Writing for the web is another great freelance writing market. It’s already huge and it’s growing every day. There’s so much web content out there that you need to make yours stand out. Here are four ways to make your web content appeal to readers.
1. Descriptive Titles
The title of your article should tell the reader what it’s about. Some people like to use humor, while others prefer to play it straight. It doesn’t matter, as long as readers know what to expect. Readers want to know what’s in it for them. A good title will tell them. That’s one of the reasons that article titles with numbers in them tend to do well. If your article is called: ‘Seven Ways To Land Your Perfect Partner’, then readers know what they will get.
2. Direct Address
One of the things I love about writing web content is that you can address readers directly. It’s like having a conversation with someone who is in the same room. When writing web content, your writing voice is often like your speaking voice, and it’s a great idea to let your personality shine through.
3. Clear Language
With web content, you are writing for an international audience, and not everyone speaks the same first language as you do. That’s why it’s best to stay away from obscure expressions and jargon and use clear and simple language. You can also add examples to make it even easier for reader to understand.
4. Break It Up
If you want your web content to be user friendly, you have to make it digestible. That means breaking it into small chunks, usually with one main idea in a paragraph. It’s also a good idea to make the article scannable by adding a subheading for each main idea. That means that readers will be able to glance at the subheadings and pick out the main ideas.
5. Summarize
If an idea is worth saying, then it’s worth saying again. A bulleted list that summarizes the main points is another good way to make sure that readers understand your article. Here’s a recap of this article as an example. To write a good web article:
- Choose a good, descriptive title.
- Talk to your readers as though they are in the same room.
- Use clear language.
- Make articles scannable, with one main idea per paragraph.
- Add a summary.
Yeah making your content scannable is vital for the Internet.
You have wrote 5 great tips.
I agree with you when you advise to break up your text. I find images are a good way to do this.
Regards.
I like to see the name of the person writing to me, much as I like to know who I’m talking to on the phone. So many web pages are written anonymously, as if the owner is a big corporation when they are often a small business or even solo.
Even blog posts like this one don’t make it obvious who is writing/speaking to me…Daniel, I’d like to see your name, especially when I receive your blog feed in my inbox. I forget who the author is Daily Writing Tips is, and only see the blog title in the email, and so there’s no way to identify who is speaking/writing to me.
This is a common problem because most people don’t put their name up in the tag line or the banner of the blog. But if blogs are supposed to be a conversation, then don’t we all want to know who’s speaking/writing?
Thanks, Jsanderz, glad you found them useful.
Patsi, I guess that’s why so many blogs have about pages that tell you who’s writing. I like to know who’s writing a piece, too.
Good tips indeed. However, a summary that merely repeats the section headings in a bulleted list strikes me as kind of… pointless. No pun intended.
Hi Sharon,
You may have already found this but if you haven’t you should check it out. This EXACT article is replicated here:
It says it is written by “Sharon” but nothing else.
Thanks, Dani. I think someone used the feed. I’m sure Daniel will be onto them at some point.
Sue, I don’t always remember, but it makes such a difference to readability when I do.
Good post Sharon, I should remember to use sub headings more often as they are used to such good effect here.
sue
Great article, thanks! This is a must-read for every web content writer.
Generally, content on any website should achieve the following objectives:
* Enhance the company’s image
* Reflect the company’s vision
* Educate the company’s potential customers about their services
* Submit to website readability standards
* Is clear, concise and professionally-written
* Drive targeted traffic to the website
* Help expand the company’s clientele/markets
So, web content must be written in such a way that it fulfills all these goals.
Another important thing to remember is that people, when reading online, have very short attention span. So, you must make sure that people who will read the content will be able to scan through the content, the headings and sub-headings, and get the message that you want to deliver.
Wonderful article! Thanks for sharing, Sharon. Will keep these pointers in mind.
Thanks for informative article. Because unique and quality content is need for every online Business, so it is must read article for every internet marketers.
Thanks for your short tips. Actually if I take blogging as my profession, I need to learn writing about great content. As I’m a newbie I learned few outstanding tips from you. Two of those are……
1.Direct Address
2.Summarize
You know, it’s very necessary to make your audience attentive to your article to read out. Therefore, writer should direct them to hold on your website.
Thanks again for your tips.
Best Regards
Anwer Ashif