Writing for the Web

How does your nonprofit think about content? Do the statements below sound familiar?

• "We cut and paste the content from our annual report to our Web site"
• "We started talking about content after we figured out what our site was going to look like"
• "Our content focuses on what our organization does and how we're structured to deliver our services."

How about these?

• "We figure out what is important to our audience first. Then we begin writing. Then we simplify it."
• "We have established specific guidelines around tone, tense, and length for each type of content we generate."
• "We never cut and paste directly from offline documents. There is always atleast one round of edits for clarity, length, and structure before placing it online. "

If the first set of statements sound familiar, it's time to step back for a minute and reconsider your approach. If the second set of statements rings true, then congrats - you're on the right track.

The basics you need to consider as you write for the web:

1. Audience. Your site user/reader is why you're here. Don't write a word without thinking of the person(s) that will be reading your work. Make sure your target audience cares about it and remove references that don't mean anything to them. Talk to them in a genuine voice that they can relate to.
2. Medium. Reading online is different than reading offline. Assume that your readers are grumpy skimmers looking for a reason to leave. Assume they're in a hurry. Assume they are unforgiving.
3. Length. Try to keep it as concise as possible. "Grumpy skimmers" don't want to read paragraphs longer than 50 words - they want bullets and snippets wherever possible.

There is a plethora of free information on this topic online. Check out the following resources as you begin creating or updating content for your site:

• Gerry McGovern's Web Content Style Guide Excerpt. From the reviews on Amazon, it would appear that this content is all you need from his book, but it's a good introduction for nonprofit folks that are used to offline writing.
• Penn State's eNonProfit methodology overview. Mirrors what we do at Rhumbline with few exceptions.
• Jakob Nielsen's research library on UseIt.com. The Usability Guru folks enjoy loving or hating always has a strong point of view. Good stuff.

These are just a start - a couple of searches on Google! will yield many an article on the topic. The items above are a bit more comprehensive and worth reviewing first.

Feel free to drop a line with any questions you may have - if I don't have a point of view on the topic, we can talk it through and arrive at one together. Take care. pba.