Writing For The Web- Lessons Learned

My first blog post on Corporate Blogging - was the first writing on the web I ever wrote in my life. It was a simple critique to evaluate the use of blogs by three Corporate Companies that I selected based on their product, audience diversity, intent of the blog. Corporate websites and (off late) their blogs too are great examples that suggests web can be used as a great marketing tool. So how is this tool put to use by these companies? The answer is good websites always convey/communicate their message by the integration of imagery and content. The changing role of the new media has brought a change in the content of the websites as well. In the ‘90’s the only thing we saw on a web page was lines that read” Did you check out our Home page” or “Contact us for more information about our products” the web was not perceived as an Interactive medium and the content was static. But the current trends indicate that websites engage the reader in an emotional, interactive experience- and the good news is that it is relatively a new….evolving medium with exponential growth.

Web studies also reveal that the web is used by people who spend less than 2% of their time reading the content to find the information they want so that they can act upon it(Nielsen). That means web writing has to be user and topic –centered. People read differently online and writing for the web therefore involves the understanding of the principles of information architecture, usability testing that are beyond the realm of print or traditional copy writing. Web content needs to be concise, clear and to the point. Every design element, image, content added on the website should have a purpose . Grammar mistakes, long sentences, corporate jargons, should be avoided. When people read on screen their physical ability in reading a screen vs printed message, constraints of the screen, maintaining attention – all these have to be considered in crafting a message

Good writing means understanding the parameters of the broadcast medium such as print, broadcast, interactive. A good writer needs to have a fundamental knowledge of the web site usability issues, basic marketing principles and subject matter will adapt their tone and style to the Web.

Good writing makes a world of difference. The page layout and content has to be formatted to encourage user interactivity. There should be a good organized way of presenting the content in a clear, consistent manner. The information should be easily scannable. The use of headers, lists, HTML links, drop down menus should be used of easy accessibility and navigation. Video, multimedia content should be supplemented with the written content wherever necessary. When a copy is used take for example PDF files it is poorly edited, re-purposed to make a bad copy on the web.

For example, in this Nokia S60 website the software support has been developed and designed to help users find the information and act on it immediately. The header, drop down lists or forms have been put to good use in the Increasing productivity page that even has a input button that asks a question to the user whether they found the page useful as step in testing their web page usability.




The Plainsboro Township has a web page that contains information to its township residents and mostly makes use of PDF Files that take a long time to load, there is no mission statement or user centered design used. Long pages, use of PDF files make obtaining information make a badly designed web site.




One thing I learnt when doing a research about web writing is that it requires the collaborative work of a designer, writer, subject matter expert … it’s a team work. The information presented on the web should work in cohesion and the message communicated should convey the same meaning whether a image or written content is used. When designers work in a team where a writer is involved he/she realizes that web is a compromise and there are lots of things to consider like typography, space constraints, file size, his/her lack of knowledge of software tools are the limiting factors in web page designing.