How to Write for the Web’ by Dan Petrovic

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
References

Introduction

With the burst of the Internet and different kinds of blogs, there is now too much information available written by too many people on every single topic. But it does not mean that those people who go online read all that has been written. In fact, according to Jacob Nielsen, “On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely” (Nielsen par. 1).

Main body

In his article How to Write for the Web – a New Approach for Increased Engagement, Dan Petrovic raises an interesting question: “Why am I even writing if people are not reading?” (Petrovic par. 4). He decided to undertake a study, and the results were stunning: all most people read on the Internet is not that 20% of words written, but just the headline of the article and then they move on. That is the phenomenon of the Web – people do not want to spend too much time reading one page, they want to scroll down. According to the author’s study, only 16% of people will read an article from word to word, and the others will either scan it or simply skip it (Petrovic par. 3).

So, the logical question is how to write for the web to delight both groups of readers – those who scan an article and those who read it from word to word. There are some simple rules to be followed. First of all, those who read on the internet are not readers; they are scanners (“9 Simple Tips for Writing Persuasive Web Content”, par. 9). They prefer pieces with highlighted headers and sub-header, so they do not spend too much time to get the main idea of the article. As the aftermath, second, the most important information should be put on the top of the page, so it is easier to scan the whole thing (Lorber par. 10). Third, there have to be facts in the article moving it forward (Copeland par. 12). Any idea stated in the article should be buttressed up by facts, so the reader trusts the author. Besides following these rules, the answer to the question lies in using a method called “inverted pyramid” that was first used in writing articles for newspapers:

These days, it is common place in press and news releases where all of the most newsworthy information in the article is presented first, and the rest of the details are presented in order of diminishing importance. (Zomick par. 2)

It is impossible to use this method without following the rules mentioned above. The inverted pyramid style can be useful to readers because with all the primary information given in the first paragraph they will decide whether or not they want to read the whole thing. If they are interested in reading the article till the end, they will find more information and facts on the topic; in case they are not, they have already found out the main idea of the article, so they do not need to continue reading. Nevertheless, even using the inverted pyramid style, the articles should not be too long because “You keep losing audience as your article grows in size.” (Petrovic par. 12). Long pieces are suitable for printed papers, not for the web.

Conclusion

So, Dan Petrovic in his article How to Write for the Web – a New Approach for Increased Engagement demonstrates how important it is to stick to primary rules of writing for the web if one’s goal is to be read by the people and not just writing a piece and how the web reader is different from the printworks reader.

References

9 Simple Tips for Writing Persuasive Web Content. 2013. Web.

Copeland, Dave. Best Practices for Writing for Online Readers. 2012. Web.

Lorber, Nica. How to Write for the Web. 2014. Web.

Nielsen, Jacob. How Little Do Users Read? 2008. Web.

Petrovic, Dan. How to Write for the Web – a New Approach for Increased Engagement – Whiteboard Friday. 2015. Web.

Zomick, Bred. Everything You Need to Know About the Inverted Pyramid Writing Style. 2013. Web.

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How to Write for the Web’ by Dan Petrovic

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