Article Marketing - Appealing To Skimmers

Writing for the web is a bit different than other types of writing, especially if you are doing it for marketing purposes.  In any type of writing you need to be able to hold the reader's attention.  But when it comes to online article marketing, it's a game for the quick and the dead.

Online Readers Like To Skim
Think about how you search for information on the web.  When you log on to find information, you usually have a pretty good idea of what you are looking for.  You are looking for specific information and whoever can get you that information in the quickest and simplest fashion is going to have your attention.

When you are writing a formal paper or most anything intended for print you expect that your readers will be interested to read what you have to say and you want to hold their interest.  You may focus on being clever, witty, etc.  When you write for online publication however, most of the time providing raw, accurate, easily accessed information is what your readers are going to appreciate the most.  That is what is going to get their attention and keep it.

Formatting For The Online Reader
1) Use subheadings:  Subheadings are like music to my ears when I am on the hunt for information.  If I come across an article that has no rhyme or reason to it and is just a jumbled bunch of text, even if the information I need is in there somewhere, I'm going to look for it somewhere else.  I want to be able to skim and quickly find exactly what I need as easily as possible, and so will your readers.

2) Use bullets, numbers, etc:  Again, you want to make it as simple as possible for people to navigate your article and find what they are looking for.  Within your article may be several valuable tidbits of information that different people are searching for.  By breaking up that information into easily accessed points you will be able to appeal to all of them.

3) Write short sentences and short paragraphs:  Long run on sentences and novel size paragraphs are intimidating.  People are going to be reading your article voluntarily.  The minute it starts to feel like work, they will be on to the next article hoping it will be easier to read.

So basically you just have to remember to write your articles as though you are going to have to read them.  Would they be interesting to you?  Would they answer your questions?  Would you be able to find those answers easily?  Asking questions like these can really help you to write articles that will be both informative and useful.