I think you remember the last article I published on my blog about the good landing pages. This new list of best practices will be helpful if you are writing for the web. Be it websites, landing pages or html newsletters.

  1. Construct paragraphs with two or three sentences. Make the first sentence interesting.
  2. Use simple sentence structures.
  3. Use bullet points and ordered lists.
  4. Try to limit your list items to 7.
  5. Write only one idea per paragraph.
  6. Start with the conclusion, and then elaborate the point. Essays will not work.
  7. Use active voice in the communication.
  8. DO NOT write for the search engine robots. Write for the normal users.
  9. Try not to use self referential phrases like “Click Here”, “Follow this link”, “this website” etc. Rather, use the hyperlinks effectively.
  10. Avoid overuse of all caps and text decoration
  11. Alert users when linking away from the current page
  12. A few links to pages with supporting content will be good. This can establish the credibility
  13. Try not to overuse “clever” or “cute” headlines. Headlines should be the summary of the page content. Unlike print, the web headlines may appear without the content, like search engine results.
  14. Try to give 2-3 word description for all the images used.
  15. Content should always have the most updated information.
  16. Content should be free from typographical and grammatical errors.
  17. Try to take advantage of the semantic web.  Try to provide good tags for the content you write.

I think I have covered almost all the points. Correct me if I am wrong!



2 Comments to “If you are writing for the web…”

  1. Hemant Soreng | August 2nd, 2008 at 6:44 am

    Great tips!! Should be part of the Interactive guidelines.

  2. Arun Sarma | November 9th, 2008 at 6:12 am

    I think 7 bulleted points is too much to read on an Ad that goes on between 12-15 seconds max. It shud be more in the range of 2-3.
    Also to include…
    Keep copy short and direct to point rather than giving an entire explanation. Viewers are clever too. For example, rather than saying - “You get a 200GB hard disk free with this computer..”, you could say - “Get a 200GB HDD FREE!”

    :)

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