Home Education Unravel the Mysteries of Web Writing: A Guide for Beginner Writers

Unravel the Mysteries of Web Writing: A Guide for Beginner Writers

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Web copywriting is the art of writing quality content for a given target. In this article, you’ll learn how to write for the web:

  • by asking yourself the right questions to define your content strategy;
  • by choosing a coherent editorial line in line with your strategy;
  • by respecting the basic principles of writing and the specifics of web writing.

What is web writing? What’s the point?

Web copywriting is similar to journalistic writing, but the possibilities of interaction offered by the Internet make writing more difficult. Writing for the web is about pursuing a specific goal to obtain returns on investments. Copy writing is used to respond effectively to the needs of Internet users by following a clearly identified content strategy and editorial line.

Work on SEO

Web writing is also about working on natural referencing, that is to say the placement of pages in the search results of a search engine. In the eyes of Google, a well-written and structured page will be of better quality than the others and it will place it higher in the results if you are expert or learn techniques from copywriting course.

Organize texts and hypertext

Finally, it is an ergonomic work of organizing texts and hypertext. The number of content is such on the Internet that you have to think your texts for a targeted reader, hence the need to establish a content strategy.

Speaking of target, who do we write for on the Internet?

The two targets you need to meet are Google and your readers.  Google is the first search engine used in the world according to statistics provided by Stat Counter in December 2020. It is therefore placed as the # 1 target search engine for SEO optimization of your content.

Your readers are those who seek information and want to find it quickly. They must be at the heart of your content strategy and your editorial line.  Ask yourself the right questions to define your content strategy.

What good is producing editorial content if you haven’t thought about your strategy?

You need to start by establishing one so that you can focus on a specific goal to achieve. Ask yourself for a moment and answer a few basic questions:

Why are you writing?

You don’t write just to produce content, there has to be a thought out and clear purpose behind your productions. Write for:

  • Improve your SEO by producing SEO content?
  • Create a community around your brand?
  • Show your expertise to your Internet users?
  • Gain popularity, make yourself known?
  • You have to choose one goal and stick to it. It will allow you to build your editorial line.

What kind of people are you writing for?

Imagine the person you dedicate your content to and try to put yourself in their shoes to understand their needs and wants. You can create personas to help you determine typical targets.

What is the research intention of your Internet users?

To write good content, you need to understand the search intent of your internet users. Seek to answer the following questions:

  • Why are they doing this research?
  • Do they want to land on a particular website?
  • What are they looking for exactly? An information? Make a purchase? etc.
  • Use your personas to more precisely determine the intentions of your Internet users.

What keywords are they typing?

You should also be wondering how your Internet users search for information and what keywords they type into Google’s search bar to find it. 

Keywords represent how your personas communicate with search engines and how they speak about the subject of your articles or your site. You should write to meet their needs using the same keywords as them.

What is the competition around the subject?

The Internet is full of similar content. You have to find a different angle of approach than what is already being done to succeed in taking a place in the search results. Keep watch by doing targeted searches with specific keywords to find various articles around the same topic.

Establish an editorial line and stick to it

The editorial line is the guideline of the content strategy. It helps maintain overall consistency in a series of content that is not necessarily written by the same person. The editorial line will become your editorial identity over time. It will be as important as your graphic charter if you produce a lot of content.

What are you going to talk about in your content?

Don’t cover 50 different topics on one site. You must choose interesting topics, related to your brand, and which meet the expectations of your targets. Your content must also meet the objective you set for yourself when defining your strategy.

What level of technicality to adopt?

This is the vocabulary you will use to address your persona. If you are speaking to professionals or popularizing a subject, you will not use the same language and the same level of technical vocabulary.

Let’s say you write an article featuring a revolutionary kitchen utensil: You are speaking either to a catering professional or to an individual. In the first case, you will be able to use technical language and talk in detail about the functions of the object. In the second case, you will instead use everyday language that everyone will understand without difficulty. You can also talk to an in-between. In this case, nothing prevents you from using several levels of technicality. 

Prioritize information for efficient reading

Do not hesitate to abuse the use of titles and sub-titles in your copywriting. They make it possible to prioritize information and to structure it. 

  • Headings and subtitles are particularly strategic: take care to write them well to create a preview of the entire content. Keep paragraphs short, add images and air your content to further structure your pages. 
  • Your readers will be able to quickly analyze your page by reading diagonally, which will make their reading more efficient. 
  • Go straight to the point by building your texts in an inverted pyramid

In journalistic writing, the inverted pyramid construction is widely used. It consists of putting the important thing forward by immediately revealing the essentials of a piece of information. Secondary information and details are discussed later in the article, in descending order of importance.