Web Writing: The Ground Rules that Make a Good Web Article

Web content has rules. Let's get right to this. The primary rules of web writing are:

Titles must be search-engine friendly
A well-constructed article title in cyberspace means the difference between 10 people stumbling on it and 10,000 people actively finding it. Good titles include key words and key phrases. They have low competition, but still use common terms that the average information seeker would type into a search engine. Don't use Oryctolagus cuniculus when you can use "rabbit."

Good titles are human friendly
They tell a human exactly what the article is about. Trying to be clever or incorporating a pun can penalize your article with search engines and confuse your potential audience.

The body must deliver what the title promises.
If the title leads us to believe we will find something useful, informative, funny, or timely and the body is a stream of consciousness journey written from your cat's point of view, reader's will flee. I call this the "Page 2 Effect." Your title may bring the clicks, but your writing turns the page.

The writing must meet the reader's needs
If someone finds the article, it should solve the problem that prompted the search. This is slightly different than the point above. Here we look for writing that has broad, if not universal, appeal. For example, the nightly news reports stories of interest to its local viewers. The broadcast often ends with a human-interest story. Notice that the newscast never ends with a blog post about how your hamster is awesome because it ran on the wheel for two hours straight. "How to change a light fixture," good. "Why I named my dog Skippy," bad.

Brevity
The vast majority of internet readers love concise writing. Their time is valuable. All literate, English speakers on the web hate pretentious wordiness and run-on sentences. The economy of words is a joy.

Peeves
Everyone has pet peeves about language. When we find writing that rubs our raw spot, we will judge it with extreme prejudice. Here is a non-comprehensive list of abuses most people find irritating:

Phonetic vernacular
Most despise what should be quasi-formal writing presented in the phonetic vernacular. This peeve extends to "sorta," "kinda," and many other phonetic bastardizations. If you have ever typed "LOL" in what should be formal English, you are guilty. Save that $#!& for your instant messenger.

That for who.
For things use that. For people use who. For example, "Bob is a guy who understands," and "This is the bat that was used." The bat will be used to beat you if you don't follow this rule.

Pretentiousness
Flowery words are best saved for poetry. Keep it simple for your readers and the search engines.

First and foremost...
...And any other cliché is usually filler. Unfortunately, writers are not always the best editors of their own work.

Multiple punctuations
By definition, one exclamation mark is enough to make the point. Adding multiple question marks does not emphasis your inquisitiveness.

Ambiguity
Ambiguous headlines and vague phrases are one of my favorite finds, but there is no room for ambiguity in writing. Write what you mean even if it takes a few more words.

Verbal Dancing
Telling the reader that you are about to tell them something is distracting filler. Likewise, telling them you just told them something is web-browser-closing filler. Just say it and move on.

A stray comma here or a wandering semicolon there, makes no difference to most readers. Typos come with the keyboard. Some are painfully funny, but your overall writing must meet the above rules to be categorized as good web writing.