In reviewing website content, it’s very interesting to see the different writing styles. And by “interesting” I mean I want to poke my eyes out. But that’s what happens when you have different content contributors. None of them claim to be writers, so they know the content will likely be changed. Drastically in some cases.
So what makes web content good, and what makes web content bad? Below are some of the things I look for when I review web copy.
Scannability
Is the content easy to skim? It helps to have relevant subtitles, short paragraphs, and bulleted lists. Arriving at a page with dense content can be overwhelming and turn away your web visitors. All that good content will go to waste.
Informative
Is all the content there? Will people find what they’re looking for when they get to that page? Sometimes people can fall in love with their content and write what they want to write about. They go on and on and on. They think they’re being clever, informative, and entertaining. Who has that kind of time? Even people who need to find out more about your company don’t want to spend that kind of time reading your web copy. Just be concise and get to the point. You can live out your dream of being a novelist on your personal blog 
Easy to Understand
Is the content easy to understand? Granted there are some industry terms that your buyer personas will know, so ignore those people who say you need to write from your grandma. Your grandma would still need to know some key terms if she was your audience. The other end of the spectrum are people who cobble together awkward and complex sentences then justify it by saying their audience is technical. You can still get your point across intelligently without overly complicated sentences. Rarely is it only one buyer persona who needs to read your web copy.
Brand Consistency
Does the content accurately convey your brand? The writing style and tone needs to match the personality of your company that you want to get across. If you have a fun brand then your writing can’t be stiff and formal, for example. Everything you say needs to help build your brand image. If you have a brand that conveys intelligence then the copy you have should make you sound…intelligent.
Flow
Does the flow make sense? Have you buried the important information at the bottom and dedicated too much copy to the less important information? Is the information in a logical order that readers would want to consume it? Have you mentioned something early on that isn’t explained until the end?
Tone
Does the content sound cheesy or salesy? People think that by writing in a “business tone” they aren’t cheesy. It makes me vomit every time I see salesy copy. Basically every press release you read has this salesy tone. I tried to guide the tone by asking the content contributors to think of person X when they write the copy. Write copy that you could picture person X actually saying.
SEO-friendly
Has the content been optimized for search engines? Sometimes it might be tempting to write cute headlines, but for search engines and your readers it would be more helpful just to be straightforward. Furthermore, if you pepper your copy with a lot of internal jargon then it won’t make sense to your readers or search engines. There are some definite tactics you need to take in order to optimize your web copy (that would be a separate blog entry), and it’s one of the key questions I’ll ask in any interview for writers. Everyone likes to throw in their resume that they optimize copy for search engines, but it becomes quite evident who knows what that really entails.
And this is why I’ve redlined a lot of the copy I’ve received. In some cases we’re going to start from scratch. But it’s still useful to have the info on the page from the subject matter experts.
I’m a very strong believer that the subject matter experts don’t dictate the copy that is published on the website. They can review the copy for accuracy, but the marketing folks determine how this information is conveyed in the copy for all the reasons above.