In 2005 I completed my English Degree, then my Copywriting Diploma, and I got my first full-time job as a copywriter. The official job title was ‘Web Editor and Journalist’ and I had NO idea what I was doing. In everything I’d been taught, ‘writing for web’ was one half of one page in a 1000+ page manual. I was even told by one lecturer, not to worry, that I’d get a real writing job one day.
No one thought much about web content writing in 2005, so I wrote my own rule book. Looking back at my notes from my first year on the job and I don’t think much has changed, which is reassuring that I still know what I’m doing! So what do you need to consider when writing for an online audience?
1. Don’t ramble on
People spend only a minute or two reading a webpage (the exception being when they’ve searched for an article on a topic…like this one) and, unlike print, they need to be broken up to make them easily digestible. Sub headings, numbered points, and images are all key parts of a content writer’s arsenal, helping to make sure their copy is read.
2. Get to the point
I call this one the ‘recipe reader’. When I am looking for the perfect Yorkshire pudding recipe, I don’t want to read 500 words on how your Great Aunt Josephine inspired the recipe, I want to know if I need self-raising or plain flour and if I have enough eggs in the house. You need to get to the point quickly to hold an online reader’s attention.
3. Get found
The hard truth is that, if writers want their work to be found, online articles have to be written to suit search engines. That means embedding relevant keywords, making sure your readability and relevancy scores are high, and generally thinking of Google and Bing as two of your audience members.
4. Write the Hook
I’m sorry to tell you, but your article on the finer details of fly fishing is not the only one on that subject out there. You need to make sure that when you come up in the search results, that your title and abstract are so enticing, people will choose your article even if it’s 5th in the SERPs.
5. Up your speed
If I am writing an article for print, I will often have a long, luxurious deadline which will allow me to take my time to research and write the perfect piece. If I am writing for the web, it is usually much more of a race to get it online before the topic is off the news cycle.
Instead of one-off jobs, I usually am booked to write a bank of online articles, or several per week for a certain length of time. The attitude towards how quickly online content should be turned out is very different to offline content.
If you are interested in improving your bank of online content, get in touch today.
