Web Writing Rules

Whether you are writing an article for a business blog, your own website or someone else’s, you face a twofold challenge when you are writing for the Internet:

• The language must be compelling, concise and accurate, with the accent on “concise”
(see below).
• The words and phrases you use must be ones that will be picked up by search engines so people can find your information when they search the Web. This is called search engine optimization (SEO).

Concise is key. As a rule of thumb, experts suggest that Web articles preferably be limited to 300 to 500 words and not exceed 800 words. This is the limit that usually fits within a single screen (without scrolling). When content runs beyond 500 words, consider breaking up the text to appear in sections of 250 or 300 words. Add a heading to each section. This keeps the reader from being overwhelmed by dense text. Articles that run more than 800 words should probably be broken up into two or three separate articles, with each one standing on its own. Of course, link the articles for overall coverage of a subject. Make the language direct and concise. Use bulleted or numbered lists in place of whole sentences to achieve this effect.

Search engine optimization. SEO writing is designed to populate text with keywords and key phrases. These keywords and phrases are noticed by search engines such as Google and Yahoo and are used to rank your article within a particular search. To achieve your goal of a high ranking so you’ll attract targeted traffic, here are some pointers to keep in mind:
• Pepper article titles and subtitles with keywords. It doesn’t pay to be creative; stick to basic descriptive words and phrases that search engines are likely to associate with your subject. For example, “Great Tax Breaks You Can Eat” may be a clever way to title a print article, but it is less effective for the Web than “Federal Tax Deduction for Business Meals.” The former title has only one keyword for the topic — “tax” — while the latter has several keywords.
• Maximize keywords. Make a list of words that best describe the subject of your article, words that you would use to find an article on the subject if you were doing a search. Then try to incorporate them within your text. The challenge is to repeat certain words so there is sufficient density to be noticed by search engines without appearing to be repetitive (search engines will pick up on a blatant overuse of words or phrases). Proofread the article to make sure it reads well and sounds natural after having swapped keywords for your original language choices.
• Use key phrases. Placement solely by keywords is extremely competitive on the Web, and text containing the same keywords can be too repetitive. You probably have a better chance of higher placement by using key phrases. For example, in an article about a new catering business, using the word “entrepreneur” won’t get you high placement because it lacks specificity and is used frequently; the key phrase “starting a catering business” is much more likely to draw hits.
• Use bold, underline, and other text formatting that can favorably impact search engine placement. Depending on the purpose of your text, consider working with an SEO consultant or using SEO tools (such as Wordtracker at wordtracker.com and Google Adwords’ Keyword Tool at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordSandbox) to find better ways to get recognized on the Web.