Transcript Use Key Words/Phrases in Copy - University of Nebraska Medical

Is Your Web Writing Effective?:
A Routine Check-Up
June 23, 2010
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Agenda
• Diagnosis: Hallmarks of Great Web Copy
• Procedure: Effective Web Copy Checklist
• Complications: Issues and Obstacles to
Greatness
• Practicum: Making Real Web Pages
Real Effective
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Diagnosis: What Makes
Great Web Copy?
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Hallmarks of Effective Web Copy
Web copy is both read and used. All effective web copy,
from marketing pitches to technical docs, is:
•
Valuable
•
Audience-aware
•
Task-oriented
•
Scannable
•
Readable
•
Search-ready
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Valuable
Every web page you write contests for both your and your visitors’
time. Consider your value proposition in the context of:
•
Audience – Who is it for?
•
Task – What can they do with it? How will it help them
complete an objective that’s important to them?
•
Content/information – Why will they care? How will it
help me fulfill my business objective?
If you cannot answer these questions, go back to the drawing
board or eliminate that copy from your site.
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Audience-Aware
Effective web pages always have an audience in mind, even if they serve
millions of potential customers. Make your page audience-focused by:
•
Writing to a Person – Writing to an individual helps you be more
direct in tone and message. If only one person was going to read
your page, who would they be? What do they need to do and
want to know? What will excite them? What will make them act?
•
Talking to Them – Conversational writing is direct, informal and
emotionally effective. Use a 3:1 ratio of “you:I” statements, clear
language and strong verbs to connect with the reader.
•
Giving Them the Gist – What’s the upshot or “elevator speech”
for your page? Lead with that – details can follow as needed.
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Task-Oriented
Effective web pages get used or cause the reader to act. Tasks can
include learning about research collaboration, completing grants, applying
to a program, etc. Consider tasks along these lines:
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Inventory – What does your audience need to do? How?
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Convenience – How will this page make the audience’s and/or
your job easier? Self-service is a positive thing, and expected!
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Expectation – Where would your audience reasonably expect to
complete this task within your site? Will they understand why the
task is there?
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Expediency – Can this task be completed quickly, in its entirety,
on the website? If not, consider how you can reframe or remove.
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Scannable
Don’t be fooled – people actually do read web pages. However,
they usually scan and read only the parts they want. Effective web
pages are made scannable using:
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Headers – Use at the top of the page with H1 tags and in
the body using H2 tags. Use in a parallel structure to let
readers skim down. Include specific key words if possible.
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One Statement Per Paragraph – Many short paragraphs
with strong cores are easier to glean info from.
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Clear Leads – Drop your thesis statements at the
beginning of your page and each paragraph.
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Scannable (Continued)
Scannable web pages also include:
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Call-Outs – Highlight critical info for page tasks (phone
numbers, applications and forms, key info) using righthand column portlets or bold text to draw the eye.
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Key Words & Phrases – Your audience will catch on
“trigger words” that are meaningful to them. Use key words
and phrases in body copy and particularly in headers.
•
No Filler – “Fluff” or meandering text is anathema for
scannability. Write only what the page needs to distill your
text and bring the important information into focus.
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Readable
Effective web copy is made readable by a convergence of style
and design – easy on the eyes and engaging to the reader. Try
some of these tactics to make your page as read as possible:
•
The Inverted Pyramid – Effective web copy is built
around capturing reader attention as quickly as possible.
Use “inverted pyramid” writing style, leading with your
conclusion and supporting later on for those interested.
•
Stick to the Subject – You should address your topic,
and only your topic, in your page. Sub-topics can be
created in other pages and linked back to the one at hand.
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Readable (Continued)
•
Clear, Easy-to-Read Sentences – Use simple, direct
sentence structure. Rule of thumb: if a 13-year old can
understand your copy, it’s a good complexity for the web.
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Accurate, Specific & Descriptive Words – Avoid
ambiguous, technical, or internally-oriented terms like
acronyms unless it is required by or explained in the page.
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Avoid Passivity – Don’t beat around the bush; use strong
verbs and active voice (i.e. say “we made a breakthrough”
rather than “breakthroughs were achieved”). Be active!
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Readable (Continued)
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Use Key Words/Phrases in Copy – A good frequency is
about 3-5 uses of each word/phrase in any relevant page.
