Ten ways to make a visitor
read the text on your Web site.

Give newbies a chance.
Most visitors have never been to your site before. Don't assume the visitor already knows everything about you.

Get to the point.
Start with the important stuff. Don't waste your visitor's time.

Be specific.
Concrete details convey an aura of reality. You know more about your company than anybody: share the wealth.

Keep it simple.
Make it easy to read and easy to understand.
"Your sentences should contain no unnecessary words, your paragraphs no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts."

Make it active.
Passive, abstract language does not hold the reader's interest. Write with vigorous verbs and vivid nouns.

Keep it personal.
Only one person at a time will ever read your message. Not a group, not a committee, not a demographic. Talk to your visitor one-on-one.

Give away secrets.
Tell people something they don't already know. Make it worth their while to continue reading.

Don't be an acronymphomaniac.
Larding up your text with acronyms is a barrier to understanding that will cause your visitor to leave PDQ.

Use typography to make text accessible.
Don't hide your message in a gray wall of text. Subheads give your visitor a glimmer of what's ahead.

Be fresh, original, and interesting.
It's hard to do, but I can help.

May 2014

Clear, simple text
for your company's site.

Text filled with facts about you.

Web sites work best when their text is full of facts—facts that are easy to read and easy to understand, even if your topic is complex or technical.

A copywriter assembles all the information about your company and refines it to bring the most important parts to the front. A copywriter's job is to make your text not only easy to read, but also worth reading.

I do it by using your brain, which knows more about your business than any other brain in the world. You talk, I listen, I research, I deliver text. You review it for technical accuracy, and I rewrite it until it pleases both you and me.

The purpose of copywriting is to make it easy for customers to understand what your company is offering. I do it by using facts presented with concrete nouns and active verbs to make your text interesting, instead of the usual passive abstractions that leave no paint marks on your customer's memory trail.

Too many companies assume that the reader is REQUIRED to read the text. Only one person at a time will ever read your business message. Why not make it readable?

Not About Us:
Here's the entire 211 words of a Silicon Valley company's "About Us" page. I've blanked out their name and five other words. See if you can figure out what they sell.

Click to read the full-size text block.