Writing for the Web

You have one chance to make a first impression—on every page of your website. Be sure your content:

• Supports your mission.
• Helps your users find what they need.
• Encourages web visitors to become congregational visitors.

Help Users

As content providers, you must work from the perspective that your web visitors know nothing about you or how you operate. Make no assumptions about what they know.

Think about what your visitors want to accomplish or learn. Keep your content very task-oriented. Avoid anything in your presentation that detracts from getting to the point.

• Organization: Allow people to easily scan your page to find what they're looking for—or determine that it's not there without wasting too much time.
   
• Avoid Distractions: Be concise. Don't turn away visitors with easily-avoidable mistakes.
   
• Make Links Meaningful: Links catch the eye and tell a user a lot about the nature of your content; maximize their potential.
   
• Don’t Use PDFs as Webpages: PDFs are jolting to the user, often have slow load times, don't include navigation, and can be difficult to track in your analytics.

Writing Tips

This Writing for the Web Guide includes several fantastic articles that can help you focus your writing.

• Start Strong, Stay Strong
• Proofread and Test Before You Publish
• Shorten and Strengthen Sentences
• Write for the Web
• Identify Your Audience
• Define Your Voice
• Construct Clear, Compelling Copy
• Be Inclusive, Write for the World
• Write Clear User-Interface Text