Recently in Writing Right for the Web Category

Web content... 2 challenges for "Writing Right for the Web"

By Bob on November 30, 2011 10:08 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Content challenges for both traditional and mobile websites

Just finished updating the second "Writing Right for the Web" webinar next week, focusing on social media and mobile content. That had me back reading the questions sent along a few weeks ago by people already signed up for the sessions. Two of those were content related; the answers apply to both traditional and mobile websites.

If you missed the earlier post on these questions, here is the question people answered:
  • "What is your most pressing challenge or area of concern when writing for and presenting content on" a traditional website and for social media and mobile sites?
Two of the challenges reported were related to content:
  • "Understanding how best to develop content pertinent to all audiences and optimize for search."
  • "Translating messaging from offline publications and communications to a style that is optimal for online readers."
And here are some notes on how to best deal with these related issues. Which ones will be of most help on various campuses will vary, based in part on local talent and understanding of what works online, politics, and available staff time.

Developing the best content
  • Start by asking each audience to identify the top tasks that are most important to them. Then let the answers to that search be your guide to priority content placement on first and second level web pages. That means surrendering considerable control of your website to your key audiences. Not many are yet willing to do that.
  • How to find out what your audiences want from your website? Hire Customer Carewords research or read a guide from the U.S. Government and do it yourself. 
  • The most important point: do this research before your next major website revision begins. Don't rely on usability tests after you have the initial design in place. Usability testing and top task research are not the same thing. Start with the right information in hand. Planning a mobile site? Identify top tasks before you do anything else. Those are the links that people should see first when your mobile home page opens.
  • Beware of marketers. It pains me to write this, but I have to agree with my Carewords partner from Sweden, Fredrik Wacka, that the marketing impulse can hinder and even destroy the effectiveness of your website. Very few people come to a higher education website (or most any website) to read marketing content. Too often that content takes precedence over top task content and creates a barrier to top task completion. When that happens, people will leave your site. 
  • The imperative to reduce marketing content is more important on your mobile site, where you have even less time to connect with your audience. Best way to boost your brand at your website: make top task completion easy.
Translating from offline publications
  • Resist the impulse to slap content on your website as a PDF or "flip tech" copy of your printed publications. The more important the content, the more important it is to take the time to prepare a "web friendly" version that people might actually read online. That's true for admissions view books, alumni magazines, transfer guides, academic program brochures and just about anything else I can think of.
  • Next, make sure the web content conforms to usability tested guidelines for content presentation.
    • Use subhead that people can immediately scan when a page opens. Long, dense blocks of text are deadly.
    • No paragraph longer than 5 lines. 
    • Use short sentences. If you find yourself using a semi-colon your sentence is likely getting too long.
    • Use short words used by normal human beings as often as possible. Yes, if you're writing about research in a discipline for others trained in the discipline you can take liberties.
    • Don't be afraid of the "you" word. The web is an informal place. Get bureaucratic writing filled with imperatives that "students must do" out of the content. Check this "Admission Requirements" page at St. Edward's University where you find "you" or "your" used 12 times. Also note the short paragraphs and white space between them.
Alertbox reports on web writing

Jakob Nielsen has 15+ years of experience testing how people use websites. Take advantage of this by subscribing (for free) to his of Alertbox newsletters. Be sure to read the series on web writing. Send these to everyone on campus you think might pay attention to them.

Writing Right for the Web next week... solving more challenges

Join us on December 6 & December 8 for "Writing Right for the Web"
  • Review what we'll cover for traditional websites as well as the social media and mobile worlds in the Academic Impressions webinar outline.
  • Register and invite everyone who might be interested.
That's all for now.



Writing right for the Web... Q&A from folks attending my December webinars

By Bob on November 17, 2011 2:48 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Web writing... Engaging experienced and novice writers

To help update presentations for two upcoming Writing Right for the Web webinars in December, we asked people already registered in early November to answer this question: 
  • "What is your most pressing challenge or area of concern when writing for and presenting content on" a traditional website and for social media and mobile sites?
In the next week or so I'll share some responses here, along with answers that might work help meet you meet a similar challenge.

