Writing For the Internet: 

Writing for the Internet is very different from writing for a print medium. In the first place, people take longer to read a webpage than a printed page because computer monitors are harder to read. Moreover, people visit the Internet to source quick, useful information – not for a detailed education.

Both these factors mean that one needs to write succinctly for the Internet than for a magazine or newspaper. One needs to present one’s article in a readable, organized and to-the-point manner – there is no scope for lengthy arguments or explanations.

 THE BASICS OF INTERNET WRITING

 Include an introduction: No Internet article is complete without a brief introduction. This introduction needs to summarize what the article is about in no more than three or four lines. It must also feature the article’s main keyword – which brings us to the subject of Search Engine Optimization.

SEO: People search the Internet using certain keywords. To ensure that your article gets a decent amount of traffic, you need to seed it with these keywords. Keywords are words or phrases that describe the chosen topic’s fundamental concepts. In most cases, the agency contacting you to write the piece will supply you with appropriate keywords. If not, you need to find your own.

 There are online keyword-finding tools available for this. While writing for a UK-based client you could use the Keyword Assistant at http://inventory.uk.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

 While writing for clients based in the US or elsewhere, you could refer to Google’s Keyword Tool at

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

 Be brief: As already mentioned, Internet readers spend less time on a webpage than they would on a printed page. Moreover, readerships in certain countries have remarkable short attention spans. You must therefore use simple, grammatically non-ambitious sentences. Do not write to impress – write to inform. Keep your paragraphs short and provide enough spacing between them.

 Avoid too much formatting: While using the ‘bold’ feature can highlight certain portions effectively, italics and first-line indents are NOT useful for Internet writing.

 Finally, avoid making yourself culpable of plagiarism. For more information on this, refer to our article on this subject (How To Avoid Plagiarism).

Arun Chitnis