Making your content easy to quote

redundancy in web writing

[tedster]

I've posted before about the need for redundancy in written web content. The issue is that people tend to skim a web page more than they read. So part of the job in both content and layout is to draw the eye back into "Full Read Mode" (FRM), over and over.

This means, for instance, we should limit the use of pronouns, and instead we should use the specific nouns a lot more often than we might in print copy. If someone has stopped to give your sentence FRM attention, they may have only skimmed the preceding paragraph. They may be unclear on what words like "this, they, his, its" actually refer to.

As I apply this principle to web pages I create, I've noticed that it makes the written content easier for other people to quote. I've added a final read to my editing process that ensures the important points are communicated in a single sentence -- one that is completely self-contained and uses no references to earlier materials.

As I read various news sources online, I see that some content writers seem to do this naturally, and other writers never seem to give you that stand-alone quote, that soundless sound byte.

If you give people easy quotes, communication points that don't require an ellipsis or backfill of any kind, then you're more likely to BE quoted. And when people quote you more frequently, they link to you more frequently.

NOTE: The phrase "Full Read Mode" and its related acronym (FRM) are my own invention.
If you like it and use it, please give me credit and a link ;)