With the huge tide of advice available online about good web design, search engine optimisation, and other elements of building and maintaining a website, it's easy to forget the basics. Maintaining a high standard of written communication is paramount if you wish your visitors to take you and your website seriously.

Firstly, any text that appears on your website should be easy for your readers to understand. Avoid using very long sentences or words and phrases with which your target audience might not be familiar. Remember that your website is more than just a brochure – don't pepper your text with marketing speak or technical jargon.

Despite your urge to write powerful marketing copy, you should remember that studies have shown that many internet users are put off by hyperbole on web pages. This could be because people are generally more suspicious of online businesses. They can't see your face, shake your hand, or walk around your premises, so they are more inclined to mistrust you. Don't exaggerate the benefits or features of your products. It may sound surprising, but honesty will make you stand out far more than overstatement.

You must make sure that you check meticulously for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. A spellchecker can give you a head start, but alone, it is not enough. Browsing articles online, I come across dozens of malapropisms every day. Only this morning, I read an article which claimed that some retailers charge "absorbent" amounts of money. A spellchecker will not help you out with commonly confused words, such as "its" and "it's", "there" and "their", or "your" and "you're".

Consistency is also very important. If you capitalise a particular word mid-sentence, you should ensure that you continue to capitalise it elsewhere in the same way. If you write a number as a word rather than a digit, again you should remain consistent. When you write your company name, make sure that you display it in the same way every time. Many online businesses write their name with all the words stuck together – MyOnlineBusiness, for example – to match their domain name. (This is called CamelCase.) If you do that, do so consistently. Also make sure that if you display a ™, ® or © symbol after your company name, you do so for every appearance.

However good your own grasp of the English language, it is wise to employ a professional proofreader or copyeditor to check over your site content. A proofreader will just check for spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors, while a copyeditor will also make suggestions for improving the flow and style of your text.

All of this may seem like pedantic nonsense, but the fact is that many internet users really care about standards of written communication on the web. It is not worth losing valuable customers through carelessness.

By Brian Jackson