Sunday 29 January 2012

Copywriting Techniques That Stand Out

Some may think that writing for the internet is the same as writing in your journal or possibly print media. However, this is the wrong type of thinking. The problem with this is people who read on the web like to scan the pages quickly picking out key words and phrases.

The same idea that newspapers use is having a great lead paragraph that sums up the entire article in three of four sentences should be broken down in web writing to three or so paragraphs. This allows the readers to gather the gist of the article in case they do not have time to continue reading and then they may move on to the next topic or a different website altogether.

Do you know why we tend to scan pages? It is the concept of usability. Reading from the web or internet is tiresome to our eyes tending to take longer making it easier for us to look at a printed page. I would rather print out an article or research journals I need because it is so hard to read all that information on a computer screen. This is why it is so important in web writing for articles, blogs or whatever, to make it interesting and well written if you want people to take more time to read.




The next tip is to keep paragraphs short, simple and concise. Any good journalist knows how important it is to have small paragraphs containing no more than three sentences using breaks generally. The short paragraph aid in the issue of scanning and usability allowing the reader to scan the page quickly so the minimize the strain of their eyes. Using active verbs in the sentences allow the concise writing with the sentences and paragraphs.

If online writing contains too much punctuation, editing is suggested. The lead paragraph, as mentioned earlier, should be broken down to two or three paragraphs. In news writing, we try to write a great lead in one long sentence then space for a paragraph. Since small sentences are best for web writing try to break the lead down into three points.

Another tip assisting the scanning process is to use subheads and bolding. Using subheads informs the reader that another portion of the topic has begun. This helps to point out main topics of an article. Bullet points are great to use in article structure especially when several points are made, allowing the reader to scan right down to the bullets.

The last and possibly most important point is to make sure to have a voice or opinion. The internet gives a writer or anyone who wants to share their opinions and ideas an amazing opportunity to do this. The internet is the best way to show your personality as opposed to newspaper and print media. The web allows a person to walk on the wide side with their writing so take advantage of it and using these tips will give you a great jumpstart.


Article Source: http://www.upublish.info

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