March 5th, 2010 9:43 pm by Storymanager
Top 5 Web Writing Tips
1. Get the Right Tools. Content Management Systems (blogging platforms like Wordpress, Typepad, Blogger) make it really easy for you to edit and re-edit your writings. CMS makes it easy for you to edit and re-edit at the speed of thought. Seriously, the writing experience on a CMS is more like sculpting – it’s fun, immediate and gratifying. Do a CMS.
2. Write Like You Talk. Colloquial is fine for most web writing. Conversational language implies immediacy and honesty. Write what’s on your mind and don’t puff. Go au naturale. Be a word nudist. Un-stuff those falsies and you’ll get more action.
3. Write for Skimmers. Most folks don’t really “read” on the Internet. Heck, if you’ve read this far into this paragraph, either you’re a super-nerd or my writing is A-W-E-S-O-M-E! By this point for most, I might as well be writing, “#!@$^@ @()*&&^ $!&!!!?” But seriously, people skim. So help the skimmers by putting the important stuff up front (first sentence), make bullet-point lists and boldface appropriately.
4. Write Short. Keep paragraphs short – like even single-sentence paragraphs. Use a lot of punctuation – hyphens, commas, brackets – to break it up. Sentence fragments and even single-words are fine and easily consumable. When editing, look to cut out “and” uses if possible. Short works. Neat, huh?
5. Link. Linking to related sources is both helpful to your readership and helps your page rankings. So for example, here’s some perspectives by others: ProBlogger.com, BloggingTips.com, instigatorblog.com.
Writing for the Internet is an art unto its own. And as Rob Schneider says in the movies, “You can do it!”
Category : Biz Advice & Blog & Content Production & General