Businesses today cannot get away from the vast fact that not having a Website puts them at a serious disadvantage. In fact, during the past years, the first thing buyers do when they want more information about a product is visit the Internet for details. Need cheap laminated floors? Just go on the Net and type what you are looking for into a search engine. In all likelihood there will be a good wealth of Websites giving you what you need to know.
Writing for the Computer Monitor
Holding a lasting attention from a reader on a Web page is much more difficult than it would be in print copy. This is because there is more interactivity involved in reading a Website than reading a book or a periodical; it is easy to just “click away” to another article or anything else that may catch the reader’s attention. Therefore it is essential to make your copy relevant, current, informative and interesting.
Welcoming Your Readers
Your Home Page is by far the most important piece of your commercial Web site. If you don’t get your readers’ attention here you can kiss them good bye. They say that that you have about 14 seconds to get the readers attention and you must ensure your home page does that work for you. Use your home page to focus on your public, your customers, your readers. Perhaps the biggest mistakes Internet marketers do is focus too much on the product right on the home page. Position yourself as and expert there, give information that interests your users, though your are not showing detailed on your home page, give headlines and links to more information right on it.
Web Site Writing Essentials
Focus on the objectives. What is your website trying to do, sell a product? Generate calls? Provide information? Generate cash with affiliated marketing? Whatever your objective is, focus you copy in achieving this, giving the readers ease of navigation through the purpose of your Website.
Some resources:
Use lots of headers. Great headlines and subheads are the best real secret to success in writing for the Web (1 ). Make your headlines catch the attention of your readers, use sub-headlines within topics to make them keep reading.
Read more about Writing Effective Headlines
Write short paragraphs. No more than five to six lines each. It is hard to read on the screen by looking at big chunks of information. While breaking your paragraphs ensure not to cut a follow up of a sentence though. Your text should flow together while communicating a unified piece of information. Stop, put a row in between and keep talking about the same topic but starting a new main sentence.
Keep information current. Information ages fast on the Net. You should not be using 1997 statistics to prove a product claim, it doesn’t matter how relevant the statistics are, they are no longer relevant, too old. The internet evolves so fast that readers don’t usually trust information that’s even a few years old.
