Health Stress and Anxiety

I often see new copywriters, when they complete their training, begin by writing for the Internet. A mistake I see, however, is they fail to keep in mind the key differences between writing for the Internet and writing for print. We will cover some of these differences here, and I promise if you keep these “golden rules” in mind as you write for the Internet, you will achieve much success.

Traditional publishing and writing for the Internet differ in three crucial ways:

Audience

Format

Lifespan

You must take each of these differences into consideration when writing for the Internet.

Audience

Audience consideration is a primary factor when writing for the Internet, just as it’s a key consideration for any writer. But while writing basics may remain the same – understanding who your primary audience is, for example – there are some major differences.

First, in traditional publications your audience is somewhat a given. Once they have actually picked up or purchased a newspaper or magazine they are likely to at least give it a few pages before setting it aside. However, remember when writing for the Internet your audience can move on from your words with one click of the mouse. You need to be highly focused and on target all the time. You can’t take much time for introductions, slow buildup or indirect discussions. If you, the writer, do not seem to be delivering the goods then the reader will simply move on and fast. This does not mean you need to cater to the lowest denominator ” please do not treat your readers as stupid ” but it does mean that you need to know your audience well and how to respond to that audience’s needs and desires.

Format

A second point to consider when writing for the Internet is the fact that some online readers simply skim and don’t read every word. Quickly scanning your copy, they will only commit to reading the entire thing if you catch their attention. Therefore you must be concise and clear in your writing. Punchy headlines, accurate subheadings, and solid introductions and conclusions are important to use with “skimmers.”

An error that new writers might make, is trying to make their articles look like text in a magazine article or a book. However, writing on the Internet has big differences. A reader will actually read the Internet differently from ‘physical pages’, so different techniques are needed. ‘Point of entry’ is one of the most important. A search engine can send a reader to the middle or even the end of your document. If you have written accurate and concise content however, a reader and yes, even the ‘skimmers’ could likely go back to the beginning of your article to read it entirely. There is a way to skip this step though, and that is by splitting up your text into several stand-alone pieces that will fit together as a complete article, or separate documents if looked at the same way. (A good example of this? Did you see how I broke this article into individual stand-alone segments?)

Lifespan

Last, but certainly not least, an important difference you must consider when writing for the Internet is what is called “lifespan”. On the surface, due to the rapid nature of the Internet, it appears that electronic documents have a limited lifespan. But actually the opposite it true. Whereas a printed publication may only have a lifespan of a week, a month, or worse yet, a day, one thing most publications are doing now is archiving online. The beauty of the Internet is that archives may last for years, if not indefinitely. So as a writer you want to write fresh and current content, try to resist being too topical or you may date your material. Remember, potentially your readers may be accessing your words well into the future.

By keeping these three “golden keys” in mind when writing for the Internet — audience, format, and lifespan — you will find success.