Writing for the Web

The internet is a busy place. An estimated 70 million blog posts are published every month. That is over 1600 posts per minute! A study  by the Nielsen Norman Group observed that 79% of website visitors quickly scan a page's text, while only 16% pause to fully read what is there. This trend has only increased with the prevalence of mobile devices.

So how do you make your voice heard in a textual hurricane amongst people who aren’t really listening?

Keep It Concise and Compelling

People on the web are impatient, and they won’t wait for you to make your point. So, it is important to be ruthless in your editing. Speak with concise, carefully chosen words. If something isn’t essential, drop it. Especially in marketing messages, your first contact with a reader should be compelling enough to earn their attention. Once you've piqued their interest, they'll be more open to further interaction.

For example, instead of saying, "Due to the fact that our services are the best option for customers," you could say, "Our services are the best choice." Keep it brief, direct, and to the point.

Structure for Skimmers

Use Headings to Guide Your Readers

Whether you’re writing a short post or a long exposé, use headings to guide your readers. Most visitors will give your post a quick scroll to decide if it’s worth reading. Without headings, your post will look like an unapproachable wall of text, and they may move on before engaging.

Deliver Your Main Point in Each Heading

Deliver your main point in each heading—if someone only reads your headings, they should still understand the flow of your argument. Headings help readers quickly understand what you're saying and encourage them to dive deeper into the sections they find most interesting.

Use Short Paragraphs and Lists Wherever Possible

Most people are skimmers, so make your content easy to scan. Use short paragraphs (one to three sentences), bulleted lists for complex ideas, and bold key terms to highlight important information. This helps ensure that even if readers are only browsing, they can still walk away with your key messages.

Write with a Specific Person in Mind

It is worth spending some time to determine who your intended audience is. Who are you trying to reach? What are their questions and challenges? How might you become a resource for them?

Do a quick ‘persona’ sketch: If your target is a business manager who leads multiple teams of field workers, jot down some details about this person to act as a ‘relevancy guide’ as you prepare your material. “Does this point matter to this person? Does it have any bearing on this person’s ‘pain points’?”

Writing for the web is about connecting, and to do that, you need to know your audience. The more specifically you can address your audience, the more effective your writing will be.

Write for Mobile Readers

Many readers will encounter your content on a mobile device, where reading patterns differ from desktops. Mobile screens are smaller, and content that works on a large screen might feel overwhelming on a phone.

• Keep sentences snappy.
• Use strategic whitespace.
• Front-load the most important information to make it accessible for mobile readers.

Include Effective Calls to Action

Once you've engaged your reader, guide them to take the next step. Whether it’s learning more, contacting you, or subscribing to a newsletter, a Call to Action (CTA) should be clear and benefit-driven. Avoid vague prompts like "Click here" in favour of something more descriptive, such as "Learn how to boost your team's efficiency today."

Be Mindful of Cognitive Load

You might be writing your post in a quiet office with no distractions, but your reader could be facing crying children, loud music, or even a cat on the keyboard. Or maybe your reader has some form of visual or auditory impairment, or is viewing the screen through a jungle of post-it notes. With these obstacles in mind, write simply and clearly to make your message easy to receive. 

Consider accessibility, too. Use clear, straightforward language, and add ALT text for images to ensure your images can be interpreted by screen reader devices.

Avoid jargon or overly technical language unless your audience requires it, and keep fonts and formatting reader-friendly.

Pair Content with Visuals

Visuals can significantly enhance your message. Images, charts, or infographics break up the text, making your content more engaging. Pairing text with the right visuals makes your content more digestible and can help emphasize key points. An image can also give your reader a chance to come up for air for a moment before plunging into your next topic.

Use AI Writing Tools Wisely

The abundance of AI tools available today can make the work of writing much easier. The best way to work with AI is to treat it like an intern: you might get an intern to do some legwork for you, but you will always want to go over it yourself.

AI tools can be very helpful for generating ideas, checking readability, and summarizing text, but human oversight is crucial. You're writing for people, after all, not for AI machines.

Ultimately, you know your audience best, and it's important to make sure your message is delivered in your own voice.

Keep It Updated

The web evolves quickly. Even once-great content can become outdated or insufficient. Make a habit of revisiting your older blog posts (like I recently did with this one) to refresh data, add new insights, and ensure they stay relevant. Not only will this keep your audience better informed, but search engines favour updated content.

In the time it took to read this post, over 100,000 more have been published. Thanks for reading this one!