Writing For The Web

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Chapter 6

• Writing For The Web

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Characteristics/Qualities of the Web

• Immediacy once information is available in some
  form, it can be loaded onto a Web site within a
  few seconds
• The web does not require personnel or equipment
  does not have any distribution problems
• The Drudge Report Drudge taught newspapers and
  magazines the importance of immediacy. A story,
  which may have been an exclusive not only became
  public, but became a question of good journalism.

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• The actions of Newsweek Newsweek editors and
  Matt Drudge on January 17, 1998, have been the
  subject of many debates on journalism ethics and
  practicesthey demonstrated the power of the
  World Wide Web.
• Flexibility The Web can accommodate a variety of
  formats for presenting information html, xml,
  sml, .jpg, .gif, .pdf, .wmv, .avi and the list
  goes on and on.

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• Audio Photo Gallery The Web is making the
  presentation of audio photo galleries simple and
  fast.
• This format marries photographs and audio into a
  musical slide show presentation, allowing for
  commentary from the photographer.
• Permanency material on the web can remain in
  place and accessible as long as the Web server
  and electronic storage space exist.
• Printed materials are certainly more lasting than
  broadcasting, but their life and usefulness is
  limited. With the Web, material can stay in place
  as long as the host Web server and storage space
  exists.

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• Capacity The Web can keep and show huge amounts
  of text and image materialthere are no limits
  like there are in broadcasting and print.
• Thanks to the Web (and other technological
  advances) we can store more in smaller spaces and
  centralize information.
• Not only can a news Web site load a story about
  an event, but it can also offer pictures, video,
  audio, graphics, and more detailed text like
  sidebars.
• Interactivity The Web offers a level of
  interactivity between producers and consumers
  that goes far beyond print media.

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• Interactivity The Web offers a level of
  interactivity between producers and consumers
  that goes far beyond print media.
• People have no control over what radio and
  television stations broadcast, or what newspapers
  print.
• The technology of the Web offers a level of
  interactivity between producers and consumers
  that goes far beyond print media.
• Visitors can communicate directly through e-mail
  or other means set up by the producers.
• The Web remains a medium of Words, Images and
  Sounds, especially WORDS. The Web needs people
  who produce good, understandable text.

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The Web Audience

• Demographically, Web users tend to be younger and
  male.
• A collaborative study by Harris Interactive and
  360 Youth revealed that 93 percent of college
  students access the Internet in a given month,
  and Jupiter Research said this market slowly grew
  from 15.2 million in 2003 to nearly 16.5 million
  in 2007.
• The single thing people of all demographics
  expect from Web sites is information.

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Expectations for Web Sites

• Speed they should load quickly and their links
  should respond instantly
• Visual logic a web page should be easy to figure
  out it should be clear what the web site is
  about, what it contains, who produced it
• Simple organization and navigation
• Depth they must contain enough information
• News they need to present new and updated
  information

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Characteristics of Web Writing

• Efficiency Writers should remember Web readers
  will not waste time. They GO!
• Simplicity A complex Web story is usually an
  unread story, except for a small, personally
  involved audience.
• Tone Although not a place where anything goes,
  the Web is usually a place that tolerates more
  casual writing.
• Visual Fonts, links, graphics, lists, short
  paragraphs and indentions.

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Creating Web Content

• Web writing follows the inverted pyramid style of
  writing.
• Web content should be accurate, complete, precise
  and efficient.
• Writers for the Web should use simple, clear
  language that is unadorned with personal
  opinions or personal writing style.

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Concision

• A term that explains the need for precision and
  concise Web text.
• Elements of Concision
• Keywords bold face words that indicate the
  information being presented often provide links
  and/or are in bold print
• Short Paragraphs 3 to 4 sentences at most
• Indentations help provide visual cues for
  readers
• Bulleted and numbered lists

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Forms of Web Writing

• Labels one- and two-word monikers that indicate
  the overall organization of the Web
• They must be specific
• Headlines cryptic summaries of information that
  indicate the content of a longer piece of prose
• Written with present tense verbs
• Articles like a, an, and the are missing
• Secondary Headlines complete sentences using
  full verb forms and articles they assume the
  presence of a main headline, but do not repeat
  information that is presented in the main
  headline.

