Writing for the Web

One of the defining characteristics of an effective website is how its content is organized. Before considering how content should look on the page, it’s important to determine how it will be structured. A thoughtful content hierarchy helps ensure that key information appears where users are most likely to notice it, creating a page that feels intuitive, welcoming, and engaging.

What’s in it for me?

This is a question you should answer early in your communications and marketing copy. Visitors may not consciously expect your content to be tailored to their specific needs, but they are almost always asking themselves one simple question: “What’s in it for me?”

Your messaging should make that answer clear from the start by demonstrating how your content addresses their goals, solves their problems, and/or provides value. They’ll stay engaged with your content if they feel there’s something in for them that they find value in. Whether that’s the tone you use to make them feel more emotionally connected to what services your department offers or a clear path to for them to complete a task that brought them here, make sure your messaging speaks to them.

Remember that they are always the “me” on your website.

A word of caution: avoid trying to write for every audience at once. Doing so often dilutes your message, making it less effective for everyone.

Instead, focus your content on your primary audience—the people most likely to visit your site. If your website serves multiple audiences, maintain a tone and voice that feels welcoming and relevant to all users, even when the content is written with a specific audience in mind. This allows your messaging to stay focused without making other visitors feel the content isn’t meant for them.

---

The way we talk about our departmental services should align with Wake Forest’s established brand guidelines to ensure the university communicates with a consistent, unified voice. That consistency, however, doesn’t mean every website or department must sound exactly the same.

Adapt your tone and messaging to the needs and expectations of your audience while remaining true to the Wake Forest brand. The goal is to create content that feels authentic, resonates with your users, and encourages them to want to explore your site and become an engaged user.

You also need to consider the type of user who is visiting your site. How motivated are they? How willing are they to engage with your content? Are they here to find an answer to a question or would they rather grab a cup of coffee and spend thirty minutes learning everything they can about a specific topic?

Below you’ll see different user personas that you should become familiar with, and we’ll review the differences between each one in the next section.

User personas

Visitors come to our website for many different reasons and bring with them a wide variety of backgrounds, experiences, and expectations. The four most common types of users are identified as:

• The Looker
• The Scanner
• The Reader
• The Researcher

Let’s also consider one more type of user—the one who uses AI tools to gather information without ever visiting your site:

• The Lemming

One of the most effective ways to improve your website content is to ensure that it’s readable. At first, that may seem obvious—you might be thinking, “Of course my content is readable. Why wouldn’t it be?”

But readability isn’t about whether you can read the content. It’s about whether your audience can quickly find, understand, and use the information you’ve provided. Just as accessibility considers the needs of users with different abilities, readability considers the needs of users with different reading levels, backgrounds, and browsing behaviors.

Effective web content should:

• Be easy to scan so users can quickly find the information they’re looking for
• Be easy to read and understand by a wide range of audiences

Readability + Accessibility

There are certain practices you should always comply with when writing your content to make sure it’s both readable and accessible for all users, regardless of their reading abilities or cognitive disabilities.

Headings

Users with cognitive impairments or low vision benefit from websites that use headings to organize content. Headings allow them to get a sense of the structure and organization of the page. Proper heading structure also benefits screen reader users in that it makes the page easier for them to navigate through.

• Do not select heading levels based on their appearance. Rather, select heading levels based on their appropriate place in the hierarchy.
• Do not create headings by using the bold button.
• Do not overuse headings. Shorter pages likely only need a few Heading 2s <h2> and Heading 3s <h3> for content organization.

Text formatting

Our WordPress environment provides flexibility when it comes to formatting text on your website. However, content editors should be thoughtful when formatting text as they can inadvertently undo the accessibility, visual design, and branding work that are built into our design system.

Following these guidelines will help ensure your content is well-formatted, easy to read, and provides a positive user experience while aligning with our web standards.

---

People read differently on screens than they do on paper, making clear, straightforward writing especially important. Whenever appropriate, aim to write at the lowest reading level that still accurately communicates your message. Doing so makes your content more accessible to a wider audience, including people with cognitive disabilities, those who speak English as a second language, and users who may be distracted or multitasking while visiting your site.

Flesch Kincaid Grade Level Scoring System

The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level is a readability metric that estimates the years of formal education required to understand text. Originally developed for the U.S. Navy to assess technical manuals, it helps writers ensure their content is appropriately tailored to their audience.

Siteimprove uses the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level to measure the readability of every published page on your website. As a general best practice, web content should aim for an 8th-grade reading level whenever possible.

At first, that recommendation may seem counterintuitive—especially if you’re writing for prospective students in their final years of high school, current students, or adults. So why is an 8th-grade reading level considered the standard? Let’s take a closer look.

The 8^th Grade Reading Level Standard

To understand why an 8th-grade readability level matters, it’s helpful to consider both adult literacy levels and the way people consume information online.

According to recent literacy data, 21% of adults in the United States have low literacy skills, and 54% read below a 6th-grade proficiency level. In addition, many of our international audiences—including prospective students, parents, and families—may not speak English as their first language, making complex or densely written content more difficult to understand.

Even for users with strong reading skills, a lower readability level remains important. People rarely read web pages word for word. Instead, they scan for headings, keywords, and highlighted information to quickly determine whether a page contains what they’re looking for. Long, text-heavy pages can make this process more difficult, increasing the likelihood that users will miss important information or leave the page altogether.

While many users with shorter attention spans may have reading skills above an 8th-grade level, the way they consume online content can create similar challenges.

Writing with readability in mind helps ensure your content is accessible, understandable, and useful to the broadest possible audience. However, readability is not a one-size-fits-all standard. Every page should be evaluated based on its purpose and intended audience. The goal isn’t to simplify every page to the same reading level, but to communicate your message as clearly and effectively as possible for the people you’re trying to reach.

---

When reviewing your website content for readability, consider the following best practices:

• Limit paragraphs to about 80 words (or 4-5 lines on a monitor).
• Use an active voice for clarity. Doing so tends to be more direct and engaging for your audience.
• Define acronyms and abbreviations. The language you include should be able to be understood by everyone.
• Avoid using overly complex language. Also, limit how often you use Wake Forest-specific terminology without providing context. For example, instead of writing “Welcome to The Forest!”, write “Welcome to Wake Forest University—also known as ‘The Forest.'”
• Use visual breaks. Most people scan web pages rather than read them word for word. Using headings, bullet points, and numbered lists helps users quickly locate the information they’re looking for, especially on longer pages.
• Use writing tools like the Hemingway Editor to evaluate readability and improve clarity. If you use AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Google Gemini to help draft and polish content, always review and refine the output to ensure it is accurate, authentic, and aligned with the Wake Forest University brand and voice. AI-generated content should never be published without careful editing and verification.

As a reminder, all staff who are editors or administrators for a UMC-themed Wake Forest website, and all content managers, have the ability to use the Readability module within Siteimprove to monitor and fix issues on their wfu.edu site.