Editorial Skills for Charities Workshop 26 January 2012
www.charitycomms.org.uk
Improve your web writing skills Editorial skills for charities workshop
2
Content © Anna McLoughlin : www.inkspiller.co.uk www.inkspiller.co.uk
Hello. I’m Anna McLoughlin @AnnaInkspiller on Twitter
3
www.inkspiller.co.uk
What will we cover? What people want from your website How to make web content easy to read and use Who you’re writing for How to write in a meaningful way for them How to move them to take action
You will leave with: A web copywriting blueprint for your website A web content framework for effective web writing 4
www.inkspiller.co.uk
People want content They want to read as little as possible … and no more
5
Image from: www.trafficcoleman.com www.inkspiller.co.uk
They don’t read more because…. They are busy They want answers It’s not relevant They want to do something
They want to grab and go!
6
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Good web writing is a conversation “Think of your web content as a focussed conversation,
started by a busy person” - Ginny
7
Redish ‘Letting Go of the Words’
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Your side of the conversation… Good web writing answers people’s questions: - “How do I donate ?” - “Where do I find out about getting some support?” - “May I volunteer for you?” - “Can you tell me more about what you do?” 8
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Good web writing lets them grab & go
9
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Where to start? “Writing is a lot easier if you have something to say” - Sholem Asch
10
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Blueprint The ‘Web Copywriting Blueprint’ is a set of golden questions It never fails to help work out what to say and how to say it Take this away and brainstorm the questions with colleagues Find your Blueprint at:http://tinyurl.com/6rmne6z
11
www.inkspiller.co.uk
The Blueprint covers Stage 1: What you want to achieve Stage 2: Talk to the right people Stage 3: Talk about the right things, in the right way Stage 4: For the right result
12
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Stage 1: What you want to achieve What does your website do for you at the moment?
e.g. Help raise funds, raise awareness, provide support. What would you like people to do on your site?
e.g. Donate
13
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Stage 2: It’s all about the audience
14
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Stage 2: Talking to the right people Who are your audience? Are they male or female? How old are they? What kind of work do they do? What is their expertise and experience? What other sites do they visit? What are their hobbies? What are their values? What motivates them? 15
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Gather information Read emails; what are they asking? Talk to marketing Talk to Customer Service Conduct a survey Watch and listen in physical locations Interview people Do usability testing
16
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Use information to create personas
Persona developed at Be Good, Be Social. Photo credit: juliebee.co.uk 17
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Put a face and name to your persona
Personas of people seeking aid information Source: www.aidinfolabs.org 18
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Stage 2: What do they want? When gathering information, pay attention to the words your audience use: Why are they coming to you? What are their questions? What are their problems? What key tasks do they have in mind?
19
www.inkspiller.co.uk
How easy are your key tasks? In a study of 60 non-profit sites, the Nielsen Norman Group found: “Giving
money on charity websites is 7% harder than spending money on e-commerce sites. The top priority for non-profits is to write clearer content.”
- Jakob Nielsen, 2011 • It took 7% more time to complete a donation than in a separate
ecommerce study
20
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Research findings Nielsen asked people to complete key tasks:
21
Key Task
Result
Choosing which charity to donate to
Poor: Not enough information to determine value or trustworthiness
Making a first time donation
7% worse than best practice
Making a repeat donation
Average rating of 5.7 out of 7
Non-monetary contributions
Rated poor
Volunteering
Rated good: straightforward information provided
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Communicate value The top priority is transparency about what a charity does, the impact and why it’s important:
“Non-profits must clearly communicate their value proposition if they want to attract volunteers and online donations.” - Jakob Nielsen, 2011 • Report available to buy at:
http://www.nngroup.com/reports/donations/ 22
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Taglines It should be clear what your charity does at first glance A strong tagline is priceless, e.g. “A Dog is for Life”. For inspiration, browse the ‘Non Profit Tagline Database’
report at: http://gettingattention.org/
23
www.inkspiller.co.uk
What do you do?
24
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Can you help me?
25
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Emotional connections Do they have a personal connection to your charity? How are they likely to be feeling?
Anxious? Frustrated? Skeptical?
“Web content for people who are angry, frustrated, anxious or stressed has to be particularly clear and simple” -Ginny Reddish 26
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Sensitive to children’s feelings
27
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Stage 3: Golden questions What’s the problem we’re trying to solve? Why hasn’t this been solved before? What is different now we’ve come along? How do we know?
