Writing for the web…

Writing for the web is a somewhat unusual exercise, particularly because one must have in mind two types of "readers":

• Web visitors: always in a hurry, they have the habit of scanning through information without reading all of the content in detail. The quality of the content and its structure are critical to catch their attention;
• Search engines: systematic, they read everything from A to Z, but they are just machines. They do not understand poetry or humour. It is therefore necessary to help them understand your texts.

Basically, these two audiences are not so different to satisfy. The first is volatile (the visitor), the second is an idiot (the engine). To satisfy them, it is recommended to consider the following editorial techniques.

On average we read 25% slower on the web than on paper. The shorter and the more dense the content (ie a maximum of interesting information with a minimum of words), the more likely it will be read… and, essentially, retained.

If it is rare that a visitor will read an entire page, the content situated under the waterline (the content that one can only see if one scrolls down the page) is looked at by only one quarter of Internet users.

They should be short, catchy and explicit. Use the style "Heading 1" (H1 tag).

Ideally, the first paragraph should summarize the content of the page (principle of the inverted pyramid). It should catch people's attention and stimulate them the read on further.

The visitor wants to find rapidly what he is looking for and know what he will find when he lands on a page. Summarize in the first paragraph what he's going to learn in the article by using the main keywords of your topic.

Use subtitles (header styles 2 and 3) to facilitate reading and revive the reader's interest. Develop one idea per paragraph and do not write huge blocks.

The user does not necessarily read from top to bottom in a linear fashion: he tends to scroll through the content in diagonal ("F" shape). He will stop on a subtitle that catches his attention, will then read the corresponding paragraph before returning to the beginning if the content is of interest to him. The reader chooses the order he wants, not the one that you have decided: the eyes scan through a page before actually reading the content in detail.

Large clumsy blocks are visually indigestible: put your text in music :-)

For the visitor, words in bold, referrals lines, visual withdrawals of paragraphs will make reading more enjoyable. Align your text to the left. Bulleted lists are another way to make reading easier and emphasize important points. Avoid whole sentences in capitals.

A page that contains one or more illustrations will be read more frequently, and as a picture is worth a thousand words ... use this opportunity to enrich the meaning of your message.

Hyperlinks are the essence of the web: use this potential without abuse (too much information kills information ;-)

For a Internet user, a link is usually a sign that one will provide further information about the topic on another page. This subject may be precisely what is of interests to him. Write explicit, semantic links (links on words that provide a good idea of what one will find) and make sure they work!