Table of Contents
Praise for Letting Go of the Words
Introducing Letting Go of the Words
People do read online – sometimes
People don’t read more because …
Writing well = having successful conversations
Why? Know what you want to achieve
Breathing life into your data with personas
Breathing life into your data with scenarios
Why is content strategy so important?
What does content strategy cover?
Seven steps to carry out a content strategy
Who should read this chapter – and why?
Integrate content and design from the beginning
Build in flexibility for universal usability
Putting it all together: A case study
Home pages – content-rich with few words
1 Be findable through search engines
3 Set the site’s tone and personality
4 Help people get a sense of what the site is all about
5 Continue the conversation quickly
6 Send each person on the right way
2 People don’t want to read while hunting
3 A pathway page is like a table of contents
4 Sometimes, short descriptions help
6 Many people choose the first option
6. Breaking up and Organizing Content
1 Think “information,” not “document”
2 Divide your content thoughtfully
3 Consider how much to put on one web page
4 Use PDFs sparingly and only for good reasons
7. Focusing on Conversations and Key Messages
Seven guidelines for focusing on conversations and key messages
1 Give people only what they need
2 Cut! Cut! Cut! And cut Again!
7 Plan to share and engage through social media
Interlude 2. Finding Marketing Moments
Marketing on the web is different: Pull not push
Join the site visitor’s conversation
Find the right marketing moments
Don’t miss good marketing moments
8. Announcing Your Topic with a Clear Headline
Seven guidelines for headlines that work well
1 Use your site visitors’ words
3 Think about your global audience
4 Try for a medium length (about eight words)
5 Use a statement, question, or call to action
6 Combine labels (nouns) with more information
7 Add a short description if people need it
Good headings help readers in many ways
Thinking about headings also helps authors
Eleven guidelines for writing useful headings
1 Don’t slap headings into old content
3 Choose a good heading style: Questions, statements, verb phrases
4 Use nouns and noun phrases sparingly
5 Put your site visitors’ wordsin the headings
6 Exploit the power of parallelism
7 Use only a few levels of headings
8 Distinguish headings from text
9 Make each level of heading clear
10 Help people jump to content within a web page
11 Evaluate! Read the headings
Interlude 3. The New Life of Press Releases
The old life of press releases
The new life of press releases
How do people use press releases on the web?
Ten Guidelines for Tuning up Your Sentences
1 Talk to your site visitors – Use “you”
3 Write in the active voice (most of the time)
4 Write short, simple sentences
6 Give extra information its own place
10 Use your site visitors’ words
Six guidelines for useful lists
1 Use bulleted lists for items or options
2 Match bullets to your site’s personality
3 Use numbered lists for instructions
5 Try to start list items the same way
Lists and tables: What’s the difference?
Six guidelines for useful tables
1 Use tables for a set of “if, then” sentences
2 Use tables to compare numbers
3 Think tables = answers to questions
4 Think carefully about the first column
Interlude 4. Legal Information Can Be Clear
Accurate, sufficient, clear – You can have all three
Use site visitors’ words in headings
Follow the rest of this book, too
Seven guidelines for writing meaningful links
1 Don’t make new program or product names links by themselves
2 Think ahead: Launch and land on the same name
3 For actions, start with a verb
4 Make the link meaningful – Not Click here or just More
5 Don’t embed links (for most content)
6 Make bullets with links active, too
7 Make unvisited and visited links obvious
13. Using Illustrations Effectively
Five purposes that illustrations can serve
Seven guidelines for using illustrations effectively
1 Don’t make people wonder what or why
4 Don’t make content look like ads
5 Don’t annoy people with blinking, rolling, waving, or wandering text or pictures
6 Use animation only where it helps
7 Make illustrations accessible
14. Getting from Draft to Final
Read, edit, revise, proofread your own work
Walk your personas through their conversations
Negotiate successful reviews (and edits)
Interlude 5. Creating an Organic Style Guide
Use a style guide for consistency
Use a style guide to remind people
Make it easy to create, to find, and to use
What’s needed for usability testing
What’s not needed for usability testing
How do we do a usability test?
What variations might we consider?
A final point: Test the content!!
For More Information – A Bibliography