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THE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO THE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO This guide covers the key steps to producing professional, well-ranked, user-friendly website content. A beginners’ guide to content writing Written and Published by Cabbage Tree Creative ™ Many business owners spend thousands of dollars on the development of a website, only to fill it with poorly written, hard-to-navigate content which drives potential customers away at first glance. You don’t have to be a great writer to produce great web content! July 2011
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T H E B E G I N N E R S G U I D E T OT H E B E G I N N E R S G U I D E T O
CONTENT WRITING | A beginners’ guide
The web is about instant gratification.
WRITING FOR THE WEB
Most people using it want specific information, quickly. Typically, your
website only has a matter of seconds to attract and retain a visitor.
Whilst the website design plays a major role in this process, the quality,
quantity and structure of your website’s content is equally important.
Many business owners spend thousands of dollars on the development
of a website, only to fill it with poorly written, hard-to-navigate content
which drives potential customers away at first glance.
You don’t have to be a great writer to produce great web content!
This guide covers the key steps to producing professional, well-ranked,
user-friendly website content.
TRADEMARKS: Google, Google AdWords, Google Analytics and YouTube are registered trademarks of Google, Inc. Twitter is a registered trademark of Twitter, Inc. Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc. Flickr is registered trademark of Yahoo, Inc.
A beginners’ guide to content writing
Written and Published by Cabbage Tree Creative™
July 2011
NEW ZEALAND: ISBN 978-0-473-19277-8
www.cabbagetree.co.nz
CONTENT WRITING | A beginners’ guide
CLeAr, eNCOUrAgINg NAvIgATION
Whilst the overall navigation paths of your website will largely be decided by your web design
team, content does play an important part in user navigation. Always carefully consider the
words that you use in your navigation menus and calls to action (e.g. buttons or enquiry form
prompts). The words you use should be accurate (e.g. don’t call a menu tab ‘more information’
if it is, in fact, a booking page) as well as encouraging.
2b
Words are motivational and informative.
Sub-menu items relate to main menu title.
Top level navigation tabs are clear and unambiguous.
A gOOD eXAMPLe OF CLeAr NAvIgATION:
Use clear, accurate, unambiguous words in your menu and page titles.
Use friendly, motivational words in
your calls to action (e.g. ‘book now’,
‘enquire today’, ‘ask us…’).
Always consider your audience and
the tone of your website when creating
navigation text.
Mislead users with inaccurate menu tabs, page names or prompt text.
Use page names or menu items more than once.
Confuse the user with vague instructions.
do don’t
CONTENT WRITING | A beginners’ guide
Every website has a purpose.
DIREcT THEm TO mAkING AN AcTION
3
The following tips relate to every page of your website >
Unless your site is purely an information portal, you will be hoping to
drive your users toward making a certain action, whether that is making
a booking, contacting you, sending an enquiry or signing up to a
newsletter database.
CONTENT WRITING | A beginners’ guide
QUALITYEnsuring your content is of a high quality
is very important. Spelling mistakes,
inaccuracies or outdated information can be
very off-putting to site users. Consider having
some company-wide quality assurance
measures in place to maintain a high level
of quality across your site’s content.
TONeAlways keep the tone of the website
consistent and in line with your business
or brand. Having an inconsistent tone will
confuse and deter potential customers,
as they will struggle to relate to the voice of
your website.
If your website has different zones for
different users (e.g. a trade zone or
members’ zone), ensure the tone of each
zone is appropriate for each type of user.
4a vOICe / NArrATIONAlways consider the voice or narration of
your website content. Ask yourself who the
information is supposed to be coming from.
Is it the corporate head office of a big motel
chain? The owner of an intimate B&B? The
young, energetic team who operate an
adventure activity? Once decided, ensure
the voice is consistent throughout the site
by referring to yourself or your company in
the same way each time. Consider words like
‘we’, ‘I’, ‘the team’ and the use of first names.
Ensure it is always clear who ‘we’ or ‘I’
is referring to.
CONsIsTeNCYIt is important to ensure consistency on your
site, for the user’s sake. When referring to
a service you provide, your location or your
company name, ensure it is always the same
throughout the site. For example: don’t
refer to your location as ‘Christchurch’ on
one page, and as ‘Riccarton’ on another.
This will confuse visitors who don’t know
that Riccarton is a suburb of Christchurch.
Similarly, don’t start inexplicably abbreviating
your company name half way through your
site content.
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