Web writing is an entirely new medium where new writing and producing rules apply. First, the pace of the online readership is fast, very fast. Home pages are scanned, not read. The most important information you want to know better be highly visible and easy to understand. 

At FastForward Marketing we believe that the more our clients know about producing online communications, the better the results will be. As business owners, results are the only things that count.

1.      Keep page content above the fold, if at all possible. This refers to the old newspaper rule of keeping the most important stories “above the fold” of the newspaper. Keep your message on the visible portion of the screen when the page opens. As a rule of thumb, limit the horizontal length of the page to about ½ the page width.

2.      Focus the content of each page (Exception: the Home Page) on one topic. Prioritize the presentation of information and present the must know information about you or your product or service first.

3.      Begin your writing with your conclusion. This is your “hook”. Interested site visitors will keep reading because you appear to be “on topic”.

4.      Use sub-headings to break your copy. This is especially true if you will be ignoring Rule #1.

5.      Don’t forget to include a Call to Action in the white space around your copy. This can be a simple “Call us today for a free estimate” or as simple as including your phone number in a highly visible location on the page.

6.      Use simple sentences, active voice, and present tense. Avoid jargon, run-on sentences and over-use of prepositional phrases. Use short simple familiar words. Now is the time to use keep the KISS (Keep It Simple) formula top of mind.

7.      Use simple graphic elements such as bulleted lists and numbered steps to make information visually clear.  

8.      Use numbered lists and bulleted lists consistently.   Use numbered lists for instructions that must be performed in the sequence described. Use bulleted lists when presenting information that has no particular sequence of performance. 

9.      Use culture and gender neutral language. For example, you, their, or our is preferable to his or her. 

10.   Use correct grammer, punctuation and spelling. See if you can spot the grammatical error in Rule #10. Spellchecker did. Use it.

Web sites should read as clearly and succinctly as possible. Web readers generally demonstrate a 25% slower reading comprehension rate on the Web than on paper. Online text should be a minimum of 50-60% shorter than text appearing on any printed collateral.
 

Web writing should be at least half the length of what may appear in print. There are several methods for editing or “thinning the text” to achieve a message with impact:

·        Use the active voice in most sentences

·        Remove prepositional phrases where possible

·        Avoid jargon that may only be understood by niche audiences

·        Use specific words that are easy to comprehend rather than lengthy or vague phrases

·        Write in the audience’s vocabulary

·        Make all sentences precise and to the point

Web Site Visitors scan rather than read. It’s important to present text in digestible chunks, allowing the reader to quickly glean the message, offer, or call to action.

·        Headings should act as “hooks” and quickly inform the reader of the information in the text

·        Place emphasis on subject headings that introduce separate subjects within the same page
·        Subheadings are crucial to providing personalized content to each reader, increasing usability and
         retention. Keep the headings succinct and direct.
 

Relay key points within the first few sentences of each page or content chunk. This method is consistent with maintaining the reader’s style on a Web site, the speed and ease at which a reader may require information. By effectively summarizing before detailing, the reader can gather the most important points and act on the information immediately should they chose not read further. If the text introduces additional product or application pages, the call-to-action links and a brief description of what to expect should precede any other information.

Text should call out important information by bullet points, colors and links. The key to successful Web text is the presentation of text, as well as the length. A lengthy paragraph can be easily cut into a few sentences and readability improved but scannability is greatly improved by colors and quick links for more information.

Use of the Active Voice.   As our communication media becomes more “impersonal”, the more effective “personality” becomes when writing on the Web. Using a second-person active voice can help bridge the divide, making the message more realistic and “human” and more effectively engaging the reader.

One of the most overlooked aspects of Web writing is presentation and structure. Although many sites keep information succinct, they are often structurally confusing, with no clear informational path from one page to the next.   Informational structure should direct a reader in one clear direction, leaving little confusion of what is next.

Anticipate the needs of the reader. Think of the questions readers may have an answer them in your content. Because readers will chose to proceed to some piece of information or opportunity they are seeking, the site must contain a usable roadmap or structure to allow them to easily access the desired content. Empower the user to seek their own path through your website.

Read your text aloud. This is a good exercise to determine good informational flow. If it sounds stilted or confusing when you say it aloud, reading it on the web will magnify the perception. If possible tape yourself and play it back. This will quickly allow you to see where you might need clarification or a wording change.

"Branding," and its apparent continual evolution, is evolving even more. I found that out recently when I stood in as a substitute speaker at a business networking group.  With the script of the original speaker in hand, I started out following the party line. Somewhere along the way, I went "off script." Here's how it went: I started telling the group that traditional branding was dead; don't waste money on identity logos - just get a logo, any logo. I didn't mean to go off script. It just happened.

When it happened, that's when the speech turned into a dialogue with the audience.

The audience was mentally at a static point in "branding" - that branding is the basic building block for every successful endeavor. Without the image, persona, and appropriate logo design, tag line, and overall look-and-feel, businesses have no chance of success. There's another angle on this, which my readers should know very well: Move people from interested prospects to loyal clients by the shortest and least expensive route possible. 

Branding is defined as, "a traditional advertising method used to create a response from a target audience based on cumulative impressions and positive reinforcement." Marketing is defined as, "The process of organizing and directing all the company activities which relate to determining the market demand and converting the customers buying power into an effective demand

for a service and bringing that service to the customer."  

According to this, branding is the strategy of developing a company's message. Marketing is the tactical implementation of this message.

Seemingly, close cousins.  

As the dialogue continued at this event, the audience understood that the successful strategy is one that doesn't differentiate between marketing and branding. 

Today the definition should be "an interactive communication method that allows the prospect to be engaged by the company's message and leads to a

direct buying response."   Isn't that what we're all trying to do? What

small business brags about the success of their branding campaign? (What small business can afford to "brand" in the traditional sense of the word?) The bragging for small business is more about the successful marketing/sales tactic employed that exceeded the goals that were set. Small businesspeople are all about tactics that sell. The spend has to generate sales on the limited resources common to small firms.

The take-away: A branding message is not static but a "concept in motion".

It will change as the market shifts. Marketing efforts should respond quickly to perceptual shifts in the market. The internet has made our communication medium a fluid environment. Static messages don't work.

Customers are no longer targets of branding and marketing, but are participants in them. Big difference. 

This is actually good news to small businesses. It means that conversations with prospects and clients are more likely to generate sales than any branding effort. Listening and thinking about what engages your clients and prospects is a catalyst for sales, and small businesses are better at this than the big guys. 

So, don't worry about having the perfect logo. The odds are that your business will not look the same two years from now anyway. If it doesn't, you're probably responding to what customers really want and not what you thought they wanted, and that's always a good thing.