It’s a fact that writing for the web is entirely different from writing for print. When it comes to writing your blog articles, you need to keep in mind a number of rules that make it easier for your readers.
You’ll need to forget (or at least temporarily ignore) some of what you’ve learned about writing for print, because as you will soon discover, writing for the web is a totally different game altogether!
To prove my point, think for a moment about the material you read online. What do you find most attractive? What turns you off? Seriously, take a minute to think about it.
While you’re pondering, here are four useful rules for writing online:
Rule #1: Subheadings
If you’re anything like me and the majority of people who read material online, you find it intimidating and possibly unpleasant when you’re met with a scary, wall of text that almost swallows you whole when you load a website.
When I’m searching for material to read online, I want it to be easy on the eyes. I want to be able to scan the piece to find the information that I am after—and fast! If I have to wade through tons and tons of text just to get to the information I need, I’ll be gone with the click of a mouse button.
That’s why subheadings are fabulous! When structuring your blog posts, think carefully about the topics you are focusing on in each section, and use subheadings to indicate what’s contained in that section. Your readers will love you for it!
Rule #2: Paragraphs
If you’re going to publish online, make sure you learn how to use paragraphs. Like I said before, a wall of text does nothing for visitors to your website and you can guarantee people won’t read your material if it isn’t formatted in a way that is friendly to online readers.
Break your piece up into paragraphs and make sure the paragraphs aren’t too long. You don’t want to go any longer than 6 or so lines in your paragraphs as a general guide.
Rule #3: Bullets and Lists
In print, it’s amazing just how much you can get away with. When it comes to listing things in your blog copy, whatever you do, don’t resort to creating big lists using commas alone.
The solution to creating a list when writing for the web is to use bullet points. They’re easy to use and fast! It also works wonders in breaking the copy up into manageable chunks that online readers can browse through.
Rule #4: Keep your Sentences Short
Believe it or not, many people fall into the long sentences trap. Keep your online sentences short and concise. A sentence that goes on and on can be downright painful. Keep them short and keep them simple.
These are my four rules for online writing, but I’d like to add here a rule that applies to writing for the net and print: check your grammar and spelling at all times! Reading poorly written material is distracting to your readers and will break them out of their reading flow, so stick to the stuff you learned in school.
Happy blogging!
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for the tips. These are infact tips that need to be followed by just about anybody who writes a big post.
I can say though I try to follow it, I’m guilty of not using sub-headings… will have to make a concious effort in this.
Great rules, but they really apply to all articles on the Web, not just for blogs!
For most people, reading on a screen is not as easy as reading in print - so this is excellent advice for anyone writing for the Web.