This could be considered from a lot of different angles, are we talking about design and usability or attracting people to the site, keeping them there, getting them to come back! I think the rules might really change depending on what you are writing and who you are writing it for. I guess this is a start!
Rule number 1. Understand your audience, who are you writing for. Students, parents, business people, techies, children, farmers, retirees? Perhaps they'll want larger text, less jargon, more interaction, less frills more detail.
Rule number 2. Understand your purpose, why are you writing. To educate, to amuse, to sell, to inform? All of these will lend themselves to a different style and perhaps a different format i.e. blog, website, forum, discussion board, email.
Rule number 3. More on the web design side now - Make sure your site is easy to navigate. Some sort of site map, a site search and clear navigation all things that help the visitor to your site find what they want in the shortest time possible. This guarantees they will come back again.
Rule number 4. No false advertising. Something that Nielsen(1997) refers to as 'marketese'. Make sure you are open and honest in regards to content on your site give credit where credit is due for any content that was sourced from elsewhere, and don't making any false claims, don't lower your standards just because you are writing online!
Rule number 5. My personal favourite KISS - keep it simple stupid. If you have adhered to the four rules above, then people will allready be enamored with your originality, your knack for knowing your audience your ethics and honesty, there is no need to vamp it up with a truck load of graphics, flashing icons and other weird and wonderful formatting styles (unless of course they support the message you are trying to get across in which case go for it).
Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane.
- Philip K. Dick
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