28
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Stage 3: Talking in the right way Avoid the “we we” effect; don’t talk about yourself, talk
about your cause Don’t make yourself the reason to give, e.g. “Help empower
them” rather than “Help us change this” Show why what you’re doing is important or relevant to
your audience Demonstrate outcomes, e.g. “20 homeless people now
have jobs” rather than “we trained 20 homeless people”. 29
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Stage 4: Strong “calls to action”
30
www.inkspiller.co.uk
What we’ve covered so far… Now you should have a clearer idea: Who you are talking to What they need from you How to talk about your charity in a meaningful way for
them What you want to achieve
31
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Finding your voice Remember it’s a conversation: So, who are you? What are your values?
32
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Tone of voice exercise Try contrasting values: “Professional, not academic.” “Confident, not arrogant.” “Clever, not cutesy.” “Savvy, not hipster.” “Expert, not preachy.” Exercise from Kristina Halvorson’s “Content Strategy for the Web” 33
www.inkspiller.co.uk
This, not this Less Like
More Like
Contact us
Get in touch!
Our content offers many unexpected benefits
More than good web writing. Way more.
Our writers have a myriad of creative skills and substantial technical expertise
Our writers aren’t just well-trained. They’re seriously talented.
We have an enthusiasm and passion for content that shows in all we do.
Everyone here loves content. A lot.
Adapted from Kristina Halvorson’s “Content Strategy for the Web” 34
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Create a word bank
Created at wordle.net 35
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Use the word bank to write
36
www.inkspiller.co.uk
A simple content framework Give your content the best possible chance of being read Find your content framework at:
http://tinyurl.com/6sj4w2p
37
www.inkspiller.co.uk
How people scan web pages People read in a rough ‘F’ shape
38
Eyewww.inkspiller.co.uk tracking research from useit.com
Help them read your content Using the ‘Inverted Pyramid’ style will help people read and use your content
Image from http://www.internetmarketinginc.com/ 39
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Headlines are critical Focus on what’s important to your audience
CareLogger: 32.2% increase in sign-ups just by changing the headline Source: Abtests.com 40
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Be clear and concise
41
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Explain the offer
42
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Appeal to emotions
43
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Arouse curiosity
44
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Use subheadings, lists & links Before
After
Get Seen, Get Heard with MTV and Oxjam!
Want to Play a Stadium & Help End Poverty? - It all starts at Oxjam & on MTV this October!
Wanna be the next Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, Hot Chip? Want stardom, to play to adoring fans and the chance to make a difference? Now you can Film yourself playing at an Oxjam event this October and you could win the chance to play (but you better move quick). alongside the UK’s biggest bands at a major Film yourself playing an Oxjam event in fundraiser next year. October and you could be one of four new acts playing alongside Britain’s biggest bands at a What next: Oxjam Timeline major fundraising gig next year. It’s a real chance to change lives, including your own! Now: Register at MTV Flux and Oxjam Oct: Go, play and film your gig October is going to be jampacked with music Oct: Upload your video to MTV Flux madness. Dec: Top videos play on MTV Jan: Viewers pick the finalists See the Oxjam Timeline Apr: Winners get to play at Help Make Poverty History
45
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Testimonials and stories
WikiJob: Adding testimonials increased sales by 34% Source: abtests.com 46
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Use stories People want to help people
47
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Calls to action Make calls to action about the audience, not you. e.g. “Fight for good” not “We need your donation”.
Campaign Monitor:26.6% more people responded to ‘Give us your best ideas!” Source: abtests.com 48
www.inkspiller.co.uk
“On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely.” - Jakob Nielsen Reduce your word count by half Can you reduce it in half again? People will get more information with less content
49
www.inkspiller.co.uk
50
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Perfecting your copy Use the checklist on the Framework Let it sit overnight If it bothers you; cut it Read aloud Get someone else to read it Don’t rely on spell check alone Read from the bottom of the document to the top
51
www.inkspiller.co.uk
To conclude
Good web writing is like a conversation Understand who you are talking to and their questions Provide what they want to know in a way that’s relevant Establish a tone of voice Structure your copy so they can ‘grab and go’ Write in an inverted pyramid style Edit ruthlessly
Take-away tools: Blueprint: http://tinyurl.com/6rmne6z Web Content Framework: http://tinyurl.com/6sj4w2p 52
www.inkspiller.co.uk
Thanks for your time
Feel free to ask questions: Anna McLoughlin
[email protected] Twitter: @AnnaInkspiller 53
www.inkspiller.co.uk
