Technical Blogging, 2nd Edition

Write for the Web

Writing for the web is different from writing a book or a letter. Web visitors skim content rather than reading it word for word. So you need to make the most of their skimming approach. You must lead the user to the essence of your message while arousing their curiosity to read the whole thing.

You only have a few seconds to captivate a visitor, who often has the attention span of a chipmunk on crack. How then do you capture the reader’s attention? Let’s consider a few do’s and don’ts when writing for the web by addressing the three main components of your posts.

Write Killer Headlines

The headline of your posts is what people will notice first. On social media, in Google’s result pages, within their feed reader or inbox, ...