Lori De Milto Writer for Rent: Targeted copy on time every time.

Spring 2014 
Writing Right
Tips, news, and notes on informing and motivating your audiences

Getting Your Message Across on the Web

Web users scan, reading only 20% to 28% of the average Web page, according to web usability expert Jakob Nielsen. If they don't find what they want fast, they leave the website.

 

Good web writing draws users into your website and keeps them there long enough to do what you want them to do.  It starts with putting the most important information first.

 

Chunk content

Break up (or chunk) information into topics and sub-topics. Use headings and subheads to:

  • Draw users in
  • Help users quickly find information
  • Make scanning easier.

Engage users

Keep paragraphs short and sentences simple. On the web, a one-sentence paragraph is fine. So are fragments.

 

Use simple, familiar words that your target audience understands. Avoid jargon, and avoid or limit confusing acronyms and abbreviations.

 

Use the active voice. "Talk to your doctor" is easier to understand than "your doctor should be consulted."

 

Make content more personal and more inviting with an informal tone ("you" and "we").

 

Emphasize key points

Lists create a sense of immediacy and emphasize key points:

  • Numbered lists work great for instructions and steps.
  • Bulleted lists convey non-sequential information (e.g., options to choose from).   
Use of the Web for Health Information

Pew Internet Research Project

  • 85% of U.S. adults use the Internet
  • 72% of Internet users access health information online

Top topics

  • Specific diseases or conditions
  • Treatments or procedures
  • Doctors or other health professionals

For more information, visit:

Information Triage 

Tips and Resources
Want to be more successful? Help others
People who give their time to others without expecting anything in return are more successful than those who don't do this, says Adam Grant, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania.  Ways to help others include making introductions,  sharing knowledge, and serving as mentors. 

Learn more in Grant's bestseller (New York Times and Wall Street Journal) Give and Take. The book is an Amazon best book of 2013 and one of Fortune's five must-read business books.
Recent Projects
Bloom magazine, Penrose St. Francis Hospital (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Breakthroughs magazine, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (New Brunswick, N.J.)

Web content

Women's diagnostics website section (not yet online)
for University Radiology (various locations in New Jersey)

for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation  (Princeton, N.J.)

  

Profile 

 "Integrating Sociology and Public Health to Reduce Homicide and Gun Violence: A Profile of Andrew V. Papachristos, PhD"   

for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Princeton, N.J.)
Upcoming Event
American Medical Writers Association Delaware Valley Chapter
2014 Freelance Conference (March 22, 2014)
I'll be leading a roundtable on Secrets to Marketing Success for Freelance Writers.
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Contact information
Lori De Milto Writer for Rent LLC