Five mistakes writers make when writing for the web

You can make good money when writing for the web, provided you avoid some of the common mistakes new writers and even some experienced writers often make. You don’t have much time to grab and keep the attention of the reader and making these mistakes will lose it very quickly.

Here are five mistakes to avoid when writing for the web:

Long Drawn-Out Paragraphs
Keep your sentences around two or three per paragraph to help better hold the attention of your reader. Most people learn that a paragraph normally consists of five sentences. However, that rule doesn’t apply when writing online. The average reader skims over the article and when they see this much text in one paragraph, it’s too much to read.

Keyword Stuffing
Anyone familiar with online writing knows that using keywords is a great way to draw readers to your content. People use keywords to search for the things they want to read but keyword stuffing will get you into trouble. Keywords should flow naturally.

Using Fancy Words
The average reader does not want to use a dictionary to understand the article. Most of the time, you’ll need to use common everyday words. Only use fancy or unusual words when the article specifically requires it or if you are writing for a highly technical audience.

Using Bad or Outdated Sources
Readers are searching for good, useful information. If you don’t provide it, someone else will and that is what readers will use. Providing information that is wrong or outdated will give you a bad reputation as an unreliable source. It also gets you down-ranked in Google. Writing skills are important not only for content makers, when I write my personal statement, they were also useful.

Adding Fluff
Most writers are tempted to add fluff to their content to make word count but this is a big mistake. When you run out of content and need more to make word count, do more research.
You can be a successful writer for the Web when you learn not to make these common mistakes. Being a freelance writer is hard work and requires both time and effort on your part. Put forth your best efforts and it will pay off in the end.