Killer Web Content’s “Six C’s”

People read differently on the web  If it’s not obvious, they don’t see it.  Bring meaning down to the bare essentials.  Most people look at just the first couple of words – and only read on if engaged buy those words.  The eye looks at a sentence, identifies the most important words – carewords – and then the mind makes a lot of assumptions.

People read differently on the web  When reading, people zero in on the top of a page and the first half of the first sentence.  Eye doesn’t read in a flow but rather in a series of jumps, of starts and stops.  Eye pays most attention to the top right section of the screen

Six C’s  Who Cares?  Is it Compelling?  Is it Clear?  Is it Complete?  Is it Concise?  Is it Correct?

Who Cares?  What does the customer care about?  It’s about time: your time and their time.  Sometimes what you care about can stop you seeing what your customers care about.

Be Compelling  Identify and use the carewords that matter to your customers.  Make sure the basics are well done.  An innovation must be truly useful, otherwise it’s just eye candy.  Clarity requires empathy and an unrelenting focus on the needs and level of understanding for those you are writing for.

Unconscious Challenge The better you know your subject matter, the more difficult it is to write clearly about it.

Be Clear

Complete the task

How to write great links The link is the most important thing you will write on your web page.

Be Concise  It’s not a murder mystery.  Tell them who did it in the heading and the very first paragraph  Lead with need. Get to the point. Then stop.  Hide the details. If in doubt, cut it out.

Be Concise  It is important to understand that being compelling, clear, and complete should always come before being concise.  Set a word limit. Keep it short.

Great Links  Clearly tells you what the objective of the link is.  Place links at action points in your text.  A link is a call to action.  Aim for relatively short text with clear calls to action at the end.  If you want someone to read important content first, make sure you place the link after the content, not before.

Is it Correct?  Know and check your facts.  The digital world has a long memory.  Editing is quality control for writing.

Self-edit Tips  Take your time.  Never edit immediately after writing.  Aim for a minimum of three passes.  Use a ruler and read backwards one sentence at a time  Copy-edit tables, text in pictures, quotes, headings, and so on separately

Self-edit Tips  Do a word count every time.  Avoid throwing away your first draft; cut it in half.  Change the environment.  Role-play: pretend you received it from someone else.  Avoid major changes near the end of the editing process.

Self-edit Tip Set a deadline and stick to it.

Beware of “Smelly” Content