When is the last time you heard someone say “Content is King”?
Well let’s start with a question: “What did you do on the web yesterday? Where you just browsing around without any goal or were you looking for something specific?
When I surf the web I’m looking for:
- answer to questions I have
- answers to completing a task
- answers that are easy to find and to understand
- answers that are accurate, up to date and credible
But, Don’t make me read! If I don’t find it in a few seconds I’m out of there.
I do skim and scan before I read; I only want to read as much as I need to satisfy my goal.
And actually by talking with my friends and co-workers I found out that most uses of the web are for gathering information or doing tasks, not for the pleasure of reading.
If they can’t find what they need quickly enough, they’ll leave the site and go elsewhere. And the bad part about skim and scan is that, once they had a bad experience with a website, they rarely, if ever return back.
Now why is that, why don’t we read more?
- We’re too busy
- We’re not finding relevant answers to what we need
- We’re trying to answer a question
- We’re trying to complete a task
So what makes writing for the web work well?
According to Janice Redish in ”Letting Go of the Words”,
Good web writing:
- Is like a conversation
- Answers people’s questions
- Let’s people grab and go
For many young web users, web sites are replacing phones. The point of web content therefore is for people to get information for themselves from your website rather than calling.
Your website should therefore:
- Provide answers to questions (don’t hide information)
- Help them through the task they came to your website for
- Walk the through the steps to get to the right place
Good web writing lets people “grab and go”!
