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The No Fluff Zone: Writing for the Web

Your online audience may be missing the point: If your web content reads like your hard-copy publications, it can delay users from getting to the solutions they want. Instead of reading "fluff," web users seek actionable content, where they can quickly hunt down the relevant information themselves.

As you write your content, ask yourself how well it meets the following criteria:

Searchable

• Search engines need to read keyword-rich copy on your pages so they can understand how to classify your site. Write compelling copy based on your most relevant keywords.
• Use Your Words. Incorporate your keyword phrases into each page's unique title tag. The information that you place in this tag shows up as the clickable link to your site at the search engines. It should accurately reflect both the content of the page it's on and also the keyword phrases people use at a search engine to find your site.
• Label your internal text links and clickable image alt attributes (alt tags) as clearly and as descriptively as possible. Your site visitors and the search engines look at the clickable portion of your links (the anchor text) to help them understand what they're going to find. Don't make them guess what's at the other end with links that say "click here" or other non-descriptive words.

Example 1: Even the mouseover (or screentip) is a source of information.

On this site, passing your cursor over the picture of the phone below brings up the screentip “Permanent Link to Motorola DROID review (Verizon Wireless).”  Much more descriptive than “mobile phone.”

Succinct

• Follow the "KISS" rule—Keep it Short and Simple. Exhaustive reading is rare on the web, so state the most important information first.
• Large blocks of text or a busy page prevents an interactive experience. Users find such pages boring or difficult to read. Use of whitespace between paragraphs and in the left and right margins increase comprehension by almost 20%. (Lin, 2004)
• Make any interaction self-explanatory. It should not take your users more time to figure out what to do on your site than it takes to actually do it.

Example 2: The lengthy content on this page is hard to read and comprehend.

Example 3: Short content and easy-to-read headings make this page easy to understand.

Scannable

• Make sure your information architecture is clear, consistent, and appropriate. Titles, navigation, and the overall organization of your site should be apparent at first glance.
• Organize content into "digestible" chunks. The page layout should direct the reader's eye and enhance the message.
• Digits stand out in a sea of text, because numbers represent facts. Write numbers with digits, not letters (24, not twenty-four) up to one billon. With larger numbers (one trillion and higher), write them out because most people cannot interpret that many digits.
• Go for an "F." Research on eye tracking shows that people read a Web page in roughly an "F" pattern, that is, they scan down the left side of your content and then glance towards the right. Start subheads, paragraphs, and bullet points with information-carrying words (including keywords) that users will notice. For example, instead of linking from the phrase "Click here," or "More," link from a more descriptive phrase, such as "tips on writing for the web."

Example 4: Heat maps from user eyetracking studies of three websites.

The areas where users looked the most are colored red; the yellow areas indicate fewer views, followed by the least-viewed blue areas. Gray areas didn't attract any fixations. Nielsen, Jakob (2006). F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content. Retrieved November 5, 2009, from the Jakob Nielsen Website.

Examples 5 and 6: Web pages that utilize the "F" pattern.

Styled for Easy Reading

Preferred fonts for the web:

• Styles: Use easy-to-see, common, sans serif fonts (Arial, Helvetica, or Geneva). Don't use serif fonts, such as Times Roman, Courier, or Palatino. At typical monitor resolutions (which are a lot lower than printed materials), serif fonts are harder to read.
• Sizes: Use 10-12 point fonts for most body text because other sizes reduce reading speed. An exception would be to increase the font size a couple of points if you are targeting an older audience. Make sure also that you allow sufficient spacing between lines.
• All-caps: Avoid. It's hard to read text in all capital letters.

Preferred formatting for the web:

• Underlines: Underlines are expected only on hyperlinks, so avoid using them in regular text. To emphasize text, use other formatting (e.g., different size, bolding, italics, or text color). DO underline your links, or have a very good reason not to. In short, make your links obvious.
• Consistency: Don't use a wide range of font styles, colors, or sizes in the body. Reserve such formatting for emphasis, and keep that spare.
• Text background colors and images: White backgrounds for body text are a strong convention. Navigation and header background colors should also be relatively light to enhance legibility. Avoid writing text on a similarly colored background, e.g., black text on a dark red background.

Example 7: Multiple font choices and colors make it difficult to focus on any one area of this webpage:

Satisfying

• Assess your site from an objective standpoint: is the look-and-feel and editorial tone appropriate for your audience? Does your page make your company look professional and credible?
• Use common language rather than made-up terms (this also improves search engine visibility, since users search with their words, not yours).
• Add graphics, but only if they enhance your message
• Make sure, in as few clicks as possible, that Web users can find answers to their questions
• Create error messages that are supportive rather than alienating. Unintended actions by the user should be easily reversible

Example 8: This webpage is easy to read and understand; and its layout makes it easy to navigate.

The work you put into your content makes a difference whether in your visitor converts into a customer. It's how your website becomes a marketing tool.

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