People rarely read web pages word by word. Instead, they scan pages, picking out individual words and sentences. They do this because they are task-focused and need to ensure the page will have their answer before they commit to reading it fully. In this course, you will learn the details of users’ reading behavior online and how to present content in a way that makes it easy for them to find and understand information.

Benefits

• Understand how people read online based on usability testing and eyetracking research
• Learn how to optimize content for users, search engines, and accessibility devices
• Learn how to write concise, benefits-driven copy to increase conversion
• Increase the usability of your website or intranet by following our “Writing for the Web” guidelines

Topics

• Reading and scanning behaviors online vs. in print
  • Findings from our eyetracking studies
• Writing for your readers
  • Understanding your audience and using personas
  • Identifying goals for your content
  • Reading levels and low-literacy users
  • Creating accessible content
• Rules for web writing
  • Plain English
  • Writing for fast comprehension
  • Feature vs. benefits-driven language
  • Search engine optimization
• Making content easy to scan
  • Content chunks
  • Page titles
  • Headings and subheadings
  • Summaries
  • Lists
  • Links
• Dealing with organizational politics
  • Integrating content strategy into a development process
  • Creating a style guide
  • Justifying the re-write
  • Testing your content

Format

This course is an interactive lecture. Through in-depth exercises you will learn to apply and practice new principles and techniques while staying grounded in the research that supports them. Individually, and in groups, you will rewrite, redesign, and reorganize existing web-copy according to the guidelines presented in class.

The course also includes:

• Findings from our own usability studies, including eyetracking

• Videos from usability testing showing people's behavior in response to content

• Screenshots with content that works and doesn’t work

• Opportunities to ask questions and get answers

Bonus Material

Checklist with rules for web writing

Companion Course

Writing for the Web: Day 2 is a companion course to Writing for the Web: Day 1. Each course can be taken independently. Writing for the Web: Day 2 covers:

• Words to entice and educate users, and to convert them into repeat customers
• When and how to adjust content based on audience or platform
• Techniques to break up and organize information