Two people reported challenges that get right to the heart of a serious problem: in some cases, neither experienced nor novice writers quite know where to start on "writing right for the web."
  • Experienced writers: "We have five staff writers, four of whom are older and have been at our university for a long time. There seems to be some belief that writing should be the same, regardless of the medium."
  • Novice writers: "We use a content management system, and many of the folks who publish content on our website are not professional writers. Our challenge is teaching them that Web readers tend to skim, not read. They need... lots of bullet points and subheads."
OK, how can you design a solution that increases the ability of both experienced and novice writers to "write right for the web?" The premise: neither group has a comfort level with the online writing environment. The ultimate goal: create a self-supporting, reinforcing environment for everyone responsible for this critical task.

8 steps to web writing success

Let's start with eight points, understanding that not everything might be possible right away:
  • Lobby for a web content editor position. You're in the online publishing business and every publication needs an experienced editor who understands what audiences wants and how to best deliver it to them.
  • Get enough copies of books on web writing that content creators can borrow and read. My choices to start: Letting Go of the Words and Killer Web Content. 
  • Find a volunteer to monitor new news on web writing in places like Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox reports on web writing. When something new appears share that with every content creator on campus. Nielsen's paying special attention to "mobile" right now.
  • Create an introductory workshop for new people appointed to create or maintain web content. Hold one whenever you have at least five new people to attend. The best person to hold the workshop? Your web editor, if you have one. Or the person on campus who best fits that role. Cover the Nielsen basics. Share examples of top web writing on your campus and at other universities.
  • Get people talking with one another on a regular basis. Too often web writers are scattered about a university and don't ever meet and share challenges and solutions among themselves. Plan monthly meetings of one to two hours. Invite people to submit topics in advance, but have at least two prepared ahead of time, i.e., "How can I convince my dean that most paragraphs shouldn't be more than five lines long?"
  • Find another volunteer. Have them search for an example of best web writing at another university for review and discussion at each regular meeting. 
  • Share discussion points and answers after each monthly meeting with people who couldn't make it. Not everyone will come to every meeting. That's fine.
  • Once a year, have a party to celebrate success. You might even have a "Web Writer of the Year" award.
Don't let people swim alone in the ocean

Of course, there is no single solution that will work best for everyone. 

Mix and match the ingredients to fit your own circumstances. But move as quickly as possible to get past the worst mistake: letting too many people swim alone in an ocean with neither other swimmers nor the shore in sight. Do that, and web writers will drown.

Writing Right for the Web in December

Join us on December 6 & December 8 for "Writing Right for the Web"
  • Review what we'll cover for traditional websites as well as the social media and mobile worlds in the Academic Impressions webinar outline.
  • Register and invite everyone who might be interested. 
That's all for now.




View book in print... gone at Washington State University

By Bob on September 16, 2011 2:43 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Student Recruitment Marketing... no view book anymore at Washington State

An email came along yesterday that reminded me of presentations done in 2009 on "recruiting without paper." 

Cheryl Reed-Dudley, communications coordinator in marketing and creative services at Washington State University sent an email with a link to a new, interactive online view book that was replacing a print version. Print isn't disappearing completely. There is still, for instance, a table piece for use at college fairs. But what has traditionally been the premier piece in recruitment communications in the U.S. is gone.

The view book gained traction in the 1980s as the first response piece to send to new inquiries to introduce them to a college or university. Most often it was sent late in the junior year or early in the senior year as a first response piece when someone filled out a card in response to a search mailing or at a college fair or high school visit. Remember those days?

Recruitment Communication in an Online World

And then came websites. And broadband Internet access in the home. And smart phones. Before many people quite knew what was happening, college-bound high school students were starting their college searches in the sophomore year, using websites to get their first information about schools they wanted to consider, and failing to fill out online inquiry forms.

What role for the view book when you don't have someone's address until they apply for admission?

