Acronym of the Day: AECCTE (Don't Try to Google It)

It's funny that after four years of higher education, a single answer provides the firepower I need to address almost all the questions I'm presented related to page layout and writing for the web. Clients and co-workers alike regularly ask how their content "sounds." They may wonder why a page doesn't look quite right, or how it can be improved. The answer rings in my head; AECCTE (provide your own pronunciation).

Arrangement, Emphasis, Clarity, Conciseness, Tone, Ethos. These six, simple words can be the difference between a site visitor receiving your message and following the call to action, or simply moving on as if your site never existed.

Arrangement
Put some thought into how items are arranged on the page. When site visitors get to a page (English speaking audience), it's been shown that z-movement behavior takes over and their eyes go from the top of the page to the bottom, and left to right as they scan down the page. Taking this into consideration can help you decide how pictures, blocks of text, links, and calls to action may be best arranged.

Emphasis
Every page should have a goal or purpose. Maybe that goal is to educate the visitors, then guide them to a resource to learn more. Alternatively, the goal may be to provide enough persuasive information that the visitor purchases a product from your online store. Whatever the goal may be, you cannot expect success if you don't place your emphasis on the items that guide visitors to your goal.

Clarity
The presence of ambiguous information and poorly constructed sentences lead to an inescapable outcome; site visitors will leave to find better, clearer information somewhere else. Asking friends or colleagues to read your text will help ensure that the message you're looking to convey is the message being received.

Conciseness
Communicating the soul of a message in as little words as possible; this is a fine art and essential to writing for the web. When you're concise, you've removed all the clutter and extraneous words that don't significantly impact your ability to communicate a message. And what are you left with? A quick read that gets the site visitor from Point A to Point B, and on their way to your goal.

Tone
Try to find an appropriate tone, then stay consistent. If you're a youthful, exuberant company focused on forward thinking and creating new boundaries, shouldn't it sound that way? And similarly, if your target audience has traditional values and a conservative perspective, you don't want to offend them. Keeping this in mind will help you translate the spoken message you use on the phone and in meetings into a written message with equal appeal.

Ethos
Of latin origin, the word "Ethos" when applied to writing simply means to establish appeal based on the character or credibility of the writer. Simply writing text that's on a professionally designed site is not enough. You want to assure the site visitors that you're a formidable authority on the subject matter and gain their trust. There are many ways to approach this, but I've concluded that the method of citing real-world problems and the solutions you've provided, whether it was a service or a product, proves to be one of the most effective.

Apply. Save. Repeat.
I encourage you to try the AECCTE method the next time you make updates to your website. Apply each step, save your changes, and repeat on a new page. By adding a method to your madness, you vastly increase the likelihood that your time spent on website content will be rewarded.