The 5 Worst Mistakes for Online Writing

You've been writing online for awhile and still your only reader is your mother. Are you guilty of making the 5 worst mistakes in your online writing? Sounds like it to me. Let's look at each mistake. Let's see what you can improve with your writing for the Web.

Worst Mistake #1: Unclear, Unfulfilled Title

What does your title say about your article or post? Does it tell readers immediately what your page is about? Look at the title of this article. You know immediately what this article is about, and you expect me to give you all 5 mistakes. You might have even skimmed down the page to make sure there are 5.

A Dream About Betty Crocker. It's an interesting title, but what in the world would I find if I read that? Would I find information about better cooking? How to write a cookbook? How to create a huge business? Sounds like a great title for a mystery novel to me. But, not a good title for an online article.

Worst Mistake #2: Fluffy, Useless Intro

So, my friend and I were chatting yesterday and we talked about doing some fun craft projects and she thought I should write an article about how to make my felt flower bouquets. Then we kept talking and I realized...zzzzzzz. Time to hit the back button.

Let's get real here. I don't care what you and your friend were talking about. I care about what the article is supposed to be about. How it came about that you wrote this article or post is not of value to your readers. Get to the purpose of your article right away. Right in your intro.

Worst Mistake #3: Fluffy, Useless Content 

You might have heard that 300 words is the minimum your article should be. But, you've written your information in 200 words. If you start adding in a bunch of fluff just to get your word count up, you are guilty of Worst Mistake #3.

Instead of adding fluffy, useless content, find more information that can help your readers. Suggest ways they can use this info in their own lives. Offer tips for making this info more helpful. Give your readers more value. Skip the fluff to get the word count up.

Worst Mistake #4: Bulky Blocks of Text

Online readers are actually skimmers. They will scroll down your page letting their eyes be grabbed by:

• sub-titles
• images
• lists
• short paragraphs

The first thing they will scroll right on past are large blocks of text. Test it out for yourself. How often do you stop to read 15 lines of text all bunched together?

Keep your information grouped into short paragraphs. A few lines per paragraph are great for online readers.

Worst Mistake #5: Formal, Stiff Writing

Let your high school English teacher cringe. You don't want formal writing online. You want comfortable writing. This means short sentences, familiar words and talking to your reader. You are not writing a term paper for a grade. You are giving information to a person. Another human.

Comfortable writing does not mean bad writing. Watch your spelling. Use the right contractions. Remember, "your" means it belongs to you, while "you're" means you are. Online writing is not the time to mix those up.

Review Your Own Writing for the Web

Take a look at your own articles and posts for the Web. Are you guilty of making even one of the 5 worst mistakes? If you are guilty of all 5, then you have an article or post that only a mother could love.

Using Visuals in your Online Writing

Visuals are a very important part of writing online. Unlike reading a book, searching online is very much about "looking" as much as it is about reading. However, you need to be sure to use visuals that support or continue the main ideas and are relevant to your article -- otherwise, they are just fluff.

There's enough "fluff" on the internet these days, you want to add valuable, useful information to the billions of pages available out there, including your visuals.

What's the Deal with Visuals? 

Users are hunting for specific information when they type into a search engine. Everything on your webpage, post or article should convey that information to the user. It's been proven over and over again that internet users first "look" at a webpage for something to catch their eye.

It could be bold or italicized fonts, highlighted links, videos, graphics or images. You have just a couple of seconds time to capture their attention so they will decide to stay and scan or read your content. You need to "hook" them.

Videos, graphics and images are a great way to capture that attention. However, to include any old image or one without relevance to your topic can backfire on you.

Your credibility is always on the line. Don't try to "trick" the user into staying. Visuals need to support the information/content you are delivering.

Ideas for Visuals

As with the visual above, you can make your own. Pull a quote from your article to highlight an important piece if information or make a statistic stand out.

Photos are great visual content as well. Be choosy. Don't use a photo simply because you like it. I should relate to or be the subject of your topic. Be careful when choosing photos. Copyright infringement is rampant on the internet. It's stealing. Don't do it.

Best practice is to take your own photos or make your own graphics. Even if you are reviewing a product you own, take a photo of it as it sits in your home instead of using the manufacturers photo.

The bottom line is, online users want information quickly and efficiently. They won't remember all the text in your article but they will remember visuals that carry an important message.

Interesting Stats About Using Images

Infographic by MDG Advertising

8 Design Styling Tools to Get Your Content Read

Check your style or formatting against this list. Is your article
easy to read? 

Combining the style of your writing with a design format that will draw in readers is not as hard as you might think. When writing for the web you need to remember it's about the presentation of your content as well as your content.

White space and visuals have been proven to keep users on a webpage longer. What are some more ways to turn scanners into readers?

Try to keep these 8 items in mind and your write your unique and useful content for the internet.

1. Visuals -- 

Use images, videos, charts, etc... to break up your text. The truth is, a relevant visual can convey your story and information quickly and efficiently. This can turn a scanner into a reader.

2. Bullets -- 

Use bullets for lists, facts or points and more! They look different from the rest of your text, are easy to scan and should contain information considered important to the topic.

3. Keep Paragraphs Short -- 

Though an English teacher may cringe -- keep your paragraphs short. They can be as short as one sentence though I find 2 or 3 work well for me. Large blocks of text look like walls and tend to be a turn off to users.

4. Keep Sentences Short -- 

Along the same lines as #3 above, keep your sentence short and sweet. This makes them easy to understand and more easily scannable.

5. Quotes -- 

Use quotes from your content as you would an image or indented so it stands out from the rest of the content. This captures readers who are scanning. It may even convince them to read the whole article.

6. Sub-Headings -- 

This is a must. It completely breaks up the article so a scanner can glance and see where the information they want is located. It also helps add more white space. Sub-headings should communicate key points you make in the following paragraph(s).

7. Font Emphasis -- 

Use bold, italics and caps to draw attention to key points within the article. Avoid using highlight or colored text too often in one article. It ends up looking amateurish and elementary. However, well placed font emphasis can ensure your point gets across to both readers and scanners.

8. Left, Left, Left... -- 

Align your text to the left. People are used to this and are sometimes put off when content text is aligned centered, right or justified. The easier it is to read, the more likely it will be read. Indention from the left is a great tool for quotes or to highlight important key points as well.

Sadly, this is one I seem to forget a lot. My "design eye" likes to change up where the photo/image/visual is located. However, studies show keeping the left margin for text is the best for readers. They are used to it and the eye expects it. This is one element I need to work on implementing in my articles.

How many of you read the 8 numbered ideas but not the content below it? Interesting where the eye is drawn, isn't it?