Are there any links which provide advice for writing content on a web development/hosting site? I'm just coming to the point now where I need to be writing it, and I really really want to avoid all that 'cringeworthy' cliche bollocks you find on so many sites these days.

Any help appreciated, cheers.

I guess the best advice is check out your competition. Try the big brands (interland, dellhost etc) and see what they got ;)

Don't overpromise and deliver more than you promise.

There is a book available with a lot of good basic information on running a web design / web hosting business. Specificly it has a contract in the back of the book that can be used for a basis to create your own.

How To Start A Home-Based Web Design Business
by Jim Smith

You should be able to pick it up for under $15

EasySite, he wasn't asking about "contracts," but about "content." Text. Copy. You know, those words that are scattered around on websites. :)

Offhand I don't know of any good "how-to" resources specifically on the subject. Basically it can be approached much like writing print advertising copy would be, so books or sites on that topic would be helpful. Generally when we're creating sites that's the approach we take: write it to say what you want, then later come back and tune it for keyword relevance; balancing what search engines need against what human visitors will appreciate.

It's more like print ad copy than other types of print writing primarily because of the need for brevity.

There are many different approaches that can be taken in terms of tone, though (just like, again, ad copy). So you should have determined already what your target audience is and what is the appropriate language tone to take with them. If you're targeting Fortune 500 firms you need different copy than you would if you were targeting, say, gaming sites. It's pretty difficult to write for two such disparate groups at the same time.

And on the same note, the tone of your writing should mesh well with the tone of the rest of your design.

I guess most of that's just common sense, though. Sorry I don't have much specific as to resources to read (other than, of course, my own exquisitely-written site copy). ;)

I agree with the above. Georgina Laidlaw has written several articles on copy writing for SitePoint: http://www.sitepoint.com/articlelist.php/151

Originally posted by adland II
Don't overpromise and deliver more than you promise.

Underpromise and Overdeliver ;)