Writing for the Web: Keep it Simple
To catch your readers' attention, it's imperative that you get to the point quickly. According to the Yahoo! Style Guide article "Get to the point", there are three guidelines that will help you get to the point quickly and keep your readers interested in what you have to say.
1. Keep it short.
Statistics show that readers actually scan web pages as opposed to reading content. There is a great resource from Google about "hot zones", or the places where your readers' eyes move first, second and so on.
This is a great reason to use short words, sentences and paragraphs. Help your reader scan your page for the information they want by using bulleted or numbered lists. Here's a good example of an article using numbered lists.
2. Front-load your content.
Make sure you write about the most important piece of information in the upper-left area of the screen, or basically at the beginning of your article.
Writing for the web is a lot like writing for a newspaper. A good guide is to use the Inverted Pyramid style of writing. Knowing the people will likely scan your content, as opposed to reading it fully, put the most important information first.
A reader should be able to find the most important idea you want them to take away in the first paragraph of your writing.
3. Keep it simple.
The average citizen in the U.S. reads at about an eighth or ninth grade reading level. This means you should always choose small and simple words. Yahoo! also offers a resource on assessing the reading level of your audience in the hard copy version of its Style Guide.
Today's readers are also savvy to marketing tricks and tools. Be sure to write direct copy and avoid "fluff", or promotional copy aimed to sell something.
For example, if you're writing a product review, simply state how the product worked in your own words. Do not use promotional material you received along with the product. Here's an example of a product review on pet shampoo.
Remember, keep copy short and concise. Use bulleted lists to emphasize important points. Avoid jargon or complex words. These principles should be used any time you write for the web.
Published by Kelly Russ
Kelly is a public relations/communication professional with eight years experience in the corporate, academic and nonprofit worlds. Favorite weekend activities are watching college football and visiting k... View profile
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- Keep web articles short.
- Put the most important information first.
- Use simple words, not jargon.
2 Comments
Post a Commenthi michael here...i read your blog its very intresting.
Bank Loan
Your points are right on! Good article :)