Many users experience the web as a more or less uncharted information ocean. Your site is just one of the exponentially growing number of unknown options that confronts them. They are looking for resources that are easy to understand and use. They have most likely explored several sites before arriving at yours and, if need be, will go to several more. However, they will be more than happy to break off the search if your presentation meets their needs.
Writing must be clear, direct, and well organized if first-time viewers are to become regular visitors. Although it may seem obvious, it is still worthwhile to emphasize the critical connection between clear thought and coherent written content. Know what you want to communicate, who you want to reach, and how you want your readers to respond.
Here are some ideas that may help you craft an e-message that will motivate your readers to stay now and come back later.
Use sentence structure and layout to clearly separate ideas. Consider this paragraph written by a young person seeking a career in communications, followed by essentially the same information rendered into a more compressed, concise, bulleted format:
I organized recreational activities and taught various sports to children who ranged from 8 to 13 years of age. While doing so, I was responsible for accounting for the whereabouts of all children in my charge. At the end of each day, I was called-on to assure their proper transport home. In performing my work, I had the assistance of high school students who were fulfilling community service requirements. I provided leadership and motivation as well as assigning them their duties. One particularly important responsibility was that of supervising students on day-long field trips.
If you are offering products or services, get to the point by giving your readers solid, supportable information. Don't ask them to wade through "hype language" before accessing usable facts. Leave out terms such as "new and improved," "cutting-edge," "blazing fast," "unequaled," "breath-taking," "must-see," etc. In general, save your space and the reader's time. Instead, use terms that are more exact and objective, such as "patented," "Underwriters Lab Approved," "1 gigahertz", "oak cabinet," and "commanding a 40 % market share."
Enable those who visit your site to read selectively and choose their own path through the information that it offers. Use tables of contents, short lead paragraphs, bulleted points, and descriptive headings as well as color highlighting, page links, pop-ups, and carefully labeled menus to make your presentation adaptable to the needs and inclinations of each reader.
Carefully selected graphics can give your site a finished look, make it memorable, and reinforce the ideas that it has been created to convey. Overly sophisticated graphics that have little to do with your message will only interfere with its communication. Beyond showing the technical prowess of your designer, little will be accomplished.
Remember that graphics may significantly increase the site's loading time for many viewers, may simply not be seen on some large corporate networks, and may be out-of-reach of the rapidly growing number of wireless hand-held users. Also, use of graphics in place of text links can affect priorities on search engines. Moving or flashing graphics, such as animated gifs are out-of-date and distracting to users. Finally, a site that relies heavily on graphics may compromise compliance with handicap accessibility standards.
Organize your information and convey it with simple concise statements. Help your reader see whole concepts by aiming to make closely related thoughts veiwable without scrolling on an average-sized screen (still 15 inches). For best readability, hold lines of text to a length of 10 to 12 words (an "eye-bite"). Provide convenient links for readers who may want more detail on a particular aspect of your presentation.
Although principles of good writing will evolve very slowly, their application to the web may change dramatically as new technologies emerge. For example, we are just beginning to understand some of the stylistic implications of broadband. We are only starting to think about adapting to hand-held wireless devices, and no one has even begun to consider the impact of the soon-to-come electronic paper technology as a medium for the written word.