Writing for the web is quite different from creative writing for the print media (newspapers, books and magazines). The biggest difference lies in the fact that the cyber medium is virtual. And, the level of trust – between buyer and seller – here is relatively low. Therefore, as an online businessman, the onus of selling products and services lies on the appeal of your website. This appeal is created only when your site's content is catchy and relevant to your business.
Most of the times, web content is written to inform prospective buyers about your product, its features, use and benefits over your competitors. In short, the text matter of your site is primarily used to promote your business. However, many a times, this content can help you in getting links, thus strengthening the link building process that is crucial to your SEO campaign.
Writing Content for Publication or Syndication It is advisable that you create one-page articles about your product or service, trying to address consumer queries or major industry issues. You can include a keyword-rich link in this pages, so as to get the visitor diverted back to your site. Get these articles published online, or syndicated with article directories, and you will find targeted users being driven to your website.
Blog Posts and Online Forums Write user-friendly content that's relevant to your website, and post it on blogs and forums. These new-age tools pertain to almost every topic under the sun and can even get you backlinks. Always remember to put up a link that gets the reader back to your website.
Online Press Releases A Press Release is the easiest means of giving information to the media and getting it dispersed through them. Nowadays, web businesses are increasingly using online Press Releases to reach out to Net-savvy journalists. As a content writer, you have to write these releases according to optimisation guidelines so that you get relevant backlinks to your site.
Donations As an Internet business, make donations to charities or non-profit organisations. This donation can be in the form of money, or even better, Content Development Services for their website or in-house magazine. They'll be more than happy to give a link back to your site. This is a good example of charity meant to benefit the society as well as your business.
Many businesses do not pay attention to these useful resources that can be built around with the help of content. Web writing thus is not just what is visible on your site. It is a diversified field that encompasses all kinds of writing that can promote your business in an online marketplace.
Your readers don't read each and every word on your webpage; rather they just scan through the text and if something interesting catches their attention, they read on. There are millions of other websites competing for attention, so it is difficult for readers to concentrate. This is accentuated by the eye-tiring nature of the screen and lack of time.
How to enable your visitors to find what they are looking for?
To help your readers reach the right information faster you have to make sure that the content is scannable. The easiest way to do this is:
- Writing meaningful and user-related headlines and sub-headlines, and highlighting them - Including bulleted or numbered lists wherever possible - Making your hyperlinks descriptive as opposed to "click here" - Following a logical sequence of thought while writing
What is the logical way of writing?
Invert the Pyramid Rule that you know. Talk about the conclusion first. This gives the most important part of the content as soon as the visitor starts reading. The fact is that users do not scroll down. Your aim should be to write for them, not for your ego. Visitors who are really interested will anyways scroll down.
How to make your visitors trust you?
Credibility is most important for a web-user. The design, the colors, the content, the layout, and the quality of graphics all make a major impact. The only way to boost credibility is to have high-quality content that proves that you have great deal of knowledge in your domain, or have a huge number of quality in-bound links. Make your readers believe that you are for real.
How is web writing different from conventional publishing?
Divide the printed content by two if you are planning to use the same info for the web. While reading on a printed sheet of paper the eye-movement of the reader is entirely different. For the web - your content should be short, concise, and devoid of all the jargon. The length of the sentences and paragraphs should be short. Write in a direct and user-friendly tone.
How to stay away from boastful writing?
People are looking for information not about how great you are. They want to know exactly the features and benefits of your product or service. They do not want to know how many offices, number of employees, or years of experience you possess. Get straight to the point and offer them exactly what they want - straightforward information.
Both Aisha Danna & Anuja Aggarwal are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Aisha Danna has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Interview Questions and Search Engine Marketing. Aisha danna is a specialist in online marketing presently working in ePurple Media, company that provides to clients aiming at maximising. Aisha Danna's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.
Anuja Aggarwal has sinced written about articles on various topics from Sales letter, Brand Image and Travel and Leisure. Do Right Marketing offers freelance content writing services. These include writing for the web, intranet, marketing and sales collateral such as case studies, newsletters, whitepapers, articles, blog posts, website navigation, editing, and proofreading,. Anuja Aggarwal's top article generates over 33100 views. to your Favourites.