First in a four-part series, "Rules for the Web"
Measure Your Writing
By Rebecca Nero, Educational Technology Consultant
What do you do when you rev up your Web search engine, find the online information you need, go to the Web site and pull up a long text-heavy article? I either back away or, if desperate, print the article.
When you post a Web page or Web site, you want people to benefit from your work. At least, I hope you do! The people (audiences) you want to reach determine how you write and how you present your content.
What are your audience's demographics?
- Who is in your audience? (children, adults, educators, parents, community members, etc.)
- What is the age of your audience? (Adults and children come in different ages with different needs.)
- What is their education level?
- What are their backgrounds? Where do they live?
- What kind/speed of Internet access do they have?
Don't be afraid to use paper and pencil to develop your spot in the "paperless" world. Do a survey; take some notes; do some brainstorming even braindrizzles help.
Your audience's age and education level determine your vocabulary and sentence, paragraph and article length, on the Web as well as in print. If you have more than one audience, you better present your Web content in separate sections for each audience! Just remember that people do not read Web pages; they scan the pages.*
You can write "scannably" by:
- Highlighting keywords
- Making sub-headings meaningful
- Using bulleted lists
- Keeping each paragraph focused on one idea
- Starting with the conclusion (inverted pyramid)
- Cutting your word count in half
And remember: keep your writing concise and objective!*
Tune in next time for more ways to measure up on the Web.
*Nielsen, Jakob. "Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for October 1, 1997: How Users Read on the Web." http://useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html.
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