Lately I’ve been researching speakers for writing conferences and I’ve seen a lot of web content that really needs work.
Often it’s not the writer’s fault—they don’t know what they don’t know. But, if they did know, it wouldn’t be that hard to fix.
So today I thought I’d write an article about web writing. But I know you’re busy. And I’m busy. So I’ve kept it brief with 5 quick tips for writing web content that will engage your reader rather than annoy them.
Choosing fonts
How many do you currently use? Here’s a tip: you need only two. Three at the most. Pick one for your main font (easy to read) and one for your headings (a display font that suits your brand). Using several fonts looks messy and unprofessional.
Also, don’t use the same size as you would in print, e.g. Times 12pt. Web writing needs to be bigger. Yes, readers can increase their screen size—but they won’t.
Choosing colours
Beware of writing on background colours (like pink and blue). And typing over images. And grey text on white background. Ok, beware of all colour use!
Use WebAIM’s colour contrast checker to see whether your colour choices pass usability tests.
Using headings
My advice about headings is simple: use them! Web readers scan a page before reading and informative headings tell them whether they should stick around.
Using paragraphs
Again, my main advice is to use them. On screen, keep your paragraphs short because blocks of text look like too much effort. Your readers’ eyes will skip to the parts of the page that look easy to read.
I know you put a lot of effort into your prose but, I assure you, they’ll ignore much of it.
Keep paragraphs to a few lines and only two sentences per paragraph. Three if they’re short.
Writing to be found
With web content, you’re writing to be found. So figure out what your keywords and phrases are (i.e. what a potential customer would type into a search engine to find you) and use them throughout the text.
Don’t overdo it—use them in the title, headings and where relevant in the text. Google is a complex machine but this stuff really does help.
Of course, there’s a lot more to web writing but these quick tips will definitely get you started.