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Writing for the Web:

Today’s Best Practices

Dalya Massachi

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Synthesis Partnership works with nonprofit

organizations facing or creating change to

align strategy, identity, capacity and facilities

with vision, mission and values.

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Affordable collaborative data

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Today’s Speaker

Dalya MassachiFounder,

Writing for Community Success

Hosting:

Sam Frank, Synthesis PartnershipAssisting with chat questions:

April Hunt, Nonprofit Webinars

YOUR WEBSITE:

A KEY PART OF YOUR

OUTREACH STRATEGY

IMPROVED CONTENT:

RESULTS TO EXPECT

Better educate, support readers

Reach new, varied audiences

Accomplish mission more efficiently

OUTLINE

I. Intro

II. Today’s web users

III. Best practices to increase

usability & accessibility

IV. A bit of technical info

(All stats come from leading web usability expert,

Jakob Nielsen.)

WHO ARE YOUR READERS?

Clients, Potential Clients

Partners/Colleagues

Researchers

Funders

Press

Activists

Casual web surfers

DATA YOU NEED TO GATHER

Demographics

Geographic location

Limitations ($, education, tech)

Values, hopes, and fears

What they already know or believe

Info or tools they need to act

ASK YOURSELF:

What info do they want from reading your website?

What problems can you help them solve?

EXAMPLE:

ENVIRONMENTAL

EDUCATOR

As a middle-school science teacher, you’re always looking for fresh, up-to-date material on today’s pressing issues. With diminishing resources in our public schools, you may find it increasingly difficult to keep up with the times.

On the Eco-kids website, you will discover a wealth of up-to-date classroom resources that reflect changing frontiers in the environmental sciences. Get teaching materials that will inspire your students with over 50 lively discussion starters and activities!

HOW DO WE FIND OUT?

Check web statistics

Review event and service evaluation forms

Take online or print surveys

Hold focus groups

Attend gatherings where they congregate

Study published opinion polls

Review other online media they use

Ask others who also know about them

TODAY’S WEB USERS

In general, they…

Have short attention spans

Rely heavily on first impressions

Need to know content is relevant first

Read 25% slower than on paper

Scan: Usually only the first 2 paragraphs,

headlines and/or the end

Will spread your content if it’s good

TODAY’S WEB USERS

They are looking for:

Benefits to their community: NOW

Expert advice that’s easily accessible

A “quick hit” on the new

Inspiration & hope: we can do this!

Reasons to trust you

BEST

PRACTICES TO

INCREASE USABILITY

& ACCESSIBILITY

DEFINE SITE/PAGE PURPOSES

Increase readers’ understanding of issue

Remind how you benefit the community

Keep readers up-to-date

Offer convenient purchase or donate system

Project professionalism; encourage trust

Keep readers connected to your org

Be a landing spot for links from elsewhere

Coordinate with social networking work

Act as a pointer to other valuable related sites

COMMON WEBSITE SECTIONS

Home: tagline; brief summary; what’s new; where to go from here

About Us

Our community: “about you”; who this site is for

Our Programs: what we do, how we do it

Why We Do It: community need/benefit, values

Blog

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Calendar of Events

ABOUT US

Summary: 1-2 paragraphs at the top about the organization's mission/vision and main accomplishments.

Detailed info: people involved; strategic plan; history; partners; include photos if possible

Having a good About Us section helps users

understand your site as a whole.

REMEMBER…

Your web writing must be:

Timely and valuable enough to justify the time, mental engagement you take up

In the "need to know" category

Relevant NOW

Scannable and a quick read

LEAD WITH THE MOST

IMPORTANT INFO

Inverted pyramid format

Summarize the main point:

who, what, when, where, why (big benefits to gain, problems solved)

Tell what the page is about and why anyone should read it (2-4 lines)

Start with an overview and link to details

This heat map shows where users’ eyes traveled on a page. Red and yellow are where they spent the most time.

