WSJ Article Highlights One of the Difficulties of Web Writing

1
WSJ Article Highlights One of the Difficulties of
Web WritingBy Anthony CarterCopywriter
proofreader
2

Photo credit http//www.flickr.com/photos/garrykn
ight/
3
Those of us who make our living writing online
content face many difficult hurdles things like
keyword density, creative use of subheadings and
bullet points, and constructing text in a way
that naturally allows for several embedded links.

4
However, perhaps the most difficult task of all
is creating text that is easily understood by
readers without sounding simplistic and banal.
Indeed, spend a few hours reading articles on
your favourite topics and you'll probably find
the word banal to be very descriptive of the
majority of web content.
5
The Wall Street Journal addressed this very issue
in an article back in 2011 entitled Writing
About Economics How Much Jargon? While the
emphasis of the piece was writing on economics
topics and the appropriate amount of
industry-specific jargon one should use, the
principles set forth by the author apply all
across the web-writing spectrum.
6
Those of us who put food on our tables by writing
for the web would be wise to open our eyes and
pay attention.
7
The WSJ writer suggests considering three things
when putting together an article. His first
suggestion is to avoid jargon whenever possible.
This makes sense when you realize that the point
of web content is to attract people who are
unfamiliar with the topic at hand.
8
Those who are already familiar are not likely to
spend significant amounts of time reading what
you have written. Therefore, using words and
phrases that most people understand will make
your text much more accessible to the general
public.
9
The second suggestion is perhaps my favourite
at least as it relates to general Web writing.
The author states that when writing on economic
topics one should always include the intuition,
logic, and maths behind the article's main idea.
Adapting that to more general web writing, I
agree that online text should be written in a
logical and orderly fashion.
10
Too often web writers are more concerned about
keyword density and back links than they are with
presenting a comprehensive text. When we fail to
include intuition and logic, we are offering our
clients text that presents a very unprofessional
image.
11
Finally, the third suggestion states that if a
fairly intelligent teenager cannot understand
what weve written then the author probably
doesn't understand the topic himself. I couldn't
agree more.
12
Furthermore, this suggestion combines the
previous two along with a good command of the
English language (or whatever language you happen
to be writing in). If we web writers cannot
clearly set forth our ideas in a way that the
average reader can make sense of, we are doing
our clients a disservice. That's no way to run a
business.
13
Perhaps one of the reasons many web writers put
so little effort into their craft is the fact
that our names are often not attached to our
material. Let's face it web text is usually
anonymous. Moreover, with anonymity comes the
ability to put forth a poor effort in the content
we produce.
14
Yet if the Wall Street Journal is to be trusted,
and I believe they are, web writers should be
cognizant of the audience their content is likely
to reach.
15
That means writing in a way that is not only
informational, but also presents the client in
the best possible light by reaching the target
audience with useful and relevant content.
16
Thank you for reading.Anthony Carter is
managing director of carman online content
publishing
17
For all your copywriting needs, go to
cocp.co.ukFor proofreading and
copy-editingwww.carmanproofreading.co.uk