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Media Shower writer Chloe West is an experienced social media manager and blogger specializing in marketing and business articles. You can follow her work at her website.
I’ve been writing for a really long time. In second grade, I wrote short stories. In grade school, I wrote essays. In college, I wrote more essays. And finally, after college, I learned how to write for the web. Web content is unlike any other type of content and has only come about within the past several years. You can’t write content for print and then slap that onto a webpage and expect the same results. It’s a lot more specialized than one might realize. Here are a few tips for writing web content that converts.
Writing web content is a whole different ballgame.
1. Headlines are more important than everything else.
Studies show that 80% of people will read your headline, but only an average of about 20% will read the rest. The stronger and more convincing your headline, the more people will actually continue to read the rest of your article.
2. Write actionable content.
We’re writing web content for a reason, right? We want something from the person who’s reading it. So don’t write an article filled with fluff. Write content filled with reasons for the reader to take action and buy what you’re selling.
3. Tell the TRUTH.
One thing about the internet–it WILL call you out when you are lying. It will call you out fast and it will call you out hard. So do not try to run a fast one by the internet by writing out false claims or reports.
4. Use subheadings.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that no matter how great your article is, pretty much nobody is going to read the entire thing. If there is one thing that you take away from this article for your own writing, let it be this: Internet readers are skimmers. They are not going to read every single word. And if you put a blog post that consists of nothing but a wall of text, more likely than not, they’re not going to read it at all. You must include subheadings in your article so that you are breaking your ideas down into separate digestible points.
5. Keep it short and sweet.
Piggybacking off of point number four, don’t go on crazy tangents and make your articles way too long. People online have very short attention spans. Make all of your web content incredibly easy to read.
6. Always include pretty pictures.
People love to have visuals accompanying everything that they read on the Internet. That is why all social media platforms have become so picture-friendly. They know what the people want and they’re giving it to them.
Always include images that relate to your content.
7. Sign off with a call to action.
What was the purpose of this blog post? Oh, right, to sell something. So now is your chance to sell it. End with a call to action so that everyone who finished your article knows exactly what to do next.
Having written web content exclusively for the past few years, I have pretty much perfected my own writing strategy on creating content that converts. Take these tips under consideration to help improve your own content strategy.
Good content can lead to great results. Just check out our success stories!