• Use key phrases outside of body text such as in the title of the page (very important!), headlines, subheads, and even ALT photo tags (the hidden description of the graphic that appears when you place your mouse over the object).

• Write "above the fold." Newspapers put the most important (and attention grabbing) news above the fold since, in newsstands, that's all that's visible. The same is true for Web sites. Make sure your most important (and attention grabbing) elements are "above the scroll" so it can be seen without having to scroll down the page.

• Create copy based on levels of interest. I've dubbed them surfers who just skim the surface of your page, swimmers that actually swim through the little castle on your site, and bottom-feeders who spend a good deal of time on your page (okay, bottom-feeders is not the most complimentary choice of words, but you get the idea. They eat up everything on your site!).

With surfers, swimmers, and bottom-feeders in mind, think "inverted pyramid." This is an age-old tactic from newspapers that puts all the important information—who, what, where, when, why and how—in the first paragraph. Everything you need to know is in that one paragraph.

This allows "users" rather than "readers" to find the most important information easily. Then each subsequent paragraph has increasingly less important information that can be easily skipped without losing any vital information. For instance . . .

An all-natural cure for male-pattern baldness has just been discovered by researchers at Bayou University in Swamp Gas, Louisiana.

Four out of five subjects treated with Bolivian bat droppings reported a complete reversal of baldness.

“It’s just a miracle,” Billy Bob Carter reported. “I went to sleep hairless as a newborn ‘possum and woke up with a full head of hair.”

Researchers attribute the high concentration of testosterone in bat droppings that stimulate dormant hair follicles.

• Use a Table of Contents at the top of the page with anchor links (links within a page) to the key points. I use a boxed "Fast Facts" at the top of some pages that lists the main points. (Again, don't think of visitors as "readers." They are "users," so the more user-friendly, the better.)

• Use informative headlines and subheads written with parallel construction. "Surfers" should be able to skim the heads and subheads to get the gist of your message. Jakob Nielson's research has found that "scannable, concise and objective language improves usability by 159 percent." He also found that by "removing exaggerations and marketese" from headlines and making them more information rather than "teasing," increased reader response as well.

Bite-sized bits. Notice that goldfish food is tiny particles, so again, think 25 percent shorter online writing than in print.

• Don't take your copy to the edges of the browser. This makes reading even more difficult. Five hundred pixels is about the width of a printed book page, so I'd suggest that as a limit for the width of text.

• Web writers refer to breaking text into bite-sized bits as "chunking." A chunk is a unique thought with a head or subhead. For instance, this actual text is not chunky.

It is our earnest prayer that against the backdrop of our troubled times, the Fifth General Conference of the Wesleyan Church, with the warm inspiration of nightly rallies, the fresh uplift of renewed friendships, the rewarding richness of Christian fellowship, the sober intensity of serious business sessions and the open-hearted renewing of the Church's commitment to a redemptive ministry will be a life-changing experience for each delegate and for the many other ministers and laypeople, members and friends who gather there.

More than business sessions

The Fifth General Conference of the Wesleyan Church will be a time of serious business sessions. But we are praying for much more. We want each delegate and visitor to be inspired by the nightly rallies and uplifted by rich fellowship.

Much, much more

We want all to renew their desire to share the gospel in our troubled times.

• Use short, tight paragraphs with a subhead for every two or three paragraphs. Some suggest a one-hundred-word limit.

• Don't put up a "gray" page. If you can lay a dollar bill anywhere on a print page without touching a headline, subhead, photo/illustration, or white space (white space is a graphic element that provides a break for tired eyes), it's too "gray." The same applies to online design.

A comfortable environment. If you've ever raised tropical fish, you know that it's essential that the right temperature and pH balance is maintained, or you don't have surfers, swimmers or bottom-feeders—you have "floaters." Online writing has its own expectations for a lively environment.

• Write conversationally. As I mentioned in chapter four, I won a Campus Life "Book of the Year" contest in which the judges were teens. One wrote, "Jim Watkins is not an author. No, it's more like he's sitting across from you at McDonalds sharing Diet Cokes." Online readers are "guests" who don't want to be lectured. They want a comfortable conversation.

• Use contractions. "One should not use contractions" sounds stuffy and academic. "You shouldn't use contractions" sounds more conversational.

• Use exclamation marks sparingly! More than one gives the impression you're shouting. The same applies to TEXT IN ALL CAPS!!!

• Show, don't tell. Again, as I mentioned in the book, all great writing includes a strong theme: an insight, viewpoint, or concept. But don't blurt it out. Let the story show the theme rather you telling it. Telling comes across as preachy—which is death for Internet writers. Engage all five senses in your writing.

• Misspellings and poor grammar distract from your message. Don't, however, rely on spell check as it won't catch homonyms ("they're" and "there") or transposed letters ("two" and "tow") or bad line breaks ("therapist" and "the rapist").

third, write with plenty of attitude

Rather than the more formal print writing, online communication tends to be edgy, in your face, and—unfortunately—sometimes with little regard for fact or tact. As Christian writers, I think it is incredibly important that what we write is credible and gracious. The apostle Paul writes:

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone (Col. 4:5).