Writing for the Web

“Redish has done her homework and created a thorough overview of the issues in writing for the Web. Ironically, I must recommend that you read her every word so that you can find out why your customers won’t read very many words on your website — and what to do about it.”

– Jakob Nielsen, Principal, Nielsen Norman Group

“There are at least twelve billion web pages out there. Twelve billion voices talking, but saying mostly nothing. If just 1% of those pages followed Ginny’s practical, clear advice, the world would be a better place. Fortunately, you can follow her advice for 100% of your own site’s pages, so pick up a copy of Letting Go of the Words and start communicating effectively today.”

–Lou Rosenfeld, co-author, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web

On the web, whether on the job or at home, we usually want to grab information and use it quickly. We go to the web to get answers to questions or to complete tasks – to gather information, reading only what we need. We are all too busy to read much on the web.

This book helps you write successfully for web users. It offers strategy, process, and tactics for creating or revising content for the web. It helps you plan, organize, write, design, and test web content that will make web users come back again and again to your site.

Learn how to create usable and useful content for the web from the master − Ginny Redish. Ginny has taught and mentored hundreds of writers, information designers, and content owners in the principles and secrets of creating web information that is easy to scan, easy to read, and easy to use.

This practical, informative book will help anyone creating web content do it better.

Features
* Clearly-explained guidelines with full color illustrations and examples from actual web sites throughout the book.
* Written in easy-to-read style with many “befores” and “afters.”
* Specific guidelines for web-based press releases, legal notices, and other documents.
* Tips on making web content accessible for people with special needs.

Janice (Ginny) Redish has been helping clients and colleagues communicate clearly for more than 20 years. For the past ten years, her focus has been helping people create usable and useful web sites. She is co-author of two classic books on usability: A Practical Guide to Usability Testing (with Joseph Dumas), and User and Task Analysis for Interface Design (with JoAnn Hackos), and is the recipient of many awards.

* Clearly-explained guidelines with full color illustrations and examples from actual
web sites throughout the book.

* Written in easy-to-read style with many “befores” and “afters.”

* Specific guidelines for web-based press releases, legal notices, and other documents.

* Tips on making web content accessible for people with special needs.

Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works

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Blogging is one of the tools to make money on the internet. One of the good things about keeping a blog is that people will have something to look forward to when they visit your site. Of course, a blog is expected to be updated.

What keeps visitors coming back for more is good content. Good content is usually made synonymous with good articles but ‘content’ is more than articles. The term also includes the appropriate images and other forms of media that shall complement the articles you publish.

How do people find your blog? Unless you have your URL placed all over the blogosphere, visitors would most likely stumble upon your site through the search engines like Google or Yahoo. This would mean these people used keywords to find content that matches with the ones in your site.

In order to write a good article that shall attract visitors, you need to use keywords strategically on your article.

One of the most important places to put it in would be the Title itself. Your headline should envelop your keywords in such a way that it communicates what you have to offer well.

What catches your interest after the title is the opening. This is a good way to introduce the keyword that will help people find you. You can use this way as long as its effect would be appealing and will lead your reader to continue with the rest of your post.

Putting in related words and synonyms will also boost your article’s searchability.

Lastly, each time a writer writes, he/she has a goal in mind as to why that article has to be published. A good article will have a call to action. Some entrepreneurs will plug in about their products or ideas in this area. This is a good venue for powerful conclusions that can catalyze action among your readers. Actions could either be: making them explore your site more, buying your products, or going as good and grand as helping to make this world a better place to live in! Blog on!