The value of the old style printed view book was in flux. Downward flux. 

Opinions differ about the value of an online view book. Why, many say, create an online view book when the information in it should already be online someplace? "Someplace" of course is the killer phrase here. If navigation and content is designed to let future students beginning the college search to easily complete their top tasks, there might not be a need for an online view book. But that's not easy to do on many "admissions" websites. Putting everything in a single place and labeling it a "view book" may indeed be the best move.

Tracking Use with Google Analytics

WSU has the right idea re measuring results. Cheryl reports that Google Analytics is set to track use of the new piece. Six or nine months from now we'll know much more about how effective this approach is. And how to improve on the initial effort if that's needed. 

I'll be especially interested to learn which of the primary section tabs are most used by people on their first visit.

Visit the Online, Interactive View Book

Check an interactive online view book that doesn't rely on flip technology when you visit the new WSU online example.

That's all for now.

Web content in higher education... 6 personal "pet peeves"

By Bob on August 28, 2011 10:00 PM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
Web Content in higher education: do you have a personal pet peeve?

Spent time last week answering 6 questions sent by Susan Ragland, a chief editor for LINK: The Journal of Higher Education Web Professionals and Web Content Editor at Tarrant County College for the September issue of LINK.

One of them was impossible to answer: 
  • "Usability expert Jared Spool has mentioned the phenomenon of useless "girls under trees" photos on college/university websites for the past few years. What would you consider your biggest pet-peeve when it comes to Web content in higher ed?"

Just one "biggest" pet peeve? Here are the 6 candidates that I sent along to Susan:
  • Print magazines put online using "flip" technology that can't be read without zooming text.
  • Inquiry forms that ask for high school codes and personal details not needed to respond to a request for information.
  • Horrible search engine results, driven by the dead content that litters most websites and turns up in searches.
  • Building exterior photos that have no obvious relationship to content on the page.
  • "Why study (name of academic program)..." introductions dripping with academic jargon.
  • FAQ pages with questions not "frequently" asked at all, including "When were you founded?" and "What is your mission?"
Presentations on Mobile Marketing
That's all for now.

Mobile marketing... conference notes for higher education

By Bob on August 4, 2011 10:14 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Mobile Marketing in Higher Education: notes from summer conferences

Mobile marketing is still on my brain after my flight back from San Antonio and eduWeb11 yesterday. Before various random thoughts disappear, several things come to mind after mobile sessions at ACT Enrollment Planners Conference, Carol Aslanian's graduate recruitment conference, and eduWeb.

Mobile apps vs. mobile websites: no longer the first question asked
  • Mobile apps or mobiles websites: when I started doing mobile marketing workshops in 2010, this was the most common question. Today, it doesn't rank nearly as high. In my pre-conference workshop and in several mobile presentations at eduWeb this year, the emphasis is on the benefits of investing in a mobile website.
  • The rapid and continuing rise of Android phones has played a major role in this. Apple's advertising bombardment re "There's an app for that..." fueled the first wave of interest in "we've got to have one of those or the cool kids won't think we're cool" mania. Apps still have a role in online marketing, but the need to do at least two separate apps for Androids and iPhones brought some new reality into the cost of it all. 
QR codes: expanding use but beware of taking people to a regular website page
  • More people already are using these than expected, from advertisements to view books to signs on the front of campus buildings. As expected, use rate is low. Here in the U.S. most people don't yet have smartphones (about 35 percent according to Pew Internet) and most of those don't yet have QR code readers. So this is a great time to start exploring. Use of QR code readers will increase. But how fast it will increase isn't clear. Watch to see if QR readers are included on the iPhone5 this fall.
  • If you do add QR codes to advertising, for heaven's sake make sure that people who do use them don't end up on a regular website page where no engagement point is immediately visible. If you force people to "finger flick" to see what's on your landing page, your conversion will decrease. Guaranteed.
Content Migration, Top Tasks and Mobile: Potential Huge Management Issue
  • Be honest: at least 50 percent of the content on the website of any large organization including higher education isn't needed. Website content is often added, seldom removed. 
  • The holy grail for "mobile" is creation of a single website that people can use equally well from a smartphone or a laptop or desktop computer. Is that really possible? Maybe, but not if you try to stuff everything from your "regular" website into a mobile environment. "Mobile" is a great reason to kill content that's been around for far too long and adopt a new focus on the "top tasks" that people using sites actually want to do. 
Writing Right for the Web: Even More Important Now
  • Jakob Nielsen got it right in a recent Alertbox: for mobile, "short is too long."
  • Mobile will increase the value of web content editors. Not only do we have to focus on top tasks, we also have to reduce how much we say about them and do an even better job of using subheads and bullet points to break up dense blocks of text.http://www.customercarewords.com/what-it-is.html
Presentations on Mobile Marketing
That's all for now.

