Two Types of Pages
- homepages are more promotional
- secondary pages are more informational
For the homepage of a website, you may be writing:
- headlines (give ideas of what special news or other timely items lay
deeper within a site)
- blurbs (accompany headlines, give more detail about those special items
and tempt readers to explore them)
- navigational links (guiding, site-wide index of the various main sections
within a site)
Web Blurbs
- no more than 1 or 2 sentences in length
- entice the reader to further explore the item
Effective Website Navigational Links
- should be 1-3 words in length (e.g. About J&W, Financial Services, Life
on Campus, etc), concise, and understandable to all audiences
- bad: Page 1, SAS, CDO
- weak: Sales, Services, Development
- strong: Sales Revenues, Academic Services, Career Development
Writing Goals
- all sentences contain approximately 20 words
- all paragraphs are approximately 3 short sentences
- all pages contain approximately 3-4 short paragraphs
When a paragraph has more than 3 sentences: Search for any sentence beginning with also, furthermore, nevertheless,
however, or some other transitional phrase, and make that the beginning of a new paragraph.
When a page contains more than 3 or 4 paragraphs:
- first: Identify the content areas that are covered
- next: "Chunk up" those content areas
- finally: Add additional descriptive links and pages to house those separate
content areas
Effective Hyperlinks
Enhance Scanability of your Pages
- get to the point ASAP
- bulleted lists
- descriptive words that are like keywords in searches/search engines
- subheads
- charts and graphs
- typographical variations (boldface, all caps, etc.)
The do's of online writing include:
- do use powerful words
instead of: get, consider: obtain, acquire, secure
- do use conversational language
avoid jargon like: implement, consider using: introduce, carry out
- do use ACTIVE not passive voice
instead of passive voice: Task forces are formed.
use active voice: Employees form task forces.
- do use words conveying immediacy
examples: upcoming, latest, recent
- quotes should be brief, 1 or 2 short sentences
Words to Avoid
- available/offered: If you have put it on your website, of course it is available or offered.
- click: Not all computers users use a mouse. This phrase takes up precious
space and is meaningless for those who have printed your page to read
elsewhere.
- come back often: Just make your website interesting and people will,
without having to be told.
- welcome: We don't welcome people to our newspapers, do we?
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