Five Tips to Write Winning Web Articles

Looking for another no cost promotional tool? Your fee will simply be an investment of a small block of your time and writing what you know most about. But there are a few things to keep in mind when writing for the web. Long paragraphs are usually acceptable for print media; they are not for the web.

If you want to write articles that web users will love to read and put to use follow these 5 simple tips:

1. Make your article scan ready. A study by Jakob Nielson publicized as guru of web page usability by the New York Times published that only 16 per cent of his test users actually read the copy they found online; 79 per cent of them simply scanned it. Your impatient web readers will want important information to jump out at them. Some practical ways to make your text scannable are: headings, sub-headings, bulleted list, numbered lists, easy steps and/or typeface variation. For example, compelling headlines are considered an art. Are you drawn to the author's article as "How to Write Web Articles" or "5 Tips to Write Winning Web Articles?"

2. Keep it short. Get and keep the attention of web readers by delivering short messages. You put effort into gaining your web reader's attention; now make their click worthwhile with brief compelling copy in bite sizes. Start with the conclusion. Your readers may not make it to the end of your piece to get it. Web readers don't want to get bogged down in long blocks of text. So get to the point early and use the rest of your article to support that main point.

3. Add substance. Resist fluffing your articles. Include practical valuable information in your copy. Everyone loses when you don't take the time to impart substance. It increases the reputation of the web being an unreliable source of knowledge. Additionally, lack of substance will block your road to profitable referrals. Do the research and/or draw from your knowledge and experience to illustrate. Your stories and real life examples will meet your reader's need for practical information and connect with their emotion. It's a known fact emotions will move people to action. Whether you desire them to act by signing up or making a purchase, add substance and improve your reader responses.

4. Make it web professional. Create a more web professional look by using short sentences then format your page to approximately 65 characters per line. Long stringed sentences that stream from side to side of the web page look visually unprofessional. Select a layout for your article from several short article formats that include the how-to, tips list, question-answer, problem-solutions and interview. Make your introduction and summary short but do add one. Your web readers don't want just a list of boring facts and information. They want to connect with you by reading your personable introduction and practical tips with a definite ending or summary. Remember excited readers become enthusiastic buyers and enthusiastic buyers will refer your product or service to all their friends.

5. Use your keywords. Thread your keywords throughout your short article as naturally as possible. Otherwise your copy will sound stiff and dull. To gain visibility on the search engines, your site must be "indexed" by their robotic software. In its most basic form, they must be able to compare the code, keywords and other Meta tags with the actual content of the site. From this they reach a conclusion regarding the context of the site. This and other factors will affect how well your copy or website places in the search engines.

You may use these guidelines for all kinds of web copy. The same elements of using keywords, making your article professional, adding substance, keeping it short and making your copy scannable will improve the quality of your articles. Practice the above simple principles and write winning articles to distribute on the web everywhere.

� Earma Brown, 10 year author and business owner helps small business owners and writers who want to deliver their message effectively, build client lists and create additional streams of income. Author of "Win with the Writer Inside You", she offers free help through her monthly ezine "Web Wit" at http://www.writetowin.org/win-articles.htm and other free articles and books.

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