Writing for the web: why bother?

Writing for the web gives you the potential to reach millions of people. But don’t be fooled into thinking it’s easy, because you still need to attract the attention of those millions of people. And Stephen Quinn, who wrote Convergent Journalism: An Introduction- Writing and Producing Across Media tells us how to do just that. It begins by writing a catchy headline. Other blogs I have read give tips on how to become a “most popular” blog. In this case, the suggestion is to write about what people are interested in. You catch their attention with a snappy headline and then draw the reader in further using the first couple of sentences- the leads- to deliver your main points.
Using sharp, punchy language also helps keep the reader interested. As Quinn mentions, people on the net aren’t readers, they scan. If your website or blog has loads of details, long words and not much verbal colour the reader is going to get very bored, very quickly. All you have to do is remember what audience you are writing for. Much like print media!