Excerpt from an article offering practical advice on how to write professionally for Web-sites. Ten tips on writing Web-sites that work for you.

For writers accustomed to working solely in print media, writing for the Web can seem like walking an uncharted landscape without a map. The Web's ever-shifting nature presents both a unique challenge and opportunity to professional writers.

The good news: online writing utilizes the writing skills professional writers and editors have already developed. Like any form of quality writing, the best Web writing has an easily identifiable, specific, pre-determined purpose.

In today's cyberscape, this purpose often goes beyond communicating information; its goal is typically to start a dialogue, influence behavior, or persuade people. The interactive nature of online technology allows these opportunities for content developers.

Example 1: A biotech company in the northeastern United States can review component catalogues in Europe and Asia and request a quote via an online form. The online form can qualify the lead and post it into a sales database for immediate response.

Example 2: An online web-site allows Physicians to sign in and access the latest academic and clinical research from institutions all over the globe--allowing them to get immediate answers to healthcare challenges in their everyday practice.

Example 3: Customer self-service, i.e., the customer's ability to securely log into his/her account and get immediate information and, in most cases, resolution to questions or problems.

The success of all three examples depend on well-developed content. In no other medium can visitors can go from prospect to customer to return customer in a matter of minutes!

A good Web site will be as effective as an experienced salesperson that loves his or her product.

Such a site makes the sale to prospects that prefer "self-service, no human intervention" convenience. However, it ALSO provides a gateway for those customers who value human interaction to get in touch, and get a head start on that dialogue.

The challenge for content developers is to give their "virtual salesperson" an informative, persuasive voice that speaks to an individual--not a mass--audience.

Tip #1: Understand the site's "Action Potential"

The Internet is a communications network--basically the next evolution of a telephone network. A Web-site is a gathering point in this network that consists of two things: Content and Application. Writers will be most concerned with the content, because their assignment is to make the site friendly and informative, by presenting the information provided by the "client" in the best possible light.

Don't ignore the site's application. Content is the lead-in; the application is the Action Potential, i.e., what the user is supposed to do. For example, this could be purchasing at an on-line store, viewing an on-line demo, finding informative articles, or just checking email. The ultimate objective(s) will determine what you write and how to divide or categorize it.

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