Creating web content

Here are a few things to consider when you're creating pages on your website to make sure they look good and the content can be easily understood by your visitors.

Simple and clear text

When writing content for your site, use simple language that's  easy to read.

Readers on the web often scan content rather than read it in full, so  getting to the point quickly can make sure they understand what you want them to. Cut out any unnecessary information. 

Check your pages for any spelling errors - web browsers have spell checking built in. Ensure you've got the right version of English selected for your intended audience.

Break sections down in to short sentences and clear paragraphs, and use proper formatting for elements like lists. For longer pages, breaking it up in to  sections with headers can increase readability.

Engaging content

You can  use images to make a page feel more interesting. Your images should be used to support the text, too many meaningless stock photos can make a site look generic. 

The  WYSIWYG Editor used across Aiir also makes it easy for you to embed audio and videos from websites like YouTube in to your content as well. Good use of media can increase how long people spend on your pages.

Use formatting wherever relevant for headers and emphasis, but don't go overboard with font styles. 

Connecting pages

Make sure everything's up to date.  Give prominence to new content - if people are visiting your site multiple times and can't spot updated items easily, they may not realise there are new things to read and return to the site in the future.

Link to other pages within the content where relevant. This can help people find things they might not otherwise, and increase time spent on your website.

This can also help make the most of your archive by linking to older content so people can rediscover great things you've done before.

Avoid phrases like "click here" or "find out more" for links. They're not great for accessibility, and people can't click on a phone or tablet. Instead apply the link to the title of the page you're linking to.

Consider writing pages as though they're timeless, to avoid having to go back and edit or delete them later. For example "Coldplay's album X&Y, released 6 June 2005" rather than "The new Coldplay album, X&Y, released next Monday".