Creating Good Web Content

The quality of a website depends heavily on the quality of the content. Here are some tips pulled from the web and our experience, to get you started in what should be a never ending pursuit of better content. Also, since this is a wiki, subscribe to changes (under tools) to be notified of updates.

"Valuable" content is more important than "Quality"

The best, most eloquently well written guide to aircraft maintenance, is useless to someone looking for today's weather. If the message is not useful, the quality of the delivery is irrelevant. A user would always rather stumble through poorly written answer to their question than a grammatically perfect but information poor article.

The lesson here is really don't let Perfect be the enemy of good. It is better to get valuable information out and refine it later.
Every word should say something valuable. That doesn't mean your article needs to be short, in fact its better to try and get everything important out there, it just means avoid long stories about something that is off topic.
Use both words and images to commuicate your message. Images can reinforce a point, but do not totally rely on them to communicate the idea. A picture might be worth a 100 words, but which 1000 words. If you don't spell it out, user may walk away with a different understanding.
The important thing is you want your content to make sense. You don’t want poor writing on your website, but if a reader gains knowledge and value from your content, they will generally overlook a few writing mistakes. This isn’t always the case, there are always a few sticklers out there who will leave rude comments over grammar and punctuation mishaps. The important thing is to show your knowledge in the niche you’re writing about.

Understand how the web works

Writing content for the web is different than writing emails, powerpoints, books, magazine articles, instant messages, and other forms of writing. Each medium has its own set of rules, benefits and drawbacks but more importantly, each audience has it's own expectations and needs.

The web has links - The web lets you link to more information. In a book you can use a footnote but generally, if you want to give the reader more information you have to do it right there. With the web, you can link things together so the user can get the overview first, details on demand.
The web has multimedia - The web allows for text, images, video, audio, and interactive flash and javascript. Choosing the right media for message is important but understanding that you have flexibility is the fist step.
Real time feedback - As soon as you post web content, you can get a response from users in the form of comments, emails, tweets, etc. Listen to users and respond.
Real time edits - unlike other mediums (like print and email) you can change edit your web content to respond to changing information and feedback.
Search - The web is searchable. That means your users can land here from anywhere. Don't expect they will start on page one and read through everything in your website. You need to repeat the context over and over.
The web is forever - you don't know when users will read it, as soon as posted or 4 years from now. Content (except news) should be written to a timeless audience (avoid relative dates like "today", "tommorrow", "next year")

Understand your audience

This is true in all forms of writing, but its more important for the web because you don't really know till after they start to visit. With email, you know who is on the distribution list and tailor your words to your understanding of their prior knowledge. But what do you do when you don't know the reader?

A technical audience understands and actually searches for jargon. They see it as a sign of credibility when you have technical words and abbreviations but don't be shy about explaining something in detail either - users can always skip that sentence (and do).
Still don't know - Talk to yourself - sounds silly but it works. Try to step through your first encounter with the subject and remember what you thought at first. Your primary audience is almost always going to be people simular to you. They found you because they are interested in the same things you are or are working on the same problem you are.

Keep Content as Concise as Possible

Get to the point as quickly as possible.
Cut out unnecessary information.
Use easy-to-understand, shorter, common words and phrases.
Avoid long paragraphs and sentences.
Use time-saving and attention-grabbing writing techniques, such using numbers instead of spelling them out. Use “1,000″ as opposed to “one thousand,” which facilitates scanning and skimming.
Test your writing style using readability formulas that gauge how easy it is to get through your prose. The Readability Test Tool allows you to plug in a URL, then gives you scores based on popular readability formulas such as the Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease.

Use Headings to Break Up Long Articles

Users do not read, they scan. If you have some important messages, say them in the first sentence.

Before writing a post, consider organizing your thoughts in logical chunks by first outlining what you’ll write.
Use simple and concise headings.
Use keyword-rich headings to aid skimming, as well as those that use their browser’s search feature (Ctrl + F on Windows, Command + F on Mac).

Help Readers Scan Your Webpages Quickly

Make the first two words count, because users tend to read the first few words of headings, titles and links when they’re scanning a webpage.
Front-load keywords in webpage titles, headings and links by using the passive voice as an effective writing device.
Use the inverted pyramid writing style to place important information at the top of your articles.
These text-styling tools can garner attention because of their distinctive appearance as well as help speed up reading by way of breaking down information into discrete parts and highlighting important keywords and phrases.

Use Bulleted Lists and Text Formatting

Consider breaking up a paragraph into bulleted points.
Highlight important information in bold and italics and give text blocks sufficient spacing

Orient The User

Now that you’ve got an understanding of who your user is, orienting them when they use your design is important. Orienting your users gives them a sense of place in a non-static experience. To effectively provide that sense, your design should tell users three things:

Where they are
Critical to any online experience is understanding where, in the broader context of the website, the user is currently transacting. If it’s clear to the user where they are, then there is a greater chance they’ll understand what you need them to do on that page. For example, if the user is aware they are on a “product page,” they should expect to see a purchase link and perhaps some other product options.

How they got there
If providing clarity on the user’s current location provides context for expected actions, then showing them the path they took to get there provides a safety net. That safety net is the comfort of knowing that if the user has wound up in the wrong place, they can back out and try again.

Where they can go from here
You’ve made it clear where they are and how they got there; if they are in the wrong spot they can backtrack and try another path. But if they’re ready to move forward or they believe the path back won’t provide the content they desire, then letting your users know what options are available from this point on is imperative. Never leave a user in a dead end. There should always be an option to proceed. A perfect example of this is a search results page that yields no results. While you should let the user know that nothing matches their search query, there should be options that lead them to the answers they seek (for example, related search terms). Ways forward can be manifested in your website’s navigation but can also be implemented as affordances. Affordances are elements in the interface that are obviously clickable, such as buttons and sliders.

Tools

A few alternatives to Grammarly that you may find useful are: