Writing
For the Internet:
Writing for the
Internet is very different from writing for a
print medium. In the first place, people take
longer to read a webpage than a printed page because
computer monitors are harder to read. Moreover,
people visit the Internet to source quick, useful
information – not for a detailed education.
Both
these factors mean that one needs to write succinctly
for the Internet than for a magazine or newspaper.
One needs to present one’s article in a
readable, organized and to-the-point manner –
there is no scope for lengthy arguments or explanations.
THE
BASICS OF INTERNET WRITING
Include
an introduction: No Internet article is complete
without a brief introduction. This introduction
needs to summarize what the article is about in
no more than three or four lines. It must also
feature the article’s main keyword –
which brings us to the subject of Search Engine
Optimization.
SEO:
People search the Internet using certain keywords.
To ensure that your article gets a decent amount
of traffic, you need to seed it with these keywords.
Keywords are words or phrases that describe the
chosen topic’s fundamental concepts. In
most cases, the agency contacting you to write
the piece will supply you with appropriate keywords.
If not, you need to find your own.
There
are online keyword-finding tools available for
this. While writing for a UK-based client you
could use the Keyword Assistant at http://inventory.uk.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
While
writing for clients based in the US or elsewhere, you could refer to
Google’s Keyword Tool at
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Be
brief: As already mentioned,
Internet readers spend less time on a webpage
than they would on a printed page. Moreover, readerships
in certain countries have remarkable short attention
spans. You must therefore use simple, grammatically
non-ambitious sentences. Do not write to impress
– write to inform. Keep your paragraphs
short and provide enough spacing between them.
Avoid
too much formatting: While using the ‘bold’
feature can highlight certain portions effectively,
italics and first-line indents are NOT useful
for Internet writing.
Finally,
avoid making yourself culpable of plagiarism.
For more information on this, refer to our article
on this subject (How To Avoid Plagiarism).
Arun Chitnis |