Online readers love free information. They scour the Internet daily
looking for specific information to solve their problems, help them
be successful, live longer or get healthy. You should join the
information revolution too! Publish your free, helpful
solution-oriented articles to the web.
- Make your article scan ready. A study by Jakob Nielson,
publicized as the guru of web page usability by the New York Times,
revealed that only 16 percent of his test users actually read the
copy they found online; 79 percent of them simply scanned it. Your
impatient web readers will want important information to jump out
at them. Some practical ways to make your text scannable:
- headings
- sub-headings
- bulleted lists
- numbered lists
- easy steps
- typeface variation
For example, compelling headlines are considered an art. Are you
drawn to the author's article as "How to Write Web Articles" or "5
Tips to Write Winning Web Articles?" However, overuse of any or all
of these elements may bring the quality down.
- Keep it short. Get and keep the attention of web readers by
delivering short messages. You put effort into gaining your web
reader's attention; now make their click worthwhile with brief
compelling copy in bite sizes. Start with the conclusion. Your
readers may not make it to the end of your piece to get it. Web
readers don't want to get bogged down in long blocks of text. So
get to the point early and use the rest of your article to support
that main point.
- Make your title sizzle. Dull titles will not capture your
readers' interest. It will make your article fade into the sea of
other boring articles listed in article banks these days. You have
to create a title that will reach out and grab your reader by the
collar. Make it short. Create interest. Include the main benefit or
solution in your title.
- Talk to your target audience. Your information is not for
everyone. Avoid generalities. Choose a friend or family member
that's interested in your topic. Write your article to them.
Writing to a friend will make your copy personable and friendly.
You won't come across as a fussy hen, do this, do this, don't do
that. You will connect with your readers as a friend giving advice.
Your article will do a better job of building credibility for
you.
- Add substance. Resist fluffing your articles. Include
practical, valuable information in your copy. Everyone loses when
you don't take the time to impart substance. It increases the
reputation of the web being an unreliable source of knowledge.
Additionally, lack of substance will block your road to profitable
referrals. Do the research and/or draw from your knowledge and
experience to illustrate. Your stories and real life examples will
meet your reader's need for practical information and connect with
their emotion. It's a known fact emotions will move people to
action. Whether you desire them to act by signing up or making a
purchase, add substance and improve your reader responses.
- Make it web professional. Create a more web professional look
by using short sentences, then format your page to approximately 65
characters per line. Long stringed sentences that stream from side
to side of the web page look visually unprofessional. Select a
layout for your article from several short article formats that
include the how-to, tips list, question-answer, problem-solutions
and interview. Make your introduction and summary short but do add
one. Your web readers don't want just a list of boring facts and
information. They want to connect with you by reading your
personable introduction and practical tips with a definite ending
or summary. Remember, excited readers become enthusiastic buyers
and enthusiastic buyers will refer your product or service to all
their friends.
- Don't spice the article with "optimized" keywords to flatter
search engines -- this how-to is about how to write successfully
for the web, not search engines, after all. Usually, the search
engines will follow the links of real readers, who actually liked
your content.
- Long paragraphs are usually acceptable for print media; they
are not for the web.
- You may use these guidelines for all kinds of web copy. The
same elements (using keywords, making your article professional,
adding substance, keeping it short and making your copy scannable)
will improve the quality of your articles. Practice these simple
principles and write winning articles to distribute on the web
everywhere.
- Keep the writing short, simple and on point. Jakob Nielsen
recommends using half the word text online compared to print.
- Print a hardcopy of your article and read it an hour later in a
different setting. Ask someone else to review it, both online and
in print.
- Use diagrams or photographs to help illustrate your points.
Useful content can and should go beyond basic clip art to draw on
the reader's imagination.
- Avoid the use of technical jargon except where necessary. If
you must use it, include links or definitions for uncommon words or
industry terms.
- Make sure that the color of the font contrasts with the
background, and that the font color is much darker than the
background color. For example, don't use a yellow font on a green
background. Even if you make the letters big and bold, the
readability of your text suffers.
- Avoid making readers scroll across. People would much rather
scroll down than scroll across, so make your text space adjustable
to the reader's window size.
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Warnings
- Flashing text, marquees, animated gifs, rollover buttons and
other effects serve to distract the reader from main text on the
page. While they can be used in moderation, overuse of these
features will irritate the user more than impress him/her.
- Remember that you are writing for a reader who has no
compulsion to go on reading the page.
- BE NORMAL - It is better to avoid using Letters in upper case
or all caps.
- Write for the readers, search engines are bound to follow
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Sources and Citations
- Write for the web! Use the tricks you just learned in this
wikiHow to start writing articles for the web. GetBeautyTips.com
has regular article publishing contests. Topics change each month.
Winners get published online! Great opportunity for budding
writers. Check it out at http://www.getbeautytips.com
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