to a Friend, etc…)  Using marketing copy, images and SPECIAL OFFERS, to online activities, cool tools or entertainment – find ways to pull them in.

ACTION:  Right from the beginning, make it obvious what you want visitors to do.  Whether it’s to buy online, make a call, send an email, or sign-up for a newsletter – make it utlra-EZ for them to take this action.

SEO Techniques Article

I met John P today.  He created the web site www.htmlhelp.com and suggested we read this article.  Giving you the highlights and a link for more info:

Article: Improving Search Engine Rankings / SEO: Fact vs. Fiction

Design Checklist

• Offer a site map with links that point to important parts of the site. If the site map is larger than 100 or so links, break it into separate pages. These help search engines locate all of the content on a site.
• Make sure each page is reachable by at least one static link. If a search engine cannot find your document, it will never show up in a user inquiry.
• Keep URL’s simple and static. Complicated URL’s are difficult for people to type and hard to remember. Additionally, longevity is a factor in search ranking (more on this later…).
• Keep the site hierarchy fairly flat. That is, each page should only be one to three clicks away from the home page. This aids both humans and machines in navigating the site.
• Avoid the unnecessary use of frames as search engines often have difficulty indexing them correctly.
• Minimize the use of Macromedia flash as well as Java applets. Although they can add useful demonstrations and animations to a site, they are not indexed by search engines.
• Since dynamic page content is expected to change frequently, the relevance to search keywords will probably not be maintained. Moving content to static pages will improve indexing and lighten the load on the Web server.
• Make sure internal pages link to the homepage to aid navigation.
• Organize content by topic and divide the site into logical sections, each focusing on a given topic. This allows search engines to better target specific information relevant to keyword searches.

Design Summary

A Web site which is optimized for search engine effectiveness will be as easy to navigate as a good book. The home page should read like a table of contents, linking visitors to relevant information organized into useful sections. Sites which feature dynamically generated content such as forums or weblogs should still incorporate static HTML pages to aid search engines. Images, animations, scripts and videos should be used only when text is inappropriate and they add to the value of a given page.

Content Checklist

• Create a useful, information rich site and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.
• Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content or links. Search engines can’t read images, and neither can people with visual disabilities.
• Choose topics which are original and unique.
• Limit pages to a reasonable size. If the content is lengthy offer a Table of Contents and divide the information into usable pages. This also allows each section to be more targeted by search engines.
• Exercise “Conservation of Words”. Once you’ve gotten the message across, stop writing. Verbosity for the sake of increasing “keywords” will only drive real visitors away. And that’s not good for traffic building!
• Proof-read, spell check and get peer reviewed. Every site can benefit from multiple opinions and multiple content edits. If your content isn’t good enough to be published in the newspaper it won’t be good enough to compete on the Web against millions of other pages.
• Make sure the TITLE element for your document is concise and accurate. The page TITLE is used by search engines to display link text as the result of a search.
• Ensure that each IMG element includes an ALT atribute.
• Provide links to interesting, related content when appropriate, but keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number.
• Always reference citations and sources. This indicates to search engines that the content is of research quality.
• Illegal content within a page will most likely result in that page’s omission from search engines. Especially in certain countries.

Content Summary

Put more time and energy into developing content that will be useful to people, and less into worrying about it being “pretty” or where it is going to show up in search engines. You will get many times the return on your investment.

Linking Checklist

• Search engines monitor the rate of acquisition of links to a site. Too many, too fast could indicate “unnatural” link buying activity and harm a site’s rankings. This is another reason not to buy into any “buy a bunch of links” schemes.
• Search engines also monitor the rate of removal of incoming links to a site. If several sites begin simultaneously removing links it may indicate a user-affecting issue.
• Broken outgoing links which are not rectified promptly will indicate that a site is infrequently updated to search engines and can potentially harm rankings.
• Affiliations between a linking site and the linked site may be inspected by some search engines. If for example, they share an IP address or have a common postal address on the “contact us” page, the search engine will, at best, ignore the link.
• Be sure that sites you link to are relevant to the topic of your Web page and will be appreciated by your visitors.

Links Summary

Links, paid or otherwise, are generally considered a good thing for search engine rankings; however, the link source must be relevant, constant and reputable.

See entire article here: http://www.htmlhelp.com/feature/seo/

Table of Contents

• Abstract
• Search Engine Theory
• Designing for Search Effectiveness
• Content Recommendations
• Technical Recommendations
• Site Linking & Popularity
• Other Factors
• Pitfalls
• Summary
• Resources

BLOGGING: RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

BLOGGING TIPS: RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (notes from Layered Technologies LTPACT 2007 panel “Marketing Power”)

• Generally 200-300 words
• Written professionally
• No questionable content or linking to questionable sites
• Don’t share confidential company information
• Don’t bash competitors
• Be smart – don’t be an a-hole
• Only lawyers can post legal stuff
• No approval process / open forum

Share your expertise, be an authority / Communicate directly with your customers / Share your personal views about your company and its values / Linking to other blogs-online resources improves Search Optimization / Find blogs you respect and link – back-link to them; if you comment on other blogs it links back to your blog / Blogging has risk – don’t censor – don’t control / Don’t control your writers; you have to want to let go / Negative materials has to be allowed to live on your blog / Be open to criticism & respond / Better love-hate – then don’t care / Better they write negative on your blog then someone else’s / It’s about open conversation / Wacky – make fun of yourself / Write about your passion; specifics of interest / Cult community / Are bloggers your ideal type of customers? / If yes, offer your best customer a blog on your site; say I trust you / Recruit people from your forum / Recognize vocal customer (LVP – VIP) / Rally your customer base -most customers are radical about your success / Entrepreneurs usually have a good story to tell

> What is blogging:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog 

> What is Technorati: In May 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 71 million blogs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technorati

> What is Digg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digg