Writing for the Web

Writing for the web, as anyone with experience in the field can tell you, is not like writing for the print world. The reason for this is because people read things differently on the web than they would in, say, a book or a magazine.

Scanning

On the web, visitors scan. They expect to see headings, bolded text, italics, different colors; elements that facilitate their scanning behaviour. Visitors want to be able to determine what a page is about within seconds of arriving.

Short & Punchy

Visitors want short sentences. Short paragraphs.

Give them what they want, and give it to them in the smallest package possible. And be punchy; it won't win you any commendations from your high school English teacher, but your visitors will thank you for it.

Linking Properly

Visitors love to click. Don't deny them this pleasure - encourage it! By providing meaningful, relevant links throughout your site (and to other sites) you will not only please your visitors, but you will please the search engines, which means better rankings for you!

And do your best to link in context. For example:

A good linking method:

Learn about Pen Point Design while discovering how they work, and why you need to promote your website.

A poor linking method:

Learn about Pen Point Design by clicking on this link. Discover how they work by clicking here, and click here to find out why you need to promote your website.

Linking in context is easier to scan, easier to understand, and the search engines favour it.