In this set of articles, we’re going to look at some general good practices around designing and managing Web content.
Every website, poster or flyer, is a combination of text and images. What I want to focus on here are are the many minor editorial skills you can adopt before you really need a professional. Working with content creators for nearly twenty years, the same sorts of issues come up, many of which are straightforward, if not easy to address.
The best possible outcome will probably require a professional editor, Web developer, photographer, graphic designer, or illustrator, but learning the basics will mean reducing obvious and avoidable mistakes. A professional’s services should gain you extra users; I want to help avoid loosing the users you already have.
Many clients are looking to improve their position in search engine returns. A lot of what I say in this article set will have a direct impact on that; Google quite explicitly say that improving the user experience, improves the rank they give to a page.
We’ll look at getting the best out of the photos you have on your hard drive, and how to tell a story with them.
If you do a lot of writing or editing, I recommend keeping a copy of either the Oxford Style Manual, or the Chicago Manual of Style to hand. These are comprehensive reference books, used by two major publishing houses. The former focuses on British English, whilst the latter (unsurprisingly) on American English. Pick one or the other depending upon your likely audience. They are amazing for just dipping in to with a specific problem; they have excellent indexes.
The Washington State University website has a good, alphabetical section on common errors in English.