In today's turbulent and competitive market, much business success depends on effective and "sticky" Web sites. Yet, many organizations continue to invest heavily in Web site design, while slighting the need for polished, cogent, professional writing.

The result? Cluttered, error-ridden, and poorly-organized text that buries the message and frustrates the reader.

Even small errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization can undermine a well-designed site and subvert a well-conceived message.

If you're evaluating your website, ask yourself these questions:

How is the site coming across—overall?

Is the message strong and compelling, convincing and persuasive?
Is the language accurate and correct, free of errors and awkward transitions?
Does the text effectively support the images, pictures, and graphics?
Do the pages harmonize with one another and make overall sense?
Is the text content timely and relevant, free of outdated messages?

Let me review your site. I may be able to suggest some low-cost editing and writing improvements. Here are a few Web site writing and editing guidelines:

1) Be succinct. Keep text to a minimum. Computer screen readers are 25 percent slower than regular print readers. Therefore, experts recommend 50 percent (not 25 percent) less copy. Moreover, screen users tend to reject scrolling—another reason to keep text succinct and concise.

2) Be correct. Edit the copy. Don't let misspelled words, grammatical mistakes, and sloppy language subvert the message. Eliminate embarrassment. Purge the errors. Develop clean, precise, tight copy.

3) Strive for scannability. Screen users resist streams of text. They focus on key words, sentences, and paragraphs—and skip extraneous material. Use effective headlines, bulleted lists, and other design elements. Break the flow of uniform text blocks.

4) Organize the text. Use plain language. Begin each page with the conclusion. Present the most important material first, using the so-called inverted pyramid principle. Use good topic sentences and stay with the one-idea-per-paragraph rule. Structure the material and don't bury the message.

5) Chunk the pages. Split information into multiple nodes—connected by hypertext links. Relegate detailed background information to secondary pages. Split information into coherent chunks that focus on specific topics, and use design elements to break up the text.

6) Use effective page titles. Limit title length (two to six words). Make titles stand on their own and keep them clear and meaningful. Move information-carrying words to the beginning.

7) Write effective headlines. Ensure that a headline appears on the screen at all times. Avoid cuteness or cleverness. Keep the language simple and scannable, and begin with an information-carrying word.

8) Ensure legibility. Use effective color schemes and sufficiently large fonts. Make the text stand still—and avoid text that moves, blinks, or zooms. Use single color backgrounds and avoid busy background patterns that reduce readability and slow the reader.

9) Be personal. Avoid the stance of a service or product provider who merely supplies a collection of addresses, images, and links. Stress your uniqueness. Give readers the opportunity to know you—to gain a feeling for who you are.

10) Use plain language. Use conversational language but avoid chattiness. Limit the use of humor and other gimmicks (although a light touch can sometimes prove useful).

Orlo J. Otteson
651-278-4824
otteson@aol.com