The Importance of Writing

Websites have to juggle many things to make their sites successful. Technology is one which we of course cannot avoid - blogs, videos, slide shows, animations, interactive sites, and the list goes on.

How good your website looks - colour, layout, where your items are positioned and overall design also makes a difference.

But, I have seen very few people address writing.

A techy web designer from Particletree advocates the power of writing. He is trying to learn a new skill, and in the process found for us a good list of places to go.

This is what he says about writing, which he also calls communication, quoting from another blog Writing clear and simple:

The words you use, either written or spoken, can have powerful effects on your audience‚—if you use them carefully and skillfully. Whether your goal is to inform, to persuade, to call for action, or to entertain, your words and your stories can be powerful. They can be powerful, because language is software for the mind.

Here are some of the links he gives to help with writing skills:

• Elements of Style
  

• Poynter.org
  

• The New York Times - Grammar and Usage

• The Economist Style Guide
  

• Guide to Grammar and Style
  

• Guide to Grammar & Writing
  

Writing for the web is also a special skill. After honing some good preliminary writing rules and skills, it is still important to gear your writing for the web rather than for print. People read differently on the web.

I have written a blog and an article about this which you can preview here.

Reading Online

People read websites differently than they do books or other printed material.

One pattern of website reading resembles the letter F:

Reading the first few lines from all the way horizontally from left to right, with vertical scanning taking precedence going down the page.

Another online reading behavior is that people will look for outstanding cues like bulleted words, changes in color, type-face and font size variations and supporting graphics and images.

What is happening is that online readers want their information quickly, easily and fast.

Unless readers come to your website purely for the writing (and there are websites which are primarily there for reading long articles and essays), the reality is that they want a web version of writing.

I discuss this in my article: "How to make the most of your website", which is in fact written in the exact manner that I describe above, with bullets, font changes and color variations.

To obtain this article, both as an example of online writing (of a relatively long article) and to improve your website, you can purchase the article for only $5, and read a preview of it by logging into the membership section.

Here is an excerpt from "How to make the most of your website" which focuses on writing online:

How can you make your website a success?

• One of the most important things about a website is that you say everything you want to say in an organized manner, in a way that whoever is reading will easily remember by connecting with you.

How can you do this?

• Make sure your website address is easy-to-remember
  • Use your name or the name of your company for your address
  • That way your website address alone can become your publicity
• Most people scan online, they don’t really read
  • Don’t write too much
  • Make it easier for people by bulleting and highlighting your text
• Try to use some images in your website
  • Don’t rely only on text
  • Find the appropriate images. For example, people really like to see photos of the people involved in the website and the business
• Have an interactive space
  • Have a comment box for your email so people can write back to you on the website. That way they feel like they’re talking to you
  • Try to have slide shows and other galleries. By clicking buttons, people feel they’re participating in the show
• Make it easy to browse through your website
  • Have a simple design
  • Edit out as much as possible – text, images, buttons, etc…
  • Have clear links
• Finally, don’t forget your external links
  • People always want to know who you are associated with
  • Have carefully selected links to other websites in your Links section

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Reference:
Online Literacy Is a Lesser Kind
Slow reading counterbalances Web skimming
By MARK BAUERLEIN
The Chronicle for Higher Education