Fix-It Friday is a new series of posts where I show how a website page can be improved by applying a few web copywriting principles. My primary aim is to make visitors’ lives easier.
Within just an hour, it’s possible to make a page more readable, accessible and search friendly. I also explain what else I’d do if I had more time. Look at the difference a web copywriter can make!
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an independent, not-for-profit and international organisation. Its aim is to improve ‘the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas’.
Fix-It Friday is a new series of posts where I show how a website page can be improved by applying a few web copywriting principles. My primary aim is to make visitors’ lives easier.
Within just an hour, it’s possible to make a page more readable, accessible and search friendly. I also explain what else I’d do if I had more time. Look at the difference a web copywriter can make!
Dulas provides professional renewable energy services from its base in the heart of Wales. I like its website; the design’s fresh, modern and uncluttered, with clear navigation.
I’ve decided to look at the ‘About Dulas’ page from a web copywriting perspective.
Individual <title> and <description> tags for each page
Use of H1 tag for page heading
Well written, interesting information
Sub titles used to break the text up
Could do better
There’s too much information: the page is very long
The text is wordy in places and there are a couple of errors
Copy needs better formatting
The sub titles are in <strong> tags; they’d be better in H2 headers
Text contains no links to other pages within the website or externally
The page URL is not descriptive
The <description> tag needs a bit of tweaking
Web page after
(Click on the image for a larger version.)
Fixes made in one hour
Lightly edited the copy to simplify wording and ‘front load’ the text
Removed some information that could sit better elsewhere
Placed current sub titles into H2 header tags
Added additional sub titles to break up text further
Added links from key phrases to relevant pages both within the website and externally
Highlighted other key words and phrases in <strong> tags
Placed listed information into proper lists
If I had more than an hour, I’d…
Edit or rewrite the text to simplify it, focus the information and reduce page length considerably…
…and/or add in-page links at the top of the page to jump to relevant sections (visitors can see straight away the page content without scrolling, plus the usual benefits)
Rewrite the <description> tag
Add more links from the text to help users navigate throughout the website
Consider the page and its section as a whole, and as an integral part of the complete website
Do you want me to make over a page on your website? If you’d like to suggest a site for me to consider, get in touch!
I mean the decline of taught, modern foreign languages, not sweary bad language (I’m sure that’s probably still learnt and applied with enthusiasm).
This article in the Guardian, Who still wants to learn languages?, raises a few key points from recent studies, as well as interesting observations. In summary:
Funding for languages has been cut and departments are closing across the education spectrum, from schools to universities.
Since language learning was made optional after the age of 14 in 2004, numbers have been dropping. (Just in state schools? The article’s not clear.)
There’s a sharp distinction between provision at state schools and at independents (“38 per cent of 14-year-olds in the state sector were studying one modern language and 1.9 per cent were studying two; 99 per cent of 14-year-olds at independents studied at least one language”).
As a result, “the experience of other cultures is now confined to an elite”.
Languages are losing out in the (short-term) education market because they are a long-term choice in terms of competency and gratification.
German is losing out the most because of its profile, difficulty and competition from non-traditional languages.
“There is only one UK citizen working in continental Europe for every four EU citizens working in the UK.
“Studies prove [that] learning a language makes [children] better at learning everything else.”
Learn a language to know your own
However, the end of the article includes two of the more interesting points. Firstly:
“Whoever is not acquainted with languages knows nothing of his own (Goethe).”
I was in school at a time when the state education system decided we didn’t need to learn English grammar. We studied English language, yes, but I remember mostly creative writing rather than covering verbs, nouns, modifiers, the subjunctive and so on.
However, because I also chose to study German and French, I learnt a little about those things. And it’s only now that I’ve taught myself Spanish and help my local friends with their English that I’m learning more about my own language.
(Because I grew up in Wales, it was also compulsory to learn Welsh between the ages of about 6 and 13. I would have chosen Welsh at GCSE too, but the selection process made that a difficult choice.)
Speak a language, understand a people
It’s the comment from a source at the end that resonates with me now; of course, it may well not have done when I was 15. And that’s why it’s so important for the choice not to be left to 15-year-olds (and younger).
“[This trend] is disastrous [because] it leads to people leading insular lives – intellectually, professionally, culturally.”
I’ve learnt so much about the culture I’m living in simply by hearing how they refer to ideas in their own language, and thereby understanding the emphasis of those things in their lives.
In the second of this (very) occasional series about things I use to help me work, I want to talk about Delicious. It’s been around for a while, and indeed I’ve been using it since I started up as a freelancer. Its staying power can only be a good thing!
It’s ideal for keeping track of all those handy articles I find and read (or intend to read…), as well as sharing them via my websites. However, it was only at the weekend when I had a bit of a fiddle around with it that I discovered some handy features.
From many to one
Previously, I had a Delicious account for each of my blogs (which proliferate faster than I can keep up), with a different log-in for each. In addition, since Yahoo bought Delicious, many of these now have Yahoo log-ins instead.
Fed up with all these different usernames and passwords (plus I don’t use Yahoo for anything else), I decided to bring all my bookmarks (both public and private) under my original account. Delicious offers an easy-peasy import and export tool for doing just that.
Tailored link rolls
However, I don’t want all my bookmarks to show on each website; they’re very different topics. So, I created a tag specific to each one, which I apply as relevant to the saved article. Delicious’ link roll tool then allows me to specific that tag when creating the each feed.
In addition, there’s an option to bundle articles and pages with specific tags (like Gmail’s labelling system), to help you quickly see articles once in your account (rather than searching by a specific tag).
Keeping things private
Of course, some pages are not for the general public, and there’s a simple ‘private’ option (which also appears as a tag) to make sure these are kept hidden. I’m sure there are other tools still to discover too.
