Author: Lois Summers

If you’re looking for [insert service or product here], you’ve come to the right place.

Still reading? The above sentence is an example of how not to write for the web. Why should readers believe that claim? They’ve seen it at other sites, and they’re still looking. Show site visitors why they should buy from you, make your web pages easy to read, and lay out the steps to take action.

And always remember the Back button. Your readers will.

In this three-page article:

• Part 1: Seven Steps to Writing Web Content
• Part 2: You’re the Editor
• Part 3: Mistakes Identified

Part 1: Seven Steps to Writing Web Content

Good web writing inspires reader confidence and helps readers find what they’re looking for. Less-than-good writing leaves readers to stumble over errors and plod through vague or unnecessary words.

Steps to effective web writing:

1. Organize your content
2. Start each page with key information
3. Write for web readers
4. Support your statements
5. Direct site visitors to the next steps
6. Edit your work
7. Proofread the final version

1. Organize your content

Help site visitors find information fast by organizing it on pages with content-specific titles. Look at each content area on each page and ask yourself, "Does the title of this page indicate where site visitors expect to find this information?"

FAQ pages often become catch-all pages for information that would be easier to find on pages with related content. If you must have an FAQ page, move at least some of its content to pages about the topic. Group remaining items by content area, and add headings.

2. Start each page with key information

Remember the Back button? Site visitors need to find information relevant to their search within a few seconds or they’ll be on to the next site. Web readers are impatient readers. Tell them what they most need to know in the first few sentences to give them reasons to keep reading.

When you’re on the Home page of a service provider’s site, what do you want to read first:

• Promotional superlatives and other adjectives
• The year the company started business
• The name of the company owner
• The services the company provides
• The company’s focus, approach, and other details that make it unique
• Fluffy clichés

If you chose (d) and (e), decided that (b) and (c) could be covered later, and mentally deleted (a) and (f), you’re thinking like a web writer.

3. Write for web readers

Web readers with medium and high reading levels skim and scan. Readers with low reading levels read word for word. When the text becomes difficult, they look for the next link.

Both types of readers are looking for answers to their questions. If they have to wade through wordiness to find information, they may turn to the Back button.

Present information for web readers using web writing techniques:

Headings

• Divide each page into sections with headings and subheadings
• Use words in the headings and subheadings that summarize the section content

Paragraphs

• Break long paragraphs into more than one paragraph
• Give each paragraph one main idea
• Avoid more than a few paragraphs under each heading
• Vary paragraph lengths

Lists

• Put content that reads like lists in bulleted or numbered lists
• Break lists of more than five to eight items into multiple lists with their own headings

Sentences and words

• Keep most sentences no longer than about 20 words
• Choose words that convey precise information
• Use action verbs when possible
• Avoid clichés (overused expressions)

4. Support your statements

Don’t just tell readers that you have the best service. Show how good your service is with details about your features, and include some client testimonials.

For example, if you write that you have "state-of-the-art" technology, what does that mean? "State of the art" is used over 13 million times on the web. Give readers specifics about your technology.

5. Direct site visitors to the next steps

What do you want site visitors to do after reading your web page?

• Go to a page with more information
• Order your service or product
• Contact you

Link to the possible next steps at the points of decision on each page (and check that all the links work). Use anchor text that tells readers where the next steps lead.

6. Edit your work

Editing your work (or having someone else edit it) increases your credibility and provides a courtesy to your site visitors — they can read and find answers faster.

Print your work and use the above steps as a checklist for content choice and structure. Check your work further:

Content

• Weigh each word and content area for its usefulness, and if it doesn’t add value, delete it
• Make sure that all the details in each paragraph and section support the main idea of the paragraph or section
• Look for places where information may be missing (dates, pricing, countries in mailing addresses) and add it
• Read the text from the point of view of a potential client to see if any questions remain unanswered

Mechanics

Check and correct:

• Grammar
• Punctuation
• Capitalization
• Spelling
• Consistency of spelling and style

7. Proofread the final version

Proofreading should be the last step before publishing your work. Ask someone else to proofread it for you if possible. If you’re proofreading your own work, allow at least a day, preferably longer, after you finish writing and editing it.

