The written word has been around for many centuries. The ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics on tablets to communicate in writing. Hieroglyphics and other early symbolic writing styles eventually developed into alphabets paper, movable type and printing presses. This made the written word more portable and accessible. Then came computers, word processing, email and the Internet.
One might think that writing has not changed much since the invention of modern writing techniques. The Internet has brought forth new technologies and an abundance of information. Because of those variables, writing for the Internet has become a whole new ball game.
Search Engine Optimization
One thing that turned writing for the Internet on its head was the invention of the search engine. These handy tools index web pages and allows users to search for information online. They display search results in order of relevance which is determined by the search engine’s algorithms.
With the rise of search engines came the opportunity for web pages to get more traffic but only if they could be found easily in search engine results. So webmasters began to add keywords to their writing so that the search engines would recognize them as a good source of information about those words.
As the search engines have become more sophisticated it has become necessary to use keywords in a natural manner. While making keywords invisible by making them the same color as the background once worked, search engines penalize pages that use that technique now. Overusing keywords can also cause a site to be ranked lower and it makes the writing flow poorly.
Writing for Internet Users
The enormous amount of information now available on the Internet is another factor that has necessitated a change in writing techniques. Web users are faced with numerous sources of information about virtually any topic. That means that web copy must be attention-getting to keep them from moving on quickly. Once the visitor has decided that the web page is worth looking at, the information they want must be there in order to prevent them from leaving to find it elsewhere.
Getting and keeping a user’s attention during their initial visit is important. It is also vital to keep them coming back. Whether you are selling products or bringing in advertising revenue, giving users an incentive to return is vital. This can be accomplished by doing things such as adding new content frequently, offering special reports and encouraging them to sign up for your mailing list.
The Internet has a wealth of information to offer its users. Getting visitors and keeping them coming back to your site requires you to get them there, get their attention and keep them interested. Writing successfully for the Internet takes these things into consideration while giving visitors what they came for.