5th august 2009
Sean Platt

Yes it's true, the World Wide Web has been the great equalizer, affording equal voice to anyone with a phone jack, allowing them to toss their thought to the majority of the world, but it has also rendered it immeasurably more difficult for the average web surfer to wade through the swill and sameness in order to find the best copy.

With over 120 million blogs and counting, there isn't even close to a shortage of blah blah blogging.

When you are writing online web copy, you must be sure to make every word count or else risk your readers getting lost. Here are 4 quick tips that will help any online writer craft their best web copy.

1) Remember to write for the scanners. Like it or not, people can't help but scan when reading online. Those writers who embrace this essential truth are invariably the same writers who develop a large and loyal following.

A new visitor to your site will glance at the entire page before ever stringing one of your sentences together. It is your job to clearly divide your copy with well articulated ideas and divided headings, easily allowing the reader to bounce from line to line in search of value.

Use pictures and graphics to further engage the interest of your reader. Humans are visual by nature, and pictures tell us a story that is easier to remember than the plain black and white of simple text. If you treat each page on your site like a page in a magazine, you will gather a wider audience than another writer of equal ability who treats the copy on their site as though it is resting on stationary.

2) Demonstrate interest in your topic. Show off your knowledge with enthusiastic, crisp and to the point copy. Be articulate while never forgetting to provide your reader with the most amount of value you can. Write with energy, but don't go on for one word longer than necessary. Imagine, if you are bored when writing, how do you think your reader will feel when reading?

Write about only things that excite you most, or at the very least, uncover and exploit the most engaging elements that exist within your topic. Divide your article into easy to swallow segments. You want your reader to feel fully satisfied with the copy, yet also completely willing and maybe eager to take another final nibble before bouncing away from the page.

3) Size matters. Sorry, it's true. The length of the page does matter. There is
little difference between the front page of your news paper and the home page on your website, it's all valuable real estate. If your visitors have to scroll down the page to discover your best content, it's perfectly possible it will go forever undiscovered. It might not be fair, but there's no use arguing with human nature.

4) Make certain your copy stays squeaky clean. It does not make one iota of
difference how often you write or how precise a writer you think you might be. There isn't a single soul alive who can write without ever needing an edit.

Eliminate superfluous words and make sure your copy is as considerate to the reader as the layout of your page.

Writing for the web is nothing like writing in your journal. Follow these few simple (and arguably essential) steps and you can easily create out a written roadmap that is easy for your reader to follow.