Business Writing for the Web

The hardest part of making a business website successful is writing great content that will attract readers and encourage them to choose what you are offering. Whether you are selling physical objects or a service, what you write and how you write it will make the difference between a quick look-and-leave visit, and a new customer. This is not a book on how to code your website, but a book on how best to write the pages on your website. The book is written in plain English and is written to be a quick and easy read. Online technology changes constantly, but what remains constant is that a website needs great content, written in an engaging and web-friendly manner, to make it a success. This book takes you inside the techniques of a master communicator, whose rules start with, “break the rules!”
Contents Cover Title Page Introduction Rule 1: Web Copy Must Be Scan-able Headlines Subheadings Bullet points Rule 2: Use Short Paragraphs Three to five sentences The one-sentence paragraph Rule 3: Don’t Dwell (Keep Your Pages Short) Formatting Content style But what if I really need to have a long page? Rule 4: Throw Out the English Rule Book The way we are taught to write is wrong (for business) How many rules does your reader know? Write like you talk Okay, so what rules of English do you need to know? Commonly misspelled words and misused phrases In closing Rule 5: Do Not Preach to the Choir Targeted traffic revisited What’s your problem? What are visitors expecting from you? Rule 6: Keep Your Audience in Mind, but Don’t Alienate Anyone, Either Write so your audience understands you Don’t alienate anyone Dancing between the two Lose the corporate jargon, again Rule 7: Write with Confidence Rule 8: Use the Word “You” a Lot How often to use the word “you” One more “you” myth dispelled Rule 9: Bolds, Italics, Underlines, Parentheses, Dashes, and Other Formatting Tricks Bolds and italics Different color fonts Highlighting Underlining ALL CAPS Dashes Ellipses … Overdoing punctuation (Parentheses) Why asides are important In closing Rule 10: Lots of Escape Hatches (Calls to Action) Rule 11: Be an Oreo® What do I mean by “Be an Oreo®?” Thank You Table of Contents