Fix-It Friday (No. 1): Dulas

Fix-It Friday is a new series of posts where I show how a website page can be improved by applying a few web copywriting principles. My primary aim is to make visitors’ lives easier.

Within just an hour, it’s possible to make a page more readable, accessible and search friendly. I also explain what else I’d do if I had more time. Look at the difference a web copywriter can make!

Dulas provides professional renewable energy services from its base in the heart of Wales. I like its website; the design’s fresh, modern and uncluttered, with clear navigation.

I’ve decided to look at the ‘About Dulas’ page from a web copywriting perspective.

• Web page before (image)
• Good points
• Could do better
• Web page after (image)
• Fixes made in one hour
• If I had more than an hour, I’d…

Web page before

(Click on the image for a larger version.)

Good points

• Individual <title> and <description> tags for each page
• Use of H1 tag for page heading
• Well written, interesting information
• Sub titles used to break the text up

Could do better

• There’s too much information: the page is very long
• The text is wordy in places and there are a couple of errors
• Copy needs better formatting
• The sub titles are in <strong> tags; they’d be better in H2 headers
• Text contains no links to other pages within the website or externally
• The page URL is not descriptive
• The <description> tag needs a bit of tweaking

Web page after

(Click on the image for a larger version.)

Fixes made in one hour

• Lightly edited the copy to simplify wording and ‘front load’ the text
• Removed some information that could sit better elsewhere
• Placed current sub titles into H2 header tags
• Added additional sub titles to break up text further
• Added links from key phrases to relevant pages both within the website and externally
• Highlighted other key words and phrases in <strong> tags
• Placed listed information into proper lists

If I had more than an hour, I’d…

• Edit or rewrite the text to simplify it, focus the information and reduce page length considerably…
• …and/or add in-page links at the top of the page to jump to relevant sections (visitors can see straight away the page content without scrolling, plus the usual benefits)
• Rewrite the <description> tag
• Add more links from the text to help users navigate throughout the website
• Consider the page and its section as a whole, and as an integral part of the complete website

Do you want me to make over a page on your website? If you’d like to suggest a site for me to consider, get in touch!