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Other Forms

• Intros and Summaries
• An intro is a one- or two- sentence paragraph
  that tries to sell the visitor on reading an
  article.
• A summary is more straightforward and tries to
  tell what an article or web page is about helps
  readers decide if they want to read the article
• Subheads a line of type within the body copy of
  an article that informs the reader what is coming
  up next within the copy

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Search Engine Optimization

• There are ways to use keywords and phrases to
  make your story appear high in online searches.
• Using these words and phrases on purpose to
  increase your storys popularity and your sites
  number of hits is called SEO, or search engine
  optimization.

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• There are a number of tools to help you find
  popular search words.
• Google AdWords Keyword Tool Enter a search term
  and the site will show you other related keywords
  for that term. You can sort keywords in terms of
  search popularity. Keyword doesnt provide any
  search terms but is great to find alternative
  keywords.
• https//adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExter
  nal

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• Google Trends This tool provides a way to chart
  keywords, based on the accumulated search data
  that Google sees. Also see Google Hot Trends,
  which explains more about the day-to-day
  reporting you can get from Google Trends.
• http//www.google.com/trends/hottrends?saX

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• Trellian Free Search Term Suggestion Tool When
  you enter a term you get back a list of 100 terms
  related to and including your term. The ranking
  is by how often they have been searched each
  year, not by each day.
• http//www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

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• SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool
• Offers rough suggested daily search volumes by
  market for Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.
• Links the search volumes to the related global
  search results.
• Provides links to price estimate tools from
  Google AdWords. That Google AdWords tool shows
  the necessary bid to rank 1 for 85 of queries,
  and roughly how much traffic you could expect
  AdWords to send you based on that bid price and
  ad position.

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• Links to Google Trends, Google Suggest, Google
  Synonyms, Yahoo! Suggest, and Keyword Discovery
  keyword research results.
• Links to various vertical databases like
  Topix.net, Google Blogsearch, and Del.icio.us to
  let you know if people are talking about your
  topic and what types of resources they are
  referencing.
• Is driven off the Wordtracker keyword suggestion
  tool. If you sign up for a Wordtracker account
  they offer many additional keyword research
  features and tools that are lacking in our basic
  keyword tool.
• http//tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/

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• MSN adCenter Labs Keyword Forecast This is
  similar to Google Trends. It shows the popularity
  over time of terms you enter. In addtion, it
  shows the popularity of terms by age and gender.
  The site offers a varity of other keyword-related
  tools.
• http//adlab.msn.com/
• http//adlab.msn.com/Keyword-Forecast/

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Keyword Buzz

• Yahoo Buzz
• http//buzz.yahoo.com/overall/
• SEOmoz.com
• http//www.seomoz.org/popular-searches/index/
• Ask.com
• http//about.ask.com/en/docs/iq/iq.shtml
• Google Zeitgeist
• http//www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html
• Lycos
• http//50.lycos.com/
• AOL
• http//hotsearches.aol.com/

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Lateral Reporting

• Background, details and lists
• http//blog.al.com/pr/reports/
• Pictures
• http//www.al.com/galleries/
• Graphics
• Maps
• http//blog.al.com/pr/2008/08/mobile_county_storm_
  surge_map.html
• Documentssuch as court opinions, laws, policy
  statements

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Lateral Reporting

• Previous stories
• http//www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?ar
  chive
• Audio and Video Clips
• http//blog.al.com/videos/mobile-press-register/
• Links to other Web sites
• http//www.al.com/
• E-polls
• http//www.al.com/poll/popupalabama.html
• Discussion forums
• http//www.al.com/blogs/

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E-mail

• E-mail is now a tool of mass communication.
• E-mail newsletters are an increasingly popular
  form of keeping people informed.
• RSS feeds
• Weblogs
• Blackberries, Rasberries and iPods