How to write web content that people will actually read.

1. Writing for the Web
How to write web content that this guy will actually read.

2. What I’m Going to Talk About
 Purpose/Goal of your website
 Your Audience
 Structuring
 Writing
 Getting Visitors
 Did people do what you wanted them to do?

3. What’s the Point?
What is the purpose of your website?
 Persuade them to act?
 Sign up for something?
 Do something?
 Get them to buy?
 Get them to invest?
 Teach them something?

4. Who is your Audience?
Gather as much information as you can. Like:
 What are their perceptions of the project? Any
preconceived ideas?
 What is their knowledge of the project?
 Are they busy people?
 How do they use the web?

5. Structuring
 Usable
Users should be able to quickly and easily find the
information they are looking for. Your content should be
scannable; break up text, highlight key points, and put
important information at the front of your headings.
 Searchable
Google robots scan the page and pick up headings first,
looking for keywords. Put keywords first in your content.

6. How to Structure Your Content
 Think about your audience. What are they searching
for? Use those key words and phrases in your titles.
 Use headings and subheadings to break up the text (H1,
H2, H3). Make them descriptive and relevant.
 Use bullets and bold headings to draw the readers
attention to sections.
 Be short. Limit titles to 64 characters.

8. Writing: Paragraphs, Sentences, Words
 Usable
Remember the 5 second rule: If a visitor to your site can’t
figure out what it’s about within the first 5 seconds,
you’ve probably lost them. What is the page about?
What do you want your visitors to do on the page? Make
it clear!
 Searchable
Write for your audience. Use keywords naturally
throughout your writing that your audience would search
for. This is best practice for visitors and search
engines! Add new content regularly to keep it fresh for
visitors and to keep Google coming back.

9. How to Write for the Web
 Keep paragraphs short – no more than 50 words
 Keep sentences short – between 20 – 40 words.
 Break up the text with bullets
 Use active voice (easier to read) and pronouns (easier to
relate to)
 Add a clear call to action that points back to your
purpose/goal
 Don’t sacrifice usability for SEO.

11. Getting Visitors
 Do your keyword research. Use these keywords in
headings, titles, content, images and links.
 Use links. Link to outside websites, link within your site.
Google sees this as people verifying that your have great
content.
 Be social. Use social media channels that best target
your audience.

12. Is your website successful?
 What is success? –> go back to your goals, did you
achieve them?
 Use web analytics. Look at not only how many people
visited your website, but how long they spent on the
page, where they left.
 If you don’t have analytics, use bitly as links on your call
to actions. At least this way you can track how many
click on your links. If they’re not clicking, you need to
change something.

13. Putting it all Together
Before and after…

15. Web Services
Carleton University
Carleton.ca/webservices
@cuweb