Writing for the Web | How to Produce Good Content : Adworkz

Content is King, but writing for the Web doesn't have to be creepy (Photo: glyphjockey.com)

You’ve heard the rubric that “Content is King” when it comes to successful E-commerce Web sites and blogs. That doesn’t mean that if you simply use the right keywords enough times, your business is going to take off. While the use of keywords is important for search engine ranking, a Web business’s success or failure depends upon how well they interact with human beings. Text is a user interface, and you want your users to enjoy their experience on your Web site, so much so that they tell their friends and return for more.

In order to make your Web content sparkle, there are a few rules that any E-commerce site should follow. Having a flair for the written word never hurts, but these techniques can help you to make an impact on the World Wide Web, where attention spans are limited and people are generally searching for the best deals in the shortest amount of time.

What is your objective?

No matter what it is that you’re writing and in what medium, it is vitally important to understand why you’re writing. What do you want the end result to be? If you can answer that question without hesitation, you should be able to clearly articulate your message to the customer. If any of your copy fails to advance that agenda, consider editing it out.

Who are you writing for?

If you acquire your target before firing, you have a greater chance of connecting. This particularly is true of writing for the Web, because if you don’t target the kind of customer you want, your voice will stand out like a sneeze in a gale force wind.

For example, a Web site like Adworkz knows that it wants to do business with clients in need of Web marketing assistance and affiliate networkers who want to get involved in highly profitable ventures. Hence, we target our offerings in such a way that those targeted groups will find valuable information.

Brevity is the soul of wit and Web

In other words, keep it short. Studies have shown that the more text someone has to read when it comes to basic advertising, the less likely they are to spend time with your message and absorb it. While I blame the abuse of television, cellular and social networking technologies, the reality is that your business must account for short attention spans. If it’s true that users spend only 4.4 seconds on a page for every 100 words of content, you have to tip the scales in your favor. If your Web copy is as clear and concise as you can make it, you’re more likely to be read. However, keep in mind that depending upon the difficulty and level of sophistication of your business’s subject matter, your audience may be more willing to read longer posts. This comes back to knowing your audience.

Can the reader scan your article quickly?

People generally seem to be in a hurry when they’re on the World Wide Web. That want their information fast, so your content has to be easy for them to obtain a quick summation. Clear, concise writing helps here, but when it comes to scannability, you also have to think in terms of visual design on the page. Smaller blocks of text, frequent headlines in <h3> format that summarize what the paragraphs are about and use of bullets and diagrams make content more visually appealing – and easier for the eye to digest.

Know your platform

Sure you’re writing for the Web, but are you using a popular social networking service like Twitter, Facebook or MySpace? Each of these services (particularly Twitter) have their own constraints that require you become familiar with before attempting to communicate your business message. For instance, Twitter limits you to only 140 characters per post, so that’s a school of writing in itself. My best advice would be to use good headline style writing, but leave enough room so that customers can add to the post when they retweet.

Writing on a blog platform like WordPress (which the Adworkz Web site is based upon) gives you a lot more control over visual formatting than social networking services, but both are important for your business to be successful online. E-mail marketing shouldn’t be an afterthought, either. No matter where you’re writing, the principles of knowing your objective and audience while writing in a concise, easily scannable fashion are vital when you’re writing for the Web.