By Carolyn Butchers – 28th July 2011

As the world of PR and marketing is moving increasingly towards the web, Paul and I attended a training course at the Henshall Centre yesterday to hone our skills for writing web text. Having previous experience and done a lot of background reading ahead of the course, we attended well-armed with a host of knowledge.

The importance of structure
Discussions ensued about sentence structure, page structure, and how our reading patterns change when reading online, as opposed to offline. The general consensus was that sentences need to be short and to the point, using plain English, with a clear call to action. Each web page should be short and focussed on a single theme, with links through to more detail.

Online reading
Screen based behaviour is non-linear and visitors to your web page will therefore be more likely to browse and scan the text, than read in-depth. Since most people scan a web page in the F pattern, positioning of text, images and call to action on the screen is pivotal.

Perfect planning
Before writing any copy, you need to have an effective plan, not only of content but also your website structure (i.e., where pages will interlink). When planning your web text, it is key to keep your audience in mind, and constantly ask yourself, why is this person at this page – what will they get from this/what is the purpose of this? By drafting the text in an engaging manner, the page will be relatable to each visitor, making you seem more personable. And let’s not forget that old sales adage; people buy from people they like.

Moving forwards into the world of keywords, hyperlinking, search engine optimisation and reporting, there are so many factors to take into consideration for each piece of online copy:
• Identify key words/phrases and make your text rich in these, especially the header and the first few sentences
• Ensure that your key words are the words and phrases that your customers are entering into search engines
• Make your hyperlinks context rich and relevant. Link your keywords, rather than ‘click here for more information’
• Play around with positioning, and use tools such as Google analytics to identify the most effective page positions and to test the best writing styles
• Use of keywords, hyperlinks and bold text increases searchability and SEO
We definitely found this training session of use and as you can see, we were working hard!

Completing the picture
As the final piece of the puzzle, all online content needs to be pushed out and published on as many different relevant sites as possible. By increasing the number of links back to your website out there, your search engine rankings will increase, making it easier for people to find you. Set-up a Twitter feed (which can be displayed as dynamic content on your home page – which again increases your SEO!) and push any news out via social networking channels such as LinkedIn and Facebook .

If you have any questions about optimizing text for the web, then give us a call, or contact a member of your Alto account team.