This is the Web Content Guide that I give to my clients. Presentation of your written content online is just as important as your site’s visual design. I’ve seen many beautiful websites that have grown to look unprofessional because of sloppy writing and formatting.

Writing for the Web

Keep in mind that the Internet is a different medium to print, and that different rules and conventions apply.

Research shows us that most people scan web pages rather than reading them carefully. By following some simple steps, you can ensure that your pages are comprehensible.

• Use bullet points to deliver information
• Use clear headings and subheadings
• Headings should be descriptive and meaningful
• Write short sentences, in short paragraphs
• Be concise, clear, and use language that is simple and to the point (avoid jargon!)
• Highlight key words in your sentences. The reader who is scanning the information will get the gist of it from highlighted phrases.

Things to avoid

• Don’t use all capitals as they are sometimes difficult to read clearly on a screen. Also, when you’re online, all caps means shouting.
• Don’t underline words for emphasis, as the convention on the web is that an underline means a link. Use bold text for emphasis.
• Resist the temptation to play around with font formatting. Pages with lots of fonts in different colours and sizes do not look professional. Your fonts are determined by a document called a stylesheet, and the only formatting you should be doing is making certain words bold, applying headers and creating lists. If you want a font changed, ask your web designer to update the stylesheet.
• Apply headings rather than just bolding a text. Use Heading 2, Heading 3, etc – the page title is usually Heading 1 so best to start with Heading 2 in the text itself. Check with your web designer if you are not sure about this.
• Text should always be left-aligned. Centred and justified body text is not a good idea online as it can be difficult to read.  See webdevblog.co.uk for comprehensive details.

Quality Control

This should go without saying, but make sure everything is proofed and spell-checked. Research shows that bad spelling reduces user confidence and trust, which is particularly important if your website is intended to represent you professionally or you are using it to sell online.

Naming Pages and Posts

• Page names that appear in navigation menus should be kept short.
• Every website should have a ‘Home’ and a ‘Contact’ link as users expect to see these and may be confused if they are named differently.
• Every post should always have a unique title. Giving multiple posts the same name (such as ‘This Week’s News’) is confusing to both users and search engines. Instead of calling the posts ‘This Weeks’ News’, name them ‘This Week’s News: July 7th – 14th 2011′, etc

Web Terminology

‘Website’, ‘email’ and ‘online’ should all be written without a hyphen.

Links

Links should be descriptive. This is good practice both for users and for search engines. Instead of writing ‘click here to read our Annual Report’, write ‘our Annual Report is now available’. There is no need to write ‘click here’ as users are aware that links are opened by clicking.

Microsoft Word Ruins Everything

If you are using a content management system such as WordPress, be careful when copying and pasting from Microsoft Word documents. It adds a load of junk code and carries across formatting which can be very difficult to remove unless you know HTML code. Use the ‘Paste from Word’ button, or copy and paste the text from Word into Notepad if your system does not have this feature.

More Help

There are lots of resources available online to guide you in writing web content.

Some useful links:

• ImproveTheWeb.com – How to format text content
• CopyBlogger.com

Any questions, comments or suggested additions, please comment below!

Sorry for shouting, but I can’t count the amount of project hours that I’ve lost dealing with hosters who have bad customer service, poor systems and the inadequate services for the job at hand.  It’s particularly frustrating because I know well which Irish hosting services are good, and a simple question before making the purchase can save so much time.

The temptation when you’re planning a website is to race out and buy the domain name straight away, in case someone else gets it. However, domain squatting is not the problem that it used to be, largely because you have to have proof that you own a business name when you’re buying an associated .ie domain.  Even if you’re very keen to nab a domain name, speak to a designer or developer first, even informally – booking a domain with the wrong company can cost you time and money.  I have personally paid double domain charges, and advised clients to do the same, in order to move a domain away from a poor hoster – the time it takes in dealing with shoddy customer service is simply not worth it.

