Following on from Kevin's excellent post on writing headlines for the web, and much discussion of such things here as we get busy writing new copy for our new website, it seemed a good idea to write a more general post on copy-writing as a whole.
What's the secret to good web copy?
Content
Keep it short and simple. Say as little as you can to communicate your ideas, and use the simplest language possible to do so.
This not only makes it easy for all users to understand what you're saying (an aspect of accessibility that's often neglected) but makes the content much easier for people to scan and comprehend when they're not really paying attention or, to slip into jargon, if they are under high cognitive load.
Structure
Use the inverted pyramid. This means putting the essential information first, which it follows with further detail. The quick overview helps the reader get the point and purpose of a page instantly, letting the user make a quick judgment whether to read on for a bit more detail.
Users tend to scan page to see if its what they're after quickly, and then move on or engage further. The inverted pyramid lets them do this quickly, and putting links to related content near the introductory copy we can also make sure if they're not looking for the page in question they can easily head off in the right direction.
Also make sure you split the content up using headings, as these make it much easier to both scan and read the page.
Want to know more?
There are thousands of resources on this subject. Several of them are even well written and take their own advice...
A few of the best short how-tos;
- Introduction to copywriting on the web (if you read one, read this!)
- Structuring your prose
- How users read on the web
How to check your copy for ease of reading
There are several tests for this - Flesch reading ease score, Automated readability index, Flesch-Kincaid grade level, Coleman-Liau index, Gunning fog index and the SMOG index. These are all based on formulae taking into account things like sentence length and number of polysyllabic words. While none are perfect, they do provide a reasonable guide. It may be of course that you have to use complex language, but even then these will help you simplify it as much as possible.
In the course of my research, I found this little gem, which calculates your copy's scores for all these tests.
Basically, you're trying to get as low a score as possible in all categories. For more information on what each score means, the links above go into plenty of detail.
In conclusion
- Keep it short
- Keep it simple
- Use the inverted pyramid and headings
