If you’re just beginning to write online it is important to be familiar with a few formatting rules.
Break Up Your Content
Writing in long paragraphs is not optimal for the web. Make sure to break up your content into small sub sections with headers. Typical web articles should be between 300 and 700 words. Limit your article to three to six sections.
SEO
Search engine optimization, known as SEO for short, is key for Internet writing. SEO writing uses keywords and meta tags so that your content ranks higher in search engines. One major key to SEO is to use popular keywords multiple times in the same article. It is important to study the basics of SEO before beginning your web writing adventure.
Market Your Articles
If you’re writing for a public website as opposed to a private client, it is good to market your writing on social networking websites as such as Facebook and Twitter. This practice can increase your page views, your income and your readership. You can also use website like Digg and Stumbleupon to promote your work. Readers can vote your articles up in popularity if they enjoy it and more people will see it.
Learn to Write How-to Articles
How-to Articles are one of the more popular writing styles on the web. Any successful web writers should know to format these articles. How-to articles are usually around 400 words in length and explain to readers the steps to complete a task. You should also include the tools needed to complete the project that is being explained.
Be Original
Never attempt to plagiarize. Many employers and personal website owner’s use a software called Copyscape and they can easily tell if your article is plagiarized. Plagiarizing can get you fired and ruin your reputation. You can reference the work of others as a resource, but make sure to rephrase the wording. You also need to cite your references properly at the bottom of your article.
