Writing for the Web
A quick article from a blog that I have been enjoying quite a bit recently. It's good to see that a professional copywriter is telling his clients essentially the same things I tell mine,
Then we come to the question of how to write for the web. Basically, it’s not the same as writing for print media. It needs to be:
- Shorter by about 50 per cent compared to print
- Free of hype or marketing polyfiller
- Free of long words and jargon
- Written for scanning: bullets, highlighting, shorter paragraphs
- In my opinion, left justified not fully justified down both margins
How to justify type may be a matter of taste, but on all other points -- yes! So, what this says is keep it simple. Content development for the web should be easy. And yet, content development is always the biggest stumbling block to successful completion of a website.
Go easy on yourself, folks (and your readers). This doesn't need to be as hard as you're making it.
Phil Hertzler | 06.07.06 | 3 comment(s)
Reader Comments
Of course, my own advice doesn’t stop me writing the occasional long post on my blog. But rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools! <grin>
Posted by Matthew Stibbe, author of Bad Language on 06.23.06 at 12:05
Thanks for the shout out. It always mystifies me when people say that content development for the web is difficult. I suspect it’s because they always leave it to the last minute or think it’s someone else’s problem. I write copy for the web all day every day (I’m writer-in-chief at Articulate Marketing - it’s what we do) and it isn’t difficult for me! <grin>
But the gist of all of this is, yes, keep it simple but above all, keep it short.
Posted by Matthew Stibbe, author of Bad Language on 06.23.06 at 3:17