25 Tips for Better Web Writing

by John Wooden, Director of Usability Services

Drawing on the recent work of Jonathan and Lisa Price and Nick Usborne, the research of usability experts such as Jakob Nielsen, and our own experience, we have compiled this list of 25 tips for writing online. This is the bread and butter stuff that everyone writing for web sites and e-newsletters should know.

Brevity

1. Cut any paper-based text by 50%. But don’t cut so much that your words lose all meaning and personality. And don’t cut so much that your words become ambiguous.
2. Make each paragraph short. If possible, keep paragraphs to two or three lines.
3. Delete marketing happy talk and hyperbole. Be direct, honest, and sincere.
4. Keep to the main point. If information is not relevant, delete it. If it is important, but not directly related, move it elsewhere and link to it. Also consider "sidebars."
5. Write in the active voice.

Scannability

6. Keep each paragraph to one main idea.
7. Put your conclusion or lead idea in the first paragraph of the article.
8. Avoid colons, semi-colons, and apostrophes. (They are hard to spot on screen.)
9. Use tables, charts, or graphs to present repeating information.
10. Turn any series into a bulleted or numbered list.
11. Use titles that are clear enough to identify the contents of the page. Make sure that menu labels match page titles.
12. Use meaningful subheadings to help visitors scan pages.
13. Use bold to highlight what is important.

Effective links

14. Place links at the ends of sentences wherever possible, rather than in the middle of sentences.
15. Provide clues so visitors know what they will get when they click a link.
16. Avoid using "click here" and "click to." Don’t point to your links. "Shift the focus from the links to the subject" (Price and Price).
17. Link to external sites when relevant.
18. Point to what’s new with special links.

Good manners

19. Write clear, memorable URLs. Try to keep your URL short and predictable, and avoid special characters.
20. If you redesign your site, make sure that you set up redirects on your server so people who click bookmarked links can get to the new pages.
21. Tell visitors how large a media object is before they start downloading it.
22. To optimize searching, use keywords in your page titles and body copy, and use the meta keyword tag. Add a page description in the meta tag.
23. Write alternate text for images.
24. Confirm a visitor’s location by showing the position of the page they are viewing in the overall hierarchy.
25. Write each menu so it offers a meaningful structure.