Online reading is more difficult than reading from paper; you need to print your work to proofread it adequately. Once it’s printed, read it out loud with a ruler under the line you’re reading, looking at each letter and word. Mistakes to look for:

• Repeated or missing words
• Extra or missing spaces
• Spelling (including typos)
• Incorrect capitalization, punctuation, or abbreviations
• Incorrectly ordered items

Pay special attention to titles, headings, and captions, which readers will notice first.

To test your editing skills, continue to Part 2.

Part 2: You’re the Editor

If your site contains sloppy grammar, punctuation, or spelling, you may appear uneducated and unintelligent. Site visitors may infer that this carelessness or lack of ability extends to your service. Poor word choice and content organization also create obstacles for readers. You’ve reduced the chances of their arriving at the point of sale.

While writing mechanics have rules (see Part 3), effective content organization and style choices are based on web writing principles covered in Part 1. In this part of the article, we apply these web writing principles.

On this page:

• Can you edit this?
• Content rewritten
• Content and style choices in the rewritten version
• Content and style problems in the first version

Can you edit this?

The draft Home page below includes writing styles and errors found in a survey of over 40 web host sites. To edit it, see if you can find the following:

Organization and content

• Parts that could be deleted, shortened, or moved
• Content that would be easier to read in list format
• Places where the details are incomplete
• Overused expressions that are repetitive or have little meaning

Grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes

• Grammar: agreement, clauses, word forms, and word choice
• Punctuation: apostrophes, commas, and hyphens
• Spelling: incorrect spelling and words incorrectly written as one word or two words
• Errors with capitalization and abbreviations

The numbers at the beginning of each paragraph are for reference where the style choices and errors are identified below and in Part 3. Underlining is where links would be.

¹ Started 2 years ago, Something Hosting is truly the best one-stop solution web hosting company. We are honest and straight forward people, however our competitor’s are not very good.

² Our servers are located in the worlds best high secuirty datacenter in NumberOne Datacenter in Dallas, TX. Our lightening-fast state of the art servers are maintained by skilled tech’s from the ground-up with shared hosting and reseller hosting on seperate servers.

³ Are you looking far and wide for a cheap web hosting solution thats suitable for beginners? Look no fruther than Something Hosting! Your account comes with free feature packed ready to install top of the line software, that’s installed with one click installs via the easy to use control panel, making site management simple! This Packages have shared hosting, reseller hosting, toll free support, Site Builder, VPS, Windows servers, cPanel, multidomain accounts and domain name registration. We only have a limited amount of reseller packages, we reccomend you click here to buy now, otherwise you may be too late!!

⁴ Setup fees of $20 per acct applies if you pay monthly where as starting august 2004 when clients pay annually we setup accounts for no charge!! We provide a 30 day money back guarantee on all of our hosting plans.

⁵ Does your website need it’s own server? In the next 3 to 4 months, we are going to add alot of dedicated Servers to provide a full-line of services. To signup to recieve our news letter, click here.

⁶ Something Hosting continuously strives to provide low prices for each and every one of its costumers. You can rest-assured that any and all questions are answered in a prompt and timely manner with open arms. We believe that our mission, is not just providing cheaper prices, but a good support aswell. Click here for our customers testimonials and our FAQ’s.

⁷ We provide many different ways to get quick support like our Tech forums, help desk, and knowledge base, which covers a wide-range of many different topics.Providing superior support, is a passion, we are more than please to help you. We’re committed to keeping our customers satisfy in anyway we can time and time again. You won’t be dissapointed with us.

Content rewritten

Affordable pricing and fast, helpful support form the foundation for our web hosting services. We offer Windows hosting packages featuring cPanel control panels and other user-friendly features. Are you new to web hosting? An experienced webmaster? We help you get started at Something Hosting, and we help your site grow.

Our services

• Shared hosting
• Multidomain accounts
• Reseller hosting
• VPS hosting
• Domain name registration

Coming in July 2005: dedicated servers.

Why host with us?

