2. WEB BASED WRITING
It is a technique that should be followed for
effectively delivering the webpage content to the
end user.
Though there is no fixed technique, there might
be few variations but the basic style remains the
same across most of the websites.
3. HOW BETTER WRITING IMPROVES
YOUR SITE.
What can writers and editors do?
• Testing has shown that you can improve the usability of
your webpages by 159% simply through better writing!
• Clear, concise text makes it easier for people to use your
site and get to the information that matters most to them.
• No flashy redesigns required.
……. Think before you write.
4. WEB BASED MEDIUMS OF
COMMUNICATION
Social networks and user-generated content sites :-
Such as Facebook and user generated content sites
like flicker and YouTube provide a variety of
communication tools, including user comments and
personal profiles for brief messages. Many companies
now host their own social networking sites, where
product users and interact with eachother.
5. Blogs
Able to update contents quickly and easily.
Saves lot of time
Bloggers can publish information to vast audiences
with relatively little efforts
6. FACTS TO CONSIDER FOR WEB
WRITING -THE WEB IS NOT THE SAME
SAoSm PeA fPacEtRs about reading and the Web…
• 79% of people scan webpages, instead of
read them.
• Reading on a computer screen is 25%
slower than reading on paper.
• Computer screens have about 10% the
resolution of paper.
7. KNOW YOUR
AUDIENCE
• It is the same as your print audience.
• Look at your current data – where does your traffic
come from?
• Who visits your site, for how long, what do they look
at most?
Know your audience!
8. WHAT IS THE VOICE OR CONTENT OF YOUR
WRITING ?
• Voice is the expression of your company or site through images,
graphics, typeface, colors, content selection, and words.
• The website’s voice communicates what your brand is all about.
• A strong, consistent voice sets your site apart from the
competition.
11. TIPS FOR WRITING WEB HEADLINES
1. Give people a reason to click
• Why is your work worth anyone’s attention and time.
• It must explain in some way why they should click on you
• If you can’t work out a value proposition and express it clearly in a
headline, it might be worth editing your piece.
• Promise a BIG, powerful benefit to your customers.
2. Think creative
• For example at the book store: first of all, you are attracted by the
bright cover and then you pick it up and look at the table of
contents.
• They don't read ALL your pages. They jump from headline
to headline. And only if a headline catch's their interest,
they start to read the information under it.
12. 3 - It should probably mention what the piece is
about
Its always worth stating.
It’s surprising many fascinating pieces have incredibly
vague headlines.
Anyone who finds you through search because they’re
looking for the thing you’re talking about is almost
certainly going to be lost if you don’t mention it in the
headline
13. 4. People like lists
That doesn’t mean you should write a list if your piece
isn’t already a list.
But if you’re writing a list and you don’t take the
opportunity to use a number in the headline, you’re
probably missing a trick.
Eg : 7 benefits of yoga
14. 5 People like useful
This ought to be self-evident. Are you giving people
instructions, a helpful way to do things, or information
they might find useful? Then make sure your headline
says so.
6 Don’t make promises you can’t keep
Make sure people know they can trust what they’re
clicking on. No one likes feeling disappointed, and
people aren’t going to share things that create those
feelings.
15. • SEVEN. Keep it snappy
• Too long, and it’s going to end up truncated in most of
the places that count – Twitter has a character limit,
Google has a display limit – and look ugly on your site
on mobile, unless you’re specifically designing for it.
You’re going to lose attention. Simple tends to be
better; shorter tends to be better; if you can make it
elegant, alliterative or amusing at the same time,
that’s icing on the cake.
• EIGHT. Work out what your audience responds
to
• Headlines are designed around two clauses, one with
an emotional pull, because that’s what its core
audience shares most. If you’re making things aimed
at a certain audience and you know they respond to a
certain type of sell, then you can cheerfully ignore the
rest of this list, safe in the knowledge that your
readers won’t care.
16. OTHER IMP TIPS
• Use verbs that are strong, active, fresh, and accurate
• Front-load the most relevant info
• Make sure the headline can stand alone, without a tease,
subhead, photo, or even the article
• Choose clarity over cleverness
• Keep global audience in mind
• Include relevant search keywords
17. • Introductory Text
• Site visitors rarely read introductory paragraphs on
their first visit. Why? Most people arrive at a site via a
search engine, so they often bypass the home page.
Others, of course, follow a link to a home page, or click
on a Home link inside the site to see what else it has
to offer, so an introduction isn’t useless, but make it
short and sweet, answering the what and the why in
as few words as possible. The same goes for
introductory text on interior pages.
18. Points of Entry
Most people scan, rather than read, Web pages, at
least initially. Many, of course, read entire articles and
essays, but home pages and other top-level pages
should catch visitors’ attention with scanable text like
linked or unlinked keywords, practical (not clever)
display copy (otherwise known as headings, subheads,
and the like), and bullet lists.
19. WRITE TEXT TO ATTRACT SEARCH
ENGINES
Your web pages should be written to attract
search engines, not people.
Why? Because if search engines do not rank your
page well, the only visitors you will receive are
those you give your link to directly, or from
websites that link back to yours. To accomplish
this objective, identify keyword phrases of 2-3
words the keywords that relate to your business
and use them in the text you write.
