Give Your Testimonials More Credibility

I think that the people who give the testimonials do so for the additional exposure they receive for their own names, sites and businesses. I also think they do some mutual back-scratching, and hype each other's products and services. In other words, the testimonials are just additional sales text. They have no credibility as outside, third-party endorsements.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2006). Articles>Writing>Web Design>Marketing

Google: The Ultimate Web Writer's Style Guide

Forget that Google is a search engine. Just for a moment, imagine it is a style guide. A very different kind of style guide.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2005). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Guerilla Upgrades: Start with Your Newsletter

Persuading your managers to allow some testing in the tone and voice of a newsletter isn’t half as hard as persuading them to make changes to your site’s homepage.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2003). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Guide Site Visitors Forward to the Next Page

All too often web pages, even home pages, provide readers with a variety of choices, but don't really provide a clear way forward. This is particularly true when a site has multiple products or services to sell. But this lack of direction is also evident on some sites which have just a single offering.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2007). Design>Web Design>Information Design

Helping Your Visitors: A State of Mind

Remember your site visitors won't find your website as easy to use as you do. Change your state of mind and you'll improve the user experience for all visitors.

Usborne, Nick. Webcredible (2006). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability

Helping Your Visitors: a State of Mind

Even the simplest website is harder to figure out than a catalog or magazine. We all know how to 'use' a catalog: start at the front cover and keep turning the pages. But with every new site we visit, we have to 'learn' how it works, how its 'pages' turn, how to find what we’re looking for. Text that takes visitors' needs into account can help guide them through the maze.

Usborne, Nick. List Apart, A (2004). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design

Is the Freelance Writing Life for You?

Freelancer writers tend to develop something of a superior attitude at times. Some of us feel that we are a cut above our brothers and sisters who work as employees.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2004). Careers>Freelance>Writing

Is Your Web Site Old and Out of Touch?

A great many changes are taking place online right now. This is particularly true when you are trying to reach and sell to potential customers who are up-to-date with new technologies and ways of using the web. I'm thinking of the people who download podcasts to their iPods.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2006). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Podcasting

It's Time to Invest in the Message

Business online has invested billions of dollars in the technology that delivers its messages. The trouble is, it has invested almost nothing in the messages themselves.

Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2001). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Just Say No to Dead Fragments

A dead fragment of text is what's left after a usability expert has had his or her way with some perfectly good copy. The process works a little like this... First, take some great text that engages the reader on a number of levels. Here are a few words from Martin Luther King, Jr.: 'I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.' Now cut that back to make it more 'usable': 'Have sons judged by character and not color.' What are you left with? A brief, but dead, fragment. The substance of the communication remains, but the soul has been ripped out of it.

Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2001). Articles>Writing>Usability>Web Design

Keep your Web Pages Simple

Simplicity is probably the most important underlying factor when it comes to the performance of any web page...whether it be your home page, an interior page, a sales page or a landing page. Here are six ways to keep your pages simple, and increase conversions.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2006). Design>Web Design>Writing>Minimalism

Live or Die on the First Screen

Pick up a Sears catalog and you can flick through the pages and get pretty close to the exact product you want in less than 5 seconds. Now visit an unfamiliar e-commerce site and you'd better put aside a few minutes to figure out where to find what you want, if it's there at all.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2002). Design>Web Design>E Commerce

Live or Die on The First Screen

Any online communication that takes longer than one screen asks a great deal of any visitor. This is a big factor in determining why online conversion rates are so poor.

Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2002). Design>Web Design

Long or Short Copy? Part 1

I've alternatively praised both long and short copy. In some columns, I have extolled the personal touch you can achieve through longer, more conversational text. In others I have pointed out that short, active text is your best bet for directing readers and maximizing conversion rates. There's no real contradiction here. Sometimes long copy will do the best job for you; other times you'll be better off using short copy.

Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2003). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Long or Short Copy? Part 2

Why doesn't everyone determine copy length based on the needs and expectations of his site visitors?

Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2001). Articles>Writing>Business Communication

Make Every Page on Your Web Site Look Unique

You do need to make each page appear unique, even if the basic design and typography remain the same.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2006). Design>Web Design

Newsletter Co-Registration, and other Partnerships

When someone signs up for my newsletter, I list some other newsletters they might be interested in on my site's thank-you page. People can simply check a box next to the other newsletters they want to receive, click one button, and they're done. The publishers I partner with do the same for me, listing the Excess Voice newsletter on their sign-up thank-you pages.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2006). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration

The Page Title and Meta Description

Never underestimate the importance of the page title and meta description - they're used by both search engines and people to judge your website.

Usborne, Nick. Webcredible (2006). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Pay Attention to The Closing Lines of Your Emails

When it comes to writing emails to our customers and prospects, we pay a great deal of attention to the subject lines and the opening lines of the inside text. You also need to pay attention to your closings.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2002). Articles>Writing>Correspondence>Email

The Power of Showing You are Human

Here's a tip on how to achieve that in a way that grabs attention and builds credibility. Illustrate it. Don't tell it.

Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2002). Articles>Writing>Business Communication

The Power of Writing BIGGER

Try rewriting your pages with just the benefits or offer amplified. Then try a draft with a much better price or guarantee.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2007). Articles>Writing>Marketing

Respect: Last Word of Advice for Online Copywriters

I'd urge you to treat your readers with respect. Respect for site users or e-mail and newsletter recipients is not a way of writing, it's a state of mind. It's the belief everyone should be treated decently, be told the truth. It's a genuine discomfort with even the idea of treating people as if they were suckers to be taken advantage of. Writing with respect is about being honest, with both your audience and yourself.

Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2001). Articles>Web Design>Writing

RSS Instead of Newsletters? At Your Peril

I have been reading a lot about how companies are enthusiastically embracing RSS as a wonderful alternative to email newsletters. I can understand their enthusiasm, in part. After all, legitimate commercial email and newsletters are being decimated by spam filters. In addition to which, consumers are growing weary of having to distinguish between what is spam and what is not. There are additional benefits to making newsletters available by RSS. RSS means your subject line never disappears below the fold of an email window. With RSS the newsletter is always there, ready and waiting for when your reader is ready to take a look. With RSS your archives can be just a click away...providing easy and immediate access to previous issues.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2005). Design>Information Design>Web Design>RSS

The Search Doesn't End at Your Homepage

Your visitor hasn't completed their 'search' when they arrive at your homepage. The search is just the beginning. Part of your task is to understand how best to write the links that take people deeper into your site. And one way of maximizing that clickthrough is to use terms that are directly relevant to the visitor's continuing search.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2003). Articles>Web Design>Search

Search Engine Copywriting: Focus on One Topic

There are three approaches I take to the creation of a page, and each has a significant impact on how high the listing for that page appears on Google.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2005). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Search