7 Tips for Writing Great Online Articles

Many great writers struggle with writing online. Often what works in print or novels or even magazine articles does not work online. You can be successful as an online writer by making your article easy to read for your online viewer. Most online readers want information quickly and concisely so this is also what web publishers look for. Here are some ways to improve your online writing and tweak your articles for web performance:

1. Use short paragraphs. Toss out what you learned about writing paragraphs from school. Ideally you should only have 4-5 sentences in each paragraph. Most articles are displayed in a small area on the screen. Writing smaller paragraphs makes it easier for your important points to stand out. It also helps avoid having a giant jumble of words that can turn people off from reading the rest.

2. Avoid run-on sentences. Run-on sentences confuse people. They are difficult to read quickly and can often turn a reader off completely. Try writing sentences in 12 words or less. If need be, break apart your sentences into smaller ones. One or two long sentences won't hurt you, but if you have too many, readers will lose interest. Never make a sentence longer than 27 words if you can help it.

3. Remember keywords. Keywords are crucial for your articles to show up in search engine results. You will want to choose keywords related to your article that are frequently searched for. You can find popular keywords and search terms from Google's sandbox. If you have a hard time integrating keywords into your article, try inserting sentences with the keywords after you finish writing the article.

4. Make lists. Breaking down an article into a list format makes it easier for people to skim without having to read every word. They will not need to sort through a lot of fluff to get to the point. This is why "10 Reasons to -" and "5 Ways to -" and "10 Best -" type articles are so popular. Highlight the main points in bold such as I did in this article.

5. Remember line breaks. Spacing your paragraphs makes a big difference. Just as writing shorter paragraphs makes your information stand out, so does the spacing between paragraphs. It also makes your work look more professional and polished as an online writer. Your formatting will make a big difference between someone reading an entire article or just skipping it over.

6. Limit yourself to 600 words per article. Many people do not have time to read a 10 page article, even if it is interesting. In the world of online writing, less is more. Be concise and direct. Break larger articles down to smaller multiple articles if necessary.

7. Establish credibility. Don't forget to cite your sources if appropriate. You do not need to be an "expert" to write a great article but in the online world anybody can write anything. This makes it difficult to judge what information is reliable. Citing a source or your experience is especially helpful in technical articles or opinion pieces. You can do this within the context of the article or at the end in italics as a short (a few sentences max!) bio.

These are some great tips that have been passed along to me through my studies of journalism and writing. I hope they will be as helpful to you as they have been to me to becoming a better online writer. With a lot of determination and practice, you can make your articles more web friendly and stand out to online publishers.