Writing Better Web Content - From One Turkey to Another.

I haven't made any new posts for a while. I was online, but just in a very lazy mood. On top of that I had stuff to do at work. It always sucks when work gets in the way of pretending to work. To make it up here's a long post that I managed to make look well researched.

Now I'm not the best writer at the best of times. I'm not Charles Dickens at the worst of times and I'm not funny any of the time. But man I wish I was - well except for Charles Dickens. Writing a fantastic article is extremely satisfying. Reading a fantastic article is even more so. Here's a statistic that I made up - 9 in 10 internet browsers will favour an easy to read article over a more factual one. If you're looking to build a steady readership - up your writing skills.

I did quite a bit of research here and here is my list of writing essentials (taken and summarised from various pages):

1. Write often.

Post regularly. If you're looking to get more readers, make sure there's something new for them when they come back. No one likes going to a site and finding nothing's changed. No one even visits a site they know hasn't changed. Great content intrigues readers. New content keeps them.

2. Learn to use the language.

Wield it like a sword. Waaaaarrh!! If you want to improve your running, you get good shoes. If you're playing squash, you get the best squisher you can. If you want to write good content, make sure you're using the best that the language has to offer. Get whatever help you can. The web is full of articles on writing, here's a great site full of solid advice by Roy Peter Clark. There's 30 tips there but he later extended it to 50 in more detailed series found here. Take it slowly though. Improve one thing at a time.

3. Use links extensively.

A link is worth a thousand words. Link to whatever reference the reader might need. Link to other sites the reader might enjoy. If the information is out there - and it probably is - take the time to find it and link to it. That way you can keep your articles shorter and more direct. Any interested reader is a click away from the information, but your article stays on topic at all times.

4. Add you own content.

Especially if you're a blogger, don't just link to a cool site. Add your own opinion. If you're just linking to other pages, then you're just an obstacle. Readers will just pass right through, grumbling as they trip over you. Add something that adds value to the web. More content will increase your ranking on search engines, thus increasing your visits from Googlers and other searchers. Invite them in for tea. Give 'em something to read.

5. Format your articles.

Use headings, block quotes and paragraphs. Use colours, bold text and different font sizes. Do whatever you can to get away from the drab.

Most web readers don't read continuously. They skip whole sections and paragraphs. Break up your articles into sections so they can find what they're looking for easily - and skip the stuff that they don't need. Learning some basic HTML will help you understand what you can and can't do on the web. Don't overdo the formatting though. Clean is what you are going for here, not fancy. Take note of what other sites do.

6. Always review

Read your work before you publish it. Check that the links work. Preview the formatting. This is always easier for shorter articles but longer articles are usually the ones to benefit from a good review. One page I read suggested that you should be able to hear someone speaking the article back to you. It should be real. Real smooth:)

7. Write anyway.

Finally, don't stop writing. Don't let your perfectionism stop you from writing your content. If you're struggling to get that perfect first line, relax your constraints. Rather get the idea down and rework it later. I can spend hours with nothing, blocked up looking for the killer article. Let it go. It will come. You don't get better at writing by not writing. Anything is better than nothing.

Here are the pages I worked from. They're all great, but I put them in order of what I got out. Enjoy.

Ten Tips For A Better Weblog
10 Tips on Writing the Living Web
Thirty Tools for Writers
How to write for the Web
Fifty (50!) Tools which can help you in Writing