Archive for the ‘Writing for the Web’ Category
published by Gary in Writing for the Web
The perceived value of copy has gone down over the last 10 years since the emergence of the Internet. The perception is that copy is cheap and that what was once considered a genuine skill is no more than a collection of key words, key phrases and Ad words.
Of course, organisations that are really prospering from exposure via their websites know that website copy does not just have to be technically good, it also has to be well-written in the old fashioned sense. That does not mean well-written in the same way that a brochure or leaflet may be well-written, it means well-written for the web.
Brochures, catalogues and magazines are often flicked through by readers from back to front; if an article is interesting it will be read just as a novel is read. But reading from the screen is different. People are looking for bit-sized chunks of information and if there is a link in the middle of a paragraph, the viewer will not get to the end of the paragraph before clicking the link.
If you are not careful with your links you can take people deep into your website and help them forget the reason for their visit in the first place, especially if an external link takes them on to a fresh site entirely.
The secret to holding a potential customer and getting that customer to contact you is to come straight to the point. A brochure has a look, feel and smell but a website just has a look and a back button for returning to the searcher to the list of search engine results.
Therefore, when a customer lands on your home page it is vitally important for the headline and the first paragraph to grab the viewer’s attention. Paragraphs are single sentences, two at the most and written in simple English. Now is not the time to show off your thesaurus.
The simpler your copy, the easier it is to read, the quicker the viewer will press the ‘Contact’ button. Keeping website copy direct is the key to converting visits to customers.
published by Dan in SEO | Tools & Resources | Web Development | Web Technology | Writing for the Web
If you happen to have a website and want to generate income from it using Google adsense, it would be wise to determine how you place your ads. We see this option from Google once we are ready to create our own ads but while the Google tutorials are something to guide us, it all really depends on where you place your ads.
For the record, Google allows you to place a maximum of 3 ads on a certain page. Going over that will leave you a blank space. So for blogs, if you want to maximize the advertising spots, it would be wise to place your ads near the posts. Remember that your posts are the ones which changes frequently and to broaden the ads that will be shown on your site, fresh content is usually the keywords that they will rely on.
Just be sure not to overdo it. While it would be best to place Google ads for content, it may render your site worthless if you forget about why the people are there. Formatting is still essential. Blogs are meant to provide information and if you screw that up, chances are you may not get the visitors who will eventually be clicking those ads to generate your revenue.
This has been proven already. Placing them near posts raises the bar of potential ads that may be of interest to your visitors. Just bear in mind, if you don’t update or have good ads, why would a visitor become interested in them if they see recurring ads each time they land on your page?
published by Dan in Blogging | SEO | Web Development | Website Analytics | Website Standards | Writing for the Web
While there are various commercial sites where you can generate income from your site, bear in mind that there are also private ones who may want to advertise on your site. The manner of finding you is easy; they found you while searching for potential partners. While it may seem that it is a long shot, the validity of it all is the most important thing.
If you happen to get an email all of a sudden asking you if you wanted to accommodate certain requests as buying ad spots on your site or even certain posts, you will be amazed at how much people would pay you for it. One entry can make a difference and while it may seem low at first, imagine the number of advertisers who would do the same thing? In fact, the more posts you have the better since it would mean that you are offering quite a number of spots that can allow advertisers to choose from.
As far as payment for these ad spots is concerned, it would be wise to seek advance payments. For example, if they want to have a spot all to themselves for a year, payments made online like perhaps Paypal is fair enough. You can specify the size, number of words or even limitations (which is perhaps rare and dependent of the site where they will be advertised). Of course you would want ads that do not disrupt the flow of your content.
Finally, if they find you, it only means one thing. You have done a great job in marketing your site and it is safe to say that your site is optimized on the web after all.
published by Dan in SEO | Web Development | Web General | Website Design | Website Standards | Writing for the Web
When it comes to designing a website, people normally point at advanced programming such as PHP or CSS for reference. But there are software today that make it easier. There will still be the usual coding and commands that a site developed will have to get used to but generally, if you know logic, you can handle it yourself.
Normally, hiring a professional website designer would be the immediate solution to the problem for most. But getting the proper one will cost a lot, sometimes even more than the site URL and hosting. For most it would not matter since it is a one time thing. But seriously, if you are inclined to learn, you can use the help option or even get simple tutorials online on basic to advanced programming.
It may all sound simple but most of these seasoned website programmers started out the same way. You will be surprised to find that they have not really garnered any specific dedicated studies towards web programming as most of these software are new to them. In fact, you may be surprised that they would know the latest software when in fact they claim to have learned it long before it was introduced on the web.
This is not to discredit what web programmers do these days. But there are people who do that. The thing is, if they can do it then why can’t you? It is all about taking it one step at a time. There will be basic to advanced modes and once you get the hang of it, the pieces of the puzzle will fall into place and you may even pick up a lesson or two when it comes to building good websites.
published by Dan in Website Design | Writing for the Web
A tagline is a very important element of any website. Taglines are not meant to simply be witty and catchy but to also be informative. Today I will be mentioning two mistakes that can lead to a terrible tagline and what you should do to turn it into a good one.
- Vague - Taglines should be informative. A tagline that is vague is definitely not informative enough. Your tagline should describe what the site is about. With a single glance it should give your visitors a clear picture of what they can find in your site.
- Wordy - As mentioned earlier your tagline should help visitors with “a single glance”. This implies that the tagline should be short enough to read at a glance. This means that several words should do it. The best thing to do is keep the tagline under 10 words.
When thinking up of taglines make sure you also take into account the overall feel of your site. If you have a humour site then a humorous taglines is apt of course but if it is a business site then the tagline should be in keeping with the reputation of your business. Note that if your company has an existing tagline already then it would be a good idea to use that so as to increase brand recognition.
published by Gary in CSS | SEO | Web Development | Web General | Web Technology | Website Design | Website Standards | Writing for the Web
Although some argue that adhering to strictly validated code is just a way of making things needlessly complex, by the end of the day it makes sense to create validated code for many reasons. I have seen scores of websites getting highly ranked in the search engines despite not having a valid markup and this is an aspect used as a counter point. I don’t see it as a proof of “invalid code works too” but just as a fact that these websites don’t have enough competition to feel the pinch.
Valid code passes the recommendations laid down by the W3C, the body that defines (X)HTML.
The biggest advantage is the SEO factor. Another is browser compatibility. Let’s quickly go through a few benefits of writing validated code for your web pages.
Validated code makes it easier for the search engines to crawl your website
Some people don’t agree with this but a valid code ensures better organisation of content and layout. This tells the search engines where they can find the right information. Valid code keeps the clutter away.
Validated code works in all the browsers
Do you see that irritating message on some websites: “This website looks best in IE” or some browser X? How silly! You are actually declaring to your visitors that you are incapable of writing valid code for your website because valid code makes your website work seamlessly on all major browsers. Valid code not only makes your website suitable for current browsers, it also prepares it for future browsers.
Validated code makes your website accessible to all
You cannot write validated code without incorporating accessibility features into your website. Once your code validates, it automatically makes your website accessible to people with special needs and different abilities.
Validated code makes your website available to various devices
These days people don’t use just the computers. There are scores of other devices that can be used to connect to the Internet to view web pages. A valid code makes your website compatible to almost all handheld and other devices.
In the end, validated code makes your website future-proof
Standards are always defined with an eye on the future and nothing is different for the web designing standards. When you use validated code, you make sure your website will be ready to embrace the new technological changes with ease.
Writing validated code is not as difficult as it seems in the beginning. More than an expertise, it is a matter of habit. Once you start writing validated code, you won’t even notice that you are doing it.
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