What Are the Four Types of Web Writing Styles and How Are They Used?
Many people believe the writing styles we have all learned in grade school are different from the ones on websites, but that is simply not true. When you were in school, you probably learned about:
- Expository writing
- Descriptive writing
- Persuasive writing
- Narrative writing
Before we delve into how each of them is used in web writing, let’s recap each one.
Expository writing: The author tells you about a topic by giving you the facts and figures. He will never mention his opinion. An example of expository writing style is an article that teaches you something, which is often found in a textbook or instructional manual.
Persuasive writing: This style of writing is different from expository writing because it includes the author’s opinions. These opinions are often backed up by related facts to persuade the reader to feel the same way. This writing is found in online advertisements, on television, and in magazines.
Descriptive writing: This type of writing describes a character, event or place. The writing is detailed, and paints a clear picture in a reader’s mind. This type of writing is often found in novels.
Narrative writing: Like descriptive writing, this type will tell you about an event, character, or place by instead of the author speaking from the outside of it all, he becomes the character in the story. This type of writing is also often seen in novels.
How the Writing Styles Relate to Web Writing
Now that you remember the four type of writing styles, let’s look at how they relate to web writing.
Expository Web Writing
How many times have you questioned something, and immediately thought, “I’ll just search online for the answer.” The reason you do this is you know there are articles on the Internet that will tell you about something and give you the facts and figures you need to learn about the topic. This is exactly what expository writing style is and the bulk of articles online that are trusted by readers are written in this style.
Persuasive Web Writing
If you’ve visited any business website and read its blog, you’ve likely read persuasive web writing. If you write on your own business blog, and talk about all of the benefits to buying your product or service, you’ve written persuasively. Whenever an article online tells the reader the product or service is one of the best around and tries to convince the reader of it, then it is persuasive web writing.
Descriptive and Narrative Web Writing
When you were reading the information on description and narrative writing styles, you probably wondered how these would relate to web writing. It’s true that it’s not the norm when it comes to web writing, but for some industries it’s the only thing that works for the audience. Every business has a particular audience, and if that audience is one that enjoys reading detailed stories, this type of web writing would be perfect for them. It will attract, engage, and even persuade them to act in a certain way.
Using More than One Writing Style
While you were in school, your teacher probably told you to write an example of each style. She probably never told you to combine them. In the real world, you can do whatever you want. That means if you want your blog to have some expository web writing and some persuasive web writing, you can have all you want. If you want some descriptive and narrative web writing with expository, that’s no problem either. You can combine persuasive with descriptive writing too. Whatever you want, you can do because your online website is yours to do what you please to satisfy your target audience.
Choose Your Style with Experienced Content Writers
If you’re wondering how you’ll ever be able to write in the styles mentioned here, wonder no more. ContentWriters has a team of experienced writers who have written in all of these styles. All you have to do is choose the style or styles you believe is best for your target audience, and we’ll have our writers write effective content to make you proud to have on your website. Contact us today to discuss how our content writers can start delivering the web articles you need to boost your online business.
