Language and narration on the site

On the other hand, using a style that doesn't suit them will alienate users with the same effect (or even more).

How to find the right balance? What rules should you follow to create the right message for your visitors?

I invite you to read this post in which I offer some advice on this topic.

What should the language and narrative look like on the site?

1. Determine who exactly you are creating a message for.

The first and most important step is understanding the target audience to which the message is directed.

Various texts are written to appeal to fishermen, fashion bloggers and potential restaurant goers.

Each audience has its own needs. They have certain criteria by which they can judge whether they like this or that site.

Therefore, be very specific about some ideal type of audience that you intend to reach.

Based on this, the creation of any texts will be directed specifically at them.

2. Take care of the basics of SEO.

Search engine robots analyze what we enter into the search bar. Here are the words. It is with their help that they guess what we are looking for.

Therefore, the site of a kindergarten cannot occupy the top positions in any way for words associated, for example, with some car repair shop (unless they have a common name, but this is a completely separate case).

I want to say that search engine robots "know" what the site is about. That is why the language and presentation of the material on the site are so important.

If you want your site to appear in search results (now we're not talking about specific positions, it's just about creating an opportunity for this) for certain phrases, then your site must contain them.

Of course, creating the right code for a search engine friendly site is a different story, but the foundation of everything is content loaded with the right words. Keep this in mind when creating texts that should eventually be included on certain pages of your site.

3. Start with the most important information.

Those who visit your site are looking for specific information.

None of us want to wade through hundreds of words before getting to the specifics.

Try to post all the most important information as early as possible. So that visitors do not waste time looking for what interests them most.

4. Don't beat around the bush.

The continuation of the previous paragraph is how information should be transmitted.

Of course, it's fun sometimes to give yourself free rein and try to use some well-aimed words or whole sentences, but in most cases, such a procedure will not cause readers what you have in mind.

Concrete. That's all that matters.

If your site is not something specific, and you do not create some kind of mysterious or unique atmosphere on it, refuse to create it.

Composing sentences that hit the target is just as important as posting specifics as early as possible.

5. Use clear and understandable vocabulary.

The language and presentation of information on your site should be understandable to everyone.

Maybe not for everyone, but for those who are most dear to you. This, of course, is about your ideal target group.

These people need to know what your site is about as soon as they visit it.

Therefore, do not use phrases that users will not be familiar with. Write in their language.

6. Remember that many people only scan content with their eyes.

We are so used to not reading websites from cover to cover.

Our eyes "fly" through the sites, capturing only the most important information.

How to make readers pay attention to what worries us?

With the right tricks, mostly by splitting large blocks of text into smaller paragraphs. All this is done so that the site has small "portions" of text that can convey an idea in a nutshell.

It is also useful to use any headings on subpages that can group content thematically. One glance at the title is enough to understand what the text under it will be about.

Websites are not books where we tolerate monotonous content. Our moment of attention on the Internet is very short, we only have a moment to draw someone's attention to what we care about.

Keep this in mind and arrange the text in such a way that people who only quickly scan the content with their eyes can catch the most relevant information.

7. Write specific, short sentences.

Try to state what you want to convey to others in the most concise way possible.

Yes, sometimes it's unavoidable to expand a sentence by many words, but in general, sticking to this principle is a good idea.

It is important for Internet users to be specific. They visit a website to get some benefit from it. So don't force them to wade through the artsy text and try to get to the point as quickly as possible.

In addition, short sentences are read dynamically. We quickly catch one thought after another. Then we won't have much of a chance of losing the thread somewhere in the middle of a very long sentence.

8. Try to match the language with the look of the site.

In a sense, this is a continuation of the sixth point, where I mentioned that the content should be intended for people who scan it with their eyes.

Well, HTML gives us a lot of options:

• different text sizes
• bold
• text centering
• underlining
• text in different colors
• bulleted and numbered lists
• interspersing text with images, etc.

I want to say that content is not just black text on a white background. The content can be freely manipulated and given a pleasing shape to the eye.

Therefore, the language and narrative on the site should fit perfectly into the overall environment. Everything should form a single, harmonious whole.

9. Make the content around the forms understandable.

I'm assuming that your site has forms that end with some action related to you.

So you need to "convince" users to use them.

How?

Providing the right text and visual environment.

Be clear about what the forms are for. The headings and subheadings that accompany them should be short, concise, and encourage users to use the forms.

Other texts are equally important - texts on buttons and those that act as labels and placeholders. They shouldn't leave room for guesswork. Users should immediately know what they are for.

Why is the language and storytelling on a website so important?

Because they form the basis of belief.

Products and services should be appropriately worded, and the benefits you get by choosing them should be artfully stated.

Therefore, do your best to ensure that the language and presentation on your site is really at the highest level.