Google's Panda... a gift to web content editors

By Bob on July 15, 2011 3:59 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Web content editors... new value from the Panda at Google

Earlier this year Google decided to give more weight to the quality of content on a website in deciding how to rank various sites. For some, consternation struck. More than a few websites reported a significant reduction in their previous search standing.

"Panda" was the evil that came upon the land. For some. For others it was a decided plus. If you haven't read much yet about about Panda the best place to start is with the May 6 entry at Google's own Webmaster Central Blog.

For web content editors, here's a special quote from the blog:
    • "Removing low quality pages, merging or improving the content of individual shallow pages into more useful pages, or moving low quality pages to a different domain could eventually help the rankings of your higher quality content."
In other words, fix "low quality content" or get it off the website you'd like to rank as high as possible in search results. You likely are not going to start an entire new domain location... but then why should poorly prepared content stay on a site anyway? Until now, who cared about it? Now, you may have a new weapon to either fix it or remove it.

Low Quality Website Content Defined

OK, but what are signs of "low quality" content that a web content editor should be able to fix, either individually or working with "content stewards" throughout the college or university? Here are some questions Google now is programmed to ask:
    • "Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?"
    • "Was the article edited well or does it appear hastily or sloppily produced?"
    • "Does this article a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?'
    • "Are the articles short, unsubstantial or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
And what just might be my favorite:
    • "Would users complain when they see pages from this site?"
Analytics to Help Google Spot "Low Quality" Content

How, you might ask, will Google measure some of these things? Expect new weight on these elements you can check in your web analytics results: length of time on a page, number of pages visited during a visit, and bounce rate (people who start at their "landing page," stay a few seconds, and "bounce" away from the site without going anywhere else). Yes, bounce rate is not a myth.

Take all this together and Google has just given every college and university in the land more reason to hire web content specialists and give them stronger positions in making website decisions. Web editors, of course, should not hesitate to leverage this change within their institutions.

Check "New" Visitor Behavior on Your Site

Set your Google Analytics to "new" visitors. Check the "Top Landing Pages" over the past 6 months. Compare the length of time on a landing page, where people went after that page, and the bounce rate from the landing page (assuming you expected or wanted them to go someplace else within the site). You just might find pages that are hurting your SEO results.

New "Writing Right for the Web" Event
That's all for now.

Writing Right for the Web... 2 questions from my May webinar

By Bob on June 2, 2011 1:50 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Writing Right for the Web... improving your web content one question at a time

During each Writing Right for the Web webinar with Academic Impressions, people participating send in questions that I answer in writing. We had several question from the May sessions and I'll include some of those here that seem of most general interest.

"Is it now okay to use numerals for 0-9 instead of spelling them out?"
  • That would very much depend on who you ask. Direct marketers would say yes (as they have done for years), while many if not most others would say no.
  • This isn't an issue I'd recommend going to war over in an academic environment.
  • In areas such as Twitter and texting, you're much more likely to see this happening. In regular websites, not so much.
  • I would try for it in headlines and primary page headings and sub-headings. "Top 5 Reasons to Visit Us" will always be more effective than "Top Five Reasons to Visit Us" and you may find that cases like that are easier for people to accept than in regular text writing.
  • You can also check the AP Style Book. After all, they recently approved "website" over "Web site" as proper use. Miracles can happen. 
"Are there any guidelines for using anchor tags for long, scrollable pages such as FAQs?"
I'll have more questions and answers here soon.

