Website writing can sometimes be tricky. That’s because writing for the web is different than writing for any other medium.
How? Well, the goal of Internet writing is threefold.
The Three Goals To Keep In Mind When Writing for the Web
First, you want your writing to be interesting. Whether you are writing a personal blog, a corporate website or a “how to” piece, you want to make sure that you entertain your readers. If your writing is boring, people won’t read it.
Secondly, most Internet writing is, in a way, advertising. If you are creating content for company’s website, you will want to be persuasive. The Internet is huge and, on any given subject, there are hundred if not thousands of web pages. When you’re creating written content for the web, you need sell yourself and the company that you are writing for.
Third, you will need to write with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. However, this does not mean that you should write your content strictly for search engines. Not only have keyword stuffing and “keyword density” become outdated, but you should always remember that the final decision is made by a real human. Even if your website is highly ranked on Google, you won’t make very many sales if the writing is unprofessional, boring or both.
Here are a few tips that can help you with your website writing.
Helpful Web Content Writing Suggestions
Keep it simple and easy to read. Most people scan websites, rather than read them from top to bottom.
Knowing this, you can use it to your advantage to make your writing easier to read at a glance.
One way to do this is to break your content up into small segments.
Use short sentences and short paragraphs when you’re writing. A huge block of text looks intimidating and most people won’t bother reading all of it to get to the important parts. Rather than writing a lot and trying to make those important parts stand out, just include the good stuff and leave out the filler.
It also helps to use lists whenever possible.
- Lists are more likely to be read
- They also make it easier to digest content
- They’re a great way to get your point across
- They break up the text
- People are drawn to lists over long paragraphs
Another good way to break up your content is to group different sections under relevant headings. This helps readers find exactly what they are looking for on your page and helps search engines figure out what the main topics of your page are.
With a bit of practice, you’ll be able to write compelling, interesting, persuasive text that will help your website grow.