Writing for the Web

• Search existing content: Make sure what you're planning to write doesn't repeat existing content. (Link to it instead.)
• Determine placement: Make sure your new page or set of pages has a logical home in the existing site structure.
• Consider navigation: How will users navigate to your new content, and what other existing content should link to your new page(s)?

• Visualize someone in your target audience.
• Write to that person, using second person ("you" and "your"). Examples:
  • Find out how to apply to graduate school.
  • Sign and date each page of your application.
  • Provide your supervisor with a written letter of resignation, including the effective date of your resignation.
  • If you're the Human Resources contact for your department, follow these steps.

Make sure that all content on the page supports the main message.

• Answer this in 1 sentence: "What is the one thing I want to get across on this page?"
• Put your main message at the top of your Web page.
• Make the main message as actionable as possible. Example:
  • Avoid this: "All students must have health insurance to enroll."
  • Use this instead: "Find out how to get student health insurance, a requirement for enrollment."
• If you have 2 main messages, create 2 pages. Each page can handle only 1 main message or topic.
• Examples of main messages:
  • Avoid liability for your department by learning who is authorized to sign contracts and agreements.
  • You can prevent most pest infestations with these simple tips:

• Restrict sentences to 25 words or fewer.
  • Delete unnecessary words and phrases such as "in order to."
  • Simplify complicated words and phrases: "approval to spend" instead of "authorization for the expenditure of funds."
• Use active voice. Passive voice obscures clarity, uses more words, and slows the reader down.
  • Choose verbs that show action: rank, report, discuss, identify, contact.
  • Have the subject do the action: "The committee creates policies," not "Policies are created by the committee."
  • If you find a form of the verb "to be" (am, is, are, was, were, been, being), try to rewrite the sentence using an active verb.
  • Exceptions: Passive voice is appropriate when:
    • The "doer" is unknown, e.g., "The announcement was posted Tuesday."
    • The "doer" is not important, e.g., "The supplies are on their way."
    • Tact is required, e.g., "The signature was omitted."
• Choose nouns you can "see." Examples:
  • Take a class.
  • Sign up for a workshop.
  • But not: Become part of a unique instructional environment.

Write the way you would speak to a person in your target audience:

• Use contractions: can't, you'll, isn't, they're.
• Use pronouns: you, he, they, it.
• To make sure it's conversational, read your page aloud and listen for words or phrases you wouldn't use while talking.

Restrict paragraph length to:

• 50 words
• 4 to 5 lines
• 3 sentences

Use:

• Short, active summaries
• Bullet lists
• Bold or subheads to "chunk" information
• Links to detail pages

• Use information-carrying words in titles, words that readers might search on to find your pages. Examples:
  
  • Gifts and Awards: Flowers
  • Final Exam Responsibilities
• Separate chunks of information with subheads to help readers quickly see what's on the page.
• Make subheads informative instead of cute or catchy.
  • Avoid this: "Yikes! It's a snake!"
  • Use this instead: "Avoid contact with snakes."
• Avoid using questions. They don't give information, and they require you to repeat words, making the text longer. Example:
  • Avoid this:
    How often can I donate? Donors can give blood every 56 days.
  • Use this instead:
    Donors can give blood every 56 days.

• Check your page against Red Flag Keywords (Word file).
• Check the tone, voice, and style (see Writing approach, above).
• Ask others to read and comment on your draft, including members of the target audience or Workplace Technology Services.