Writing For The Web

Course objectives:
At the end of this one day writing for the web training course we aim for you to be able to apply our practical guidelines for creating clear, compelling online copy, including:

how to structure your pages and create layouts that attract and retain your readers' attention.

appreciating the key issues surrounding usability and accessibility.

learning how keywords work and how to include them, helping to improve your search engine rankings.

Course content:
Course Summary
Imagine Writing for the web requires a different approach to writing copy for print. How you write the words is important, but only one of the factors involved in writing for the internet. Understanding your target audience and their online needs are critical to writing effective online copy.
People want to do something on your site e.g. buy something or find information. Recognise how to structure your copy to enable them to do this and meet your own objectives at the same time. Know why usability and accessibility are important issues you must address and what can be done to improve these. Learn simple techniques to help search engines understand what your site is about and help users find you on the major search engines.
Our web writing training course was developed in conjunction with the British Library and has subsequently been delivered to a variety of organisations.
Course Content
Introduction - What works online

Purpose of a website - define purpose to focus on relevance

What works online - look at a variety of sites to get a feel for what works - and what doesn't

Know your audience - define user groups and their goal

Exercise

Writing for your audience

Web v Print - understand the differences and similarities

Exercise

How people use websites - understand how to structure pages for the way we use the web

Accessibility - general requirements

Usability - 5 key issues for content - ease of learning/ease of use/memorable/errors/user satisfaction

Structure

Aids to navigation - Helping users find the content they want

portals

breadcrumb trails

site maps

writing FAQs

forms

Exercise

Titles/Headings/Summaries The importance of titles/headings/summaries - offer context, direct the user

Page titles - for users and search engines

Headings

Summaries

Exercise

The Copy

Case Study: Nielsen's usability study - how writing structure affects understanding and retention

Plain English - simple words and phrases, write for scanning, direct communication exercise

Links -their importance and how to incorporate them exercise

Writing for search engines -quick start guide to writing for search engines whilst remembering the user - exercise

User testing