Martin Woods
There’s a fundamental difference between writing for a web audience and writing for a print audience; on the web, your viewers’ attention span is 15 seconds, then they stop reading. I don’t mean that as an insult. It’s just that people online are generally looking for concise information and they need it now.
So, how do you hold their attention?
‘F’ it up
I’m not being rude: the F-Structure refers to the way people read online. They’ll generally read the first two paragraphs in full, before scanning down the left-hand side for things that will catch their attention.
So, put your most important points in your opening paragraphs (something you should be familiar with as a print writer) to draw people in and get them reading.
Further down the page, highlight important points- like a change in topic- with subheadings and when dealing with several points on one topic, use bullet points.
Picture This
They say that a picture tells a thousand words, so use pictures in your content to illustrate a point, as I did above. This will help to condense your writing, saving the reader’s eyes and your aching fingertips.
Write like you talk
No one wants to read dry, dense, dull texts (we’ve all written enough of those in our final exams at school), so write like you speak.
- Use contractions: Words like don’t, can’t, and shouldn’t flow so much better in conversational text than their expanded counterparts.
- Address the reader as ‘you’: It’s a more personal form of address and establishes a relationship between writer and reader.
- Avoid jargon and complex phrasing: If you were telling a friend about a walk, would you say you took an ‘expeditious approach to the journey’ or a ‘short cut’? If you were leaving for work, would you remind your son to feed the ‘canis lupus familiaris’ or the ‘dog’?
Divide and conquer
Have you ever seen a blog post, which is basically just a wall of text? And were you still awake by the end of it? Yeah, I thought not.
When you write online, try to keep your sentences short and snappy. Flowery prose and long sentences are beautiful – in their own way- but should be used sparingly to avoid alienating your audience.
You should also try to keep your paragraphs short; around 2 or 3 sentences is key. This will help to keep people reading, rather than skipping ahead.
Use the active voice
Always use the active voice when writing online, which means putting the subject first. Why? It captures people’s interest and inspires them to act on your words.
For example:
“You should also try to keep your paragraphs short; around 2 or 3 sentences” rather than “Paragraphs should be kept short; try for around 2 or 3 sentences”.
Link it up
This is one of the largest differences between print media and online writing; the ability to source your work so that it can be instantly checked.
For certain topics, it may not be essential to cite sources. For a film site, a movie review which labels a film Hitchcock-esque will rarely need to link to an article on Hitchcock’s most common suspense tactics.
However, if the review mentions a specific quote that’s not in the film itself, (let’s say one of Robin Williams inspirational business quotes), you might want to link to it.
Remember SEO
With a print publication your content will be designed purely with readers in mind. For website content, you also need to take SEO (Search Engine Optimization) into consideration. This doesn’t mean you need to go mad and stuff keywords everywhere, but doing keyword research is a great way to find out what topics your readers care about.
Structuring your website
Just like magazines, websites have standard components, though with more variety and options, as you’re dealing with an interactive and possibly animated design. Nevertheless, websites should have certain pages that vastly improve user-experience and help with SEO. These include:
Home page
Your home page should include the same main menu and footer that appears on the rest of your site (so visitors can easily navigate to a specific page if they wish to), plenty of visuals and a summary of who you are and what service you offer.
The goal with your home page is to invite readers to click to visit another page of your site. Creating a high impact web design for your home page is also just as important as writing compelling content.
About us
Google recommends that websites have an ‘About Us’ page and studies show this is often one of the most commonly clicked links on a website. Tell visitors who you are and what makes your company special.
Contact page
Even if you have your email address and phone number in the footer, it’s best to include a contact page so you’re easy to reach. This reassures visitors that you’re a real organisation and they can get in touch with you if they need to.
Blog
The blog is perhaps one of the most commonly misunderstood sections of a website. It gives you an opportunity to show that you are a subject matter expert, to provide advice to visitors and answer frequently asked questions in detail, as well as announce upcoming events, new products, etc. It isn’t however where you should be overly salesy. Read more on how to write a company blog.
So, what did you think? Do you have any pointers you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments.
Discuss This Article
Add a New Comment/Reply
Thanks for adding to the conversation!
Our comments are moderated. Your comment may not appear immediately.