Creating a custom website for your business can be exciting. It can also be intimidating. The internet is still a relatively new medium with its own guidelines, jargon, requirements and conventions. Although the technology may be alien, there is still one area where you have familiarity – content. You can save a great deal of time and money by being content ready.

By following a few simple guidelines you can greatly reduce the amount of time it takes to convert your content to web friendly usage.

Mix It Up

Don’t type in all caps. In the publishing world, all capitals are equivalent to shouting. It makes extended text difficult to read and should be used rarely. Unfortunately, there is no way to convert all caps to usable text. Instead, all of your content must be retyped. So make sure you leave the all caps off and type only in mixed case.

Writing for the Web

It may be helpful to consider the fact that you are writing for two very different audiences. One human for whom the text must be clear, concise and contextual and the other analog which looks for relationships, relativity and density. Where a human can make cognitive relationships when presented with ideas and information, a computer only knows what you tell you it. Therefore, you are not only providing information for people who are visiting your site but also information to search engines about what is on your site and how it should be offered to potential customers.

Information as Needed

“As needed” is the key phrase that separates writing for the web from other mediums. Unlike traditional printed mediums that is read linearly, front to back, beginning to end, the web provides content on demand, as needed by the user.

Hence, writing on line copy for the web needs to be concise. It’s essential to not overwhelm the user. Instead, provide concise information as needed and provide extreme details only when requested.

Save marketing oriented prose for printed materials, instead use simple direct language, which appeals to both humans and computers.

To aid skimming keep your paragraphs short with one main idea per paragraph. Try to include your point within the first sentence as it is the most read by skimmers. Likewise, keep your sentences short. Use lists with phrased bullets. And, make direct conclusions rather than inferences.

Using headlines, subheads and summaries offers a visual hierarchy that helps the reader to determine if their informational needs will be met. Remember, the goal of good on line copy is not how long a visitor spends on your site but how quickly they can find what they need.

Proofread Before Publishing

Receiving proofed and final copy can really be a time saver. Shaving days off your development schedule, it can be a real money saver as well.

Perform a spelling and grammar check. Your content is a textual representation of your business. It should be as professional and error free as your offered products and services. Luckily, desktop publishing programs, like MS Word, have tools to help you correct common errors as you type. However, it’s still important that you proofread your work as well. After all, both “he” and “her” are legitimate words, albeit with very different contextual meaning, and the misuse may not be picked up by spelling and grammar tools.

It’s better to work systematically looking for specific types of errors individually. If you try to identify and revise too many things at once, you risk losing focus, and your proofreading will be less effective. While this takes a little more time, the final product is the better for it.

Remember to read each word in each sentence. If proofreading on line, it may be easier to read each sentence individually by hitting the carriage return after each period. If working from a printed copy, use a ruler to isolate lines.

It’s also a good idea to get some distance from the text. It’s incredibly difficult to proofread freshly written copy. It’s still too familiar and errors can be easily missed.

Another good way of gaining distance is to let another person review your writing. Fresh eyes not only are more capable of finding errors but also may spot clarity issues as well. If you are unable to get another’s perspective, try changing the look of your document. Changing the font face, color, line-spacing or style can trick your brain into seeing a now familiar document as unknown helping you to spot previously missed errors.

Having correct copy at the beginning of the design and development process not only saves time and money but also improves the final product.

Next Week's Tip: Share & Share Alike – How to Save Time and Money When Delivering and Receiving Content