Your website is a powerful selling tool. Conversely, with poorly written copy, it could do more damage than good. Before we talk about how to write for the web, let’s look at some research conducted by www.useit.com into ‘How users read on the web’.

Like many usability studies, they have come to the conclusion that people read websites very differently to the way they read printed literature – they don’t read, they scan. In their research, they found that only 16% of users read every word when navigating a new web page.

To measure the effectiveness of different styles of copy, they asked users to perform the same tasks on five different versions of the same website. They produced a control version using what they call “marketese”, a concise version, a scannable version, an objective version and a version that combined all three ‘improvements’ in writing style.

Here’s the control version:

Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions that draw large crowds of people every year, without fail. In 1996, some of the most popular places were Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors), Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166), Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum (100,000), Carhenge (86,598), Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002), and Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446).

Probably no wonder that this didn’t score particularly well.

Here’s the most successful version:

In 1996, six of the most-visited places in Nebraska were:

•    Fort Robinson State Park
•    Scotts Bluff National Monument
•    Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum
•    Carhenge
•    Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer
•    Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park

In this particular test, the latter copy version measured a 124% improvement in usability. So…

What are the rules for writing good web copy?

Here are some of the hard and soft rules to get the most out of your web copy, in no particular order:

1) First things first
What is the most important thing you need to get across? Don’t be afraid to sum it up right at the top of the page.

2) SEO
Yes, it’s massively important, but don’t let Search Engine Optimisation get in the way of a good read. You know the sort of thing;
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3) Scannability
Make the page easy to digest for anyone who wants to scan the copy. Highlight keywords. Pull out useful facts in sub-headings. Keep it as short as possible.

4) Jargon
Unless you are talking tech to techies, keep the jargon to a minimum.

5) Audience
What does your audience want to read? What language do they want to read it in? Knowing who you are talking to is one of the first steps to copy that works.

6) Tone of voice
You have a brand with values. Professional, energetic, cutting-edge, fun, established, reliable… Whatever your values are, the tone of voice of your web copy needs to be in line.

7) Proof
Make sure you read your copy through (printing it out is a massive help) before it gets published. If you have access to a professional proof reader or trusted colleague with a good command of English, get them to read it too. One typo in the middle of a beautifully written paragraph will lose credibility and undo all of your hard work.

8) Call to action
What do you want people to do once they have read your copy? Whatever it is, make their life easy. Provide links, a clearly signposted contact page or a highlighted contact number.

9) Descriptive links
Wherever possible, make your links descriptive. Don’t write ‘to find out more about writing for the web click here’, when you could write ‘click here to find out more about writing for the web’.

10) To write or not to write?
An A-Level in English doesn’t make you a great copywriter. It’s no big deal, we just need to play to our strengths. If there is no one in your organisation who has a way with words, then get a professional on the case.