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WRITING FOR THE WEBPUTTING YOUR CONTENT FIRST
SOME QUICK NUMBERS
21,774,931 user sessions 70% of users were on the site for less than10
seconds 66% of users viewed one page then left 82% of users viewed two or fewer pages and
then left 10 pages (out of about 45,000 pages viewed)
accounted for 25% of all page views 25 pages accounted for 35%, 50 pages
accounted for 43%, 100 pages accounted for 52%
The remaining 44,900 pages viewed received less that 48% of the remaining total page views
ED.GOV USAGE DURING CALENDAR YEAR 2014
WHAT ABOUT MY CONTENT?
You are competing for the attention of a relatively small number of ED.gov users
Your users don’t stay on the site very long (measured in seconds) and they don’t click through your pages to see what you’re doing
Your users are on the site to complete a task and want to complete it quickly
Your users act just like most of us do when we visit most web sites
SOME TOUGH TRUTHS
WEB WRITING: FEWER, BETTER WORDS
1.Why do people visit websites?o To complete a specific task. They don’t
care about your website.
2.How do people read on the web?o They don't. They scan. If you're lucky, they’ll read
half the words.o Fewer words on the page means more of the words
are read.
3.How should you present information online?o Make text scannable:
i. Bulleted listsii. Short paragraphsiii.Highlight keywordsiv.Meaningful headings
BASIC GUIDELINES
GOING FURTHER
1.Improve page titleso Page titles are key to getting your pages in search
resultso Half of the visits to our site come to a page
directly from searcho Use words that people are searching for, not our
jargon
Examples:Original: “ED.gov”; Improved: “Disclaimer of Endorsement | U.S. Department of Education”
Original: “Department Roadmap for Incorporating Principles of Openness Into Core Agency Missions”; Improved: “Open Government Roadmap”
THINGS YOU CAN DO TO IMPROVE YOUR WEB CONTENT
GOING FURTHER
2.Write effective linkso Never link the words “here” or “click here.”o Include the title or name of the linked item.o If using the title or name is awkward, describe the
information the item provides.o Avoid linking phrases that contain verbs.
3. Use data to find what words people are usingo Google Analyticso Google Trends
THINGS YOU CAN DO TO IMPROVE YOUR WEB CONTENT
GOING FURTHER
4.Get more helpo Read Jacob Nielsen's “Writing for the Web”o Read the Federal Plain Language Guidelineso Run draft language by OCOo For high traffic pages, ask OCO about page
analysiso ED.gov Web Contactso ED.gov Style Guideo ED.gov Web Traffic Statisticso Consider using the Readability Checker tools in MS
Word
THINGS YOU CAN DO TO IMPROVE YOUR WEB CONTENT
GOING FURTHER
In Microsoft Word, spell checker can give you ratings on:
o Grade reading levelo Reading easeo Passive sentences
These tools aren’t perfect, but they give you a sense and can help you measure improvementGood benchmarks:
o For an expert audience: 12th grade levelo For a general audience: 6th grade levelo 60-70% reading ease or highero Less than 5% passive sentences
THINGS YOU CAN DO TO IMPROVE YOUR WEB CONTENT
GOING FURTHER
How to turn the readability checker on:o In Word: Select File > Options > Proofing > Show
Readability Statistics > OKo To see the statistics, run spell checker: Select
Review > Spelling and Grammaro More details on
MS Office Help: Test Your Document’s Readability
THINGS YOU CAN DO TO IMPROVE YOUR WEB CONTENT
SUPPORTING DATA
79% of test users scan new pages 16% read word-by-word Users, on average, read at most 28% of the
words on a webpage 20% is more likely
Nielsen's research shows when combining 3 writing styles – concise, scannable, objective (rather than promotional) – usability increased 124%
FROM JACOB NIELSEN'S "HOW USERS READ ON THE WEB"
WRITING EXAMPLE
Promotional writing (control condition)
Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions that draw large crowds of people every year, without fail. In 1996, some of the most popular places were Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors), Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166), Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum (100,000), Carhenge (86,598), Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002), and Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446).
INCREASING READABILITY
WRITING EXAMPLE
Concise text (Readability Improvement, 58%)
In 1996, six of the best-attended attractions in Nebraska were Fort Robinson State Park, Scotts Bluff National Monument, Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum, Carhenge, Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, and Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park.
INCREASING READABILITY
WRITING EXAMPLE
Scannable layout (Readability Improvement, 47%)
Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions that draw large crowds of people every year, without fail. In 1996, some of the most popular places were:
Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors) Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166) Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum
(100,000) Carhenge (86,598) Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002) Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446).
INCREASING READABILITY
WRITING EXAMPLE
Objective language (Readability Improvement, 27%)
Nebraska has several attractions. In 1996, some of the most-visited places were Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors), Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166), Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum (100,000), Carhenge (86,598), Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002), and Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446).
INCREASING READABILITY
WRITING EXAMPLE
Combined version (Readability Improvement, 124%)
In 1996, six of the most-visited places in Nebraska were:
Fort Robinson State Park Scotts Bluff National Monument Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum Carhenge Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park
INCREASING READABILITY
