Writing for the web
Every business - big or small - has its own website and more and more jobs are available writing copy for the web. Susannah Ross is the author of 'A Simple Guide to Writing for your Website' and an associate of the writing company Clarity. In this article, she addresses how writing for the web is different to writing for print and what you need to know to make your words work for you.
How does Web writing differ from writing for print?
With a book you can immediately see how big it is and what kind of book it is. You can be sure that the pages are organised by theme into chapters and are numbered in sequence. Using the index and thumbing through the pages at a rate of hundreds of words a second, you can find what you want quickly. None of this true of a website. You can't tell at a glance whether a website includes four pages or four thousand pages. You have little idea what it is about or who wrote it. You have no idea how to find your way round it until you are told. The pages are not in sequence: you may follow links from one page to another and go round in circles or out of the site altogether. Using the computer screen, you can only read a few dozen words at a time and they are hard to read because the screen has poorer definition than the printed page. The chances are that you will not find what you are interested in. When you read a printed page, you start with a better idea of what you are getting and feel more in control of the medium than you do with a webpage. As a writer on a website, you need to take account of this disorientation on the part of the user, the non-linear nature of a website and the inadequacies of the screen compared with paper. Make sure that you:
- explain yourself and your purpose clearly and repeatedly
- organise your information into discrete sections rather than in sequence.
- write concisely and simply.
What is the secret of successful Web writing?
You need to have three things clear in your mind - why you are writing, who you are writing for and what you are writing about. On the web, as everywhere else, good writing is the result of clear thinking. So the first task is to be clear in your mind what your site is for. The more time you spend beforehand thinking about your purpose, eliminating anything that is not essential, and planning how you are going to organise your site to achieve it, the better your chance of expressing yourself clearly. Then think who you are writing for. Plan your site according to the way you expect it to be used, not according to what you want to say. Put yourself in the position of the user at every stage, visualise that person and write with him or her in mind. As the web is interactive, your writing should be conversational; not necessarily familiar or casual, but direct and friendly. You are addressing a person. Whether you describe your business in the third person, or write in the first person as "we" or even "I", address the user directly as "you".
Thirdly, be sure you know what you are writing about. It is worth spending time digesting whatever information you have to put across before you write anything. Plan what you are going to say on each page and how those pages will relate to one another. The copy is not something you add in at the end, when the site is ready. Your business purpose and the way you express it informs the whole project. The additional challenge of Web writing, as opposed to writing in linear media, is to achieve the utmost clarity and consistency. When your information is broken into chunks, some just a few words long, and put on different pages, the chance of confusion is greater and the effect of inconsistency even more jarring than in print or broadcast. Here are some tips:
- keep your language simple
- make sure every word you use is necessary
- use the same terms to describe the same things throughout the site
- use the same spelling and punctuation for the same terms throughout
- ask for feedback and listen to it
- check, check and check again
Food | Gift | Relationship
Questions and Answers
Google is a number 1 search engine widely used worldwide. I believe from the statistics that we can see today, there is no one near to Google in terms of diverting traffic to your website.
Website marketing is the driving force behind a successful website venture. Those who are struggling to keep their sites alive should look into how to start up the right marketing campaign online.
Brand marketing online is probably one of the most important things you can do to create a successful business! But what is your brand and how can you create an authentic and lasting brand online? Read on to learn the top secrets to building brand visibility and reinforcing your reputation online!
The Internet technology is something that has really changed our lives. By making use of email and websites we are now able to operate a business, advertise, network and keep in touch with our employees, suppliers and customers. If you do not have much of a budget and cannot afford a big marketing campaign then you may like to try out emarketing. It is not only less expensive than printed ads, radio or TV ads but a lot of products get sold by marketing online.
Article Writing is a very powerful website marketing strategy and a great way to get traffic to your marketing links. Articles are 'content' same as websites and blogs. Your aim is to increase site-traffic. Once you have traffic then you need to use email newsletter marketing as one strategy.
http://www.adelaide-online-marketing.net We offer businesses inexpensive marketing online. Download our Free e-Book on "The 20 Most Important Things You Should Know about advertising online" Contact us for 1 hour free consultation on marketing
Have you come across the term, gamification, before? Maybe you have and found you do not quite understand what it means. Put simply, it is a term used to have a person or group of person's complete tasks to gain a reward. More often, the more tasks one completes then more or larger rewards are gained.
Becoming a success in Internet marketing is not an overnight process. Getting good positions in search engines takes time and lots of content.
Article marketing is not as hard as you think. All it takes is a creative mindset to learning new approaches, in leveraging the power of the internet to work for you.
if you can produce content five days out of the week for two years, you can potentially earn a full-time living online.
Daily practice in article writing will surely make you an excellent article writer. But you should also try to gain good expertise in content writing and have your own blog that carries your ideas, concepts and views on different topics.
The only limit to your impact is your imagination and commitment." –Anthony Robbins- Each and everyone of us, at one time or another have had the deep desire to make an impact on someone and/or somewhere whether it be in our immediate family, community, globally or any of the places in between.
There are many different reasons to find special electronic parts in your everyday life. The whole world around us seems to be as much about flowing electrons as it is about flowing blood. Kitchens are powered by advanced appliances capable of cooking, steaming, chopping, grilling, deep frying, broiling, or boiling a meal.
Tens of thousands of sufferers search the internet every day for gout help. Most people are looking for a cure and others are looking for simple ways to relieve the intense pain. Whatever your case is, you have come to the right stop. Because you are about to learn at least 5 secrets most doctors would never share with you.
One out of every five or six women is prone to lice and lice related problems. It is therefore important to have a fairly decent amount of knowledge about lice. What are lice?
What is sudden cardiac arrest? First off Sudden Cardiac Arrest or SCA is often called Sudden Cardiac Death, and you will see why in a moment. Sudden cardiac Arrest is quite simply when the heart unexpectedly and suddenly stops beating.
Discuss this Article
