How to prepare writing text for web pages

Get it right the first time!

Website writing needs to be kept as short as possible.

It is known from research that most people tend to quickly skim over text looking for information that is relevant, interesting, and what they are trying to search for.

Don't lose your visitors

If a user visiting a web page cannot find what they are looking for in under 15 seconds, they will probably head back to the search engine listings.

Help is at hand

We can advise and assist in your content preparation to make it search engine friendly.

Proofreading

All text on websites we produce is checked for typos, spelling, and grammatical errors that we will correct if necessary.

Do's

Make a plan.
Understand your audience requirements.
Make it original.
Keep it short while making use of paragraphs.
Use subheadings.
Use short photo captions.
Use lists effectively.
Keep formats the same throughout the web pages, e.g., time 17:00 and date 25/01/2050.
Update content regularly.

Don'ts

Avoid using overly complicated words that some people may not understand.
Never pad out your text with unnecessary words or phrases.
Do not use long paragraphs, as generally people won't read them.
Avoid keyword stuffing, which is using the same keyword in a block of text too many times.
Do not underline text. Underling is best kept for links only.
Plagiarism will damage your search engine rankings.

Taking text directly from someone else's website or using copyrighted material is illegal without permission.
This not only applies to text but also images, videos, or anything else; always use your own.

Do not write something such as:

We held our general meeting last Thursday.*
Instead write:
We held our general meeting on Thursday, 10 July, 2024.
* This will be inaccurate the following week.

Or something such as:
We have been trading for 20 years.**
Instead write:
We have been trading since 2024.
** This will be inaccurate the following year.