The Subtle Effects of the Written Word

Why Linguistic Integrity in Web publications Still Matters

By: Jeff Nolan

I wrote this article last year and featured it in an earlier newsletter published in 2006. I’ve updated it and re-published it here in No-Nonsense News.

Whether for e-commerce, blogging, or advertising purposes, people have been adding millions of new websites to the Internet every year for the past decade. And regardless of how much money people spend or how many bleeding-edge features they use to create them, many sites fail to meet expectations because they lack one crucial element: good, solid writing.

Now, we at No-Nonsense Hosting don’t claim to be expert writers, but we’ve seen enough site tracking statistics over the years to know that good writing is one of the most common denominators of successful websites. After all, why shouldn’t it be? When you surf the Web, you’re reading content more than you’re viewing or listening to it. But if a reader gets the basic gist of your message, isn’t that good enough? In today’s too-fast world, isn’t grammar more of an outdated luxury than a usable tool?

The answer, of course, is no. Here are a few reasons why:

First impressions

Like in face-to-face situations, first impressions gathered from writing happen in the blink of an eye and have subtle, lasting effects.

This is especially important when it comes to e-Commerce. People tend to spend money with organizations they feel relate to their own level of education and language skills. If a Web page looks like it was thrown together in five minutes, a reader’s perception of the site (and its associated products, services, and/or parent organization) will reflect that impression until the site improves.

Typos

Typos can kill the credibility of a written passage in seconds. They can also distract readers from getting the full impact of what’s being said. Reading a typo is like hearing a comedian flub a punch line; you may still get the joke, but it won’t have nearly the impact it should have had.

Punctuation and Sentence Structure

As anyone who’s ever read a book can tell you, good punctuation and sentence structure are the keys to getting points across. No one wants to fight through sentences to figure out what they’re saying; reading should be effortless, like listening to someone speaking (just not out loud).

People also gravitate towards good writing because it connotes a level of respect and consideration for its audience. A well-written bit of text never condescends to its readers, nor does it lead them to subconsciously imply a lack of education or ignorance on the part of the author.

Bad grammar and syntax, on the other hand, denote a rather unprofessional image. When a website or advertisement contains typos or misused punctuation, it instantly looks “out of whack” to its viewers because when we read, our brains recognize words as groups of letters, not as individual letters strung together. (This is why you can identify mixed-up words as long as their first and last letters are correct.) At worst, poor punctuation and grammar implies that an author either doesn’t care enough to do a quick spell-check or doesn’t have anyone on staff capable of spotting the errors – both undesirable, unnecessary implications that are best avoided whenever possible.

Common Sense

If you spend money to put written material on display for millions to see (or use or download), it just makes sense to make that material as coherent as possible. The Internet is a global entity, and any language can sometimes be hard to understand, even to native speakers. Poor use of language can turn a promising site into a frustrating experience, no matter how good its offered product or service may be.

Suggestions

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a grammarian to write well. All it takes is a little time and patience. If you have a website and feel it doesn’t quite convey your message as strongly as you’d like, try one or more of the following suggestions:

Write the way you speak. If you can’t seem to put your thoughts into words, try speaking them out loud. State your topics in the simplest terms possible, then jot them down and form short, concise sentences from the most relevant parts.

When you finish writing something, put it aside for a while and return to it later. Use this technique to freshen your perspective at any time, whether you’re stuck or not. You might be surprised at how useful a planned distraction can be when it comes to writing. The best part about this little trick is that it doesn’t take long to work – the key is simply remembering to do it.

Write for the Web

There’s a bit of a debate going on between traditional copy writers and those who write content specifically for the Web. Traditionalists prefer to stick with proper sentence structure, paragraph structure, and grammar, while those who write “for the Web” advocate using subheadings and bullet points to break up their copy.

Changing one’s writing style to suit a medium is nothing new. (Journalists have done it for decades.) The issue lies in the fact that when surfing the Web, readers quickly scan pages looking for quick, accessible information as opposed to reading a page from top to bottom. The act of “surfing” the Web occurs at a much faster rate than, say, reading a book or a newspaper, and the whole point is to absorb information quickly without having to dig through pages of text to do so.

We at No-Nonsense suggest using a balanced mixture of styles when putting together a website. You don’t want to completely sacrifice ease of use for properly-written content, but you don’t want to bog down your site’s readers with long-winded text, either.

Use spell Check and grammar-checking tools

This one’s a no-brainer. Spelling- and grammar-checking tools found in most word processing programs aren’t perfect, but they’re so easy to use that not using them borders on asinine.

Important Stuff First

Put your most important material at the top of the page. Most people browsing the Web want their information as quickly as possible, so make it easy for visitors by presenting your most important ideas and facts first, near the top of the page. Put topics of lesser importance further down.

Match Link Text with Content

Match your link text to the right content. Make sure that links within your Web page match the content they’re linked to. In other words, a link such as “our company offers various products for the paper industry” should actually link to a page about products for the paper industry and not to a general products page. Never assume that readers will simply figure out where they need to be on your website. You need to guide them every step of the way.

Avoid Using “Click Here”

Avoid the “Click Here” syndrome by using descriptive text in links. Avoid using the phrase “click here” to represent links to other pages. It’s a common sight online, but the problem with the phrase “click here” is that it doesn’t say anything about the content it links to. Readers look specifically for links, subheadings, bullets, and other tidbits of information when they scan Web pages, so it’s best to use descriptive link text whenever possible; for example, use “Read about our recent merger” instead of “Click here to read about our recent merger.”

A descriptive link offers readers a point of reference to the next relevant piece of information. If you take away the descriptive text and replace it with “click here” you take away the point of reference, which makes it much harder to get information – and chances are your reader will zip on past to the next website.

Don’t Expose Your URLs

Don’t expose your URLs. “URL” is an acronym for Universal Resource Locator. (A URL is more commonly referred to as a link; most links look like http://www.website.com/somepage.html.) When you provide readers with a link to a site on your Web page, avoid “exposing” the destination URL by making it a part of the link description. Represent the link with descriptive text instead.

For example: “For more information about our membership, go to http://www.website.com/info.html” instead should read “Our 2004 membership information is now available.” There is one exception to this rule: it is acceptable to use a raw URL within your written content if the link points to a document on another website.

Proof Read Your Content

Proof read your content two or three times carefully before you upload it for publication. Besides typos and run-on sentences, check the overall ‘flow’ of your topic(s). It’s easy to miss the forest for the trees when you write, so read your material and ask yourself, would you get your point if you were seeing your site for the first time?

Get Some Help

Get some help. If all else fails and you’re still unsatisfied with your writing, don’t feel silly about getting some help (or at least a second opinion). A fresh set of eyes on your work can produce ideas, constructive criticism, or guidance that you might never have thought of on your own.