Writing for the Internet is different from writing for any other media, as there are far more distraction here than you can see anywhere else. There are so many things vying for your audience’s limited amount of attention that the attention is too thinly distributed among all the tempting elements.
Your copy or content has to perform in this chaotic world. Wouldn’t it be too much to ask your content to do without providing it the weapon necessary to cut through the clutter? Those weapons are scannability, keywords, and short paragraphs. You need to keep following things in mind when writing for the web:
- Keep the paragraph short. You are not creating a literary piece, so there is no need to make the paragraphs long. 3 to 4 sentences long paragraphs are enough.
- Divide your articles using headings and subheadings.
- Use important items as bullet points.
- Use keywords in H1, H2, H3, and other heading tags.
- Use primary keyword as early in the title as you can.
- Use important keywords in the first 50 words, or at least in first 100 words.
- Use headings and subheadings to communicate key ideas.
- Use standard font in the blog or article you post on your website, so that most of the people can read the items.
- You can also insert images and tables in an article or blog post to make the article scannable.
- Keep the sentences shorter.
- Do not confuse your readers by addressing too many issues in a small article. Keep it simple.
Your article or blog post should be constructed in such a way that your audience gets the central idea in the first 30 seconds. This is the amount of time one has for any online item. The visitors may stay longer if you succeed in retaining the audiences’ attention within this time limit.
Tags: Amount Of Time, Audience, Audiences, Bullet Points, Central Idea, Chaotic World, Clutter, Distraction, H2 H3, Heading Tags, Headings And Subheadings, Many Things, Paragraph, Sentences, Short Paragraphs, Small Article, Time Limit, Time One, Weapons, Writing For The Web
The Internet has changed the way we produce, consume, and process information. The way we interact with the online media is entirely different from the way we interact with print media. While going through any printed material we are relaxed, composed and at ease. We are more or less in receptive mode, but when it comes to the online media we are more into doing mode. We want to get the information quickly so that we can use it in our project or assignment at hand.
It will not be wrong to say that the online media is more or less an action media from where we gather information and put to our day to day use. Therefore, the content produced for this media should be different from the content produced for any other media.
Nature of online content
- Instead of reading each word people tend to scan through the material they see on the screen. Hence, the article should be easily scanable. We need to break an article into sub-headings and supply bullet points to make the article easy to read.
- Do not use impersonal pronouns like one, someone, they etc. Use ‘you’ instead of he, she, or one.
- Use conversational language, and do not beat around the bush. Be direct.
- The attention span of individuals surfing net is quite divided; therefore, supply images, tables, and lists to make the article easy to read.
- Holding readers’ attention is the key. And the lighter the article will be to the readers’ eyes the more time they will spend scanning the article.
- You just have ten to fifteen seconds to grab the readers’ attention. So the opening sequence should be powerful.
- The title of your article should build curiosity, which the content of your article should satiate.
- Do not use close- ended assertive questions in your titles which could be answered in ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
The web is a participatory medium. And your article is a way to start a conversation. Do not provide all the answers, leave scope for discussion. The more people will interact with you, the more involved they will become. This is how we build community on the web.
Tags: Attention Span, Break, Bullet Points, Bush, Conversational Language, Curiosity, Fifteen Seconds, Headings, Impersonal Pronouns, Interact, Opening Sequence, Participatory Medium, People, Scanning, Scope, Supply Images, Writing For The Web
Everyone says writing for the Internet is different from writing for print, but very few people tells us in exactly what sense it is different. Some says, when writing for web, you should divide your long articles or blog posts into 3 or 4 smaller articles by inserting 3 to 4 sub-heading at required places, while, others will say do not write long posts. There are people who will say write list-posts more frequently, and another group will pronounce the importance of killer title.
Everything written above is important; rather very important, but what is more important than all these things, when writing for web, is SEO, or say keywords to be more precise. (If you need to know about what key word is, and how to find relevant keywords or how to sue them then you should read SEO Simplified: Basics of Keyword.)
More often than not, you will stumble across a client who will ask you to write a keyword rich article, or to write an article using the given keyword, but the keyword density should not exceed 5 percent of the word count. You may also be asked to write a keyword-rich title (headline), headings, sub-headings, and anchor texts, or the client can demand you to write different meta tags as well along with the article. The demand of a client doesn’t end here; some even asks to use keywords twice in the first paragraph, once towards the end of the article while maintaining a keyword density of 4 percent.
The point is, if you are writing for web, you cannot avoid SEO (Search Engine Optimization). You have to know what SEO is, and how to find and use keywords in your articles. This is, when writing for web, as important as a working knowledge of grammar. Some writing experts [so-called] may try to denounce the importance of SEO in writing for the web, by classifying this kind of writing under SEO writing heading, which according to them is just one form of writing for the web. Well, nothing can be as far from the truth as it is. Let me tell you, every kind of writing for the web is SEO writing. No matter what you write, if you want people to read it, you need to optimize it with relevant keywords.
I will suggest you to follow the succeeding link and familiarize yourself with SEO, if you already don’t know about it, by reading SEO Simplified: an Overview. This series is meant for beginners only, and an absolute one for that.
What is your view about the importance of keywords in online copywriting?
Tags: Anchor, Freelance Writer, Freelance Writing, Grammar, Headings, Key Word, Keyword Density, Keyword Rich Article, Meta Tags, Paragraph, Relevant Keywords, Search Engine Optimization, Search Optimization, Seo Optimization, Texts, Truth, Word Count, Word Find, Working Knowledge, Writing For The Web
The best DSL providers offer both reliability and speed.
Low cost and high quality provided by the top Website Hosting providers.
Meet Michael Fertik with Reputation.com.
