Blogging: Writing for the web
Posted on torsdag, januar 15, 2009 @ 23:10:30 by david
This article was written for one of my customers who is new to blogging and not used to writing at all, let alone for the web.
Creating content for you business blog does take time, with the researching for a topic, the actual writing and then the promotion of each article.
Using your time at work to create this content does brings benefits like improved SEO, communication with customers, and can lead to shorter sales cycles.
Before we can start writing for the web, we need to take a look at the way people read on the web.
How people read on the web
Typically around 80% of web users do not read each page word-for-word but rather scan the page to find the “highlights” and headlines. The reason is people do not take the time to read normally.
So due to this fact, we need to think about how we format the blog articles by separating into paragraphs and adding meaningful headings and sub-headings.
Break up your content into bite-sized pieces
Since people are scanning and not reading, we need to give them small paragraphs of information to keep them reading. By using a single idea for each paragraph with a heading to match the idea.
Get to the point already
Another technique or style of writing is the “inverted pyramid” style where you start with the conclusion to entice the reader to dig in and read deeper. Instead of what we learned at school, to build up to the conclusion, writing for the web requires a different strategy.
Are you trying to tell me or sell me something?
If you are writing for a business blog, chances are you want people to buy your products and services. But do not confuse the blog with your brochures or product pages on you website. Try not to start a blog or blog comment with how your products are “the industry leading...” or “we are committed to you”. Cut the crap. Give people what they want. Free solutions/answers to their problems.
If they are a customer, they should be proud to own your product. If they are not a customer they should want to own it or be a part of what you do.
