One challenge for web designers is convincing a client that less is more when it comes to web content. I have often tried to convey that the desired action on a page should be obvious and conveyed in as few words as possible.

You know what is important but does the visitor?
Web content is typically scanned rather than read. A visitor will come to a page, quickly determine what may be of interest to them and click. To that end, a visual hierarchy - grouping like items and giving the most important items the most visual weight will help ensure that your content is viewed in the intended manner.

Short and sweet
Rather than full pages of copy, web pages should have short snippets of copy between subheadings that give the visitor an indication as to the information that appears within the section. It is better to use lists to display steps in a process, elements in a set or a group of related links. You want to provide a path for a visitor to “convert” as easily as possible (and convert can mean fill out a form, buy a product or add their own content) and not bog down the the visitor with extra words that do not lead to the goal. If you find yourself needing to provide overly detailed directions on how to use a feature, you probably need to revisit your information architecture as it is not delivering the information in the way that the visitor would choose to use it.

Click here?
If a desired action is to have the visitor click on a specific link to start a process or visit some other content, the link should be able to stand on its own and not be understood only within the context of the paragraph in which it appears. Having links stand out by using a different color and underlining will result in a better user experience. Visitors may actually scan a page for links and skip the surrounding text.

Also, people who experience a website via a screen reader scan a page differently than visitor with full vision. Without visual cues, a visitor with low vision will often scan all links on the page and if a link is titled “click here”, it provides little guidance as to the outcome of visiting that link. In contrast, a link with the text “start the undergraduate application process” will leave the visitor in no doubt as to the expected outcome. Also, using title tags on links will help visitors without disabilities gain perspective as to where the link is taking them as when they mouse over the link, the title will be visible.

When you are developing content for the web, I urge you to edit yourself. Write the copy and take a breather. Revisit a short time later and cut out all the words you don’t need. Your website will be better for it!