And, hey presto, one account with a single username and password, but tailored for each blog. Now I just need to remember to use the correct tag (the one possible source of error!). Follow me on Delicious.
Last Wednesday I pottered into lovely Palma de Mallorca to be part of Mashable’s Social Media Day. There’s not a very big local networking scene locally (except for TwittPalma) so I thought I should make the most of it.
Of course, it was a Spanish event that also attracted some English speakers like myself. And herein lies the problem with lots of networking events – it’s scary speaking to new people. And if they speak a different language you’re not fluent in? Even more so.
Love people, dislike networking
I’m not really a fan of networking; it all feels a bit unnatural and, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a necessary evil. But conversely, I love meeting new people and talking with them. But not about work. And especially not in a forced way…
So, as often happens, people kept to the groups (of very lovely people, of course) that they knew. Next time, I think the ‘social’ aspect of the event should be harnessed, maybe in a ‘speed dating’ way.
Make friends, maybe influence people
Everyone who attends receives a number. Then they pick a number out of a hat and have to speak to that person for five minutes, at the same time swapping Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook details. Repeat…
After maybe 30 minutes of this, everyone will have met 6 people and, hopefully, have enough people to speak to for the rest of the evening.
Where’s [the] Wally?
Check out this brilliant timelapse video of the event – can you spot me? I’m in a blue shirt and jeans, and am stood for quite a while on the right-hand side of the frame…
We all know that it’s not just what we write that’s important, it’s also how it looks. An inappropriate font can completely knock a message off course, rendering our communication out of touch or even invisible.
So what personality would you give the fonts you use? Is Times New Roman a dependable, retired Colonel with a moustache? Or maybe you prefer Calibri, a slightly hipper cousin of Arial, but still serious enough to roll out in front of the boss?
Is this how you see Times New Roman? Or maybe not...
Well, you might well be misreading your font’s personality – poor, misunderstood little guy. Or, actually, maybe he doesn’t give a damn, because he’s Comic Sans, asshole. (His words, not mine.)
Phew, who’d have thought that he’d be such a feisty one? Thanks be to @vickysquires for sending this to me. Made my day.
There’s an interesting audio slideshow about the ‘disappearing act’ of letterpress on The Guardian’s website. The article introduces us to the craft and how a master of the trade puts it all together to produce beautifully printed items.
Letterpress in action: Photo by Graeme Robertson for The Guardian
After I left university I spent a short spell working for a printer in Oxfordshire. He’d spend hours in the hot, stuffy basement with this mechanical wonder, enveloped in ink fumes.
He used to put off the task for days, with an understandable dislike of the humid air and emerging light headed at the end. Still, I wish I’d insisted on learning more about the process (although I don’t recall it being letterpress).
If your website’s main content has a consistent tone throughout, that’s great; but don’t forget those other points of contact with your readers or customers. This might be rarely needed web pages (such as the 404 error page) or following up on an order.
I recently ordered a couple of t-shirts online from howies, and the company’s warm, informal tone (with a hint of dry wit) continued throughout the process. It really felt as though one person was speaking to me throughout.
For example, from the order confirmation:
A big thanks for your order [...] We will be burning the midnight oil to make sure your order is dealt with to make sure you’re not waiting too long! (By the way your card will not be charged until your stuff leaves our warehouse.) [...] A despatch confirmation e-mail will be sent to you as your order leaves us down here.
And from the despatch email:
Just thought you’d like to know your order is heading out of Cardigan Bay as we speak. And it’s heading your way. With luck and a good tailwind, it should be with you in the next day or so [...] If you ever come down to Cardigan Bay, please let us know and we will put the kettle on.
(However, I’d be curious to know if they really do welcome customers in for a cup of tea if they happen to be in the area. Whatever you write, it should be sincere.)
So, don’t forget all those little words that reach your customers, from email signatures and out-of-office replies through to rarely-read-but-required web pages (here’s a nice selection of creative aforementioned error pages).
Learning a new language is one of those great activities that reduces the differences between people. It doesn’t matter what job you do, where you’re from or how much you earn; once you’re thrown together to grasp a new language, everyone’s in the same boat.
This occurred to me while reading one of a series of blog posts in The Guardian by writer Will Self. There’s something reassuring in reading about how a distinguished wordsmith experiences the same challenges in mastering another language (in his case, French) as everyone else.
I can definitely relate to this comment:
I’ve noticed how acutely geared to my general wellbeing my ability to speak French has become: on days when I’m rested and in good spirits, I feel like a saucy Maurice Chevalier in the making, but on down days I’m Antonin Artaud, brokenly raging in a straitjacket of received English locutions.
Some days, I feel as though I could talk forever and my Spanish friends seem to understand me. Other days, I can barely maintain a basic conversation, throwing whoever I’m talking to into a state of confusion.
And while some people swear to a glass (or two) of red wine to make them slip into a fluency they can only dream of normally, I’m pretty certain they’re only fooling themselves. Booze befuddles my brain, making it nearly impossible to string together a coherent Spanish sentence.
Maybe the key’s to get the person I’m talking to drunk, instead; I’ll still be able to hold a conversation and they simply won’t care…!
There are lots of little things that help me do my work or keep up to speed with the online world on a day-to-day basis. I thought it would be handy to share these as I think about them or as a new one comes to light.
They’re not all technically ‘tools’, but if they help us to do our jobs better, then that label’s good enough for me. Take ‘Netted’, a free daily email newsletter from the producers of the Webbys online awards.
Every day they dig up an interesting website and send it straight to your inbox. It’s a great way to find out about quirky apps and even discover something useful. Find out more and sign up.
Last Wednesday I pottered into lovely Palma de Mallorca to be part of 
