How to Write Content for an Online Audience that Scans

The online audience moves very quickly, and if you don’t catch their attention within a couple of seconds, you’ve lost your opportunity to connect with them. Social media marketing and content marketing require a different form and style of writing to communicate messages than traditional marketing.

Fortunately, there are some simple steps that can help you learn how to write content that not only gets noticed but also gets read in its entirety. Keep in mind, when it comes to online content, people skim and scan. Therefore, “read in its entirety” refers to motivating a person to actually skim through your entire piece of content to get the complete message. While it would be wonderful if every person who stumbled on your content on the web read every word, that’s not the reality. Go for scannability!

Following are several tips to get you started in the right direction:

1. Spend Time Creating a Great Headline

Create a killer headline that intrigues and offers the promise of useful or entertaining information. Often the headline is all people see on sites like Twitter and Facebook, so it needs to motivate people to click through and read your complete content.

2. Start Strong

Begin with your most important message. There is no time for pretty introductions. Get to the point and then offer supporting information.

3. Keep It Short

The online audience typically prefers quick-hitting content (remember, they like to move fast) over lengthy content.

4. Use Headings

Make your content even more scannable by using headings and sub-headings gratuitously.

5. Use Bullets and Numbered Lists

Break up text heavy pages and make your content more scannable by using lists.

6. Use Images

Sometimes people just look at the pictures in order to decide if they even want to scan a piece of online content. Tell part of your story through the images you publish with your content to intrigue your audience.

Image: len-k-a

Susan Gunelius

Susan Gunelius is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc. and Founder & Editor in Chief of an award-winning blog, WomenOnBusiness.com. She is a 25-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored 10 books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing.