Write Your Web Content For The Hothead Behind You On The Freeway

You know him. He's the guy you spotted in your rear-view mirror, weaving and slicing his way through the throng of commuters before hurtling past you in a reckless blur. Right behind him is a young woman, checking appointments on her cell phone as she flashes her headlights insistently at cars that are in her way. When they get to the office, they're going to hop onto the Web to find information. Those are your potential clients. Is your organization's Web site ready to respond to their demanding restlessness?
No matter how good your site looks, their impatience will quickly drive them elsewhere if your written content doesn't get them to yank their earbuds loose and pay attention. Twenty seconds.
That's all the time you may have to convey what you do and convince them that you have what they're seeking, and that you can get it into their hands quickly. You saw how they drive. These are folks who seek instant gratification. Make sure your Web site gives it to them. Here are 10 ways how.

1. Declare who you are and what you do.

Mystery and suspense are staples of television dramas and paperback novels. But they have no place in informative or promotional Web sites. Don't play games with Web site visitors.
On its site, one company describes itself as "the leading provider of managed learning services and hosted learning platforms," and boasts that "hundreds of companies, government agencies and non-profit organizations have deployed [the company's] enterprise learning management platforms and rely on our learning services to drive organizational performance. Our training management products and services leverage the power of the Internet to accelerate the critical business processes within your organization, centrally manage human capital and knowledge acquisition, and dramatically increase your capacity to win a competitive advantage in the marketplace."
Neither that text nor the remainder of the description explains precisely what the company sells or does. Instead, get right to the point. And leave drama to novelists and playwrights.

2. Tell readers what they want to know.

If you want to communicate with readers, don't write what you want to tell them. Write what they want to know. Information that is fascinating or a source of pride to you may be of no interest to your site's visitors. Learn the needs of your customers and prospective clients, and cater and respond to their quest for information.

3. Use plain language.

Write simple, straightforward, easily understood sentences. Impress your readers with your organization's expertise, not with your literary prowess or arcane terminology. Ditch buzzwords and jargon.
One Web site boasts that "our core competencies have served to build a solid foundation upon which we rest our reputation. From our earliest days to the extraordinary strides we have made over the decades, our core competencies have solidified our position in the marketplace."
That's not going to dazzle anyone. What successful company, after all has not used its expertise ("core competencies") as its foundation upon which to stabilize and grow? Give your readers a break. Text at the top of the EditPros Web site, for example, tells visitors, "EditPros specializes in writing, editing and proofreading for newsletters, brochures, Web site content, annual reports, technical reports, research studies and articles for publication." Unadorned. Unpretentious. Unambiguous. And factual.

4. Use the 'inverted pyramid' approach.

Journalists compose news stories using a style they call the "inverted pyramid," in which the concluding or most consequential statement is presented first. Remember those impatient drivers? They may stick around long enough to read only a couple of introductory sentences. Make certain, therefore, that your leading text summarizes the content of the remainder of the page. Make your point succinctly, in case your visitors want to move on quickly.

5. Avoid hyperbole.

Don't join the chorus of competitors who all shriek that they're the biggest, the best, the most popular in the industry. Stand out by sticking to the facts. If your organization is the largest in the field, make sure to back up that assertion with evidence—and then tell your site visitors why buying a product or service from the largest company in the field should matter to them.

6. Don't intimidate your readers.

Your Web site visitors may not necessarily know as much as you do about your subject matter. After all, they've approached you because of your expertise or your ability to offer a needed product or service. So don't talk over their heads. If your subject matter is complex, use supplementary Web pages to explain or elaborate on concepts that may be puzzling to some of your prospects. Build respect by gently educating your guests.

7. Guide readers through the text.

Give hurried readers "directional signs" to help them zip through your text quickly. Use subheadings, bullet points and numbered lists (such as those in this article) to identify key points.

8. Don't fret about scrolling.

As commercial application of the Web was evolving, limiting page length to avoid the need for scrolling became the conventional wisdom. But trackballs and mice with thumbwheels have made scrolling no more troublesome than clicking hyperlinks to other pages. We're not suggesting writing with a stream-of-consciousness style. But to remain cohesive, some documents (such as this newsletter) should be presented intact rather than divided among two or more Web pages. Let the content be your guide.

9. Help people find you.

Try to imagine how someone who didn't know about your organization would find you. Make a list of likely words and phrases that they would use in search engines, and then carefully integrate those terms into the headlines and body of your Web content. Those words must remain as text rather than embedded in graphics in order for them to be detected by search engines.

10. Treat Web site visitors as guests.

Make site visitors feel welcome. Introduce key company personnel, with information about their areas of expertise and their approach to conducting business. Show guests why they should conduct business with your personnel. Invite on-line guests to contact you, thank them for visiting, and invite them to learn more elsewhere on your site or to return at a more convenient time.

When you're done, test the navigational ease of your site. Ask several colleagues, business associates and friends to poke around—some leisurely, some within specified time constraints. Ask how much they were able to learn about your organization in 60 seconds or two minutes. Ask if what they found was illuminating. And ask if the material they read would have encouraged them to pick up the phone to call you.

Just hope they don't do so as they're tailgating you down the freeway.