Creating content for your website
Once you've determined your website strategy and created a clear site map, you will need to collect and organise content for the website. Developing content (text, photographs etc.) for your website requires some careful thinking and planning to ensure that you meet the needs and interests of your audience. The first step is to develop your content goals - what you want the content of your website to communicate to your audience.
Appearance
- Batch content in paragraphs of 100 words or less.
- Introduce key points with descriptive headers and subheads.
- Include bulleted lists to help readers slow down and make text easier to read.
Tone
- Write in "news style" - put the facts up front. State the main point right away - additional details can follow.
- Write for your audience - content written for students should be significantly different from content written for business people. Remember to consider the reading level and literacy of your audiences.
- Reserve "feature-style" writing (narrative, descriptive writing) for testimonials and stories.
- Be sparing with adjectives. Too much advertising and promotion can affect credibility.
Length
- Pages one or two clicks away from the home page of a comprehensive website should be concise. Pages four or five clicks away can be lengthier. Readers who decide to dig that deep into your website are usually committed to a particular topic.
- Try to gauge how long you can keep the reader engaged about the information you are delivering.
Search engine friendly
- Include words on your web pages that users are likely to specify in a query when searching for your content on search engines.
- Strive to keep your pages at roughly 300 words and a single topic, if you want to talk about another topic then create another page.
Test your content
Ask some else to look at your website content, when they're finished reading, ask them what they recall. What were the key points? How much do they remember? What were their first impressions? What did they "feel" about your organisation? If you've met your goals, your testers will not only remember key points in the text, but they will be more informed about your organisation, will have ascertained an immediate impression of your organisation's identity and will be able to describe examples of your mission in action.