The WebDev Buzz

Writing web content and copy is not the same as writing school essays or editorials or short stories. Some people wrongly assume that writing web content is simple and plain straight-forward writing. A person sits down and pounds the keyboard, and after several minutes, an article is produced. Unfortunately, writing web content demands more than that. It requires several skills.

The first skill, of course, is the ability to put more than just intelligible words together. Without this skill, the web content writing will be a hopeless exercise. The second skill is the ability to edit spelling and grammar. With poor spelling and grammar, visitors will be pissed off.

More than these two skills, writing web content involves three major concepts: right information, right keywords and right style. These concepts help the website attain a high ranking in search engine lists.

• Right information – There is a plethora of information and facts found in the Internet, but some of these facts are inaccurate or outdated. This means that the information chosen to be placed in the website must be carefully selected. Otherwise, the website runs the risk of publishing false information, which is detrimental to the reputation of the website.

Aside from having the right information, the website should have enough information. The contents of the website should not dwell on and on about one specific topic only. Otherwise, the visitor will assume that the website doesn’t have much to offer.

• Right keywords and the use of these keywords – Keywords bring the website to the attention of Internet surfers which are using search engines to find information. When choosing keywords, the people involved in web content writing should not be stuck with a couple or few words only. For example, if the website is all about “Multimedia in the Internet”, the web content may use terms such as “embedded audio”, “video controls”, “shockwave”, “JavaScript”, “Plug-ins”, “ActiveX”, “Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programs”, “Perl”, and many other related terms.

But having the right keywords is not enough. The keywords should be seamlessly placed into the whole article so that they make sense. Consider these two examples:

1. Multimedia shockwave in plug-ins and add-ins together with embedded audio.
2. Web browsers have clever ways of handling multimedia files, such as having built-in supports like video controls, and having plug-ins and add-ins.

Obviously, the second sentence was more skillfully put together.

• Right style – While the web content must be informative, it must establish a strong connection with the visitor or potential client. Otherwise, the web content will be similar to the emotionless presentation of facts found in theses and dissertations. But, placing too much “emotion”, such as placing a lot of exclamation points, will seriously destroy the image of the website’s company. Therefore, the people assigned in writing web content must maintain a good balance of professionalism and emotional connectivity.

Writing web content must be well-planned, and the people assigned to this task must be skilled. Otherwise, it may be advisable for the owners of the website to hire a professional writer. This option will save time and effort.