• Our support is fast and accessible. At our helpdesk, we aim for a maximum 30-minute response time for urgent questions and a maximum 24-hour response time for non-urgent questions. We also offer toll-free support. In addition, you can find many answers to questions in our knowledge base and forum.
• Our pricing is competitively low for the features and support we offer.
• Our company has been in business since 2003. We’ve earned our clients’ trust with our straightforward approach.
• Our servers are professionally maintained in the high-security NumberOne Datacenter in Dallas, Texas, US. Our downtime is rare.
• Our clients recommend us. Read our client testimonials to see what they say.

Content and style choices in the rewritten version

The first paragraph uses details to show the focus of this company’s services. Helpdesk response times are added to support the claim of fast support. Company information is moved down the page.

The list of company services comes next (still "above the fold," or before readers have to scroll). Each item is hyperlinked to a page with details about that service; the details don’t need to be on the Home page. A useful addition would be the main features of each service listed somewhere on the page, also with links to pages with more information.

The remaining details are grouped in a bulleted "Why host with us?" list, with bolded subjects and with informational words in link anchor text.

Content and style problems in the first version

Format

Places where the information would be more readable in list format:

• Plan features in (3)
• Company services in (3) and (5)
• Reasons to choose this company (throughout)

Expressions

Overused expressions become clichés. They take up space while adding little information, and they portray the writer as unoriginal.

Repetitive expressions:

• far and wide (3)
• each and every one (6)
• any and all questions (6)
• a prompt and timely manner (6)
• time and time again (7)

More clichés:

• one-stop solution (1)
• state of the art (2)
• look no further (3)
• rest assured (6)
• with open arms (6)

Incomplete details

What year is two years ago from when the page was written? When will we know when the next three to four months have passed? Where is "TX" to people who aren’t in North America?

• 2 years ago (1)
• TX (2)
• in the next 3 to 4 months (5)

With web writing, specific points in time such as "since 2003" and "in July 2005" provide clarity. "TX" is adequate if you’re targeting only people in the US. If you want to attract clients from other countries, however, don’t make them have to guess your country.

Part 3: Mistakes Identified

After going through steps to writing web content in Part 1, you sat in the editor’s chair in Part 2 to reorganize and rewrite. In this part, we examine some common grammar, punctuation, spelling, and related mistakes.

On this page:

• Grammar
• Punctuation
• Spelling and compound words
• Abbreviations and capitalizations

The numbers in parentheses refer to the paragraph numbers in Part 2. Some of the examples have more than one type of error; the relevant error is bolded. Where the correct form isn’t clear from the example, it’s shown after the example and a separating vertical line (|).

The explanations with the errors are summaries only. For more explanations of grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes, see Wordsweave.com Editors’ Resources.

Grammar

Agreement

In grammar, the subject of a sentence is who or what does the action. Singular verb forms follow singular subjects, and plural verb forms follow plural subjects. Problems with subject-verb agreement:

• Setup fees of $20 per acct applies (4) | fees…apply
• We provide many different ways…which covers (7) | ways…which cover

Countable nouns (nouns that can be singular or plural) and uncountable nouns (nouns that don’t have a plural form and are about things that can’t be counted) don’t have the same grammar rules. Non-native English speakers in particular confuse the articles and other words that go with these nouns. Native English speakers also make mistakes with this grammar. Examples of mistakes:

• A singular adjective with a plural noun: this Packages (3) | this package
• A word for an uncountable noun with a countable noun: amount of Reseller Packages (3) | number of reseller packages
• A singular article with an uncountable noun: a good support (6) | good support

Restrictive and non-restrictive clauses

Restrictive clauses contain information that restrict the meaning of the main clause. The clause starting with that in the previous sentence is a restrictive clause — it restricts what the noun information refers to. Non-restrictive clauses, which begin with the pronoun which and not that to refer to things, contain extra information. Restrictive clauses don’t have commas around them, while non-restrictive clauses do.