So you want to put your most critical info in the upper left-hand corner and at the left column

1st 2 words of a sentence or paragraph: most seen

“CHUNK” YOUR INFO

Use focused, easy-to-understand categories

Give a meaningful 1-line subhead to each major chunk of text

Use subheads that tell the story, as if they are the only things your reader sees

Got a list of 3 or more items? Number (sequenced) or bullet (random) it. Intro: sentence fragment or a sentence w/colon

CULIVATE CONCISENESS:

LESS IS MORE

KISSS: Keep It Short, Simple &

Scannable

Cut any text from paper

Tell how to act right away — and why

Sentences: 14-20 words max

Every word should work

Each item: 1-3 screens

BUT…

Complicated topics, background/tech info often benefit from longer copy: readers need time to make an informed and confident decision

Keep to same page (don’t chop it up) b/c search engines like at least 250-300 words

Add summary or Table of Contents at the top

ENGAGE BOTH THE

HEART & THE HEAD

Even left-brained people

need an emotional understanding

Your reader will remember how you make her/him

feel more than anything else

TELL SUCCESS STORIES

Capture the essence of your work

with short quotes from people

similar to your target readers

or people they care about

Talk about how people

have benefited: results and importance

Conversational/informal: o use the second person (“you”)o can include sentence fragmentso o.k. to begin with a conjunction (and, but, so)

Friendly, warm; contractions o.k.

Easy to understand (clear over clever)

LISTEN TO HOW YOU

SOUND

AVOID JARGON

Familiar words spring to mind when

users search for you; include them!

If you must use technical terms or

acronyms, explain them the first time

Avoid American slang

Would readers use the term themselves?

EXAMPLE

“Are you sure you want to navigate away

from this form?”

“Are you sure you want to close this

window?”

TIE BACK TO YOUR MISSION

AND VISION…REPEATEDLY

Always remember to summarize it in 1 sentence or less

Evoke a vision of what things will be like when you fulfill your mission

ISSUE CALLS TO ACTION

Use in at least some sections

Include all the details they need

Provide easy ways to interact with you

Feature a special offer (preferably with

deadline)

Reminder of benefits they will enjoy by

acting now

A BIT OF

TECHNICAL INFO

USE LINKS

STRATEGICALLY

Use links in your sentences to:

Send the reader to important background or related material

Explain unusual or technical terms

Emphasize important info (repeat in strategic spots to follow reader’s train of thought)

HOW TO PHRASE LINKS

First 11 characters: most important

Use plain, specific language

Follow conventions for naming common

features

Front-load with action and keywords

(first 2-3 words)

Don’t mislead or promise too much

FOCUS ON YOUR HEADLINES

Use a few words to tell the gist of the story

Should include at least 3 keywords for SEO

Use present tense if possible

Often all people see on small screens or RSS feed: must be accurate out of context

Predictable before clicking

MORE ON KEYWORDS

Need 2-3 “core” keywords and variations

(-ing, -ed) for each page

Use them: 2-3 times on short pages; 4-6 times on longer ones

Call them out with bold, italics, links, etc.

Use shorter blocks of text with just keywords

Most relevant, useful info at the top

Create narrow, bulleted lists

Eliminate unnecessary white space (it forces users to scroll)

FOR MOBILE DEVICES

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Subject-verb-object

1-2 ideas per paragraph (1-4 sentences)

Keep “if” before “then”

Click the “Edit” link if your address is incorrect.

If your address is incorrect, click the “Edit” link.

Use basic verb forms: infinitives, commands, simple tenses

Stay positive (avoid negatives when possible)

COMPLEMENT WITH GRAPHICS

Not just filling space as an afterthought

Use short, lively captions with keywords

“Micro-copy”: summarize your story/ highlight your message

Add clear alt-text descriptions to images

Identify people from L to R, double-check all name spellings

Use active, present tense verbs

Find action shots, not “posing”

TRACK TRAFFIC

Website metrics tell you:

How many hits did we get?

How many are unique visitors?

How are people finding the website?

What search terms are they finding us with?

What websites link to us?

What are the most popular pages on the site?

Who is the average visitor tech-wise (platform/ browser/ screen resolution)?

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Jakob Nielsen’s Website: useit.com

The Yahoo! Style Guide

Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content

that Works

SUGGESTION

Step 1: Go to your website.

Step 2: Find a colleague or two to play a

“new user.” You will take notes.

READER: Narrate your train of thought.

What do you like?

What’s missing?

What do you skip?

NOTETAKER: Resist the urge to explain.

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