It’s best to buy your domain and hosting from the same company – ask your designer for their recommendation, and for the following info:

• What kind of hosting plan will I need? How much webspace and bandwidth?
• Should I buy a Linux or Windows hosting plan? (Boring and techy but very important, as this choice can affect how your site performs in search engines)

My personal recommendation for a .ie domain name and hosting is Blacknight, and many other Irish designers feel the same way.  I use them for most of my .ie projects and always recommend them to clients.

This site is hosted with Tigertech, a US based hosting company, who I’ve been with for over ten years and who have been consistently reliable and affordable throughout all that time.  I absolutely recommend them for international or US-based .com sites

About this guide

I ♥ WordPress.

I use it for nearly everything now, and am delighted that its scope will be expanded with version 3, which is due out in the not-too-distant future.

One of the strengths of WordPress is how user-friendly it is.  Clients of mine who are not particularly tech-savvy are using it and blogging and editing away.  Once they know the basics, I find that they rarely come back with problems.  However, the basics are sometimes tricky to find all in one place.  WordPress.org’s documentation is comprehensive and excellent, but is aimed more at the expert/administrator/developer level and there isn’t much basic info there for people who simply want to post and edit their content.

I’ve created a Guide to WordPress 2.9 for Editors, which I send to clients once their WordPress site is set up.  I’m sharing it here as I think it might be useful to other designers.  It just runs through the basic functions of adding a new post or page, editing posts and pages, adding and editing links, and managing comments.  It also includes a brief introduction to WordPress and explains the difference between categories and tags.  It’s a short (five page) pdf that can be saved and used as a reference.

So feel free to download and share this document. I just ask that you leave my credit on the footer, and that you comment below with your feedback if you have a spare minute.  Do you think the document is useful?  Any ommissions or errors?

Facebook have changed this yet again. The steps are:

1. Access your Page manager here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/
2. Go to your Page and click “Edit Page” beneath the Page profile picture.
3. Select “Applications” and next to “Notes” please click “Go to Application.”
4. On the bottom left hand side of the page select “Edit Import Settings”

However. Lots of people (myself included) have had problems with this function. Facebook is returning an error message that feeds are invalid. I have been experiencing this problem with a feed that I know is valid, because it’s working on another Facebook page.  Sigh.

Original Instructions

In a few simple steps, here’s how you can import your blog (using the RSS feed) into a Facebook page (rather than profile).

How is it done?

1. Go to your Facebook page (or create a new one here)
2. Click on the Notes tab in the top left hand corner (you  may have to click on the plus sign to display it)
3. Select ‘Write a new note’
4. Once you’re in this window, you can access the Notes settings.
   
5. On the right-hand side of the Notes area, you can choose to import a blog.
   
6. Copy and paste the location of your blog’s RSS feed.
7. The page will then import your blog.  After you have posted to your blog, the post will show up a little later in your Facebook page.

Updated – Dec 2009

Facebook changed this option slightly after I wrote this post, and many commenters ran into problems with their feed appearing on their personal page instead of on their fan page.  Big thanks to commenter Leela Robinson who identified the correct way to do this. In short – use the Notes tab at the top of the page, not the one at the bottom right.

Facebook page?

A Facebook page is different to a Facebook profile: a profile is a personal account and must be linked to an identifiable individual, whereas a page can be set up by an individual to promote a brand, product or service.   The advantage of a page is that people can become fans of that page and can be contacted en masse, sent updates, use discussion boards, upload photos, etc.  Updates to your page will then appear on their Facebook homepage.

Why import a feed?

If you are creating a Facebook page to promote your blog, importing the blog to the page means that all your blog posts will automatically appear on your Facebook page.

What’s difficult about it?

Facebook is strangely user-unfriendly when it comes to setting up and editing pages, groups, etc.  The process is a bit counter-intuitive, as you can see above.

Lots of blogs give pointers on how to import a feed into your profile, but I had trouble finding one that gave instructions specifically for a fan page.  So I noted down the instructions here in a rare fit of helpfulness.

Some of my Facebook pages:

• Oxjam Ireland
• Oxfamhome, Belfast
• CheapEats.ie