Writing is a necessity when it comes to writing content for a website.

And there’s definitely several common challenges we often face, such as:

• Spending long hours writing, but the 
• Not sure if text follows general writing conventions
• Unfamiliar with the writing style for websites

Everyone who dips their toes into online creative writing has faced similar challenges. 

I too experience pretty bad instances of self-doubt and writer’s block when it comes to websites.

The writing style and trend in the online space changes much frequently compared to more traditional platforms. 

There’s also too many ways to be experimental online, sometimes sticking to one style ironically feels foreign.

By exploring today’s topic, hopefully we can find solutions to these issues – or find easier ways to write content online.

We’ll take a look at 5 different techniques you can incorporate into your format. There’s no need to use all of them, but do try out as many you are comfortable with and see if it’s something that suits you!

1- Writing point 1: Deciding on the conclusion

When writing something for your website, let’s think of the conclusion.

I know, it probably sounds like a strange place to start, but here are two reasons:

1. No readers read everything in a website
2. Conclusions have greater impressions

We’ll discuss these further below.

1.1 – Reader’s don’t read everything

It’s actually pretty rare for readers to read through all the page’s content.

When the point isn’t clear, hidden or too subtle in a website, visitors are probably not going to feel like there is anything worth reading.

To make it easier for visitors to figure out what the page is about, it’s best to show the conclusion or the important information.

When writing long passages, it’s common to write up a full process from start to end, with an opening, discussion, closing etc.

However, if you write this way for a website, it will look cluttered and the ideas you are trying to show will get drowned out by the density of the text in the page.

To be fair, it’s not even guaranteed that readers will read your conclusion even when it’s written at the end.

So think of your conclusion, and plaster that on as a header.

1.2 – Being memorable and impactful

When writing from conclusion first, it’s easy to convey your key information.

If your website has points such as

“Recommended – new cafe for unique blends!”

Visitors who come by will immediately know that this is a good place for new and unique coffee.

2- Writing point 2: Descriptive subheadings

It’s good practice to write subheadings that describe the full detail when writing for your website’s pages.

By doing so, you can effectively tell your visitors if it’s something they want to read.

Most visitors will have an agenda when visiting a site, such as opening times, menu, or location.

Point is, very few readers will consider your ambiguity or vagueness positively.

Long paragraphs and further descriptions can be done in the body, but these details are only read when the headline or subheading is something relevant to the visitor’s interest. We’ll elaborate more on what to write in the next segment.

The thought process of an average visitor would be to read through the subheadings, then only read the details of these topics if it’s important to them. 

Irrelevant topics will be ignored.

Instead of trying to make everything relevant to visitors, it’s also good to let them know clearly when a part of the site is irrelevant. Properly compartmentalizing and writing descriptive subheadings for each content is a good way to tell the readers what is written.

This is good practice, and helps make the user experience more streamlined and clearly state what information is written in the content.

3- Writing point 3: Concrete writing

When writing content for a website, it’s good to write your statements concretely.

Let’s take a look at what that means.

While there are other ways, some of the main methods to write concretely is:

• Use namedrops
• State numbers

Such as:

• “Over 2000 units sold in 1 year” instead of “Best seller”
• “4.8 star rating in Amazon” instead of “Most Popular”

Using these concrete values and referring to recognizable names, visitors will be able to feel the real value of these statements.

4- Writing point 4: Keep it simple – explain like a primary school teacher.

While it depends on the website, most of the time, it’s good to keep writing simple and easy to understand.

By writing like you’re explaining to a 5-year-old, you can make sure just about anyone can understand the information you’re trying to display.

Here are 4 things you can try to help you simplify your writing:

• Each sentence has only 1 statement.

Having a sentence describe too many things with little punctuation can make it harder for the reader to follow.

• Try to stay between 100~200 words per content

It’s good to not overwhelm readers, and it will help you write in a clearer way.

• Stay on subject

Going too far into explaining with examples, or overly referring to other subjects will blur the compartmentalized structure of a website.

• Use proper punctuation

Sometimes it’s unavoidable to write long sentences. Even so, it’s good to use proper punctuation to break up the pace.

By using these writing methods, you can describe complicated subjects for your website easier to understand for your visitors.

5- Conclusion

Today we described in this article these 4 writing points:

1. Writing point 1: Deciding on the conclusion
   • Reader’s don’t read everything
   • Being memorable and impactful
2. Writing point 2: Descriptive subheadings
3. Writing point 3: Concrete writing
4. Writing point 4: Keep it simple – explain like a primary school teacher.

Doesn’t seem like a lot, but with these in mind you can provide a better reading experience for your visitors.

Feel free to use any of these to help you write your own website.