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Consider Size – An upper limit of 800 words is optimal for
search engine optimization, but size is not the only
consideration. Be complete and concise before small.
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Use Lists – Bulleted or numbered lists are easy to read
and digest. Use them to dice up complicated topics.
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Describe Links – Don’t leave readers guessing where a
link will take them; write out the link target and hyperlink
that, rather than falling into the “click here” trap.
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Readable (Continued)
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Use Only Relevant Images – Images “use up” viewer
attention, so use them only if they relate to/enhance text.
White space is better than images which distract/confuse.
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Proofread – Read your page aloud before posting it,
checking for spelling, incomplete sentences, flow, etc.
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Don’t Mess With Text Styles – The font sizes, colors,
and spacing have designed for maximum readability and
best practice. Black on white text is scientifically best.
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Only Links Should Be Colored – Links are the most
scanned-for info on your site. No colored text, please.
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Search-Ready
Most of these previous practices will also improve your searchreadiness, but there are few additional points of consideration:
•
Title Correctly – Titles need to be descriptive and
accurate of your topic (i.e. “Nursing Forms” not “Links”)
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Write a Page Description – These summaries appear in
search results and let you use key words. 25-30 words.
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Trade Links – Share links with relevant partners in and
outside UNMC. Crawlers consider links in search ranking.
•
Use Key Words in Links – Filenames or destinations
using your keywords will reflect positively in search.
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Procedure: The Effective
Web Writing Checklist
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Complications: Issues &
Obstacles to Effective Content
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The Conundrum
Fact of the matter is, every department wants an effective website
but few people are willing or able to commit to making it happen.
So how do we make efficient web pages despite the many
obstacles from above, below, and within?
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Taking the initiative and articulating your needs clearly
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Working within your means and your reality
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Showing the business value of a good site
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Dividing and conquering
It can be done –the biggest obstacles are probably in your mind.
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But I’m Not a Writer!
Effective web copy is more about method than skill. Good web
copy is informative, lean, factual and informal – not flashy. “It’s not
Shakespeare” is a compliment for good web copy! You should:
•
Do the basics well – Spelling, grammar and facts are
something all of us can do. We’re writing for 13 yr. olds!
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Find the “cool” – If you know the single most interesting
thing about your subject, you have a solid starting place.
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Focus on what you know –If you are helping the visitors
complete their tasks with a spartan website, you’re still
ahead of the curve. Choose your audience and go for it.
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But My Audience is Too Big!
No, it’s not. Chances are just 2-3 demographic groups make up at
least 80% of your website traffic – prospective students,
colleagues, the local community, etc. Try these techniques:
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Pinpoint your audience – The less accurately you define
the audience for a page, the harder it is to write and the
less useful it is for everyone. Limit yourself to as few
audiences as possible – the others can figure it out.
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Get some data – If you can’t make those calls on your
own, use web analytics to see what’s being used in your
site. Alex will also help you guesstimate who’s on yer site.
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But I Don’t Know My Audiences’ Tasks!
Yes, you can. Your department has tons of resources to find out
what people use and seek on of your site. Frame your mind by:
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Asking – If you have a current site, run a survey. Have a
Facebook page? Ask your “fans.” Ask your admin folks
what calls come in on the front line. Look at competitor’s
sites – what do they do? Try that. Catch a few students or
colleagues and ask them what they use the site for.
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Roleplaying – Put on your “audience hat” and create a
persona (that person you wrote the page for). Can you find
the important info in 30 seconds? Are next actions clear?
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But I Don’t Have Enough Time!
There are two metrics in web content management – investment
and volume. You can manage more volume in the same period of
time if you invest less in managing it, or vice versa. Try these:
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Cut back your copy – There’s no prize for biggest site;
reduce the amount of pages to fit the time available to you.
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Make “evergreen” copy– Copy without lots of statistics,
dates, events, or timely reporting requires much less time.
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Make it official – Try and get web duties added to your
job description. There may be overlapping efforts or
underemployment elsewhere that could free you up.
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But No One Will Give Me Content!
Fact is, we’re not the experts on everything our departments do.
What do you do when designated experts aren’t capitulating?:
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Harass – Start with one email a week, and increase
frequency from there. Set meetings. Politely annoy.
