Reading on the Web is different than print so writing needs to be different too.
Studies have shown 79 percent of Web readers scan pages instead of reading them, Yahoo’s Trystan Bass told editors.
She offered five tips for writing or editing on the Web.
- Frontload information. Put keywords at the beginning of sentences.
- Use brief keyword-loaded headings throughout an article.
- Break long paragraphs up into shorter ones.
- Use lists wherever they are relevant.
- Use active voice and active verbs.
Bass, a senior editor at Yahoo, also said print headlines don’t always work online. “Choose clarity over clever,” she said. “Create the right expectations for the story with the headline.”
_ Sue Burzynski Bullard, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
