People often ask me in pm and via my blogs for tips on writing for the Internet, so I've written a brief 'how to write for the Inertnet guide' here to refer to.

Everyone that does business on the Internet can benefit from understanding

'how to write for the Internet'

and in the first instance

'how people read on the Internet'


Internet users read differently when surfing the Internet than they might when reading a newspaper, magazine, book, leaflet etc.

Knowing how users read on the Internet is thus very important in ensuring that your content is read.

Internet readers skim read looking for keywords and phrases that lead them to the juicy titbit they are looking for. Helping to direct them to that information before they click away to another site is thus very important.

Meanwhile, if you need them to read ALL your information, for your own ends you need to write in a way then reduces the skimming.

A few good rules of thumb include:

Having a summary of page content at the top of the page in bullet list form.

Some sites link directly to that paragraph for quick location by the reader. This is very helpful!

Having a summary of your main services and benefits on every page.

This is important as a reader might find your site not via the main page but via one of the other pages. If they don't know via that page what you do, they might not stick around long enough to find out.

Basics of writing for the Internet

* Short paragraphs 3-4 lines max

* Bullet point lists (breaks up blocks of text - allows easy access to info)

* Bold important words that the user might find of interest

* Headings for paragraphs

* Try to write as if speaking to the reader

* Keep content concise

* Do not be verbose, not every reader has English as a first language and everyone in not educated to degree level.

* If you have space, leave a line between each bullet point for extra visibility (As I have done here)

* Avoid white on a coloured background - it requires more 'effort' to read. Some cool sites favour white on black. Jury is out on how effective that is. My opinion is not as effective as black on white.

* Size 12 -14 font is preferable to small font. Again it's easier to read.

* Don't clutter your page with distractions unless you want the user to stop reading and view that distraction. Ie moving banners, popups etc.

* Music isn't a good one as people have different music tastes. It could be an instant turn off.

* Flash intro's can be enough to send people who want fast access to content to click away rather than waiting while the page loads.

There is a lot more to learn about how to write for the Internet

For more details here is a really great resource which details the research carried out into how people read on the Internet as well as great tips on how to write for the Internet.

www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/

I haven't included details re seoing content here as when we're talking about humans reading content, it's more important it reads well.

How to attract searchengines is another article for another day.

Hope some find this helpful

I am sure others will contribute to the list and disagree with the list

Contrary opinions nearly always lead to a more valuable source of information, so they are welcomed.

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