Writing for the internet requires that text be short and pithy. Website visitors are looking for specific information and want to be able to grasp essential information quickly, or they move on to another website.

As a result, many websites feature lots of quick facts, hoping that one or more of the facts is what a visitor is looking for. That content strategy makes sense on the surface, but often proves to be short sighted and limiting.

A better strategy is to think of your website as telling a story: about your business, about your products or services, about your relationship with your clients or about other critical aspects of your organization. 

Why a story? A person can only remember 3 to 9 unrelated facts. Stories allow a person to put a large number of facts into a logical structure that we can remember. 

It is not an accident that people who do not have a written language create stories (like the Iliad or the Odyssey). Those stories allow those cultures to transmit cultural values, religious fundamentals and history. Our brains seem to be wired to hear and remember stories.

Think of your website as a place where you can tell your business's story, beginning on the home page. Here are some examples of the text from home pages of several local law firms. See which ones make the best impression on you.

The George Mason Law Firm continued its nationwide expansion in 2007 by opening a regional office in Los Angeles. Located between Beverly Hills and Santa Monica near the Los Angeles Country Club and Century City, the Los Angeles office is convenient to Los Angeles International Airport as well as downtown.

This firm got off to a good start in the first sentence, but then moved to a list. This text would have been more powerful if it had built on the strengths and values that characterize the company nationwide.

Serving Downtown, Mid-Wilshire, Chinatown, Koreatown, Vernon, East Los Angeles, Inglewood, Huntington Park, Bell, South Gate, Florence, Watts, Lynwood, Downey, Montebello, Pico Rivera and Whittier and surrounding communities.

This home page text doesn't really tell anything about the firm. With all the choices on the Internet, a person looking for a law firm would probably use more than location to make the selection.

Our firm offers our clients superior legal advocacy in the area of Family Law. We are dedicated to resolving our client's issues consistent with the solutions they desire. We provide candid advice regarding the merits and consequences unique to each client's circumstances.

This law firm is moving in the right direction, but doesn't quite make it. The rather stiff and formal language is part of the problem. 

Having an international law firm with a strong Los Angeles presence provides a critical link to one of the world’s key economic, political, and social centers. As one of the city’s oldest and largest law firms, Smith & Sons office is home to lawyers who are passionate about tackling our clients’ most important legal work and helping them achieve their key strategic goals...

This is the beginning of home page text for one of Los Angeles's oldest, most prestigious law firms. They have tied their story to their strength: their long-standing reputation as one of L.A.'s premier law firms.

For over 40 years, Hayes & Johnson has been America's full-service consumer law firm. With offices nationwide, Hayes & Johnson's lawyers are dedicated to helping you and your family resolve your case quickly and at reasonable rates. Our expert team of Los Angeles personal injury lawyers is there for you whether it’s a job-related injury, a product defect that puts you or a loved one in the hospital, a devastating car accident or another legal issue that demands your case be heard.

This law firm also has its story down and is using it in website copy. Their story revolves around their years of experience and service to their clients.

Your business has a story. Perhaps it's a story of long-term service to a community. Or the story of how you saw an unmet need or new opportunity and started the business in response to that vision. Every business's story is unique. 

Think about how to use your business's story to anchor the home page and the main pages on your website. This strategy will make your website more compelling, interesting and engaging for your visitors. This, in turn, will increase the results your business gets from the website.

Please share your ideas, comments, questions and suggestions about this blog with us. Feel free to leave comments below or to email Judy at [email protected]. 

Judy Cobb is an independent writer and business writing coach whose clients have included Parsons Engineering, Mattel Toys, The Los Angeles Times and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has specialized in developing training materials for instructor-led courses as well as interactive online courses and websites. She holds advanced degrees from Columbia University and Stanford as well as an MBA from UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management.