Readers don’t read all the words. They skim through individual words and scan them. Readers also tend to read slower on the computer screen then they do when they when they read books. There is so much content available on the Internet that your reader will not even miss reading what you wrote. It is up to you to offer your readers that something special that will keep them hooked on to your content.
Given below are seven basic tips for hooking the attention of your reader when you are a writer on the web. Further below are some common English grammatical errors that many of us tend to make when we write for the web.
1. Grab the attention – You can do this best when you use a great title for your writing. Use keywords in the title and links within the content. An enigmatic title will surely get your readers coming in droves to read your piece.
2. Be specific – Don’t beat around the bush just to hammer home a point. If you can write something short then just do it. Don’t just keep writing line after line just to fill up pages and make up the word count.
3. Maintain space – This point completely refers to the neatness of your writing. When you write for web, you don’t need paper to print anything. Be generous with using space as and when there is a need. Use bullets and numbers to male your point.
4. Think from the reader’s point of view – Don’t think that the readers will like anything you write. Remember that you are selling through your writing. Your job will be to make your reader buy your writing rather than you pushing it down their throat.
5. Be yourself – If you have a website or a blog, it is always good to include some information about who you are. Credibility matters a lot when you are writing on a specific topic. People love content from writers who have first-hand experience of the topic. If you are writing on increasing sales for a product, you should have had some prior sales experience.
6. Don’t use jargons – Readers love simple English to read. You may be a champion in your domain but that does not mean you use all acronyms and jargons. If your readers cannot understand the words you are using, they are bound to go away.
7. Talk to your readers through your writing – Always use words like “you” as if you are talking to them. Using “you” will help you make your reader relate to what you are trying to convey through your writing.
10 common English errors to avoid
1. Who and Whom
“Who” is used as a subject for a sentence. For instance, you can use – the man, who was wearing a white shirt, just passed by.
“Whom” refers to the object. It can be used as – Meet John, whom I met at a party last weekend.
2. Its and It’s
“Its” is associated with a thing and is a possessive adjective. You can use – the child was playing with its thumb.
“It’s” is simply a shorter form of it is. For example, It’s the best time of the day.
3. Regardless and irregardless
“Regardless” means when the present situation is not taken into consideration. An example – regardless of the danger, the man still jumped into the fire.
“Irregardless”? There is no word like this.
4. Practice and practise
“Practice” is noun and “practise” is verb.
Examples –
The basketball practice happens every day – noun.
I practise basketball every day – verb.
5. Bought and brought
“Bought” is the past tense of buy and is a verb while “brought” is the past tense of the verb bring.
Example – he bought a pen and he brought a pen. Bought is when it has been purchased and brought is when it has just been carried along.
6. Principal and principle
Principal could refer to an original sum of money or refer to something that has a priority on the order of importance. For example – he is the principal donor, or, the interest on the principal is substantial.
Principle refers to the fundamental belief that someone has. For example – my principle does not allow me to take any bribe.
7. Unless, though and although
Unless is used to gauge whether an event or statement is true or not based on a condition. The statement is not taken as valid if the condition is true. An example would be – unless you eat the peas, you will not get the cake.
Although and though are almost similar. What you need to take care of is that you cannot use “but” with them. You cannot write – although you are right, but I cannot agree with you. The correct sentence would be although you are right, I cannot agree with you.
All these three are conjunctions used to connect two phrases.
8. In time and on time
Both these phrases have a slightly different meaning and work almost work in a similar manner. While using “in time” would mean that you have enough time to accomplish a task, “on time” refers to punctuality. Examples – “he came in time for the meeting” and “the meeting must start on time”.
9. In the end and at the end
“In the end” is used to show that there is a conclusion now that a long time has elapsed. “in the end, my team managed to get back to winning ways”.
“At the end” is to show the point where something comes to a stop. Example – it was not worth watching the movie at the end because of the abrupt ending.
10. At the beginning and in the beginning
“At the beginning” refers to a specific time. For example – you must introduce yourself at the beginning of the presentation.
“In the beginning” is used to indicate something that starts over a specific period of time. Example – in the beginning, they faced a lot of trouble but got rid of it eventually.
