Writing Effective Web Based Marketing Copy - Why Web Writing is Different

Why Web Writing is Different

Writing Effective Web Based Marketing Copy

Part I - Why Web Writing is Different

The foundation of effective copywriting can be summed up in one sentence: Know your audience.

The root of the difference between effective writing for the web and effective writing in other forums, then, is the difference in the audience. Those differences exist even when the respective audiences are made up of the same people. That's right. People read differently online than they do on paper, for a variety of reasons.

The visuals of reading from the monitor-the resolution, the color contrasts, the light, even the fact that the screen remains at a fixed distance and angle from the readers eyes-make prolonged reading less comfortable online. The custom of placing hyperlinks throughout web text has conditioned Internet users to jump pages and topics in the middle of a paragraph. Other options are more readily available than they would be in other formats.

A potential customer reading a traditional direct-mail brochure or flyer typically won't have the brochures of dozens of your competitors at his fingertips, so if he's interested in the service you provide, he's likely to read further. A potential customer online, however, has almost certainly come looking for the service you provide. That means not only that he knows what he wants, but that, with the click of his "back" button, he has a convenient list of links waiting patiently to take him to other websites where similar services are offered.

Once the reader clicks that back button, there's no guarantee he'll ever return to your site, even if he liked what he saw there. Unlike a paper brochure or flyer, your website isn't going to sit on the corner of his desk waiting to trigger his interest when it catches his eye again. If he isn't motivated to actively bookmark your site or make a note of the URL, odds are you'll never see him-or his business-again.

Clearly, then, we can't let him return to the list.

Grab the reader. Tell him what he wants to know. Don't let him click that button.

That's going to mean throwing out many of the conventions of "good writing" that you learned in high school and college:

That introductory paragraph where you lead in gradually to your key point? Suicide! The first few lines are often the only ones a visitor to your site will read-if they don't convey the really important information, chances are that information will never be seen.

Four to five sentences to each paragraph? Not if you want anyone to read them. Short paragraphs-even single sentences set off with paragraph spacing-are most effective on the web because they can be differentiated and skimmed at a glance. Visual formatting is a key aspect of effective copy on the web.

Show off your vocabulary? Most writing aimed at the general public should be geared toward a 7th-9th grade reading level.

Formal language makes you look professional? Formalistic language slows the reader down, and when web readers get slowed down, they tend to feel bogged down, and move on. Never say "formulated a plan" where "planned" will do, or "fabricated" in place of "made."

Once we've thrown out the fundamentals that make great essays but lousy web copy, we can move on to what's really important: In Part II we'll look at the two core goals of effective web copy, and then, in Part III, at the painless ways we can achieve those goals.

Tiffany Sanders - Copywriting Specialist

Tiffany Sanders is a freelance writer/editor whose background includes corporate copywriting, web-based marketing and educational copy, journalism, community education materials and legal reporting. She has two books currently in print--one fiction and one non-fiction--and a third under contract.

Writing Effective Web Based Marketing Copy

Web Writing Article by Tiffany Sanders

Part 1 - Web Writing - Why Web Writing is Different
Writing Effective Web Based Marketing Copy - The foundation of effective copywriting can be summed up in one sentence: Know your audience.
Part 2 - Web Content Writing - Core Goals
Writing Effective Web Based Marketing Copy - Effective web content writers know something that journalists have known for decades-most readers aren't going to finish the article.
Part 3 - Marketing Copy - Writing Effective Marketing Copy
Six Simple Rules - These six simple techniques will help achieve our two core goals of delivering key information up front and keeping our potential customers reading.

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