The structure and format of a good website text

Great, here we go, writing a website text. You’re about to put your metaphorical pen to paper for the first time. Fortunately, you’ve done a lot of groundwork and know what’s important and why, which texts you need, and how many words they contain. But at the crucial moment, you might wonder, where do I start, actually? In this article, we’ll discuss the structure and format of a good website text. This will undoubtedly help you quickly write your first website text.

Writing a good website text is best achieved when you always follow the same process and strive for a certain structure. If you do this, the subject matter itself matters little. It’s no news that every text has an introduction, core, and a conclusion or ending. But what goes in the introduction, how do you structure the core, and what makes a conclusion? You already know the subject of the text, as discussed earlier, and which website texts you need. The next step is to map out your goals and subtopics.

Goals, Subtopics, and Website Text

The goal is about why the reader is reading the text and why you’re presenting it. A good website text is one that achieves both goals. For example, if we’re writing a website text about a product or service, your goal is probably to persuade (to make a sale), while the reader wants to be able to make an informed decision. Make sure you have these goals clearly in mind; then, it’s easy to come up with subtopics. These are the building blocks to achieve your goals. For this article, the goal is, for example, “to enable you to construct a text properly,” and our goal is “to exude authority,” with the subtopics following from that.

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Structure

Now that your goals and subtopics are crystal clear, let’s talk about the structure and format of the text, following the familiar structure of introduction, core, and conclusion/ending:

Introduction – You’re still fighting for the reader’s attention, and the best way to do that is to grab their attention and then be clear about why they should keep reading. The first lines are for grabbing attention; there are many different techniques for this (which we’ve discussed in another piece). Use the rest of the introduction to clearly convey that you understand the reader’s goal and are going to address it.

Core- The reader knows they’re going to get answers to all their questions; now, it’s important to do this in a clear structure. This is where the subtopics come in. Try to discuss subtopics with overlaps in the same paragraph, so each paragraph has a clear purpose, which is a handy checkpoint for you. Use headings to emphasize what’s in important paragraphs (H2 headings are important for both readers and SEO). A useful thing to keep in mind is not to get bogged down in features. Translate these into benefits for the reader and provide evidence.

Conclusion/Ending – Write as succinctly as possible what you discussed in the article and what the reader gains from it. Spend the rest of the conclusion on answering the question: What now? After reading this piece, the reader should be able to take action, whether it’s reading further, calling you, or something else. Be clear about the next steps.

By following this process and structure, based on goals and subtopics, you can quickly write your first website text. The “quickly” here is important—don’t stop once you start writing; write the entire text, and then make adjustments and revisions. Believe us when we say this will save you a lot of time because when you’ve gone from start to finish, you’ll see your text differently than if you only have the introduction written.

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Writing website text becomes easier when you stick to this process. By using this structure as a guide and thinking about goals and subtopics in advance, you ensure that you don’t waste time with multiple versions and make the writing process more enjoyable. You now have all the information, along with what we’ve discussed in previous articles, to write the first texts for your website. Let us know if you need help.

The main article of “In de praktijk: website tekst schrijven” lists the other topics we’ve covered so far. Next week, we’ll write about getting input from your own organization, input that is essential for substantive, good texts. If you want to talk to us further after reading this piece, we’d love to hear from you.