News

Content Made Easy

March 14, 2008 - by Tortus Technologies' designer Alison West

Several of our clients often relay the same message:

"Writing content is hard!"

We know writing content for a website can be a herculean task. Rewriting older content and removing trivial, outdated, and redundant paragraphs can reduce the effort required. If you are starting from scratch, planning your goals, writing simply, and answering some directional questions can provide you with a guideline to help make writing content easier.

Rewrite old content

Rewriting old content can be easier than starting from scratch. Asking yourself if the content is still relevant requires thinking about your goals. What do you want your users to do on your site? What do your users want from your site?

Take a look at your entrance. Your homepage should answer the basic questions in 4 seconds or less. Who are you? What can you offer me? These are the two most important questions to answer when reworking your homepage. Once those two questions are answered, then you can delve into the details. Your entire homepage should answer the who, what, where, when, and why (if relevant) questions. The rest of your site should answer how.

Probably the easiest page to edit will be the about us page, or company history page. Check for relevant information; staff members who have left their positions, locations that are no longer valid.

The trick to using older content is getting it current. Believe it or not, even language and grammar change over time. The best way to figure out if your text is current enough is to read it aloud. Does it sound like something you would say? Can you read it easily? If not, go back and rework it until it is easy to say aloud.

Images are a little trickier than text, but they can still look dated. Check for obvious signs, out-of-date machinery, clothing, hair styles. The good news is that photography is a lot cheaper now than it was back then, and anyone can take a decent photo with a digital camera.

Remove R.O.T.

R.O.T. is redundant, outdated and trivial content. It weighs your site down in the search engines, dismantles your credibility and makes it easy for your users to leave.

Redundant

Do you have a paragraph of text, maybe used as an introduction on your homepage about your company? Does that same paragraph get reused in the company history or about us page? It will need to be rewritten. It is confusing for your users to read a paragraph on one page, move to another page and find the same paragraph. They start to wonder if they changed pages at all, sometimes using the back button until they are completely gone from your site. Even if you just rewrite the paragraph to keep the meaning but use different words, the user will see it as fresh content.

Outdated

Outdated copy most often is found on staff or company pages. The company history that ends in 2003, or the staff page with people who have since retired. One easy way to remove outdated copy is to include generic job descriptions or titles. We'd also recommend looking over your site once a week, once a month, or at least once a quarter to make sure that any staff or dates are relevant.

Outdated text makes your site lose credibility. Most people, especially if they are shopping on your site, feel comforted by a frequently updated site. Users say a site frequently updated reflects the human element behind the scenes.

Trivial

Trivial content is all too prevalent on the web. One way to avoid creating trivial content is to focus on the goals of your users. Ask yourself if your users will need or even want what you're adding. If you have no idea, try asking some of your users. They're people too, and it may just make them feel special if you start asking them how you can create a better experience for them.

Starting From Scratch

You've never had a website before, and you have no other materials. You've got to start from scratch. Don't worry, it isn't as daunting a task as you might think.

Goals

The most important part of writing content for the web is determining your users' goals. What do people come to your site for? What do they want to know? What do you want them to do once they get to your site? What should they do before they leave? Knowing the answers to these questions can make your writing job much more effective and easy.

Before you even put pen to paper, make sure you have thought about what your goals are. Do you want your customers to buy something? Call you for more information? Focus on what you want to say before you even start to write.

The 5 W's

Remember who, what, where, when, and why? Use these as if you were talking to an old friend who you haven't seen in years. They ask you who your comany is, what your comapny does, where your company is located, when your company started, and why your company is in business. Write as if you were talking to a friend who really was interested. What would you tell them? Would you leave anything out? If writing as if you were talking to a friend is too difficult, record a conversation. Have a coworker or friend stand in and have the conversation with them. It will give you a place to start!

K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid)

No one, except those finicky literature geeks, likes coming across a word (or phrase!) that confuses them. Write simply. Most users are skimming for content. That doesn't mean you should skimp on your content, it just means that your writing should incorporate only what your users would need to know and leave the rest out.

Desire and Urgency

Two of the most important aspects to writing online is to create desire and urgency. If you can get your users to think, "I need it and I need it now," you will be successful in your online venture. Most people are looking for something specific when they are searching the Internet, so it isn't likely that everyone will buy from you. However, if your writing is good enough and creates that sense of desire and urgency, some users who might have quickly skipped through your site will become your customers.

Creating a sense of desire and urgency is especially true in sites that are selling products online. If you aren't selling online, but advertising a product, desire and urgency need to be implemented along with a call-to-action. Get your users to call you, place an order through a form or over the phone.

Headlines and Sub-Headers

Users skim. Not many people have the time, patience, energy or interest to read every single word of your copy. Truthfully, do you? Or do you just skim the headers looking for specific content?

Since most people skim, headings and subheadings are especially important. Your headings and subheadings should:

be short;
define or introduce your goal;
be catchy or interesting;
be specific to the topic in the paragraph.

Spelling & Grammar

Do you really need to understand grammar rules in order to write great content? Well, the short answer is yes. Come to think of it, the long answer is yes, too, but with a lot more explanation behind it!

Spelling mistakes often ruin a website's reputation. Sometimes, it is pretty easy for your users to tell if it is just a typo, but other times things are blatantly misspelled. In that case, you may lose sales. People often perceive spelling errors as carelessness and laziness. If you want to make sure your business doesn't get that perception, check every word you are unsure about. It is simple these days, to copy the text (or even create it!) in a word processing program which has a spell checker included. Just make sure to actually go through the copy to pick up on words like through and threw which can have entirely different meanings.

Many people get confused by grammar rules. It is an understandable blunder, as most people learned grammar some time ago. Searching online for common grammar mistakes leads you to many useful grammar websites, but here are just a few common mistakes and their explanations to get you started.

Their, They're and There

Their is possesive. It means something belonging to them. For example, Their car is pulling into the driveway.

They're is just missing an "a"; they are. e.g., They're on the stairs.

There is a place. An easy way to remember that is to look for the "here" part of "there."

Its and It's

Here's another simple one. It's equals it is. The other one is possesive. If you have difficulty say the sentence aloud. Could it be written as it is? If yes, it requires an apostrophe.

Your and You're

Again, think of you're as you are with the apostrophe replacing the "a". For example, you're going to the party.

Your is possessive. It describes an object that belongs to you. For example, your car is parked on the wrong side of the street.

Improving in the Future

The best ways I've always found to improve my writing are to read often and to write often. Read books that are outside your knowledge areas, read comics, magazines, web articles. Read books about writing and grammar. Then write. Create a personal blog, write stories, write about a funny thing that happened to you today, or something that made you upset. Create a journal. The more you write, the easier it will get.

Writing is Fun and Easy

In the end, writing itself can be fun and easy. Many people struggle with writing. We hope that by giving you some questions for direction (remember the 5 w's), and some tips to help keep your content fresh (avoiding R.O.T.) you will find that writing is not the dreaded herculean task you thought it was going to be.