New "Writing Right for the Web" Event

That's all for now.

Writing Right for the Web... new 2-day workshop in San Diego

By Bob on April 19, 2011 1:13 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Writing Right for the Web: Fix the Horrors or Lose Your Audience

In this era of online communication, "Writing Right" is my most valuable marketing presentation. 

    • If you don't "Write Right for the Web," other elements of your content strategy will fail. Common website horrors (dense copy blocks, complicated sentences, PDF and "flip" publications, over-sized photos and more) will destroy your marketing effectiveness.
Since 2007 I've been presenting "Writing Right for the Web" webinars with my friends at Academic Impressions in Denver. More than 400 colleges and universities have participated.

And I've been doing on-campus workshops on "Writing Right for the Web" for content creators and content stewards since starting at University of Missouri in 2006. The last was at East Stroudsburg University in February. The next one is set for August at University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

San Diego: 2-day "Writing Right for the Web" event with an SEO Extra

This year in July something new is coming your way. Sponsored by Academic Impressions, we're offering an in-depth 2-day extended version of "Writing Right," including an extra optional session on writing to increase search engine visibility.

I'm excited. We'll have time to slow the pace, exchange challenges and solutions among everyone attending, and work together on practical exercises.

Content strategy isn't just about getting the right content. Equally important is the craft of presenting that content to engage impatient visitors in the first 5 seconds after they land on a page at your site.

In this mobile era when more people are visiting your website from smartphones, you have even less room for error on that tiny screen.

Check the full agenda and send a team to San Diego. Return home with new skills and new enthusiasm for improving the content on your website. Impatient web visitors will love you.

Online: "Writing Right" Webinars May 19 and May 26

Webinars offer a cost-efficient, fast-paced 90-minute review of the most important elements in preparing content for website engagement, complete with "best practice" examples from higher education websites.

Every question is answered in writing after the event, often with links to even more information. The result: you teach me something new at every webinar that gets added as an update to the next version.

My next "Writing Right for the Web" webinars are May 19 and May 26. Register for one or both of the two sessions that focus (1) writing for traditional websites and (2) writing for social media and mobile sites.

That's all for now.







Writing Right for the Web... naming links to social media

By Bob on April 12, 2011 10:19 AM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks
Writing Effective Website Links: Simple, Clear Language Wins the Day

Earlier this year a college creating a mobile website had a dilemma: what to name links from the website itself to social media sites that included Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube.

So an enterprising fellow went along to the University Web Developers listserv and asked the folks who create and maintain websites for suggestions on how they would handle the task. 

The answers received nicely illustrate the urge to get creative with website language vs. the desirability of using terms that visitors (in this case, current students were identified as the primary audience) will immediately recognize.

When "Writing Right for the Web" it is almost always best to stay with conventional expressions that are in wide use. When you want people to make a right turn, just say "Make a Right Turn" rather than invent new ways of describing the desired action.

It was a popular query. Here are the 11 responses received:

  • "Socialize With Us"
  • "Connect With Us"
  • "Social Networks"
  • "Social Media"
  • "Social Media Directory"
  • "Get Social with (initials of school)"
  • "Connect With Us"
  • "Stay Connected"
  • "Social Media @ (initials of school)"
  • "Social Media"
  • "Connect to (initials of school) Social Media"
I'll cast my vote with the two people who recommended the most simple solution possible: "Social Media." That advice came from Eric Stoller and Andrew Bauserman at College of William and Mary. Clean and simple and immediately understood by anyone visiting the page. Click on that and you expect to arrive at a list of the available social media sites. 

