Still Needs Work

Audience clicks away

Decent

Audience reads your message (if they arrived at your site highly motivated)

Excellent

Audience  reads and understands your message

Concise

Copy is over 1000 words and/or no “who, what, & why” appears in the copy

Copy is between 800-1000 words and/or the “who, what, & why” appears (but not in the first 50 words)

Copy is between 100 and 800 words and the first 50 words, located “above the fold,” contain the “who, what, & why”

Readable

Copy contains more than one instance of jargon, slang, and/or acronyms that aren’t explained; no evidence of writing for a specific audience

Writing style either difficult to understand or inconsistent; copy contains three or fewer instances of jargon or slang deemed appropriate for the target audience (but no undefined acronyms)

Copy is written in a clear, direct, audience-appropriate style, contains no jargon or acronyms (nothing not found in Merriam-Webster) or contains acronyms defined through links

Organized for online: paragraph content

More than one paragraph longer than 125 words; more than one paragraph either contains multiple main points, or a main point not expressed in the paragraph’s first sentence

One or fewer paragraphs longer than 125 words; one or fewer paragraphs has multiple main points or a main point that doesn’t appear as the paragraph’s first sentence

No paragraph contains more than one main point or is longer than 125 words; the main point of each paragraph appears in the paragraph’s first sentence

Organized for online reading: paragraph presentation

Copy presented as long blocks (more than one screenful of text ) unbroken by white space or  headings; bolding and color either not used, or used ineffectively

Most paragraphs organized as bullets, list, or paragraphs preceded by headings and surrounded by white space; bolding and color, if present, used effectively for emphasis

All paragraphs organized as bullets, list, or paragraphs preceded by headings and surrounded by white space; bolding and color, if present, are used effectively for emphasis

Credible

Copy contains no hint as to who created it

Copy either 1) contains author info but no contact info, or 2) contains both author & contact info buried within text

Copy clearly states author’s name, credentials, and contact info, either at the bottom or top of the copy

Overall

Web conventions actively flouted (i.e., links not underlined, text appears in all uppercase)

Web conventions followed throughout except: three or fewer instances of confusingly named links, or potentially confusing conventions not spelled out

Web conventions followed throughout copy, such as:  table of contents offered; links appear underlined; links state specific content (rather than making audience guess),;mixed case text; conventions spelled out when necessary (i.e., “link will appear in new window”)