aiga homegrown: writing for the web

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Alice Williams919.834.2552 x17alice@hesketh.com

March 13, 2012

Fewer Words, More ActionWhat designers need to know about writing for the

Web

Good start. Needs more gibberish.

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Let’s get warmed up

Who are you in six words or less?

Kindle is not quite the same.

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

First Things First: Who are you? (But really, Why should I care?)

What would they believe or value?

What do they believe or value?

What do we currently claim?

What would we like to become?

Now Future

Now FutureExternal

InternalOUR BRAND

Chris Grams, The Ad-Free Brand: Secrets to Building Successful Brands in A Digital World (2011)

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Why does it matter?

Now Future

The Web is about SHOWING, not TELLING.

If you don’t figure out who you authentically are, you have nothing to show.

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Why does it matter?

Now Future

hesketh.com: Web-powered outcomes for empowered clients

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Now Future

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Why does it matter?

Now Future

Museum of Life & Science• Explore, connect, learn, share (or)

• Creating opportunities for lifelong science discovery

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Going Deeper

Now Future

Establishing Persuasion, Emotion and Trust (PET)

Can I do it?

Will I do it?

Information architecture & user experience

User-informed design & content

How do you PET your audience?

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Your Tools: Elements of Tone

? Mirroring of user mental models

? Use of person & voice

? Content choice (how much detail, which details, what forms of evidence)

? Word choice (connotations, level of technical usage, complexity, parts of speech)

? Sentence structure/cadence

? Information chunking

? Selection of visual elements

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Choose your words carefully, but…

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Working on the Web means saying goodbye to control

http://www.flickr.com/photos/suzee_que/3852900728/

What Do Your Web Visitors See?

Source: http://www.useit.com/eyetracking/

1) Top line of F is first

2) Middle line of F is second3) Vertical line

of F is third & most intense

May quickly scan for a

call to action

May quickly scan for a

call to action

Banner Blindness

Banner Blindness

Source: http://www.useit.com/eyetracking/

Visual division of space can extend the lines of the F

Visually highlighted areas

can change patterns

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

What Eye Tracking Tells Us

Scannability is key!Front load key information in the first two

(short) paragraphs.Say goodbye to “clever” leads & subheads.Integrate & visually brand large banners. Visitors are not reading all your text –

period. Most will read 20% - 30%*

* Harald Weinreich, Hartmut Obendorf, Eelco Herder, and Matthias Maye. ”Not Quite the Average: An Empirical Study of Web Use," in the ACM Transactions on the Web, vol. 2, no. 1 (February 2008), article #5.

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/percent-text-read.html

Why you usually get to win in a debate with your web copywriter.

For every additional 100 words on a page, visitors will only spend another 4.4 seconds there

visual.ly

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Now Future

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?""That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat."I don’t much care where--" said Alice."Then it doesn’t matter which way you go," said the Cat.

Now, for the action

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Now Future

Navigation labels

Calls to action

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Now Future

Lack of mutual exclusivity

Jargon or proprietary terms

Way too many choices

Find my navigation

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Don’t Do It! Mystery Meat Navigation

Before…

After…

Not

everyon

e is a

navigato

r

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Our Goals Audience Goals

Effective Calls to Action

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

In Summary, good web writing… Shows, not just tells, your brand Allows for easy scanning Offers clear navigation & Calls to

Action

©2011 hesketh.com/inc. All rights reserved.

Thank You…

What are your questions?

Alice Williamsalice@hesketh.com@StratChick919.834.2552 ext. 17