Writing Effectively for the Web

Therein lies the art of web writing. People do not read a site when they first arrive on it. They are searching for something and if their initial scan of your site does not encourage them to think you have what they want, they will be gone in seconds. That is why websites are optimized for certain keywords.

Get Clear on Your Keywords

Determining your most important keywords or key phrases is a first step in creating a successful website. Think of the clients or customers you want to attract - what will they be searching for to find you? "Car accident lawyer in Dallas"? "Denver LASIK doctor"? "Pain relief straighten teeth dentist in Douglas County"?

When you have an accurate and comprehensive list of keywords, your website writer can use them to attract notice from both people and search engines. There is an art to incorporating keywords naturally and often enough but not too often.

Catch the Visitor's Eye

Website text needs to address visitors in the second person. You are introducing yourself to this visitor, so look them in the eye and speak to what they want. On each page, make your main point first. In webpage "real estate", the top left area is noticed first, so use it well. Give details later on the page, or provide links for visitors to "drill down" if they want more detail.

Use text signposts to make scanning easier. The white space created by a bullet or numbered list helps lead the eye to the bulleted items. Each bullet beckons the eye, saying "here is something important". Appropriate numbering keeps information organized. Each link gives the message that there is more detail available, or information on related topics should the visitor be interested.

A series of bolded sub-headings can be a summary of the page's text. For example, if your visitor wants to know if she can file for the wrongful death of her great grandmother, she will be glad to see a sub-heading like "Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim?" Unrelieved blocks of text are a turn-off and your visitor will be gone if there are no visual invitations in your text.

Leave Your Front Door Open and a Light on

If you are a service business and want to generate leads, provide at least one "Call to Action" on each web page: a link making it easy for your visitors to email you. Make your phone number large and place it high on the page. Place a photo of yourself somewhere easily visible but not dominating on the home page - or at least on your bio page. Most people like to see who they're emailing or calling - they want to look you in the eye too, and evaluate you for their needs; but they don't want your ego towering over them before they even contact you.

Catch the Search Engine's Eye

Every page's caption should contain one or more keywords. If you are a local business, include a subcaption giving your location. Since they are at the top of the page, and often marked with H1 and H2 tags, they will be picked up by search engines. Don't waste your subcaption by using it for a nice-sounding tagline devoid of keywords; put that elsewhere, perhaps in a graphic.

Bolding and italics raise a word's importance for search engines (and catch the human eye) but over-use will reduce the word's importance, and that of the whole page.

If you are a local service provider, your location should feature prominently in your keyword list. People want their attorney or eye doctor close to their home or work and will include their location in searches. By putting your location at the top of pages and again at the end and possibly somewhere in between, you bring it to the notice of search engines that will provide the searcher's results.

There are good writers in every profession, but can they write good web pages? Because there is an art to it, and experience fine-tunes the artistry, pause before you assume that you can write your own website effectively.