January 2009: What's in the breeze Developing India-centric content for a new web portal targeted at NRIs Editing and enhancing a corporate presentation for a German bank Research and content generation for client's website on a pay-per-month basis Repackaging and writing travel content for a client's website Developing content for a new motor vehicles website - delivering 500 articles per month Creating daily reports and summaries in the alternative energy sector... and more
Check out sample articles written by writers from our network.
Writers, use the writers' contact form to get in touch with us.
Since its humble beginning in the early 1970s, the Internet has come a long way. It has evolved into a platform for free speech that is accessed by nearly a billion users worldwide. Consequently the demand for quality content on Internet websites is rising. This has had a catalytic effect in bringing in the whole new concept of “web writing”.
Today the public judges your organization by its website. If your virtual space fails to impress them with its high quality content you stand to lose in terms of reputation and credibility. Moreover, web users are an impatient lot and prefer to steer clear of inarticulate rambling prose. Minimal scrolling where the content is concise and to the point is what most of them want. Each section that forms a web page must make sense alone because, people tend to read isolated bits of text or even read sections out of sequence. As a web writer, are you able to deliver the gist of the page to the reader within a few seconds, without making them scroll down for an eternity?
Writing Good Content:
• Form smaller sections – split your text by splitting up the original into coherent sections that each deal with an idea or concept within the topic of your article.
• Give meaningful headings- Choose a heading, which gives the reader a clear idea of what the article will be about.
• Don’t be repetitive - Never place the same content on multiple pages. It is better to provide a link to the original page.
• Don’t assume - Spell out acronyms and abbreviations in full the first time they appear in a section.(e.g. Global Positioning System-GPS)
• Don’t be boring - Make your content as interesting as possible. It can contain anything from animation to streamlining videos, in addition to words and pictures.
• Involve your reader – Your content should be relevant to your readers and be the reason for them to revisit.
• Prove your credibility - The information you provide must be and look trust worthy. It should show your supremacy over other information providers and convince your readers of your prowess in that particular area.
Effective Headlines Attract Traffic:
The headline of your article is of gigantic importance. This is the essential line that draws the attention of the reader and convinces him to read the content. So use the right kind of headlines and you will never fall short of visitors.
Here are a couple of ideas:
• Catch their Attention - It’s perfectly ok to be playful or clever as long as it’s in your website’s interest. The marathon task here is to tease the reader into reading more. Don’t be completely straightforward, like ‘Annual Sales Report’. Rather, make them interested with something like “6 out of every 10 mobile handsets sold are NOKIA!”
• Use Action Verbs - Always avoid using flat verbs like ‘is’, ‘have’, ‘was’. Instead try a more compelling “100 Movie Tickets Awaits You!”
• Describe Your Content - The reader must be given a clear idea of what he can expect if he reads further. So describe your content precisely, like “Budget 2005 Review”
Redundant, Outdated & Trivial Content:
Make sure that your site stays away from these three tags, as they will give it a jaded and stale image.
Redundant:
There is always certain content on our websites, which looked very relevant when it was written but with the passage of time, becomes superfluous. Even today one can find pages explaining how to click on a link or how to use a browser. Sometimes several pages hold nearly the same content. This not only wastes space on the web but also conveys poor website maintenance. The reader may get confused over which content to trust as some is updated and some is not.
Outdated Content:
The credibility of your site can be at risk if a bulk of your content is irrelevant and outdated. This can include pages referring to something ‘new’ that is no longer new or pages containing names, emails and other details which have no relevance to your site any more.
Trivial Content:
Always remember that your site can be a success story only if it provides the readers with the information that they require. Pages made simply to lure a reader with an interesting headline, but with no meaningful content will hamper your site’s image.
Disposing ROT:
This is not a one-day task, especially if your site has a fair volume of web pages and has been on the web for long. What one needs is a dedicated system/staff exclusively for this garbage disposal task. It must go in a systematic way. Fix a certain number of pages, which would be checked for ROT in a predefined period.
C off to ROT:
Be critical when you are planning to add new content. Scrutinize it for its newness, reliability and relevance to your website. Avoid mentioning the names of your staff members on the web, rather give their designations. Also you can provide a generic contact email address like info@arm.com.
Every page should be dedicated to a single topic or function. In this way it will be far easier for you to find and edit a particular topic. Provide a link to an existing page wherever it is required instead of duplicating the same content.
Last Word:
Although writing on the web may not be perceived as particularly creative, creativity is involved in any work you undertake. Your content will appeal to the reader only if it has your zeal, enthusiasm and passion, key elements in any creative work.. A lecture on “web writing” won’t equip you for that, but persistent hard work and a dedication to the written word will.
Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article.
Out of 5 “chilies”, our editorial team gave this article...
—About our writer:
Ajit writes for Chillibreeze
>> Read more articles written by our chillibreeze staff and writers network:
.gif)
Developing India-centric content for a new web portal targeted at NRIs
