How to ensure your website copy is consistent

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Trackback URL

One thing you need to be very careful about when managing the content on your website is to make sure the copy is consistent.

I sometime see websites where the style and tone of the copy varies from page to page. For example, you may find on one webpage that the copy is direct and conversational, but when you click to another page all of a sudden the copy reads very formally, in the third person and in the passive voice.

Typically this comes about because the copy is written by different authors and at different times.

Worst still is the terrible practice of copying and pasting text from other published material. Companies often do this because they don’t have someone who can sit down and write fresh content; instead, they simply go back to their old printed material and copy verbatim whatever they want and plonk this on their website.

Not only does this inevitably lead to inconsistencies in style and tone, but printed material is patently unsuitable for web publication because people read differently online, preferring to scan rather than read word for word.

Websites also end up looking like the proverbial dog’s breakfast when there are too many people involved in its copywriting, design and content management. The old joke about a camel being designed by a committee applies to websites too. If you feel the need to involve a cast of thousands, then at least have one person responsible for final editing and confirming everything is consistent before going live.

To ensure consistency throughout your website a good idea is to develop a style guide. In this document you should write down standards and guidelines on how your site should look and feel. In addition to copy, your guide should cover other key elements such as the navigation system, information categories, page layouts, colours, labelling, and image and multimedia presentations. With a style guide, you can maintain a level of consistency when the responsibility for managing the website is passed onto new staff.