"Social Media" was one of the first thoughts of the person who asked the question, Paul Dempsey, director of electronic communications at Dickinson College. Paul asked the question for use on a planned mobile website. This is a case where the same solution works equally well for both traditional and mobile sites.

"Connect With Us" doesn't work nearly as well. That might mean a place to email, call, or write someone on campus. Initials of the school probably are not needed either. Most people will assume a link to "Social Media" is to sites sponsored by the school operating the website.

May 19 & 26: "Writing Right for the Web: Traditional, Social Media and Mobile Sites"

Review what's planned for the next "Writing Right for the Web" webinars as we explore content, style, and presentation to boost the effectiveness of your online content 

Visit the session description and registration pages.

Join me for the next two-part webinar session with Academic Impressions. 

That's all for now.



Writing Right for the Web... notes on academic program content

By Bob on February 16, 2011 11:09 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Writing Right for Academic Program Websites

Last week found me back at East Stroudsburg University for another campus presentation of "Writing Right for the Web." Here are some random notes about academic program websites based on questions and discussions that came up during our two hours together.

Doug Smith, Steve LaBadie, and Brenda Friday deserve special thanks for setting up a fine program for the 60 or so people who attended.

"Content Stewards" Rather than "Content Editors"?

"Content stewards" from throughout the university who are responsible for monitoring and updating content in academic and administrative areas were the primary audience. "Content stewards" is an informal phrase used and not something I'd heard before. It does indeed capture the valuable role that these people play.

Academic Program Home Pages: Key Role in Student Recruitment First Impressions

  • As we started, the first question came from a person working in the history deparment: what content is most important to introduce an academic section? Academic program areas are critical to successful engagement with future students. Many will start their first visit with a search for academic programs offered and move directly from that page to the programs of interest.
    • What should people see in the first 5 seconds? How about a link to the courses offered and another to the faculty who teach them? And this would be a great place to introduce video stories from students majoring in the area about their experience in the program.
    • What do people not need to see in the first 5 seconds? The department mission statement is an easy choice to either eliminate or place elsewhere on the site where it does not block a quick connection to courses, faculty, and student stories.
    • Make sure the academic page has a link to an inquiry form and the admissions application. Don't make first-time visitors go elsewhere if the academic program content motivates them to take a desired next action.

Skip Generic "Why Study..." Discipline Openings

At every university many academic areas start with a general "Why Study (name of discipline)" heading. Why is that?

  • Starting with "Why study... " seems to assume that the primary purpose of the page is to convert visitors to the discipline on the page. These sections are almost always written in a way that could be picked up and moved to any university website.
  • Consider this alternative: assume that the person visiting the page already thinks the discipline at hand is worthy of study. Then the content focus will change.
    • Take the marketing perspective that the main goal is to convince people to study this discipline at this university. If that's the goal, then the content should feature specifics about what makes each university's program special.
    • Consider these possible elements for that first 5-second scan of the page: number of major and minors, if applicable; number of courses offered and number of students who take them; internships and research opportunities available.

Remember Basics for Any Web Page

Academic program pages are not immune from basic points that apply to any website.

  • Consistent navigation in each academic area is important. Visitors, especially first time visitors interested in more than one academic program, will not be happy if they have to puzzle out different navigation elements at different discipline sites. If it is politically impossible to keep navigation consistent everywhere, demand consistency within major schools and colleges.
  • Long blocks of dense text are disaster areas guaranteed to reduce the number of visitors who actually read the content on the page. Let no paragraph run longer than 5 lines. Keep every sentence as short as possible. If you feel the need to add a semi-colon to a sentence, it is likely getting too long.
  • Greet every visitor with sub-heads and bullet points on the page for quick, easy scanning.

Next "Writing Right for the Web" Webinars

Planning for the next webinars with Academic Impressions is happening right now. Mark your calendar for May 19 (Traditional Websites) and/or May 26 (Social Media and Mobile Environment).

"Writing Right for the Web" on Your Campus

Webinars are great, but the live contact on campus is even better. To bring "Writing Right for the Web" to your campus, contact me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com

That's all for now 

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