- How do I know what will help my search engine rankings?
- What copy will help sell my product?
- How do I tell my team member our entire company booklet does not belong on our About Us page?
Therefore, I thought I'd compose my top five web writing tips along with some very helpful resources and references.
So the next time a blank web page is staring at you or your boss insists that you squeeze that 3-page single-spaced document into one page on your site - you'll have a little something on your side.Tip 1 - Before you begin, find out what's in
One of the main factors in helping your site reach the top of search engine rankings is the use of keywords in your site. Before you begin writing - check to make sure your keywords are the most popular.
Resources
Google External Keyword Tool
Keyword Suggestion Tool by Wordtracker
Reference
SEOmoz Search Engine Ranking Factors
Tip 2 - Don't blow your top
Very often overlooked, but ultra important, is your browser title. Your browser title consists of the words you see at the very top left corner of your browser. If you navigate to appliedart.com, you can see ours consists of our name, location, and various keywords where we want to appear prominently in search results.
Resource
Thrivepoint: How to Write a Web Page Title
Reference
Market Opinions!: The Importance of Having Descriptive, Engaging Titles
Tip 3 - Be brief
When writing for print, we're confined to specific dimensions. When writing for video, there's usually a time limit. But when it comes to writing for the web, it's sometimes all too easy to keep adding to that never-ending page. Web users do not read - they scan. Because of this - lists and headings are your best friend when writing for the web.
Resource
Elance
Reference
ReadWriteWeb: The stats are in, you're just skimming this article.
Tip 4 - Ready, set, action!
Because you already know web users scan your pages - keeping your content in the active voice is always best:- shortens content
- allows for faster comprehension
- tells the user it's something they can do
Answerbag: How to avoid passive voice
Reference
Articlesbase: The Active Voice Drives Sales
Tip 5 - Think before you link
In the infancy of the world wide web when link conventions were not standard nor understood, it was important to be perfectly clear where a user needed to click by linking content with phrases such as "click here" and "read more". This is no longer needed and can actually be detrimental to your search engine ranking and users with disabilities. You should always use descriptive (preferably keywords) to link.
Resource
Think Vitamin: Don't be the Weakest Hyperlink Text
Reference
Website Station: Descriptive Link Text
~Steph
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