Maybe I’m a bit biased, because words are my thing. But I think too many people misunderstand just how much words matter on the web.
Three ways people devalue content
As a words person, I see three common scenarios.
- You build the product, then add the content in towards the end of the process. This is the ‘just add content’ approach.
- You might start with the words, but then you spend the vast majority of your development time thinking about other things – like images and how/where to position different elements on the page.
- You hand responsibility for the words to someone whose main job is something else – like a designer, a developer or a subject matter expert (someone who knows a lot about the topic but isn’t a writer).
It’s common for written content to be an afterthought.
This happens because people think:
- that anyone can write – it’s not a specialist skill like design or coding
- that design/layout are more important because the web is a visual medium, and strong visuals make web content more engaging.
Why words matter on the web
Words matter a lot more than many people realise.
Think about this:
- When you Google a question or problem, what are you using? Words.
- If you ask your smart speaker a question, what are you using? And what does your speaker use when giving the answer? Words.
- What would be harder to use: a website with all text but no images, or one with all images and no text? Definitely the second one.
We need words to make sense of images
Even sites where visuals are really important, like shopping sites, rely on words.
We use words (and numbers) to understand the price, how to buy, how long delivery will take.
The words also tell us about a product’s features and benefits.
Well-chosen images help us understand those words, of course. But without the words, we’d be pretty stuck.
On the web, users are task-focused. They’re looking for something. And normally, it’s words that give them what they’re looking for.
The consequences of bad content
If content is done badly, it can lead to:
- confusing instructions that people find hard to follow
- calls to action that people ignore because the language doesn’t match theirs
- people leaving because they think that what they’re looking for isn’t there
- people doing the wrong thing and then complaining to you about it.
Words help you help your users
I find it useful to think that web content’s main job is to help the user get their job done. Tell them what they need to know. Reassure them. Show them their next steps. Give them what they’re looking for.
So when we’re creating websites, or pages, or forms, or tools, we need to ask ourselves: what would be most helpful to the user?
Visual elements can play a really important role here. I’m not saying they don’t.
But words are the main way people access services and information online.
How to prioritise the words
Here are three suggestions for how you can make written content a priority.
- Don’t leave the words to the end. Ideally, start with the words – use your customers’ own language to show them how you can help them.
- Only use images and other visual elements that help users get their job done. A picture of a cloud on a page about daydreaming will probably hinder, rather than help, your users. But a picture of a product they’re thinking about buying? That’s helpful – it shows them what they’re going to get.
- If possible, get help from people who know about web content – writers, editors, content designers. If that’s not possible, do the best you can to quality-control your written content. Make it as clear and helpful as possible.
Words are how people access and use our services online. So we need to get them right.