Top Online Article Writing Tips

Online article writing can be hard to adjust to if you’re used to writing for print, or if you have no experience of writing outside of the school house. Although writing for the web does have many subtleties, learning the basics is easier than you probably think. This article will cover a few of the standard concepts you should understand as you get started. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) If you’re planning on trying to get readers to find your writing through the search engines, you need to understand the basics of SEO. If you’re starting an online business, or you want to make money from your blog, these are ideas you need to master. SEO sounds a lot more intimidating than it really is. Getting the on-page optimization right for your website is pretty simple. You want to focus each page you write around one main keyword, and perhaps include one or two other secondary keywords. But focus each page on one main topic. Include your main keyword in the META tags for your web page (if you have control over them) – the title tag, description tag, and keyword tag. It should also be included in your page’s filename, and in an h1 headline block at the beginning of your page. (If you don’t understand these terms, do a little reading on basic HTML- that’s also a lot easier than it seems). Once you have these factors handled, you need to sprinkle your keyword phrase throughout your body copy. The best keyword density is thought to be somewhere between 2-5%. If you use the keyword too much, you’ll look like a spammer. If you use it too little, the search engines will have a hard time identifying the topic of your page. Also use variations and alternate words on the page where you can. Don’t get too carried away with trying to make your search engine optimization "perfect" - the truth is, no one knows exactly how the search engines rank pages, so there really isn’t a perfect way to do things. Also remember that you’re writing for humans first, search engines second. Don’t let your attempts to rank well at the search engines detract from the reader’s experience of your article or web site. Using Simple Language Most readers online are not looking to sift through dense academic literature. They want simple answers, and they want them fast. Web readers tend to be very impatient people. That’s why it’s important to keep all your online article writing simple, and write in such a way that even most kids could understand. Obviously this can’t be done for some more technical topics, but you should always strive to simplify things as much as possible for an online audience. Spread Out the Writing Web readers don’t like being hit with huge, long paragraphs of information. We tend to read in small chunks online – so it’s best to arrange your writing in line with that. Break up any big paragraphs into shorter ones to make things easier on the eyes, and don’t be afraid to make good use of bullet point lists. Bullet lists are a great way to convey important points in a few words. Keep It Friendly People don’t like to read a condescending article. Always treat your reader as an equal through the tone of your writing. Write as if you’re educating a close friend on something he or she is interested in learning about. If you adopt this approach, your writing will become a lot more conversational and pleasant to read.