Once upon a time if you wanted to research a subject you had to go to the library and scour numerous reference books for the information you needed.
Today, you just have to Google it.
So how long will it be before the humble books is consigned to the history web pages of the internet?
With the arrival of the Kindle reader (iPad and smartphones) the traditional book looks to be under threat of extinction. This ‘electronic-paper’ wonder is supposed to offer a reading experience that looks and reads like real paper.
Really?
Not for me thanks. When I read I like to hold a book; fold back the cover and turn proper pages. I love the way its spine creases, the smell of its pages, the way you can insert your bookmark (only to lose it and then have to spend hours trying to find the page you were on).
Even though they take up vast amounts of space in your luggage, there is something very special about a book – for a start it’s battery is never going to go flat.
Reading on the web
If the text of a book is fairly small, you’ll still read it. If the text on a web page is tiny you won’t bother.
Writing for the web is very different from writing for printed media. Reading from a screen is difficult, tiring and really quite boring. So how do you overcome that to encourage people to read your website?
Make your writing look interesting
If you want people to read your content you have to make it look attractive and the best way to do that is to ensure there is:
- Lots of white space
- Headings and sub headings
- Short paragraphs
- Bulleted lists
Basically, if you want people to read the content on your website you have to make it look inviting. Your copy has to be interesting, relevant and search engine friendly. Getting the right amount of content on your page is vital – but good SEO Copywriting doesn’t necessarily mean writing thousands and thousands of words.
So how many words should you have per page? There is no right or wrong answer to that, just make sure you use as many words as you need without waffling. So long as your content is interesting, relevant and attractive, people will read it.