A beginner’s guide to website options, features, and services.

6. TEXT FOR THE WEB

The difference between the web and books.

The writing you put on your web site, also known as your "copy", should be different than the writing you would put on a printed page.

It should be short and to the point, with no wasted words. It should get your viewers to do what you want them to do.

When reading the text on web pages, people don’t usually read the words from start to finish. What they do is scan the page for headlines and key words that interest them.

Some studies have shown that people spend about three seconds looking at web pages to see if they should actually read what’s on the page before they get bored and move on.

Rules to follow.

Obviously there are exceptions to any set of rules, and if a viewer is truly interested in what your site is about then they’ll read any amount of copy. However, for general website use it’s a good idea to heed the following suggestions:

Use descriptive yet short headers every two or three paragraphs.
The headers should be in a larger type size and/or differently colored than the body text.
Body text should be in a font size that’s large enough to comfortably read (10 to 12 pixels high, or 14 to 16 pixels high for sites targeted towards people older than 40).
For easiest readability there should only be about 10 to 12 words (50 to 60 characters) per line.
Boldface any words or phrases that you think are important.
Check your grammar, and speling.
Black text on a white background is the easiest to read.
Don’t use textured or flashing backgrounds behind your body text.
Cut up your long paragraphs so that most paragraphs are only three to five lines long.
Use bulleted text for long lists.
Simplify!

Your web site isn’t a book. It’s more like a brochure or pamphlet. Cut your word count down accordingly.

Crunch42 Web Services offers full copy writing services.

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