Make your web page easy to scan. Put the headlines and most important points in bold letters. Break up the page into bite-sized sections. Use lists, bullets, captions, subheads and indexes. Make sure your visitors can figure out where they are, how they got there, and where they want to go.
Tell them what you're linking to. Dan Bricklin and his friends advise, "Write links that don't have to be followed" before your visitors can find out what they're about. In other words, never say "Click here." Say "Contact us" or "Our Pricelist."
Make your web page the optimal length. The question is not how much you want to say, but how much your visitors want to read. People read 25% slower onscreen than they do on paper. This means that you should make your content at least 25% shorter. Give them enough information so that they'll want to click the next link to read more. Don't say everything on one page. On the other hand, don't stop writing before you've satisfied their curiosity, unless you elaborate on the next page.
Yes, now that many of your visitors have high-speed internet, web pages load more quickly. But that doesn't mean your visitors can read more quickly. Fast internet simply gives them more to read, more content that competes with yours. Your website visitors still read as slowly as before.
Put the most important information first. Write like a newspaper (inverted pyramid style). Write as if your site visitor's electric power is going to shut down any minute. Get the main point across before it does. Your website is not a short story, and it's certainly not a novel. Your readers will stop reading when their interest stops. Your job is to keep their interest.
Don't encourage people to visit your website if you can't help them. That may sound strange, but they will appreciate that you're not wasting their time. And when you make it clear what a web page is really about, your search engine rankings will climb. Qualify your visitors. Write your titles and headlines to make it clear immediately who your website is for, and who it's not.
Write for your visitors, not for yourself. Your visitors are probably looking for information, and if you don't provide it, they'll go elsewhere. Promotional language is harder to read, because your site's visitors have to filter through the fluff to find the facts. They know they can't trust the fluff. It distracts them and slows them down. It can even hurts your search engine rankings. Nobody searches Google for "plumber who has integrity and value." Figure out what your visitors want and give it to them, or they'll find another website to visit. If you'll selling something, try selling by answering their questions.
Write like you talk. People tend to believe that the best writers write fancy. They're ashamed that they can't. But it's not true. The best writers write simple. And you can too. The point is to communicate your message, not to impress people with your ability to write in a dialect that is only used by English teachers. Your website visitor is not your English teacher. By all means, have someone else check your spelling, punctuation, and grammar before you put your web page online. But say what you mean first.
Proofread several times. Print it out and read it again. Did you really say what you intended to say? Look again at the most important words: your name, contact information, name of your product or service. It's easy to ignore these, and assume they're all fine. (Fortunately, even serious mistakes can easily be fixed on a website - but not in print!) Spellcheck. Look especially at titles and capitalized sections, where typos are harder to see. Read it backwards, word by word, starting with the last word. You might see mistakes easier that way. Finally, ask someone else to proofread it for you. Ask them what they think about it.