Writing For The Web: How To Publish Effective Copy

Perhaps you have just begun to venture out on the web, or maybe you currently run a website but have yet to get results. Either way, if you want your website to be successful, you will need to write compelling copy.

Below, we discuss how one should approach the task of writing content for the web.

Writing For The Web Is Not The Same As Writing For Print

Throughout all of our schooling, we have had the rigid rules of proper writing drummed into us by over-zealous English teachers. Paragraphs should have X number of sentences. Essays should be at least X words long. Sentence fragments are unacceptable…

However, when it comes to the web, most of these rules can — and should — be forgotten.

Visitors Have A Short Attention Span

If you want someone to read the entirety of your article, by all means make it short or break it up into easily digestible portions. This means that your writing should feature short paragraphs and multiple headlines.

This Is Not A Standardized Test

Please remove all SAT words from your articles. Sure they might be impressive and flaunt your amazing command of the English language, however, they do little to keep the attention of your readers. Besides, no one likes to use a glossary when trying to read an article.

Instead, try to write in an unpretentious conversational style, as though your were conversing with a friend or dear professor.

Write For Your Audience

Believe it or not, print and web articles generally have very different audiences. For a circulating periodical, for example, the print subscribers represent a very narrow audience. But on the web, the periodical has the potential to acquire more readers, many of whom would never have subscribed to the print verison.

This means two things: (1) You have great potential to expand your reader base if you don’t alienate any unconventional readers, and (2) You cannot make two many assumptions about prior knowledge when writing articles. If necessary, include additional information in footnotes, or link to supporting material.

That being said, there are some basic rules that you should keep to write effective copy and promote visitor loyalty.

4 Little Rules

1. Grammar and Spelling Are Important. All it takes are are few spelling errors for someone to view your website as unprofessional. So be sure to proofread all content before releasing it.
2. Cite all of your sources and don’t plagiarize. Your website should be a source of unique information.
3. Publish new content regularly. On the web, monthly or quarterly issues just won’t do. To build a base of readers, it will be necessary to offer content more regularly.
4. Craft Compelling Titles. Writing interesting titles for articles might take some time to learn. But this is often the difference between a user remaining on your website or bouncing back to search engines.

It is also important to remember that each website is a bit different… To find out what works best for your website, you will need to track your statistics to see which content receives the best response. (Response can be measured in terms of views, comments, repeat visitors, etc…) Over time, this analysis will help you to modify your writing style and approach to best suit your visitors, and deliver effective copy each time.