Web Writing Traps To Avoid Like The Plague

There are some excellent websites online, with interesting and informative content. Then there is the majority of sites with poorly written text that is hard to absorb. Make sure your blog or website belongs to the first group. Steer clear of these online writing pitfalls:

Number one: creating great long paragraphs that are hard to read. Unless your audience is particularly academic, keep to short chunks of text – about 3 sentences per paragraph is a good rule of thumb. Computer screens make reading hard work – don’t add to the burden.

Secondly, not having enough white space between these paragraphs is a guaranteed turn off for any visitor. You need to space your text out to help people scan the webpage. Rid yourself of the illusion that everyone will pore over your text from start to finish. Many visitors scan webpages to see if the content matches what they are searching for.

Next, some online writers rely on just text alone. Unless you have something earth shattering to say, your website needs images and text boxes to sustain the reader’s interest. Beware of making images too big, or you will create an unbalanced effect.

The next web writing error is at the other end of the spectrum. Building a flashy website with a luminous color scheme and high-tech effects makes concentrating on the text a near impossibility. Pale backgrounds, simple fonts and unfussy design may be less exciting, but far more effective.

A simple color scheme is far more effective. A white or pastel background (such as peach) with black or navy blue text is a safe bet. Use more exciting colors for emphasis, but sparingly. A single word – rather than a whole paragraph – highlighted in red will attract the visitor’s attention.

Lastly, failing to research other sites is a big no-no for any online writer. There are a lot of quality sites out there. When you find one with good writing that is easy to absorb, ask yourself what techniques you can use in your own writing.

Harriet Morris edits The Writing Genie. You can find lots more writing help as well as guide now.