WRITING TEXT FOR A WEB SITE

FIRST DRAFT

The underlying goal of every Web page designer is to create Web pages that generate traffic. Traffic refers to the number of people who visit a Web page or Web site during a particular period.

What separates high-traffic sites from low-traffic ones? A key factor is how well a particular Web site meets the needs of its audience. If you tailor the content of your Web pages to meet the needs of your audience, you will be rewarded with increasing traffic.

This is why a rule of good Web page design is to know your audience. If you know your audience, and you tailor the content of your Web pages to meet their needs, your Web pages will be both successful and popular.

THE FORMAT OF WEB PAGE TEXT

Web pages and term papers are similar in their format. Both have an introduction, a body, and (sometimes) a conclusion. The introduction is where you introduce your audience to the topic you are going to discuss. The body is where you discuss your topic, point by point. Finally, the conclusion is where you summarize what you have already said.

The First Sentence

The most important part of any Web page--and certainly the most difficult part to write--is the introduction. Obviously, the first paragraph, and especially the very first sentence, of your Web page will be one of the first things your audience sees. It could also be the first, and possibly only, introduction to your Web page that search engine users will see.

Good and Bad First Sentences

How can you write a good first sentence? Well, practice makes perfect. Hardly anyone has written a good introductory sentence on the first try. It's almost impossible. Lots of successful writers write something to fill the place where the good introductory sentence will go, write the rest of the page, and then go back and write the real introductory sentence.

Write an introductory sentence and then review it. If there were nothing else but the introductory sentence on your page, would your intended audience know they were in the right place? If so, you're getting closer to a good introductory sentence. If not, take some time to rewrite it.

Bad First SentencesGood First Sentences
This is my first Web page.
I've never done one before.		This Web page tells you everything
you could ever want to know about
the 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers.
I like mittens.Welcome to the mitten home page,
your one-stop shop for all your mitten
needs.
This is the introduction to my
Web page.		This page shows you the elements of
good Web page text authoring: a
good introductory sentence, well
thought-out body text, and a short
summation of the topics presented.
To find out more about us,
read this.		This is the information headquarters
for Union High School's Renegade
Regiment marching band.
I hope to get a good grade
in school.		This Web page explains the time-
honored secrets to earning good
grades.

The Body Text

Once you have chosen a good introductory sentence, your next step is to write the main text of your Web page. Like the body text of a term paper or report, this is where you present the facts, comments, and information you want to share with your audience.

You need to remember that most of your audience may not know as much about your topic as you do. this leads us to another rule of good Web page design: if there is a chance that someone in your audience will not understand a certain part of your Web page, either explain that part in full or don't write it. This rule is sometimes called the "lowest common denominator" rule--in other words, you should write your body text so that it is understandable to even the most novice of readers.

One last thing to remember as you write your body text is that the Web is international. Writing something like "hop on the Interstate and drive to your nearest 7-11" will probably make no sense to someone outside the United states (after all, there are no Interstates or 7-11s in Germany). If your audience is international, make sure that your Web page's body text includes language that is universal.

The Conclusion

The last part of a paper is the conclusion, where you restate the points you made earlier. With Web pages, the conclusion part is optional (many Web page designers omit it altogether). The decision on whether or not to include a conclusion should be based on what you think your audience will expect.

EDITING YOUR TEXT

Step One: Spell Check and Grammar Check

One of the quickest ways to lose your audience (and annoy them) is to write a Web page that uses poor grammar or misspelled words. So, the first and most crucial step in the editing process is to run your Web page's text through a spell checker. However, spell checkers will not catch every misspelled or misused word, so it is a good idea to carefully examine each sentence in your Web page for misspelled and misused words. here are some commonly misspelled or misused words that most spell checkers and grammar checkers will not catch:

  • You and Your. An example of this error appears in the sentence, "you need to make sure that you message matches your audience."
  • Two, To, and Too. Two is a number; to is a preposition; and too means "also."
  • There, They're, and Their. There is a direction; they're is a contraction of "they are"; and, their means "belonging to them."
  • Its and It's. Its means "belonging to it"; it's is a contraction for "it is."
  • You're and Your. You're is short for "you are" or "you were"; your means "belonging to you."
  • All ready and already. All ready means to be prepared; already means "previously."

Spell checkers will also miss consistency errors. A consistency error occurs when you change your writing style from paragraph to paragraph or from page to page. The two biggest consistency errors involve pronoun use and contraction use:

  • Pronoun Use. Starting a page in a plural voice and then switching to singular. Pick singular or plural and then stick with it throughout your Web pages.
  • Contraction Use. Switching between using contractions and not using contractions. If you use contraction, use them throughout your Web site; if you don't use contractions, avoid them consistently.

Step Two: Expand Your Narrative

Reread each sentence in your Web page's text carefully and ask yourself if you have given enough information to make the material understandable to the most novice of readers. If you haven't, you'll need to expand on what you have written. Fill in the holes, but don't offer mountains of information. Have your colleagues or another class member proofread a rough draft of your Web page's text.

Step Three: Weed It Out

The third step in the editing process is to remove as many words as you can from your Web page. This may seem counterintuitive, especially after you just expanded your narrative in Step Two above. The reason you need to edit your text, though, is to save your audience's time.

This leads us to the next thing you should do to edit your text: Take out every big word and replace it with a shorter, simpler word. Better yet, just take it out. It won't be missed.

Step Four: Spell Check and Proofread (Again)

THAT's IT!

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