How to Write Content That's Easy to Read

Learning how to write content that's easy to read is crucial to the success of any hopeful web writer. Sure. Anyone can compile a page of any given keyword and smear it on the screen. But it's those humans reading you that a writer wants to appeal to.

The trick is: How does a writer do this exactly? It's easy. It's not so much a matter whether someone possesses any sort of "Great Talent," or even if they're a native English speaker. It's just a matter of approaching the effort with a bit of fore-knowledge. Others have shared with me, and it is now my honor, to share with you. Read on:

How To Write Content That's Easy To Read Tip Number One:

Know what you're writing - This isn't to say that a writer must know all there is on a topic before writing. In fact content published on the web seems to do better when it's not exhaustive on a topic, and offers the reader information in small, easily digested portions. Still it's best to know well the topic being written on, but, writers can do a good job if there's been enough research done.

At the very least, do your homework on any content topic you're working with. How many pages are there that, it's a little too obvious the "author," didn't really know what they're saying? Pffftt!! Look at my own earlier work! Failing to at least research thoroughly will make you look bad to readers. Trust me.

How To Write Content That's Easy To Read Tip Number Two:

Be objective - There are always going to be content topics that involve emotions. Some examples might be divorce, religion, domestic violence, crimes against children, oh...this list could go on for days. It may be one of the toughest parts of this job, to provide the information necessary to inform, and produce something more than just another editorial/opinion piece.

We're all human beings. But your readers need you to educate, inform, and maybe even warn them from a factual, real-world perspective. Rise above and stay objective to keep readers coming back for more. Highly emotional content can make you, or it can break you, depending on how objectively you can write.

How To Write Content That's Easy To Read Tip Number Three:

Cite your sources - What does it mean to cite your sources for your content? Simple. If you get a bit of information from another website, then give credit, where credit is due. Maybe a particular company employee, or industry expert, shared their valuable time with you in helping you with a good content topic.

List the source of your information at the end of your article at the very least. Some content producers and writers not only list their sources at the end, but also embed the source of information, within the article itself. It's not just about credit. It's about credibility of your content.

How To Write Content That's Easy To Read Tip Number Four:

Use paragraph breaks - Nobody likes a text blob. Simple! Even those amongst us who consider ourselves avid readers of web content feel the pain of too much text in one spot. Folks have very short attention spans these days. Perhaps they always have but that's not the point. Breaking an article up makes it easier on the eyes of the reader, and, the content is easier to take in when published in smaller paragraphs. So do it.

How To Write Content That's Easy To Read Tip Number Five:

Proofread - During the act of writing itself, it's pretty easy for an author to make a few boo-boos, myself included. Sometimes a key can stick. A word can be mis-spelled. Flow of the article and repetition is a big one for many of us logo-philes.

Once the piece is written, and before you go to publish, proofread. When proofreading, don't read it like you normally would. Go through the piece, one word at a time, literally. Keep an eye out for punctuation errors also. Yes. This adds some time to how long it takes. It's an investment no writer will ever regret.

If editing your own work is truly too much of a burden (we writers are our own harshest critics after all) then ask someone else to do it for you. Just about anybody is tickled pink to "bust on you" for a typo. Even your kids can do this if they're of reading age. You remain typo-free. They build strong spelling skills. There's probably cookies involved...see? Everybody wins! Re-write what you must before publishing

How To Write Content That's Easy To Read Tip Number Six:

Use sub-headers - In case you haven't heard: Keywords rule. To make sure spiders crawling the web find your content, and therefore index it, you want to make sure the relevant keywords on the topic are frequent enough for your article to be noticed.

Ah! Therein lies the rub, as old Shakespeare might say, and he makes a great point too. Were you to publish a 500 word piece, with the keywords at 5%, you'll have to use said keyword 25 times! Madness! Those in the know call that keyword stuffing and it is ugly.

Sub-headers allow a writer to make sure the necessary keywords occur frequently enough to be found by spiders, yet the natural flow of the subject still remains, and that's what you want. Besides, those sub-headers just look nifty. To write content in small chunks, using sub-headers makes you much more appealing.

Source:

Personal experience

Originally published on factoidz.com