People go through websites to find information. Unlike other forms of writing such as that of print media, web page writing has to be done in a careful and creative manner or else you risk losing your visitors. The internet has billions of websites and whatever information cannot be found on one site would be found on another. As a copywriter, you have to understand the behavior of web users in order to come up with great content. Here are some things that will help you capture your readers’ attention.
First, your writing has to be legible. This is much the work of the webmaster than the content writer. Users will quickly navigate away from a webpage whose content is not legible. Avoid using very tiny, fancy or faint fonts. Use the standard legible ones such as Times New Roman, Arial and Verdana. Font type that is lower than size 12 is not recommended as it makes the user strain to read the content.
With your content legible, you have to make it interesting and engaging to the reader. The majority of web users are lay people. Therefore, you have to write in simple language and in an informal manner. It is best to write as if you are talking to the person directly. The only exception to informal writing is when you are writing content intended for those in the academia or technical fields. Examples of such articles can be found on online scientific journals.
Next, write in short paragraphs. In web page writing, prose is very time consuming to read. Most web users have no time to read the all through the articles, they simply skim through looking for the information they want. If they cannot find it within the first few minutes, they navigate to another page or website. Your intention should be to hold the reader as much as possible. Therefore, write your articles in short paragraphs and put the main points in bulleted form. Give headings that summarize what the article is about and give a quick summary of your topic at the start or end of the article. This will save users time trying to figure out what your article is about.
