Writing great content is Job One for your website

You can get by with adequate design and stock images, but web writing is essential to conveying your key marketing message through your web presence.

This is because the written word lasts. Sure, someone may watch a video for a couple of minutes but then its over. They are not likely to go back and re-watch the presentation again. Good design punctuates and drives home a point. But much is lost in the quick delivery of the basic idea.

By comparison, effective writing is the best means we have of conveying complicated concepts and ideas. Concepts like the basic value proposition of your company.

Even more important, the written word can, like no other medium, convey a large overarching set of ideas and then come back and fill in the details, all on a single page. This is crucial because of the way we absorb information.

I mean, graphics, color and animation make the web more attractive, but the context is 85 percent text.

So good writing is the hard-working pickup truck in our arsenal of marketing tools. Of course, this is only true when we work hard to make it so. How?

Glad you ask.

Improve your web site today

Here are some basics to improve your web site.

1) People read websites in chunks. They halfway scan the page. They barely read the headlines. They glance at the photos and illustrations. And...they are super twitchy with their mouse finger. They will move on in a New York minute. Knowing that fact alone makes you a wiser grasshopper.

2) Break up your thoughts with linkage. Most people say that no one reads long copy any more. My opinion is that they will, if you help them. Instead of writing one 1,500 word article, break it up into five 300 word pieces. Use linkage to keep the flow and illustrate it appropriately.

3) The Inverted Pyramid works. Newspaper writers have long used what is called the inverted pyramid to craft their stories. This is necessary because they lose control of the length once they submit an article to an editor. They never know where a story will be cut for space reasons so they put all the good stuff up front and fill in the details -- most important at the top down to least import toward the end. This is not fiction writing, where you build slowly to a climax. You should write the same way. Of course, a web article can be as long as it needs to be but readership drops way off after about the eighth paragraph. Give them the big picture right up front.

2) Write once, edit many. You may think your last brochure had the gravitas of brilliant prose. I don't know your work personally but I suggest that it was at least one edit away from such a comparison. Here's how to make it better: Once you have a draft, put it aside and let it get cold. Then, when you are feeling ruthless, get out your sharpest editing pencil and tear into your gifted diatribe. Put it away again. Then, let someone else tear through it. Give yourself word limits to make sure you are using as few words as possible to transmit a thought. One of my favorite devices is to write a draft and then chop off the first paragraph or two at the top. Generally, nothing is lost because it took me three paragraphs to get started.

3) Avoid the gray. You need to make your writing work harder so that your reader doesn't have to. Break long paragraphs into short ones. Organize your thoughts and then punctuate them with headline type. Break things into bullet points, like I have here, is one technique. It helps the reader find key points.

4) Use the 3-30-3 rule. Write like this. Grab your reader's attention within three seconds with a brilliant headline. Now you have 30 seconds to convince them to read further with a subhead or Johnson box. Once you have accomplished this, you may get them for another three minutes. And three minutes is about all you can expect from a web page scan (or direct mail letter or advertisement).

5) Write with an active voice. Passive statements lack vitality and allow you to escape accountability ("A good time was had by all."). Active statements ("Barb and I had a blast at the waterpark.") convey lively visual impressions that leaves a memorable impression in the reader's mind.

Well, this will get you started. And give you a good example of some effective writing. Because if you have read this far, then I hope you agree that I have used these concepts correctly.

If you need help with your website writing, call me. Instead of hiring a great art director to redesign your site yet another time, put your money into something that can make a measurable difference in conveying your messages.

See you at the bottom line.