Six Tips for Writing Web Content


When it comes to web content, content is king. People expect information on the web to be easy to read, relevant, and to the point.

How do you write web content that readers will want to read? Here are a few simple strategies for writing great web articles and blog posts. Web Content

Choose the right headline for your article or blog post

Headlines are important. Your article headline is the first and most important impression you make on the reader. Readers make decisions about whether or not they read a web page based on the headline. Make sure that your headline accurately describes the content.  To ensure that your web page gets noticed by search engines, use keywords in the headline to get more traffic to your website.

Know your audience

When you start to write an article or blog post, you should have a good understanding of the typical audience for your website. If you can identify your typical audience, then you can choose the right types of content for your website.

As you start to write your content, you should ask yourself if your content is relevant to the reader’s interests and needs. Will your readers find the content  useful, interesting, and entertaining? Choose the topics for your articles or blog posts based on the interests of your audience.

Use a writing style that is appropriate for your audience. A blog that is intended for mothers of young children would use a casual writing style that appeals to young mothers. A blog for physicians would use a more formal writing style that adopts a more scientific tone. Use the writing style that is appropriate for your audience to ensure that your content connects with your readers.

Ask yourself, “Would I read this article? Would I find it relevant and interesting?”.  If the answer is no, then choose another topic!

Use images

Most readers are visual readers. Images help to add white space and add visual interest. Add images where appropriate to spice up your content.  An occasional image to break up a text-heavy page is acceptable. However, avoid using lots of stock photos to just make the page look “pretty”.

Make the content easy to scan

People read web content differently compared to books. While readers of books read every word from beginning to end, readers of web content skim over web content. Readers of online content spend less time reading content and more time scanning web pages to find information that is relevant to their search. Plan and organize your content to make it easy for readers to quickly find information.

  • Use short sentences and short paragraphs with around 3-4 sentences on average per paragraph. Long paragraphs are more difficult to read.
  • Use lists where appropriate.
  • Use active verbs. Passive verbs are more difficult to read and understand.

Use subheadings

If your web content has lots of content without any breaks between paragraphs, you risk losing some readers. Subheadings help you to organize your article so that readers can easily scan the content. Online content with subheadings allows readers to quickly determine if the article or post is relevant.

For example, this blog post has six subheadings – one for each writing tip. The subheadings make it easy for readers to scan the post for the most important information.

Offer practical advice

Tips, guides, and best practices are popular with many readers. Give your readers information that might help them in their day-to-day activities.

To compliment your web content creation skills, polish your website development skills at the same time. Our Web Publishing Course is a 12-week online course that will teach you the fundamentals of web page authoring. The course is taught by an online instructor with reading materials, interactive quizzes, exercises and assignments.

Web Publishing Course #technicalwriting

 

Tips on writing web content that will make it easier to read and attract readers #webcontent #technicalwriting #webdevelopment