When you write web content, you are working in a whole new context. You are no longer writing to your college professor in an essay that will A. be graded and B. be filed away for no one else to read ever. Here on the internet, everyone will be able to read your content and for a long time to come. Well, as long as it makes its way to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine it will there. So how do you go from writing for the academic audience to writing commercial web friendly content?
Start With the Content Type
The first area to look at is the types of web content you will most likely be writing. Blog posts and articles are the two most typical content types content writers write. Here you are writing commercially to advertise the products or services of your content client. Your goal is to sell things but this extends to the company’s brand. You are writing to customers who want to make the smartest purchase.
This is your end goal. Your content will carry you there. If you try to force a five-point essay into a blog post—you will miss the point entirely. When is the last time you impressed anyone with your bulbous vocabulary and thesis statement? Yes, that’s right, in college, which will be the last time this will happen.
Marketing Matters
In marketing sense, your goal is to write content that will titillate and stimulate. You need to focus on finding those words and phrases that will delight and tickle! Instead of pleasing your professors and fellow college pals with your jealous turn of the tongue, you are trying to please the general public. This means your audience automatically goes from a classroom to the entire continent.
Get Your Users Personified
The result? You need to figure out how to find your new audience so you can write to them. This is essential in jumping across that gap between collegiate and commercial content. Two words—user personas. If you are new to the content writing community, always start off a new client account by asking or creating user personas. These are character guides or brand personas that help you focus on the content creation at hand—while keeping your audience on point. Find out more about content creation from this community of content creators.
“Welcome. I’m the Whispering Wordsmith of the Woods, An Old Man Willow type cunning the lit forest, Disrupting textbookish writers with grammar snaps and cracks.” As a professional web content writer for small-to-medium businesses, Miranda B understands how to effectively balance technical jargon and personal brand messaging. Her content is sticky, evergreen when expected to be, and always creative. Keep ’em coming back for more, that’s Miranda’s motto!
