Five Tips for Fine Content

 Whether you're writing a corporate manifesto or publishing the latest press release, it's important to realize the differences of web vs. print. And no, it's not just that one appears on your screen while the other gives you ink stains. Take advantage of these internet tweaks to get the most from your every word:

1. Write Clear, Succinct Headlines

 Sorry, your objective on the web isn't to trick people with clever titles or to use a nifty play on words. You want your visitors to click the link, and you want those visitors to be interested in what you want to say. Doing both at once is great, but otherwise use the keywords for your title and save the joke for the water-cooler.

2. Use Short Paragraphs

 Take a look at a novel you've read recently - odds are there are pages where a single paragraph dominates the space. However, it's much easier to follow a few hundred words when they're the only thing around. On the web, you've got ads, status bars, and Outlook pop-ups hogging your screen and mind. Finding where you were in a maze of text isn't fun, so write in short, stylish bursts.

3. White Space is Your Friend

 Unlike a book or magazine, your web site has all the room it wants. Take advantage of it. Make your font larger, put in wider spacing and throw in images with nice margins. We've been staring at screens all day and we don't want to squint to read yours.

4. Don't Publish and Forget

 It's easy to throw a piece together, hit the submit button and walk away. Don't. Content lives online until you physically take it down (and that doesn't always work). If a piece suddenly becomes relevant, make some updates and publish it again. Respond in the comments. Link back to it when you can from other pieces. Not only will it make you look better informed, you'll get more mileage from your own work.

5. Not Just the Facts, ma'am

 It might be tempting to throw out that one-sentence press release about your charity event or campaign contribution, but resist the urge to let your customers figure out the meaning for themselves. Write a couple of paragraphs explaining what it means for you, and more importantly, for them. Don't throw out numbers and graphs by themselves, use your words so your customers know you respect their intelligence enough to write to them. Not to mention that great quotes will find their way from your site to dozens of others just as fast as a profit-margin graph, all the while giving your business a voice rather than a number.