The Word on Website Content
Why You Should Consider Professional Web Content Development
By Herb Torrens
Mark Twain once said “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.”
Today those words were never truer, especially when it comes to writing for electronic media. There are many that would argue that the written word is the most important element of content on your website. I would not disagree.
In the electronic world, we write for the readers (humans), and we write for search engines (non-humans). The written words on your website must connect with both. While the basic elements of good writing remain the same, the syntax for good web content has evolved along with the reader (both human and non human).
People use the web as a tool. Web readers are looking, first and foremost, for information. They want it fast. They want it easy to read. And, they don’t want to wait for the punch line. In fact, studies have shown that most people looking at a web page “scan-read” and often skip words, sentences and even paragraphs looking for specific information.
Likewise, search engines use complex and constantly evolving algorhythms to scan for key words in order to define a website. They scan, review, and prioritize words for relevancy to specific topics. If a person types in “doctors in Riverside California,” the search engine will look for the most popular websites containing those key words. The higher in the content pyramid those words appear, the easier they are to find.
All the being said, the text in your web content must be focused and succinct. Less is more. Key words must be identified for each page and they must appear in headlines (H-1), sub heads and bullets (H-2) and in the first few words of every sentence (H-3). Being able to accomplish this, and still craft interesting, intriguing and informational text is not an easy task.
As a writer with more than two decades experience in journalism and business writing, I struggled with the transition. At first I really didn’t like this new syntax model because it was rather plain and boring. But the more I concentrated on it, the more I realized the challenge of coming up with something creative, or worth reading, while keeping with the objectives of scan-reading and SEO. I now embrace that challenge and enjoy honing words and syntax to meet specific criteria for a target audience (your current and prospective clients and customers).
Creativity and readability are things that separate writers from people who compose text. My job as a writer for Maven Concepts is to help you identify and deploy the right words for your website.
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