Writing for the Internet: The 3 Golden Keys
Internet Business Opportunities
Many copywriters are excited about trying their hand at writing for the Internet. It is important, however, to realize there are key distinctions between the offline print audience and writing for the Internet. Keep these three ideas in mind and you will achieve success with your Internet writing.
Traditional publishing and writing for the Internet differ in three crucial ways:
Audience
Format
Lifespan
It is important to consider each key difference while writing for the internet.
Audience
Audience consideration is a primary factor when writing for the Internet, just as it’s a key consideration for any writer. But while writing basics may remain the same – understanding who your primary audience is, for example – there are some major differences.
First of all, your audience is somewhat guaranteed in a traditional publication. Most people, once they have bought a magazine or newspaper are likely to at least give each page a cursory read before setting the item aside. Not so online. When writing for the Internet you must always keep in mind your reader can leave as easily as a click of the mouse. People don’t have a lot of time to waste so you must remain on target and highly focused at all times. As the writer, if you do not appear to be delivering good content the reader will simply go elsewhere… fast. Please do not take this to mean you must cater to the lowest common denominator; you don’t. Your audience is not stupid. But you do need to know your targeted audience and how to deliver for their wants and desires.
Format
A second point to consider when writing for the Internet is the fact that some online readers simply skim and don’t read every word. Quickly scanning your copy, they will only commit to reading the entire thing if you catch their attention. Therefore you must be concise and clear in your writing. Punchy headlines, accurate subheadings, and solid introductions and conclusions are important to use with “skimmers.”
An error that new writers might make, is trying to make their articles look like text in a magazine article or a book. However, writing on the Internet has big differences. A reader will actually read the Internet differently from ‘physical pages’, so different techniques are needed. ‘Point of entry’ is one of the most important. A search engine can send a reader to the middle or even the end of your document. If you have written accurate and concise content however, a reader and yes, even the ‘skimmers’ could likely go back to the beginning of your article to read it entirely. There is a way to skip this step though, and that is by splitting up your text into several stand-alone pieces that will fit together as a complete article, or separate documents if looked at the same way. (A good example of this? Did you see how I broke this article into individual stand-alone segments?)
Lifespan
The last major difference between writing for the Internet and more ‘traditional’ publications is what I refer to as lifespan. Because the Internet operates with a very rapid nature, people often make the mistake of thinking the lifespan of online content is limited. Nothing could be further from the truth. The ‘magic’ of the Internet is that content may last for years – potentially forever – which is why many offline publications now archive their material online. But you must be careful. While your writing should always be current, you want to be wary of being too topical. This is a good way to date your material. This is not good. Your readers may be reading your words a long time off in the future and you want it to be as “fresh” as the day you wrote it.
Keep these three key points — audience, format, and lifespan — in mind when writing for the Internet and I promise you will achieve greater writing success.
Ebayearner (6)
Charlotte Lewis (3)