• Correct pronoun and punctuation for a non-restrictive clause: knowledge base, which covers (7)
• Incorrect pronoun for a non-restrictive clause: top of the line software, that’s installed (3) | which is installed

Wrong word forms or word choice

Some words are often confused with words that look similar to them. One example is continuously (without stopping; uninterrupted) and continually (repeated many times). The following is not correct:

• continuously strives to provide low prices (6) | continually

In these examples, adjectives are incorrectly written as verbs:

• we are more than please to help you (7) | pleased
• keeping our customers satisfy (7) | satisfied

Punctuation

Correct punctuation helps readers recognize relationships and omissions. Incorrect punctuation forces readers to slow down to understand, and it sometimes changes the meaning.

Apostrophes

Apostrophes are used to show possessives (except with its) and contractions (including the contraction it’s for it is or it has). The first two bolded examples need apostrophes before the final s; the first one is possessive, and the second one is a contraction. The third example is a plural possessive noun, so it needs an apostrophe after the final s.

• the worlds best (2)
• Its in a… (2)
• click here for our customers testimonials (6)

Apostrophes are not used for plural nouns or its as a possessive adjective. The following examples should not have apostrophes:

• our competitor’s are not very good (1)
• maintained by skilled tech’s (2)
• it’s own server (5)
• and our FAQ’s (6)

Comma after the subject

A comma doesn’t go between a subject and a verb. The following commas should not be in these sentences:

• We believe that our mission, is (6)
• Providing superior support, is a passion (7)

Comma splices

Comma splices occur when two independent clauses (containing a subject and a verb) are separated with a comma instead of a period or a semicolon. Commas and periods are not interchangeable. The bolded commas should be replaced with periods or semicolons:

• We are honest and straight forward people, however our competitors are not very good. (1)
• We only have a limited number of reseller packages, we reccomend you click here to buy now, otherwise you may be too late. (3)
• Providing superior support is a passion, we are more than pleased to help you. (7)

Independent clauses can also be joined with a comma and a coordinating conjunction, such as and, but, or so. If you join two independent clauses with a conjunctive adverb such as however or otherwise, you must use a period or a semicolon between the first independent clause and the conjunctive adverb.

Hyphens

When two or more words function together as a phrasal adjective, they’re hyphenated if they come immediately before a noun. If phrasal adjectives come after a noun, they are not hyphenated:

• Our…state of the art servers (2) | state-of-the-art servers
• feature packed ready to install top of the line software (3) | feature-packed, ready-to-install, top-of-the-line software
• easy to use control panel (3) | easy-to-use control panel
• installed with one click installs (3) | one-click installs
• toll free support (3) | toll-free support
• 30 day money back guarantee (4) | 30-day money-back guarantee

The following examples should not be hyphenated:

• maintained…from the ground-up (2)
• to provide a full-line of services (5)
• that covers a wide-range of…services (7)

Spelling and compound words

Spelling mistakes

When you aren’t sure if a word is spelled correctly, check in a dictionary.

• secuirty (2) | security
• lightening (2) | lightning
• seperate (2) | separate
• fruther (3) | further
• reccommend (3) | recommend
• recieve (5) | receive
• costumers (6) | customers
• dissapointed (7) | disappointed

Two words written as one word

Two-word verbs (verb-preposition combinations) are written as two words when they’re verbs and as one word or as hyphenated words only when they’re adjectives or nouns. Other words are also sometimes incorrectly written together. Check in a dictionary when you aren’t sure.

These bolded words should be written as two words:

• we setup accounts for no charge (4)
• we are going to add alot (5)
• To signup to receive (5)
• good support aswell (6)
• in anyway we can (7)

One-word compound nouns written as two words

The bolded words are one word, not two.

• We are honest and straight forward people (1)
• if you pay monthly where as starting (4)
• receive our news letter (5)

Abbreviations and capitalization

Shorthand writing is common in forums and newsgroups, but it doesn’t look professional on web pages. Names and the first words of sentences are capitalized, while nouns that are not names of some type are not.

• Word abbreviated that shouldn’t be abbreviated: acct (4)
• Word not capitalized that should be capitalized: august (4)
• Capital letters where they aren’t needed:
  • This Packages (3)
  • dedicated Servers (5)

Author: Lois Summers

Lois Summers is a web writer and editor with an obsession for words and rhythm, content organization, details, and presentation. She organizes her writing and resources online at wordsweave.com.