Writing for a Commercial Web Site

(Also see article "How to write web copy that sells")

You can also download these tips as a word document for your own use or circulation in your organization:

10 hot tips when writing for a commercial web-site (word document)

 

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10 hot tips when writing for the web - Commercial web-site

1. Put yourself in the reader's position

For the web-site, in general: Start by considering what needs the user has when he/she approaches your front page. Will he or she understand intuitively that this is an online store, or a site with information about products? If not, make sure that this is clear right away. What products is the shopper looking for? Make the most popular products the most visible products.

For each web-page or product presentation: Start by considering what it is about each particular product that interests the shopper. Is it the appearance? Weight? Size? Price? Maybe several factors? Focus on this central information, and make this as attention-getting as possible on each product page (anything else can come lower on the page, or go under a specific link).

2. Use the right trigger words

When the user comes to your web-site, he has a word in his head that describes what he is looking for, a so-called trigger word. If he comes from a search engine site, it is the word that he used in his search query. It is this trigger word (or a picture of just that product) that he is looking for when he comes to your web-site. If the trigger word is "football", or a picture of a football, then he might not see or click on a link on your front page called "sporting goods" - or at least not until he has scanned the whole page looking for "football".

You should also be aware that users look for trigger words in the navigation bars, so the more words you make visible in navigation tools, the greater the chance a user finds his trigger word. There is, of course, an upper limit to the number of names you can have in a menu. If you can't make all the separate products visible in each category, then you should at least give some examples (followed by the word "more..."), to give the user an idea of this category's contents.

3. Write meaningful headlines

In order for the user to get interested in a product, he needs to know what the product is. Therefore: A good product headline uses relevant trigger words (see above) and is descriptive, telling precisely what the product is. If you sell a football called "Geo Astyr", then "Geo Astyr Football" is a good headline; "Geo Astyr" is not. Remember that product names can appear as links (in free-text searches and the like) without an explanatory picture (depending on what kind of e-commerce solution you use).

It is therefore a good idea to ensure that the generic name of the object comes in the product title on the web. If the headline is grabbed dynamically from a list of product names in your database, then it is also important to ensure that you have descriptive product names for each product in the database.

If you use an e-commerce solution that features high digital visibility (in other words, your products can appear as search hits when users search on search engines or on product comparison web-sites and the like), then it is even more important to follow this up. The name "HP no6000" doesn't say much; "14-inch laptop PC HP no6000" does.

4. Give the user "the whole product in teaser form"

In articles, a teaser consists of a headline, a sub-head, a picture and link; e-commerce sites often operate with teasers consisting of product name/headline and a picture with a link. These teasers pop up on front pages and product sites, and the user will quickly narrow down among the teasers what he or she is looking for. A good product teaser has two criteria for success: A clear product picture and a descriptive product name (see tip #3). At first encounter, it will often be only these two elements that you can use to sell the product's merits, so make the most of it. Pictures are central, so invest in good and clear product photographs.

5. Say it as simple as possible

There's no point in writing complex texts. Write simply and descriptively, telling the user what is most important first! What is most important to the user will depend on the product. Product measurements should appear early for a piece of furniture, but not for a book. Weight should come early when describing a laptop PC, but not necessarily for an oven.

The first screen shot should provide the relevant information about the product, as the user sees it, and not necessarily any more. If you need to include extensive technical specifications, then this should appear lower on the page. You may also consider to apply more layers (see tip #9). Scrolling is not necessarily a problem as long as the user finds the opening screen interesting. Then he or she believes even more interesting content may appear lower, and will probably scroll down. If the first look at the screen doesn't interest him or her, however, he or she will most likely not scroll to find some interesting content. This first screen must be meaningful and interesting.

6. Enable immediate communication

Help the user get a quick overview of the product by simply glancing at the page. Use clear table headlines for important data, and make sure these are uniform from page to page on your web-site (price in the same place, colors are alike, etc.). (Do not stuff irrelevant data in to a table to make it seem right - that is bad communication and a waste of screen space).

Remember to place a clear "Buy it" link or button right next to or right under the product. If the product comes in a number of varieties, let the user choose his or her model from a roll-down menu or from checked boxes before he hits "Buy it". "Buy it" is a button the user will only punch after weighing it carefully. He or she will want to double-check whether the right product is selected. If the user can not adjust the alternatives before clicking, he or she is unlikely to hit "buy it" in hopes of choosing an alternative later.

7. Create space on the screen

Few things kill a reader's desire to read than a massive and visually impenetrable block of letters. Only the most dedicated readers will dare to begin upon such an article (basically less than 5 per cent - check your statistics if you don't believe me). Therefore, create space! Break text up into paragraphs, sub-titles, pictures, lists and bold-face words so that the page doesn't appear visually like an impregnable fortress.

8. A picture speaks more than a thousand words...

If you're in business to sell products, you need pictures. Preferably many pictures, and, even better, pictures from many angles. People want to see what they are getting, so the more you show (and the clearer you show it), the more likely you are to make the sale.

9. Use a two- or many-layered strategy

Screen space is limited, and you need to insert much information and, of course, large pictures. What do you do? Answer: Use several pages if necessary. Ensure that the "scent of information" gets stronger each time the user clicks; in other words, the user feels like he or she is getting more and more information about the product of interest.

When it concerns pictures, the convention is such that commercial web-sites often show a thumbnail picture, which can - by a single click - open a much larger version of the same picture. See how this works at www.neimanmarcus.com.

10. What ouf tor typos!

It is hard to catch your own mistakes, so set up routines whereby a colleague double-checks your work, if possible. Remember that a misspelled word not only looks stupid, but can also confuse a search engine. A user searching for "golf clubs" on a search engine will not get a hit from your web-site if you write "glof clubs".