by Diana Leigh

Created on: October 02, 2008   Last Updated: June 02, 2009

Web content writing is indeed legitimate writing. Writing for the Internet might, in some minds, be considered even more intense than writing for a publication such as a newspaper or magazine. There are many people on staff involved in the publication of a news or magazine article, providing the author with support and feedback, however, when writing for the web, the author is alone, and responsibility for the finished product rests solely with him.

In Webster's dictionary school edition 1996, "legitimate" is defined as "conforming to accepted rules." Certainly then, web content writing should be considered legitimate according to this definition, unless, of course, it doesn't conform. The writer has a great deal of opportunity to express his ideas and an even greater opportunity to reach a substantial audience when writing web content. He also has a responsibility to do it to the best of his ability. My belief is that an article that is well written and interesting will be of major interest, wherever it is published.

In today's society the Internet has taken the lead as a source of information and entertainment. Those of us who grew up before the advent of the computer and the Internet can all relate to how we needed to obtain information for those never-ending reports at school. We had plenty of resource materials that had to be sorted through. We had encyclopedias and reference books, all hard copy, all cumbersome, and all pretty boring. I still have a set of encyclopedias on the shelf, thirteen heavy volumes, with outdated information that probably haven't been looked at in years. The cost of just this set of encyclopedias was greater than many of today's computers. Having information that is immediately available at the touch of a keyboard and short search, and is current, not to mention interesting, is mind- boggling. Where would this information come from if not from legitimate writers? It's absurd to think anything else.

I believe that those who write informational articles must be knowledgeable and resourceful when writing about their particular subject, and be especially careful that what they're writing is written well, but most importantly accurate when recounting information. The content may be viewed by many, and those reading trust that the information is just that, accurate.

In addition the writer needs to be as concise and as clear as possible, but interesting at the same time, otherwise they might lose their audience. Those who choose to write, whether it be for a newspaper, magazine, or the web are dedicated to it. Considering that most of us will not get rich or famous web writing, I believe, without a shadow of a doubt, that it takes dedication to the craft of writing and should be recognized as legitimate.

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