An author writes about a subject based on what the audience already knows and wants to know. Good web writing is like a conversation rather than a dialogue. When users visit a website with questions, you, the author, have to provide answers. When website users come with a purpose to complete a task, you must help them accomplish it. However, since you are not there in person to lead them to the right place, give them the answer, or walk them through the steps, you have to build your website to do that in your place. You have to build your side of the conversation into the website. Some ways to accomplish these goals include:
- Focusing on what is important to your site visitors
- Writing with users’ words
- Including only relevant information
- Starting your paragraph or page with the most important message
Put your essential message first. Many web users read only a few words of a page or a paragraph before deciding if it is going to be relevant and easy for them to follow. If they think it might not be important, they move on. They may jump down the page to a heading or a bulleted list or try another page. Writing with the important message first draws readers into the material right at the beginning—often with a small story or with interesting and relevant facts.
When people come to your website to start a conversation with you, they have a topic or question in mind. They are looking for words that give them confidence that if they click “here,” they’ll get closer to the information they are seeking. To make connections between what your website users want and the content you have, you must use their words, rather than words they do not know.
It is important to realize that users are not looking for a user manual. Instead, they want answers to their specific questions. Everything on your website should relate to at least one scenario that a real user might have for coming to the website. If no one needs or wants the information, then there is no point including it on the website.
To help users find what they are looking for, consider breaking up your web content in one of the following ways:
- Time or sequence
- Task
- People
- Type of information
- Questions people ask
For an overview of this topic, see: Redish, J. (2007). Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works.