All content writers want netizens to read and love their writing. There is no harm in thinking along those lines, provided you know what it takes to achieve that! Web content writing follows a different set of techniques that you might not be conversant with. So, if you have written excellent essays in high school and think that web content will be just a walk in the park, it’s time for a reality check! Web content writers have to survive under stiff competition from other websites in the same domain. If your content is not interesting enough, the reader will shut down that browser tab and buzz off to another website.
What are the points that you need to keep in mind? To start with, do not take your readers out for a long ride before you break your core information to them. Readers on the Internet believe in instant gratification when it comes to data. No reader would enjoy reading through your introductory lines and rhetoric to get to the information he is looking for! The more blatant you are in parting with the information, the better off you are as a content writer. Keep the factor of brevity in mind and sort out your material according to relevancy. If you are ruthless in editing words and phrases that look redundant, you will be able to crank out a killer web copy.
Web content is best written in an active, conversational style. The reader on the other side of the computer screen is connecting with your writing through a digital medium. Do you speak to people on the cell phone in a passive voice? Follow the same tenet in web content writing. A key purpose of your content is to urge the reader into some sort of action. It could be a click on a web link or a response to a survey. The use of active verbs will be able to bring about that sense of urgency in the reader. Passive writing will also make your copy obese and verbose. Both have the potential to kill an otherwise competent content writing.
As a web content writer looking to plug in a marketing message here and there, you have to look for opportunities to make the reader think and respond. Provoking the reader through intelligent arguments and smart writing will be beneficial for the web copy. Don’t try to solve or answer the problems that you have raised in your copy when your purpose is to bring out a response in the reader. The ‘call of action’ must be subtly wrapped so that the readers do not think that you are desperate for a click. While you balance these threads in your mind, keep an eye on the most clichéd of all web content mistakes: using clichés! At the same time, get rid of soppy adjectives. They don’t work on online buyers. As long as you have a direct approach, your web copy is bound to attract readers.