20. AVOID OVERUSE OF PUNCTUATION
Do not add gratuitous punctuation as in:
We're the Best!!!
We're Exciting!!!
Buy from Us!!!“
The same goes for commas and semicolons. They
make sentences harder to read and may turn
people away.
21. USE SHORT SENTENCES
• Long sentences are harder to read. Break them
up into shorter ones.
• Write only one idea per paragraph
• Web pages need to be concise and to-the-point.
• People don't read web pages, they scan them, so
having short, meaty paragraphs is better than
long rambling ones.
•
• Use lists instead of paragraphs
• Lists are easier to scan than paragraphs,
especially if you keep them short.
22. • Include sub-headings in web page content
• Use action words whenever possible
• Avoid the passive voice.
• Write what you would say to them if you were talking
on the phone.
• For example, instead of:
An acknowledgement of the order will be issued via an
e-mail message when payment is completed.
Use:
You will receive an email from us confirming your
order.
23. Write links that work
• Please remember not to use "click here" for your
links.
"Click here" says nothing – it doesn't reach out and
grab your readers and make them want to click on the
link.
• According to the W3C Quality Assurance Team, links
should:
• be brief and meaningful
• provide information even when read out of context
• explain what the link offers
• not deal with the mechanics of the site
• not be a verb phrase
24. Make your links part of the text
Links are another way web readers scan pages.
They stand out from normal text, and provide more
cues as to what the page is about.
Make sure that the text for your links indicates where
the links will lead your website visitors.
25. • Proofread your work
• Typos and spelling errors may send people away from
your pages.
• Go back and edit your work
• Edit before you publish. Edit after you see it online.
Edit again next week.
• Keep asking yourself:
• Is this clear?
• Is there a simpler way to say this?
• Is there a shorter way to say this?
• Is this even necessary?
26. Link to original sources
Don’t post another site’s content on your site – link to
the original source instead.
Why?
If the content on the other site changes your content
will be out of date
if a site visitor has questions about the content they
will contact you not realizing that it isn’t your content.
27. • Key Facts First
• Employ the inverted-pyramid model of writing, based
on journalistic style, in which the most important
information is featured first, followed by decreasingly
significant information.
• Put conclusions at the beginning
Think of an inverted pyramid when you write. Get to
the point in the first paragraph, then expand upon it.
• Advantage???
• One advantage of this strategy is if content is too long,
it’s easier just to cut from the bottom rather than try
to delete passages throughout.
28. • Say It Straight
• Chant your new mantra: SWYM, MWYS. (Say what
you mean, mean what you say.) Objectivity equals
authority; avoid marketese, promotional excess,
hyperbole — whatever you want to call it. If people
trust you to be evenhanded in your writing style, they
will trust you.
• Also, be literal, not figurative: If, in a heading for a
sports story, you use metaphorical language like curse
instead of something more concrete like “losing
streak,” you lose the opportunity for search
optimization.
29. • Define your goal
Before you write anything, ask yourself:
WHY am I writing this
WHAT is my main message
WHO am I talking to?
HOW do I want them to respond.
Hey, no kidding. How DO you want them to respond?
This is how you increase conversion rates! When
people have made it to the bottom of the wonderful
page you created, give them someplace relevant to go!
Don’t make them scroll back to the top.
30. Post content regularly
• In order to both keep your existing audience happy
and at the same time grow your readership, you
should post new content regularly.
• Make sure you take enough time to brainstorm about
topics and to do your research. Depending on your
resources, schedule two, three, or more regular
publications per week.
• An easy way to get up your number of articles is by
allowing guest posts. As long as you keep the overall
quality high, your audience probably doesn’t care
about who has written the articles.
31. FRONT LOAD CONTENT
• Use subheadings. Because users will skim read, it’s a
good idea to use subheadings so that they can find
relevant content quickly.
• Be concise. Use bullet points, clear and simple language
which is not long winded. .
• Front-load content. This means that you put the
conclusion for what you are trying to say first. This helps
users get a jist of what is on the page and hopefully it will
capture their imagination.
• There is nothing worse then reading a few paragraphs
and realizing the page you are on is completely irrelevant
32. DON’TS OF WEB WRITING
• Welcome people to your website and explain what a
website is
•
• Put your mission statement on your home page
33. WHAT IS SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to the
many techniques you can use to raise your
webpage’s rank in search engine results.
Search engines analyze the words on a page and
consider some words as more important.
Essentially, the search engine will think the
webpage is “about” whatever those words say.
As writers and editors, we can make a big
difference in SEO by creating well-organized and
information-rich copy.
34. SEO FOR ARTICLES
• Try to repeat each keyword 2 to 4 times in a 300-word story.
• But you don’t want your text to sound artificial or so repetitive
that it's ridiculous.
• Include keywords and variations in subheads, bold, bulleted lists.
• Draft your story first and then see where you can tweak wording
and use keywords and variations.
35. WHAT IS A GOOD KEYWORD?
• A keyword is a word or short phrase people will use to
search for your article.
• Keywords are usually “everyday language” not insider jargon or
marketing hype.
• Spell out keywords because people don’t search for abbreviations.