How to Write for the Web

Believe it or not, writing content for your website is much different than for other mediums. Because there is an abundance of other sites for users to visit, you need to ensure yours captures their attention swiftly. Most engaging websites must pass the 5 Second Test. Essentially, you have around 5 mere seconds to grab the attention of your users before they abandon your site for good. A well-written site will not only capture users’ attentions but will help them find what they’re looking for, understand what they find, and use what they find.

This article will cover six topics on how to write for the web. We’ll go over: headings, paragraphs, sentences, words, active voice, and pronouns.

Headings

Headings and subheadings are useful tools that give order to your pages. This sense of structure helps to guide visitors to the information that they’re looking for.

Headings also help to break up the text of a page. Websites with giant bodies of text are daunting and usually turn users off from your site. Headings help to give your site space, making your content much easier to read.

Additionally, they make your website scannable and highlight the key points of your pages. Visitors usually scan a site to search for their desired keywords before reading it in its entirety. Headings will help to prop up key points, allowing users to find what they’re looking for faster.

Headings are also crucial to make a web page accessible. They not only help people with learning difficulties, but they are essential for people using a screen reader to access the page. And as with all measures for accessibility, they simultaneously make the page easier to scan for all users.

How to use them:

• Accurately portray what the text below is about
• Keep them short and sweet (Less than 8 words)
• Ensure they are clear and concise (Don’t try to be clever)
• Make them big and bold (help them stand out)

Paragraphs

While you might be inclined to write as much information as possible down on your site, keep in mind that when it comes to writing for the web, less is more. Long paragraphs of text are intimidating to read and often scare visitors away.

How to use them:

Huge paragraphs make it hard for users to scan through your site. As a rule of thumb, keep your paragraphs to 50 words or less, allowing for a more digestible read.

Take a closer look inside your paragraphs to see if you can find any lists hidden inside. If you do, break up your paragraph by listing them as bullet points. Bullets are much easier for users to read and help your keywords stand out more.

Consider using standalone sentences when you want to make an important point or to guide the user elsewhere on the page.

Bold key sentences or words in a paragraph to highlight their importance. As a result, users will have an easier time scanning for what they’re looking for.

Sentences

Why is it important to keep sentences short when writing for the web?

When viewers must wade through long sentences, they often get lost in the clauses and commas, giving up before they even finish. People have very short attention spans online. In fact, statistics show that the average reader gets bored after only a few seconds.

Users often get confused when reading a long sentence. Most sentences can be reduced by a few words and still communicate the same message.

Short sentences give readers what they want by swiftly getting to the point. Most visitors want to get the info they want quickly, then leave. So why not give them what they want?

Long sentences are harder to read on screen than on print. Reading a long sentence in small print on a monitor can cause eye strain, so keep sentences short to avoid making your readers uncomfortable.

Long sentences are especially difficult for users cognitive, learning, and neurological disabilities and those with neurodiversity and neurological disorders. This may include people with ADHD or dyslexia. Making sentences shorter makes them much easier to read and understand – not just for those people, but for everyone.

How to do it:

• The average length of a sentence should be roughly 20 words
• Keep your sentences under a maximum of 40 words
• Use bulleted lists if a sentence can be broken down
• Remove any junk words or phrases like “it seems like”, “possibly”, and “actually” that clutter up your sentences
• Try to write out long sentences first, then break them down into shorter ones by removing any unnecessary bits

Remember: Not all sentences can be made shorter. However, if you’re consistently trying to keep them more concise, it will make a huge difference!

Words

Although long and complex words are sometimes used for print writing, when it comes to writing for the web; simple is best.

How to do it:

Make sure to use common words and keep them as short as possible. Try and avoid using words with more than two syllables.

Keep your sentences simple by removing filler words/phrases like “there is”, “there are”, “it is”.

Define any acronyms to avoid excluding any confused readers. Since avoiding acronyms is impossible in web writing, simply define the acronym in the first sentence it is used by including it in parentheses. For example: Content Management System (CMS).

Active Voice

Active Voice vs Passive Voice

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Active Voice: A verb is in the active voice when it expresses an action that the subject performs.

For example: the marketing department is reviewing the document.

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Passive Voice: A verb is in the passive voice when it expresses an action performed upon the subject or when the subject is the result of an action.

For example: the document is being reviewed by the marketing department

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Why use active voice?

• It makes your writing more interesting to read. It’ll be livelier, more forceful, and more engaging, encouraging your visitors to keep reading.
• Active voice improves your credibility because you’re speaking directly to the reader, not at them. On the other hand, passive voice might suggest an unwillingness or inability to communicate.
• Active voice improves your writing by making it clearer and more direct. Concise writing is more likely to resonate with readers because of how simple it is to understand.
• Lastly, active voice makes your writing less awkward and clunky sounding by reducing the number of words.

How to identify passive voice

1. The verb phrase will always include a form of “be” such as “am”, “is”, “was”, “were”, “are”, or “been”. For example: the form was returned by the student.
2. The person doing the action usually follows the verb. For example: many excellent undergraduate programs are offered by Carleton.

How to create active voice sentences

• Put the subject first
• Change the verb
• Rethink the sentence

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Passive: This proposed rule change was proposed by the Registrar’s office.

Active: The Registrar’s office published this proposed rule change.

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[slideme title=”Change the verb”]

Passive: We must consider how our resources will be used to deliver quality services.

Active: We must consider how to use our resources to deliver quality services.

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Passive: There is a considerable range of technical expertise demonstrated by today’s students.

Active: Today’s students are technical wizards.

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Pronouns

Pronouns like “you” and “us” help to engage readers and make them feel included. Not using personal pronouns forces you to repeat the company’s name throughout the website. This approach causes awkward sentences that are tedious to read and write. For example, the repetition of “Carleton University” can feel unnecessarily formal.

How to use them:

The key to understanding pronouns is knowing who you are writing for. Think of who your audience is and then write to them as if you were directly speaking to them.

For example, throughout this article we’ve been referring to you (the audience) as “you” and not “they”. This was done with the goal in mind of speaking directly to you and engaging you with the writing.

A final note…

Now that you have some new ideas for how to write for an online audience, you can take this knowledge and apply it to your own site. We suggest you start at the homepage and work your way through one page at a time.