1. Know your Audience. Before one word is put on a site, it is critical to understand your audience and what motivates them to act. Without that key information, you run the risk of producing rambling, ineffectual copy and organizing it in such a way that does not motivate your customers to contact you.

2. Get to the Point Quickly. Consider this – the average time a browser spends on a web page is three seconds. That’s all the time you have to deliver your key messages. Your page headers and first paragraph should answer all the main questions one would expect to have answered on that page; and those answers need to be clear as soon as the page opens.

3. Keep It Concise. Given the attention span of browsers, drop the long, complex sentences and keep your paragraphs short. This is not always easy to do, especially when the product or service is complex. But if you don’t at least try, you run the risk of losing the browser in a forest of intelligent, but ineffectual words.

4. Layout Counts. To make your copy easy to read, try using bulleted text, headers and shorter paragraphs to break up the copy. This will help browsers scan pages faster and get your point quicker.

5. Use Accessible Words. Web users want and expect things to move quickly. Straightforward, user-friendly language is far more effective than long, drawn out prose. When faced with a choice, avoid large, “intelligent-sounding” words and opt for sharper content.

6. Edit and Re-edit. When it comes to grammar and spelling, web content is like any other copy. Nothing says “amateur” like obvious misspellings and grammatical errors. Before taking a page live, proofread everything, and then have others proofread it too. The more eyes the better.

7. Drive Browsers to Do Something. B2B web content almost always has a goal. Whether that goal is to drive browsers to a contact form, a video, or a webinar, each page should contain a call to action that drives them closer to sales. That call to action could be a button on the sidebar, or a link within the content. Whatever you choose, make sure you are always thinking about the end goal.

Remember, your web site is not only your calling card; it is often the first experience potential customers have with your company, and it is becoming more and more the place where transactions are instigated. Make sure that the words convey your message quickly, concisely and uniquely, while never losing sight of the action(s) you want your customers to take.