Writing for the web
Focus on the user
Use objective vocabulary
A good content designer focuses deeply on understanding people and their needs. The better you understand your audience, the easier it becomes to craft content that resonates with them and adds value. Content design simplifies complex tasks by highlighting key concepts, clarifying next steps, and streamlining interactions.
Remove “marketese” terms such as adjectives (e.g., "great" and "best"), buzzwords , and claims that are not supported with evidence. This reduces the cognitive load for users and improve their feeling of trust towards the brand.
Great content design starts with a few simple questions.
Who is your audience?
This could be broad—developers, for example—but defining your audience more specifically will help you pinpoint their needs and refine your plan.
What do they want to accomplish?
Your goal is to help them reach their goals on their time. Understanding what they’ve come for will help you help them.
How might they feel?
Are they anxious something’s gone wrong? Confused about which option is best? Happy to have completed their task? Understanding and empathizing with how someone is feeling will guide the the content you show them.
Test your content with users
The final and undisputable way of writing good and effective content is to make sure it is understood. by real users.
When testing your content, try to test it as close to the real world as possible:
- Share a hidden URL of the content you want to test
- Let the user browse by himself on the page
- Observe their reactions more than what they say : many biased answers can lead to wrong insights
- Avoid testing on power-users only and don’t rely too much on stakeholders like persons that represents users voices. They tend to unconsciously give their personal opinion rather than summarize other users’ opinion
- When testing with few users, focus over what isn’t optimal and can be improved by iterating rather than validating the content. (Test and learn approach)
