Ever heard of letting the eyes breathe? Sure, it sounds like an oxymoron, but when you think about it, there’s definitely some truth behind the idea. Overwhelmed or stressed eyes—especially when they belong to the visitors of your website—almost always equate to a click away from the site to something less overwhelming.
Here are 7 tips we at WSpider encourage you to use in order to embrace the space when writing for the web and keep those ever-weary eyes focused on your content:
One: Keep sentences short and to the point.
Rule of thumb here is to use the shortest sentences possible. Break long sentences in to two or more parts. When writing for the web, keep the lines short and to the point.
Two: Use short paragraphs.
Same goes for paragraphs. Even though traditional writing puts standards on paragraphs, creating whitespace overrules with web writing. Keep them as short as possible. Using 3 sentences is good—2 if they’re long, 4 if they’re short.
Three: Use sub-headlines.
Break up your content or article into sub topics and create sub-headlines or subtitles for each part. This helps readers that are scanning the page get to the information they want to read. It also creates vitally important whitespace on the page.
Four: Use bullet points.
Another popular tactic for web writing is using bullet points to keep to the facts. After all, this is what readers want to see—precise information presented in bite sized pieces.
Five: Use numbered lists.
Numbered lists are also a great way to embrace the space while organizing and presenting relevant information to website visitors. Almost every visitor likes lists. Plus, they can even make it easier to write for those new to web writing.
Six: Make sure there is proper spacing between paragraphs.
Always ensure that there’s a full line break between paragraphs. Indenting the beginning of a new paragraph alone just doesn’t cut it (and isn’t necessary on the web). If you really want to embrace the space, it’s even fair game to use 2 line breaks between different sections of the written content.
Seven: Once article is complete, be sure to preview for whitespace test.
Look at the writing in the same way your visitors will see it. Where do your eyes land…does it seem too bulky? You can almost think of a body of written text the same as you would an eye-pleasing picture—make sure it looks right as a whole.
Just one more thing: Did you notice that this article uses almost all of the concepts presented above? Please feel free to print this one off and use it as a reference for good web writing practices.
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