Writing of all varieties often brings great challenges for writers. Web writing in particular can be an extremely hard concept to grasp for today’s writers, because it requires a delicate balance between helping readers and establishing a company’s unique brand identity.
Below are seven tips that will help you improve the quality and effectiveness of your web writing, to fulfill the goal of attracting visitors to the web sites for which you write.
Consider Your Audience
Most millennials don’t want to read about nursing home options or the latest developments with social security payments. Your clients will usually give you at least a brief description of their target audience. Put yourself in the shoes of these people; what is important to them? What are they most worried about? Let the answers to these questions guide the focus of your writing.
Less Is More
For efficient web writing, you must pare down your wordiness and get to the meat of what you are trying to say. Never use three words when one will do. Save the thesaurus for your poems or short stories: readers will be put off by words that they do not understand. Focus on concise sentences that use as few words as possible to convey your meaning.
Have A Hook
According to the Nielsen Norman Group, if you want several minutes of user attention, you must be able to communicate your value proposition in the first ten seconds of them visiting the site. To do this, you need to have a hook in your writing that quickly catches the attention of your readers. The very first sentence of your writing should engage your readers enough to make them want to continue reading down the page.
Add Value
In an Entrepreneur article, Laura Hale Brockway writes that people visit a web site for a specific reason: to perform a task, answer a question, or solve a challenge. Web writing in a marketing context is made to help visitors accomplish these goals. Keep in mind the purpose of a reader’s visit to your web site as you write and strive to address this purpose throughout your piece.
Back Up Your Claims
To give readers more faith in your content, incorporate information from resources that people trust. A quote from an authority in a specific field or a link to an article from a reputable publication can go a long way. Once readers see that other sources verify the statements you make in your web writing, the company you are writing for gains credibility, which is a key element of finding new customers online.
Tell A Story
Hard data and analytics are helpful, but people will more often connect with other people. Talk about how the service or company that you are writing for has helped a specific person or organization overcome a problem that they were having. Try to choose examples that the largest number of people will be able to relate to, so that you can maximize the impact of your marketing narrative.
Accentuate The Differences
There is undoubtedly some characteristic or trait that separates the client you are writing for from others in their field. Find out where that separation is, and use it in your writing. This helps strengthen the brand of an organization’s content and makes them memorable to their readers.
Following these tips will get you well on your way to creating valuable web writing that is attractive to online marketers. Every client needs content that separates them from the crowd and builds value in the eyes of their visitors. As a writer, your text often serves as the tip of the online marketing spear, making it even more important for you to craft content that fulfills its purpose.
