The standard of online articles is slack. Most authors don't have a background in online copywriting, just like most webmasters don't have design experience.
Top Tips applicable to me
from Hot Text: Writing for the Web
- People don't read they scan, so chunk your data and emphasize
- Cut your content, repeatedly, cut your content, you can write it in less.
- Put your conclusion at the top
- Write in active voice
- Keep paragraphs short and single themed
- Put links at the start or end of sentences
- Don't make people think: don't use large words and use ambiguouswords carefully
Review
Overall I've found this book quite useful. I didn't like the Object-Oriented analogies or the outdated and incorrect SEO advice.
The information was not always new, but it provided different perspectives with recommendations that were valuable. As a web user I scan text constantly everyday, yet somehow I ignored this when writing.
Other Online Copywrite books
I can't remember why I ended up getting this book over any of the others on my shortlist:
One Response
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Way back when it was all fields around here I used to find Jakob Nielsen’s comments on writing for the web incredibly useful. His views on writing style (if not usability) are as relevant (and as often ignored) now as they were in 199x. Check out http://www.useit.com.