How to write effective web content...

[ciarac]

Hope this helps all of y'all who may be slightly in the dark as to how to write good web content.
This is my article, the full version is available on my website at the following link: Website copywriter - How to Write Effective Web Content

Here we go!

Ever since the 'Dot Com Boom', people have been diving onto the internet, hoping to profit from it's rapid spread.
Although many Dot Com companies crashed, due to insufficient planning or too much desire to make money ASAP, the word is still not fully out that the internet is NOT a place for get rich schemes.
The schemes exist, yes, but they don't work.

In truth, making money on the internet, in any which way, takes time and effort.
People may fail and fail again on the internet, before they 'make it'.
This is a truth that any logical person must accept.

The good news though, is that although it is not easy to make money on the internet, the equation of HOW to make money is very simple.
To profit from the internet, one simply needs a high traffic website. A website that brings in new visitors and also produces repeat visits.
In order to achieve this, the simple equation is:
[Effective web content] + [Many quality inbound links] = A high traffic site

Fortunately, the first component begets the second.
Effective web content will make the growth of inbound links simple.
The topic of inbound links is an interesting discussion onto itself and will be covered in anther article.
Here and now, we shall cover the points that make for excellent content.

* Write Effective Web Content - Aim to benefit your audience

The number one pointer to remember is that you are at the mercy of your visitor.
You want to please him or her.
This should be your main aim.
Don't write to make money.
If you first think of your visitor, the possibilities of monetization will come.
You simply MUST offer value to your audience.
This will make them come, stay, return and recommend your site to friends.

* Write Effective Web Content - Make excellent use of the English language

Assure that your English, or whatever language you are writing in, is grammatically correct.
Use a spell checking program.
Ask friends to review your article before you publish it online.
There truly is nothing less professional than obvious grammatical mistakes.

* Write Effective Web Content - Be short and concise

If you can illustrate something in one paragraph instead of two, do so.
Interesting adjectives make an article more enjoyable to read, but unless you are writing a novel, steer clear of being too flowery with your prose.
Internet surfers don't have a lot of time to spend on any one site and they do not like having their time wasted by authors taking too long to make their point.

[Brutha]

You want to please him or her.

You don't have to. You should want to engage him or her.
An article like Steves Ten Reasons not to get a job, forced some people to think and debate it even when they didn't agree with it.

[ciarac]

I was going to respond that your above example, nonetheless does please the visitor, though in the long run.
But maybe I'm incorrect in saying that; I'm sure such posts riled many up the wrong way.
My above post was mainly directed at people with business websites, not personal blogs.

[Brutha]

Is goal shouldn't be to make a perfect website but to make a remarkable one.
What does the word remarkable mean? Worth making a remark about.

You don't produce emotions by "remember is that you are at the mercy of your visitor".
It more important to be authentic and be worth making a remark about.
Look at the 1.000.000$ website. It is ugly and doesn't provide any real value for the visitor.
Dispite of that fact it was remarkable and created the conversation it needed to succeed.

If you get into the mindset of "you are at the mercy of your visitor" you can't be authentic at the same time and you loose, because the internet is all about authenticity.