Sending Text Content

About Your Text

When it comes to websites, content is king. You have a product, service or message you want to get out to the public, so you want your site to be found from search engines, and you want people to stay on your site until your objectives are met. Content is how you do this.

People will stay on your site longer, and search engines will rank you higher if people like what they see. Its that simple.

Keep in mind that writing for the web is not like writing for print – keep it simple. People look at your content via a web browser not a web reader – users scan the page for things that interest them and may read a bit further. If they scan and don’t see what they want, they’re gone.

But more on that in another post. This post is about how you get your content to me, so I can get it on the website. Following these simple steps will mean a faster and more efficient transition to your website.

Acceptable text formats are:

• .rtf, .txt,.csv
• Microsoft Word 6.0/95/97/2000/XP (.doc and .dot) – preferred
• Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls, .xlw, and .xlt)
• OpenDocument formats (.odt, .ott, .oth, and .odm)
• WordPerfect Document (.wpd)

do not send .pdf files unless you have to. If you want to link to documents, then pdf are fine. Keep in mind that if people are downloading content, then might not all have the same programs to open them, so a variety of file types might be needed. Also, if your content is on a downloadable document, Google and other search engines can’t see it, and it won’t help your search ranking.

Please make sure all text has been checked for spelling and grammar.

I’m not a copyrighter, and spell check is my best friend. While most CMS programs have a spell check, you might have a lot of content! To ensure your content delivers your message, please check through it.

It is best to organize your content by web page.

If you’re not sure where something goes, then take a look at your site map. Before building commences, I will have provided a site map to you, based on our discussions. If you’re still not sure, then just let me know, and we’ll figure it out.

Make sure you own the copyright.

Please ensure that you own the copyright for or have permission to use any text delivered. The copyright of all images will remain with the original owner. Should permission of use require attribution, please send this information along with the file. Your content should be written by you, or if it is not, you should have permission to use it.

Please have your files organized and labelled.

If you are sending along multiple documents, please make sure your file names make sense. I’m sure you’ve had the experience going through your own files looking for something, only to find that its in a document labelled unlabelled.doc or DSC_00012314.jpg.

Folders, folders, folders. I love folders. They keep things neat and tidy and are easy to look through – especially with images.
Folders like:

Bad folder names: