Syed Taha

Writing with the Web in mind !!

Writing for the web is like stepping into a completely different world, and it can be completely unknown if you are not too sure what you are doing.  There are a couple of key points that you want to keep in mind when you step into this crazy web writing world.

You want to make sure that when you are writing you are speaking as clearly and openly as you can.  Make sure you know your target audience so you can determine and stick with an appropriate tone of voice throughout your writing. Knowing who is actually going to be reading what you are writing is going to be vital when it comes to actually drawing in your audience and getting a strong following of readers. Keep a consistent tone throughout your writing so that you do not confuse any of your readers.

Remember that “saying less when you are writing for the web is ultimately saying more”, if you go about it the right way.  You have read before that when people get online and search the web for any sort of information, when they find it they generally just go to the page and scan the page, which is not really reading at all.  So the more down to the point you are, then the easier it is going to be for someone to scan through your information and your writing.

A good tip for writing for the web, is open a separate word file of some sort, and type all of your information in that word file. When you feel you are finished and all of your information is in this one word file, take the file, and edit it, and cut it, and ultimately trim it. When you do this and you start to edit your file, you will start to see what sort of information is needed, and what sort of information is needed but not as relevant as the information that you are keeping.

So, when it comes to writing within the web, you really need to be knowledgeable about what you are writing and you need to know who you are writing for. Once you can accomplish this you can literally write about anything you want, and you can get people to read what you are writing. Writing in the web can come in the form of a website or a blog, it can literally be anything. There are all sorts of information on the web that people are looking to read so your possibilities are literally endless. Find your niche in the writing world and know who you want to write for, we all have a word that needs to be heard, so you need to find your own personal voice, and you need to build from there. Once you can do all of this, you are sure to be a strong writer among writers within the internet world!

Setting up your websites initial page length

When it comes to determining how long your page should be, and you are ready to set the length of your page, there are some aspects that you need to consider before you dive right into this process.The first aspect that you need to keep in mind that when people get on the web to scan for various websites and what not they tend to read at a very slow rate, a lot slower than if they were to read a book at home or something of that sort. The reason for this is because the print that we read on the computer screen is a bit smaller than what we read in books or magazines, so we spend most of our time sitting up close to a computer trying to follow what we are reading without getting lost.

A good point to remember is that you want to keep your reader from having to scroll all the way down the page, this can cause a huge loss of interest in a short span of time, and they may not make it to read the point you are trying to make.

Setting your page length coincides with some of the basic copywriting mistakes that were discussed earlier, if you cannot get straight to the point, then you are going to have a real hard time keeping your readers intrigued, and in turn they will just stop reading altogether. You also need to discover your target audience and figure out who is going to be coming to your page. It is a common fact that people that use the internet tend to be of younger age, and have a shorter attention span, so if you have found that this is your target audience, then you need to get to the point, say what you need, and say it well only with less words.

When it comes to readers online, they prefer shorter and quick articles, keep this in mind when you are determining your page length. People want all of their questions and concerns answered, but they do not want to keep having to scroll down a page to receive their answers.

If you are working with a new product try to include as many details as you possibly can without making your page length too long and too wordy. The main aspect that you want to keep in mind that determining the length of your web copy simply depends on who your target audience is your demographic, what it is you are writing about, and why you are writing about it. You might want to sit down and sort of draw out some sort of outline that will give you a more clear idea on how much you are going to be writing and how long it is going to be.

This can be a huge time saver in the end, because it will enable you to know what you cut before hand, it is all about planning and being prepared. If you already know what you want and how you need to do, you are a big step ahead!