The way audiences interact with the web is different from other written material. Among the users who visit your page, 80% will read your headline; 20% read the first sentence after that. Headlines and opening sentences should give the user enough information to determine if they want to linger on the page or explore your site further. Use clear, concise language to guide attention, stay on-brand, and make sure visitors quickly find the information they need.
Make it readable
University website audiences read a high level, however it’s useful to bear in mind that the average web user reads at an eighth-grade level. Few people are put off by simple, elegant language, but they can be by language that they don’t recognize.
To achieve a readable, conversational style:
- Use the second person (you, yours) to create a friendly, accessible tone.
- Anticipate the kinds of questions visitors might have, and make sure the answers are easy to find.
- Lead with your main message.
- Avoid jargon, and spell out acronyms whenever possible.
- Obtain readability scores from Word or evaluate your writing online: http://www.hemingwayapp.com
Less is more
Approach your homepage and landing page content as if you were creating an outline. Save more in-depth information for content pages. If the user gets to a content page, chances are they are looking for detailed information.
- Provide only as much information as is needed to help your users perform a task (learn more about a program, complete a form, or apply).
- Depth is okay when readers need it.
Break it up
One of the easiest ways to improve written content on websites is to break things up to make it easy for users to scan.
- Use meaningful headers to provide readers with additional entry points.
- Separate paragraphs into shorter sections using subheadings.
- Incorporate images to written content and help your readers move rapidly through large sections of text.
- Use bullets to reformat long sentences that list several items.
- The rule of seven: Because the average human mind can remember and process around seven ideas or options at once, avoid present a visitor with more than seven callouts, points, or links they must sort through.
- Avoid FAQs – frequently asked/anticipated questions can be overwhelming and are known to be a visitor’s last resort and source of frustration. Instead, organize your content intuitively.
Use prime space wisely
Visitors are trained to look for important information on certain parts of a web page:
- Top left
- In a headline or list
- At the beginning of a sentence
- At the beginning of the headline