Avoid babbles.
A text on a website has to be efficient. Avoid suspense and go straight to the point.
Avoid really long texts
The reading on a screen is reduced by 25% compared to reading on paper. To keep your readers from staying frozen in place (we all know internet users are hyperactive… they click, click, click!) and to offer a more pleasant reading, use short paragraphs with titles. If one part of your text is less relevant to your reader's interests, no need to read everything. With a large block-like text, you could loose your visitors, who will judge your text to be too heavy and won’t read it.
Choose your right words
By using simple words, active verb tense, short sentences, it accelerates the reading. Expressions such as “within” mainly used to make a text sound better can be replaced by “in”, which is more efficient. So, a sentence such as “Within a good working environment, there should not be too much excessive noise” could become “in a good work place, you shouldn't have too much noise”. You must think of writing a web-oriented text as a conversation with a busy friend. He has no time to let you babble on and on with useless long words!
Organize your ideas
In a general way, a paragraph must be preceded by a title. Titles, in the traditional sense, are used to present the subject. On the web, it serves as marker. Since it's the first element you read, you must think of how to catch the reader's attention. Then, continue with strong points. In an essay, we usually keep the main points for the end.
On the web, it is the opposite. If the reader has no time to get to the text's end, he can loose important information. If we show him the most important elements at the beginning, the visitor will continue his reading to know more. If a section becomes too long, it can be interesting to use sub-titles.
Be direct
Don’t spread your ideas in every directions. Avoid embedded sentences. To be more efficient, keep the formula "One idea = One sentence". Although it's difficult at first, it's worth it. To practise, write your sentence how you feel them, then read it again. For each re-reading, question your word choice: is this the most efficient word? Is this part of the sentence really necessary? Is this a completely new sentence? You'll discover quickly that effective writing is more direct, catchy and convenient for the web reader! The ideal sentence should not exceed 15 words
Think about your keywords
There is no hiding it, your content must contains your keywords. These will help your ranking on search engines' (such as Google) result pages. Your website's content is the best place to hide these words. If your activity field deals with car engines and neither the word car or engine are in your website, web surfers will never find you! So, think about repetition, without becoming redundant. Your texts should contain 50% repetition and 50% information!
With more texts relevant to their environment, you will have a more efficient website. Your visitors will be delighted and will read more regularly the information you wish to give them! A good content is a good website! Now, onward to your keyboards!