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New Mexico State University

Brand Identity Program

Web development

Online communication

When writing for the Web, your text should be concise, direct, factual and timely. Presenting information in this way enhances the validity of each page.

It all starts here

The purpose of your Web site is to give organized and current information that meets the needs of your target audience.

Before you begin writing copy or Web development:

  1. Identify your target audience
  2. Identify the purpose of your Web site
  3. Organize your information

Identify your audience

Determine who your Web site will be speaking to. Consider all possible users. The more specific you are, the more effective your Web site will be in providing the right content for the right audience. Possibilities include:

  • Students: prospective, current, non-traditional, international
  • Parents
  • Faculty/Staff
  • Visitors
  • Researchers
  • Media personnel
  • Personnel in government agencies
  • Vendors

Once you have established your target audience, you have a basis for the type of content you will deploy and how that content will be tailored.

Identify purpose of your site

After identifying your audience, the next step is to determine why this audience will be coming to your site:

  • Will your site provide general information about courses, campus life or benefits?
  • Is your site going to provide additional support for printed materials, or an external campaign or program?
  • Will users be coming to your site to find instructional materials?
  • Will your site collect information such as addresses, phone numbers and/or emails?

Understanding the purpose of your Web site enables you to focus on the type of content needed.

Organize your information

Brainstorm all content that should be on the site. Organize your thoughts and ideas by creating a content directory:

  • Category 1
    • Item A
    • Item B
  • Category 2
    • Item A
    • Item B
  • Category 3
    • Item A
    • Item B

Creating an outline will help you inventory and organize the content needed to support your Web site. Additionally, this information will be useful later in the process when you need to develop the navigation for your site.

Writing for the Web

The Web environment necessitates a writing style that delivers textual information quickly and accurately. Studies have shown that users do not read online; but rather, users scan text, searching for information important to them and disregarding the rest.

In other words, your content must get to the point immediately in an economical fashion, yet convey all needed information. Users will leave your page if your text is long-winded, unorganized or out-dated.

Remember, the quality of the content and how it is presented determines the Web page's value. Refer to the guidelines below to help you hone your Web writing skills:

Simple and direct

  • Write concisely: keep it short while including all necessary information.
  • One idea: include one main idea per paragraph.
  • Audience: keep your audience in mind when you're writing.
  • "Fluff" copy: eliminate unnecessary copy so readers can scan quickly.

Clear and organized

  • Page titles/headers:
    • Bold
    • Capitalize first word and any proper nouns
  • Formatting: make your pages easy to scan by using clear headings, bulleted or numbered lists, and text emphasis, such as bolding, when appropriate.
  • Organizing information: place important information near the top of the page.

Timely and accurate

  • Facts: if something is stated as a fact, make sure it is before publishing it.
  • Up-to-date: users expect online copy to be the most current; update or delete anything that is no longer relevant.
  • Proofread: review all copy before putting it live on the site.

Making paragraphs

Bulleted and numbered lists

Help users read or scan copy by using bullets or numbers for a list of copy points.

  • For unordered lists of copy, use bullets.
  • For ordered lists of copy, use numbers.
  • End each bulleted or numbered line of text with a period when one or more of the bulleted items include a full sentence.

Paragraph length

The following guidelines will help you write user-friendly paragraphs:

  • One idea: One main idea per paragraph. Summarize the main idea of each paragraph in the first line of text.

Concise sentences

Be brief and to the point. Keep your sentences concise, and include all critical information.

Using titles and subtitles

Titles and subtitles are critical, especially on copy-intensive pages. They allow users to scan the page to find the main topics and read information of interest.

Fonts and formatting

Bold body copy to add emphasis to your body text. Avoid the following formatting techniques, which make it more difficult for users to read your information online:

  • Underline
  • ALL CAPS

Formatting paragraphs

  • Indentation: All copy, titles and paragraphs, should be left-justified. Do not use insert HTML tags to to indent body copy - the style sheet will handle all content positioning.
  • Parenthesis: Do not use a parenthesis in combination with a hyperlink, see example:

Hyperlinks

  • Usage: Allow users to jump to related information using hyperlinks, but be careful not to clutter your pages with too many links.
  • PDF links: When you link to a PDF, after the link text, include (PDF) in brackets to alert the user that they are linking to a PDF and not a new page.

PDFs

  • For long documents, such as policy manuals or procedural documentation, a PDF might be appropriate.
  • When you link to a PDF, after the link text, include (PDF) in brackets to alert the user that they are linking to a PDF and not a new page.

Contact Information

Every page on the NMSU site should have contact information that is relevant to the page.

For example, if you are on a page that discusses admissions, you should be able to find a contact phone number and e-mail address that goes to the Admissions office.

Be sure to include:

  • Both an e-mail address and phone number when possible.
  • The area code when listing phone numbers.

Place this information at the bottom of the page as a separate sentence from the last paragraph of copy.

View example of how to correctly display contact information on your pages »

Content structure

The following two techniques are ways to structure content within page templates:

  1. Index and detail page format »
  2. Article page format »

Review both options, and apply the appropriate formatting to your pages.

Index and detail page format

Review the copy on your page. Are there multiple topics discussed on the same page? If so, this two-part solution might work well for you:

  1. Create an index page
    • List the title of each topic discussed on your page.
    • Below each title, provide a one to two line description of what the section is about.
    • On the line following the description, insert a link that tells users they can learn more about the given topic.
  2. Create a detail page for each topic
    • Take the information you have on each topic and put the details for each topic on separate pages.
    • Link from the index page you created to each of these detail pages.

Article page format

If the Web page you are creating is copy-intensive and it wouldn’t be appropriate to break it up into sections (as defined in Index and detail pages), this formatting technique may be more appropriate:

  1. Identify different “main ideas” throughout your text and mark these sections using subtitles.
  2. At the top of your page, below the page title and above the remaining text, list these section subtitles and link them to the respective sections in the text.

Contact Us

For more information, contact Marketing Services between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at 505-646-3221, or bip@nmsu.edu.