I recently got back from a trip to the sugary, white sands of Florida’s Gulf Coast, Panama City Beach, to be exact. When I was not bronzing in the sweltering sun or sipping some fruity concoction, I was visiting the neighborhood shops and enjoying local fare at various establishments.

Cowabunga, dude! Surf's up!

I noticed that most of the locals spoke in a different language. Not different per se that it was not English, but just in a different way.

Yes, it is a beach town with a laid-back attitude, so that is not to be completely unexpected, but when I heard the 20-year-old-something male at one of the local surf shops speak to me (in surfer lingo) the same way an older 40+ woman server spoke to me at a fancy restaurant, it made me think about languages, slang and jargon.  Ultimately, it made me think about writing in natural language for Web sites.

Natural Language…Write on!

Writing in natural, simple language is the way to go in order for your audience to understand what you are trying to tell them. It flows more naturally, and is similar to a conversation you would have with a friend, family member or co-worker.

Writing in natural, simple language allows for:

• More traffic to your site (this is far out for SEO)

• Engagement with your audience (readers will be stoked if they can connect to your content).

• Your info to be read from beginning to end (bailing mid-way through your content = total burn).

• Better usability in understanding what information you are trying to get across (let your audience shred through your content and dig it).

Web Content Writing Basics

While having natural, simple language on the brain, don’t forget the other gnarly basics for Website content writing, which basically breaks down to:

• Having clear calls-to-action

• Writing with one-topic per paragraph

• Using specific and focus-driven copy

• Providing short and easy-to-read copy

AVID Design creates optimized Web content for hospital and healthcare systems.  Contact AVID today to see how we can help you.

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I was able to speak at the 16th annual Healthcare Maketing Strategies Summit in Orlando today. Since we didn’t get the final presentation slides finished until after the deadline for inclusion on the conference Web site and flash drive, I decided that I could post the PDF here.

Pam and I enjoyed presenting this and had some really good follow up questions. There was good interest in the videos that have been produced at Bayhealth and how we were able to get the physicians involved in the process. There was some discussion about intranets, which I didn’t expect, but it is so true that if you are integrating your public facing Web site, you should make sure to include strategy about integrating your intranet also. Your internal staff and employees are so valuable in the community that they can be your front line when educating the public about your public Web site.

Integrating Content and Applications: Creating a Better Online User Experience PDF Download

Andy Darnell | Director of Web Development | AVID Design

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Now that we’ve had a week to digest the recent election…

You know how all those political ads turned the country off this past Election Day…well, the same thing applies to Web copy on your hospital’s Website.

Turn on your Web users with concise, objective and credible Web content.

I was reminded of the concept of having concise, objective and creditable Web content every morning for the past 3 months when I flipped on the television and saw a snarky ad for Georgia’s Governor race about how one opponent was proclaiming to be “the best” “solution” for office.

People don’t really buy into this type of “marketese” jargon because it’s meaningless!

How to Turn on Website Users

• Make copy credible: Users need to trust you. This can be done by having relevant writing on your pages, high-quality graphics and outbound links.

• Stay away from “marketese”: Users want straight facts, not meaningless words that take forever to get your message across.

• Easy to read, scannable content: Since users scan your copy rather than read, it’s best to make it easier for them by using bulleted lists, highlighting keyword and keyword phrases and by using a lower word count in natural language. Just because something is “wordier” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s more substantial.

Bottom line: You don’t want users to your hospital’s Website to feel the same way they do about political ads and their exhaustive, boastful exaggerations, and thus change the channel—or in your hospital Website’s case, surf to another site.

But, don’t take my word for it.

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