Catriona Pollard is founder and director of CP Communications, which provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that achieve positive media coverage, increased brand awareness and improved sales results.
Phone: (02) 9922 1063
Email: cp@cpcommunications.com.au
Website: www.cpcommunications.com.au
Blog: www.PublicRelationsSydney.com.au
Twitter: http://twitter.com/catrionapollard
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/catrionapollard
Writing online is very different to writing for print materials. People tend to scan information online and browse sites quickly before clicking through to another.
This means you need to adapt your writing to suit online whether you are writing for an online publication, your blog, your website or even social media. This will make it easier for people to quickly understand the essence of your content or maybe even capture their attention.
Here are some tips to help you write great online content.
Short paragraphs make it easy for people to scan your content plus they are also easier to read on a monitor as opposed to large blocks of texts. Keep your writing concise, avoiding repetition and over explanation.
Subheadings are useful signposts to guide readers through your content and enabling easier scanning. Make sure the font is reader friendly, for instance Verdana, and avoid writing in all capitals. Bold all headings and subheadings to make them stand out.
Dot points allow you to draw attention to the important facts without having to go into large amounts of detail.
Understand your audience and write copy that will appeal to them. Don’t use jargon, overly descriptive words or too much colloquial language.
If you are one of those people that put an exclamation mark after every sentence – stop! They make people edgy and they are annoying! Exclamation marks don’t make your sales pitch any more effective!
Check and re-check your content to make sure it is correct. If you are unsure whether there should be a comma, a colon or a semi colon it is a good idea to consult a grammar guide. Good grammar and spelling ensures professionalism and increases credibility.
Hyperlinks are a great way to link to other online content, such as your website, blog, social media channels or maybe an interesting news article. They are also a useful way of providing additional information without having to go into depth on your webpage.
By following these simple tips you can make your website, blog, online article or social media content easy to read and appealing to your target audience. This means they will spend longer on these sites reading and engaging with your content.
What online content ideas have you used that has got you results? We would all love to hear about them so leave a comment below.