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Set deadlines – Everyone’s busy, so provide a clear
deadline they can shoot for, plus 2 days wiggle after.
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Take it offline – If they won’t write it up, interview them.
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Use less – If you can’t get everything, just get something!
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Run with what you’ve got – Don’t let tardy content hold
the site hostage. Zap that section and add the info later.
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But My Content is So Long!
Content between 200 – 800 words is a good balance of substance,
scannability, and readability. If your content’s bigger than that, try:
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Reading it first – Should be long enough & no longer.
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Cutting it up – Some copy is complex enough it needs to
be long. Long content is bound to have multiple topics or
subheads. Slice into new pages along those lines and link.
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Cutting it down – Some content just rambles. If you have
license, re-write or reconstruct based on good principles
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Sending it back – If you don’t know how to edit long
content, go back to the source and ask for revisions/help.
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But My Topic is Boring!
Dry content is a fact of life in research – what you need to avoid at
all costs is boring the audience. Consider these strategies:
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Focus on valuable, rather than complete, info –
Completeness tends to make content dull. Summarize!
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Interview the pros – Ask your department’s expert(s) in
the topic to describe it to you in 5 minutes or less. The
best takeaways you get make good highlights for a page.
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Don’t transcribe the annual report – Some things just
don’t make for effective web copy. Pick and choose the
summary parts of big docs and link to the PDF for the rest.
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But My Boss/Colleagues Don’t Care
About External Audiences!
You’re not alone – but the fact is on average about 80% of our site
traffic is from off-campus…even moreso if you exclude browser
home page visits. Showing the business case is the key:
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Share these numbers – Most folks heads will turn around
when they understand how much off-campus traffic we get
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Put it in terms they care about – Frame the conversation
in ways a site can save them time/money/effort (e.g.
cutting call volume, answering FAQs, providing forms, etc)
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You are the audience’s advocate – You need to stand
up for your visitor. Beat the drum if you want efficient copy!
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But Nobody Seems to Care!
This might be the worst situation of all – you’ve got no support,
resources and get no breaks to do the site. But there are benefits:
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Be the expert – This is your chance to teach your team
why a good website is to everyone’s benefit. Show them!
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Seek forgiveness, not permission – It can be easier to
just start and see what your efforts stir up. Propose, listen.
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Carpe diem – Sometimes good work will get people
enthused. Take initiative, be bold, and lead the way.
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Get tangible –Visualize websites is hard. Make
composites, doodle, or set up a skeleton site to show off.
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Practicum: Making Real
Web Pages Real Effective
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Let’s Get Analytical
We are going to analyze actual web pages, submitted by web
developers, for efficient practice using the points we’ve discussed
today. The workshop format is:
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Introduction – The web developer briefly introduces the
page & poses questions or concerns about it.
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Group Analysis – Break up into groups of 4-5; discuss
what could be done to improve the page; use checklist!
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Group Discussion – Share your ideas with the group.
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Alex Analysis – Alex shares his analysis of the page, and
compares and contrasts those points with the discussion.
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Study #1: The Home Page
Cardiothoracic Surgery Department Home Page
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http://www.unmc.edu/ctsurgery/index.htm
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Developer: Tina Hovorka
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Built in CMS3 with “skinned” header and footer
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Study #2: The Program Page
Charles A. Dobry, M.D. Lectureship
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http://www.unmc.edu/radiology/index.cfm?L1_ID
=3&CONREF=3
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Developer: Tina Hovorka
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Built in CMS3 with “skinned” header and footer
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Study #3: The Promotional Page
Norfolk Division Career Opportunities
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http://www.unmc.edu/nursing/Norfolk_Division_
Career_Opportunities.htm
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Developer: John Barrier
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Built in RedDot – College Template
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Study #4: The Research Page
Small Animal Imaging Laboratory (SAIL)
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http://www.unmc.edu/radiology/index.cfm?L1_ID
=47&CONREF=72
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Developer: Tina Hovorka
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Built in CMS3 with “skinned” header and footer
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Materials Available Online
The contents of this training, as well as other web and
communications trainings, are available for download
at the following web page:
http://info.unmc.edu/brandingresources.htm
An Echo360 video of this training will be available
online later this week.
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