Table of Contents

Preface xi

Introduction xiii

Section I: Write for an Online Audience

Chapter 1: Write for the Web3

Shape your text for online reading 3

Get to the point 5

Make text easy to scan 8

Write for the world 9

Help people navigate 12

Example: Rewrite for Web readers 14

Chapter 2: Identify Your Audience 17

Do your research 17

Create an audience profile 20

Check out the competition 23

Exercise: Analyze an audience 24

Chapter 3: Define Your Voice 27

Give your site a personality 27

Consider the context 28

Develop your site’s unique voice 31

Translate voice into words 36

Exercise: Chart your voice characteristics 43

Example: Give copy a voice makeover 46

Chapter 4: Construct Clear, Compelling Copy 49

Headings 50

Sentences 59

Paragraphs 64

Lists 65

Example: Hook readers with head-turning headlines 70

Section II: Speak to Your Entire Audience

Chapter 5: Be Inclusive, Write for the World 75

Banish bias 75

Write gender-neutral copy 77

Write for an international audience 80

Example: Welcome the world 97

Chapter 6: Make Your Site Accessible to Everyone 103

Provide access for millions more visitors 103

Learn how people with disabilities use the Web 106

Gauge your site’s accessibility 107

Checklist: Is your site accessible? 113

Section III: Write UI Text, Email, and Mobile-Friendly Content

Chapter 7: Write Clear User-Interface Text 117

User-interface text basics 118

Page titles 119

Text links 123

Buttons and other UI elements 128

Alt text and image captions 132

Feedback messages and error messages 135

Help and FAQs 138

User-instruction mechanics 144

Example: Give visitors good directions 150

Chapter 8: Write Engaging Email and Newsletters 159

Use email as an outreach tool 159

Build better email messages 162

Create specific customer communications 175

Example: Stick to the essentials in your email 181

Chapter 9: Streamline Text for Mobile Devices 189

Write for the small screen 189

Consider how copy will look on mobile devices 190

Make SMS text brief and audience-appropriate 191

Section IV: Manage the Mechanics

Chapter 10: Punctuate Proficiently 197

Apostrophes 198

Colons 202

Commas 204

Dashes 213

Ellipsis points 214

Exclamation points 216

Hyphens 216

Periods 221

Question marks 223

Quotation marks 224

Semicolons 230

Exercise: Punctuate to communicate 231

Chapter 11: Abbreviate, Capitalize, and Treat Titles Consistently 233

Acronyms and other abbreviations 234

Capitalization 239

Company and product names 242

Email addresses and fields 245

File names, types, and extensions 246

Place names 246

Titles of people 250

Titles of works 251

Website names and addresses 255

Exercise: Crop, cap, and quote correctly 259

Chapter 12: Apply a Consistent Style for Numbers 261

The basics 261

Ages 265

Dates 266

Time 269

Fractions and decimals 271

Units of measure 273

Money and currency 279

Numbers in a range 280

Percentages 282

Phone numbers 282

Exercise: Navigate the numbers 283

Section V: Clean Up Your Copy

Chapter 13: Shorten and Strengthen Sentences 287

Clear out deadwood 288

Start strong, stay strong 293

Replace superfluous phrases 296

Cut the clichés 305

Junk the jargon 308

Exercise: Clear deadwood 312

Example: Cut the clichés 313

Chapter 14: Avoid Common Pitfalls in Word Choice, Grammar, and Spelling 317

Commonly confused words 317

Frequently misspelled words 331

Common grammatical mistakes 331

Old “rules” that no longer apply 348

Exercise: Dig into the details 351

Chapter 15: Proofread and Test Before You Publish 353

Ensure a good user experience 354

Inspect your copy at least twice 355

Know what to check on webpages and in emails 356

Pick up some proofreading tricks 364

Exercise: Perfect your text before you publish 367

Section VI: Resources

Chapter 16: Get Familiar With Basic Webpage Coding 371

HTML and XHTML 371

Boldface and italics 382

Special characters 386

Exercise: Crack the code 389

Chapter 17: Optimize Your Site for Search Engines 393

SEO basics 394

Copywriting for SEO 397

Images and video 412

Example: Seed copy with keywords for SEO 415

Chapter 18: Understand the Basics of U.S Law for Online Content 419

Online content creators and the law 420

Defamation 420

Copyright 421

Trademarks 424

Publicity rights 428

Trade secrets 428

Checklist: Are you at risk? 428

Chapter 19: Keep a Word List 431

Why compile a word list 432

What to put in your list 433

How to maintain your list 435

The Yahoo! word list 438

Exercise Answer Keys 479

Acknowledgments 491

Notes 493

Selected Bibliography 497

Index 499