Every business should have a website, but not just any old website.
How many times have you seen a website that has been unreadable? I’m not just talking about dodgy website copywriting that has been over stuffed with keywords, or bad translations of foreign sites. I mean where the site is literally unreadable because of the layout and colours.
If you already have a website or are thinking about building one, here are 8 tips to bear in mind to make sure your site is readable.
Make it easy to read
Don’t use light coloured text on a white background, for example yellow on white, because it will be unreadable. By the way that works for dark text on a dark background too.
Get them in the mood
Use colour to create the mood – red for excitement, green for greed etc. But don’t over do it, rainbow text looks very unprofessional.
Attention grabbing
Use headlines to get their attention. Use a different colour or font to make them stand out from the rest of the text.
Highlight important words
Emphasise words and phrases that are important – super, fast, free, new etc., by using bold, underlining, italics and colour.
Font size
Getting the right font size is vital – too small and your reader will struggle to read it. Make sure your headings are in a larger font size to the rest of the text so they stand out.
Spare the capitals
DON’T USE ALL CAPS AS IT WILL LOOK UNPROFESSIONAL AND AS THOUGH YOU ARE SHOUTING AT YOUR READER.
White space
Make sure there is plenty of white space on your page to break up the text. There is nothing worse than being faced with a solid wall of letters.
Use sub headings to help your reader navigate their way through your web page. Key points should be listed as bullet points to make them stand out.
Check and double check
Once you have created the perfect layout and written your web copy, check the spelling and grammar before it goes live. But don’t forget, sometimes you need to break the rules of grammar to get your point across so don’t be afraid to get creative.
Sally Ormond is a freelance copywriter providing a comprehensive range of copywriting services to businesses across a diverse range of industries.
5 comments ↓
I like this advice. The only thing I would say in disagreement is don’t underline words or phrases in web copy unless that word/phrase is intended to be a link. Underlined words are deemed to be links in web copy and the user will become confused or frustrated if they try and click on it and nothing happens.
Hi Jamie,
Thanks for your comment – what you say is very valid, thank you for raising it.
Sally 🙂
I’d also add that it’s important to keep the types of font to a minimum. I tend to use only two on a page.
Good point, thanks for adding it John
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