theWPshow with Sue Keogh
Here is the replay* from our theWPshow (The WordPress Show) where we talk to Sue Keogh about writing for the web.
(*here are all our recent replays).
Here are some key links for Sue:
- Book in for a chat with Sue if you want to discuss any challenges in more detail: sookio.com/chat (a new thing we’re offering after all webinars)
- Read the blog, for loads of insights on digital marketing trends: sookio.com/blog
- Try our online courses at Sookio School: https://www.
skillshare.com/r/user/ sookioschool
That link gives you two months’ free access to all our courses and anything on Skillshare, so fill yer boots. - Book in-house training in social media, video production and more: sookio.com/training
- BBC News eyetracking study with the octopus! https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=O6DRl6tTjCU - This is a really handy tool if you want to see where users are looking on your website: https://www.hotjar.
com/
The Show Notes
Firstly, I am asking for quick feedback on the wpPowerAcademy (WordPress Power Academy) the beta of the membership program I’m launching in Sept.
Ok, so here are the rough notes / links as I encounter them whilst playing the replay back.
If you are time short, feel free to scan down this list and jump to the time point in [square brackets].
- What % of words do we typically read on a web page?
- How people read a web page – the ‘F pattern‘ [3:50]
- How people scan a page [5:35]
- Graph of % of words people read v num words on page [09:00]
- Graph on where we spend our time on a web page [10:00]
An interesting takeaway here is that people may scan the top, scan the very bottom, and then decide if they’ll read it all – so invest more in the bottom of your posts. - Being aware of multiple devices [11:00]
- Q. Are people getting more impatience online? [12:45]
- When you are writing a blog post, give it a really good summary [14:45]
- What do users like? [15:00]
- Making users feel that they are in the right place for that [15:15]
- Sue asks me to guess what a website does [15:50]
(sorry the audio goes a bit funny at this point – not sure what happened there, I didn’t notice anything at the time). - Sue: ‘Google is just trying to replicate the human experience‘ [17:30]
- Another website example – ‘better proposals’ [17:50]
- Some useful tips [18:50]
- Acronyms – be careful, always explain at the top of the page [19:45]
- How a heading and text support each other [20:15]
- Frontloading content [20:45]
How we read a website is NOT like how we read a novel! - HMRC VAT page [21:45]
- Tip: when writing for the web, take a big red pen to most of it! [23:10]
- Example from Techcrunch [23:30]
Takeaway here: really focus on how you write your headings/blog post titles! Front-load the titles.
(Phew! audio gets better again around 24:30) - How to write your links (again, frontloading!) [25:00]
- Work backwards in terms of pulling nuggets out of your content which can help with that title & introduction etc.
Because you don’t know until you’ve written it, what the best bits are [26:35] - Focus on the audience’s questions [26:45]
- Avoid being abstract [27:25]
- Examples of titles [27:45]
- Every title should be able to stand alone (without its contents [28:10]
- Being told where to go [30:00]
We want to be lead. - Avoiding ‘ing‘ (e.g. finding, booking, buying) [31:10]
- Being clear and direct [31:45]
- The issue with giving people too many option [34:20]
- A question from Thomas on websites which do not get most of the traffic via their homepage [36:00]
- People don’t always start on the homepage [36:20]
- A sidebar is a mini-homepage [37:00]
- Tips on layout [38:00]
- Formatting your page [38:45]
- Allowing your sub-headings to tell a story (without the content!) [39:45]
- An example of a well laid out page, and how it makes the content more accessible to people [40:40]
- A quick chat on line length [42:40]
- Sue’s “Chanel Approach” to design [44:25]
- The importance of plain English [45:40]
- The problem with long words! [46:45]
- Tips on writing content [48:45]
- Word quiz – putting me on the spot! [50:15]
- Idioms [53:00]
- Question from Thomas asks about Sue’s article where she says ‘no one cares about your brand’ [54:15]
- The problem with “I” and “WE” on a website [55:15]
- The other problem with “I” and “WE”! [57:00]
Thanks for reading – please feel free to ask any questions over on our Facebeook Group. Hang on! Based on what Sue says that should be written as…
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