Web-writing basics: focus on your audience

When you’re working on copy for your website, do you think about who you’re writing for? I mean, really think. Do you alter your conversational style, focus or slant based on your audience and the medium you’re using? Most people don’t, or can’t. We all have a personal voice — most likely developed while writing high school compositions and college essays — and tend to expect others to adjust to that voice. In most situations, we don’t alter ourselves to accommodate our readers; we think they’ll adapt themselves to us — or we don’t think about it at all.

Alas, more often than not, a distinctly “personal voice” doesn’t translate well online. To write effectively for an online platform, you must first think about your audience.

Interestingly, many web writers don’t take the tastes and temperament of their surfers into account. And not only is this a fundamental mistake, it’s a very common one — made (in particular) by not-for-profit and charity website writers the world over, as shown in this article on the NGO media website.

So how do you change this pattern? It’s really quite easy: think about your audience. Not sure how? Here’s the advice from that very handy NGO media article. It’s clear, concise and, if you take it to heart, will help you understand the task at hand: You must ask yourself: What’s the purpose of my publication (or website)? Is it to engage young people? To market our services to commissioners? To raise funds? Who is my audience? What message do I want to convey? The answers to these questions should colour everything you write.

When people look at your content, they should instantly know it’s aimed at them, has something useful and interesting to tell them, and shows them how to get involved.