Abridged with the author’s permission from Writing on the Web.
Just the other day I was reviewing a website for a successful professional who does consulting with mid-level corporations. His site was extremely tasteful and attractive, conveying an aura of professionalism and seriousness. This is a good thing if you want to impress high-level executives in the C-suites.
But there were a couple things missing that could make the difference in a CEO or CFO or HR VP picking up the phone or not. The focus of the home page and the other pages was on the consulting firm and not:
- What benefits they provided to companies and the people within them
- The problems that their clients experience and the solutions they sought
- Case studies or stories from successful clients
- A profile of the consultant with his picture and story
There was a very attractive Flash banner with revolving pictures, which was somewhat mesmerizing, only it showed pictures of expensive offices without any people… the resulting impression was curious, like it would have been better suited for a furniture design site.
The human element is important, even when you’re trying to appeal to serious organizations with highly educated executives. Personality counts. This professional was trying to put his best foot forward but was actually hiding behind corporate formality.
Which isn’t to say he should go to the opposite extreme. But if your web pages aren’t presenting the authentic you, then you’re missing a great opportunity to use the Web to connect with other people on a global level.
This is one of the points made in Letting Go of the Words, by Ginny Redish, a must-read for anyone with a website or blog. There are plenty of studies to show that people visit to get information in a hurry, and they spend two minutes or less on a page. Good web writing is like a conversation. Your content should quickly answer people’s questions and let them get on with their lives.
Even though Redish makes a big point that on the Web people are skimmers and scanners and most people won’t read every word, she does give excellent advice on how to preserve your personality in a shortened form in the chapter “Tuning Up Your Sentences.” Here are 10 of her writing tips that I wholeheartedly endorse:
- Talk to your site visitors, use “you…”
- Show that you are a person and that your organization includes people (even if you’re in a mega-corporation, people do business with other people, so get personal, get real).
- Write in the active voice most of the time.
- Write simple, short, straightforward sentences.
- Cut out all unnecessary words.
- Give extra information its own place (another page? a footnote?).
- Keep paragraphs short (really short, like no more than two long sentences or 3 short ones, or less, because it’s easier to read).
- Start with the context—first things first, second things second.
- Put the action in the verbs, not the nouns.
- Use your web users’ words (write like they talk).
I’d add a few more things to this like, start with a question and end with a question, and, always start from the reader’s point of view, what would he or she want most to know? Obviously, this requires some knowledge about your target audience, your ideal clients and customers.
Patsi Krakoff has a doctorate in psychology. Find out more about her writing services at her award-winning content marketing blog, www.writingontheweb.com.
