Writing Web Content

Writing and creating content for the Web requires a different approach than writing editing and design of content for print publications. Writing copy for the Web must grab the viewer's attention and get the results you want in only a few seconds!

Itakes special skill and attention, whether you're trying to sell products or services at a business or commercial site or you just want to let people know the latest at your personal site.

The resources below are annotated links to highly authoritative articles, tips and information specific to content writing, development, and preparation for Web sites. You'll also find where writers, editors, content developers, and publishers can find each other.

http://websitetips.com/webcontent/#tutorials

http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/

http://websearch.about.com/od/keywordsandphrases/a/goodcontent.htm

Social Networking- saving time and face

With your account(s) set up and contacts entered, a small but growing network of individuals can now easily search your personal network for relevant business contacts. This may be as simple as entering a name of an individual you're seeking, or specifying a broad search for contacts within a specific industry. This ease of creating personal contacts and developing online business events makes the service much more efficient than the traditional (and often stilted) network mixer.

Although the number of these services available to entrepreneurs and businesspeople is growing, LinkedIn strikes me as the easiest to embrace, and the most effective. Typically, each service has formal sign-up steps that assist you in creating your online identity. This may include information relating to your current job, previous positions, and general interests. Some business networking sites enable you to publish you own "blog," or join specific community discussion groups.

Often, the key to using a business network successfully involves the creation of your personal friends — or business connections — group. The registration process is similar across the various social networking websites but LinkedIn boasts one of the simplest methods of inviting and maintaining your social network. By simply uploading an exported file from your contact manager, LinkedIn can immediately tell which friends of yours are members of the service. This method of contact maintenance and connection group development makes LinkedIn a breeze to start with, immediately enabling you to gain access to your contacts, without having to laboriously enter emails to discover if associates are already there.

Reading on the web is too much work!

Reading from a computer screen tires the eyes. People read 25% more slowly on the web than they read print material.

That's why, web content has to be 50% shorter than print.

Readers on the Web scan text

According to a study by usability expert Jacob Nielson, 79% of readers on the Web tend to scan or skim text rather than read word for word.

Highlighted text (bold or color, also hyperlinked text) and bulleted lists aid scannability.

Use objective language to build credibility, rather than exaggerated claims or overly promotional words like "great", "tremendous" etc.

• bulleted lists
• highlighted text (bold or color, also hyperlinked text) for scannability
• meaningful headlines and subheads, avoiding cute or clever lines
• Write better web content.
• Understand how people (don't) read on the Web

Readers on the Web are impatient

Readers on the Web are in a hurry to get the information they want, and move on.

They don't have the patience for obscure and complex text. They don't enjoy scrolling through masses of text either.

Since there are millions of alternative websites in cyberspace, they will quickly move to another site if they don't enjoy the information gathering experience on your site.

Attracting attention and retaining reader interest is a challenge, specially as you have just

10 seconds to grab attention with your web site content

55 seconds to develop an understanding of your company or product

To combat reader fatigue, make it easy for your Web users to get relevant information. Put the most important information at the top. Use clear and concise text.

Readers on the Web are skeptical

Credibility is a major factor in retaining reader interest on the Web.

Use objective language, write meaningful headlines and subheads and avoid marketing jargon or exaggerated claims to build credibility. Cute or clever lines could mean that the reader takes longer to get to the main point.

Hyperlinks to the sources of your information or to related information also add to credibility.

Readers avoid information overload

In an average workday, people suffer from information overload . They already have a large number of emails in their inbox to contend with, and several documents to read.

They don't want to spend time and effort reading content that they may not find useful.

Offer your readers information in bite-size chunks which are easily digestible. Use short sentences, short paragraphs, one idea per paragraph.

Use meaningful headlines and sub-headlines which help them nail the information they want, quickly and easily.