{"id":137,"date":"2025-04-17T13:28:53","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T17:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wordpress-training\/?page_id=137"},"modified":"2025-04-17T13:31:32","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T17:31:32","slug":"writing-for-the-web","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wordpress-training\/resources\/writing-for-the-web\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing for the Web"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Make it readable<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>University website audiences read a high level, however it\u2019s 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\u2019t recognize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To achieve a readable, conversational style:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Use the second person (you, yours) to create a friendly, accessible tone.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Anticipate the kinds of questions visitors might have, and make sure the answers are easy to find.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lead with your main message.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Avoid jargon, and spell out acronyms whenever possible.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Obtain readability scores from Word or evaluate your writing online: http:\/\/www.hemingwayapp.com<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Less is more<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>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).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Depth is okay when readers need it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Break it up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the easiest ways to improve written content on websites is to break things up to make it easy for users to scan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Use meaningful headers to provide readers with additional entry points.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Separate paragraphs into shorter sections using subheadings.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Incorporate images to written content and help your readers move rapidly through large sections of text.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use bullets to reformat long sentences that list several items.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>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.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Avoid FAQs \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.plainlanguage.gov\/guidelines\/web\/avoid-faqs\/\">frequently asked\/anticipated questions can be overwhelming<\/a>\u00a0and are known to be a visitor\u2019s last resort and source of frustration. Instead, organize your content intuitively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Use prime space wisely<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Visitors are trained to look for important information on certain parts of a web page:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Top left<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In a headline or list<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>At the beginning of a sentence<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>At the beginning of the headline<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":9,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-137","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Writing for the Web | WordPress Training | Clark University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wordpress-training\/resources\/writing-for-the-web\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Writing for the Web\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The way audiences interact with the web is different from other written material. 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