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Wri$ng for the Web ... isn’t much different from wri$ng in general. What’s always been interes$ng, what’s always been can’t putitdown, is s"ll interes$ng, can’t putitdown.
| Date post: | 12-Apr-2017 |
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Wri$ng for the Web
... isn’t much different from wri$ng in general. What’s always been
interes$ng, what’s always been can’t-‐put-‐it-‐down, is s"ll interes$ng, can’t-‐
put-‐it-‐down.
Wri$ng for the Web
The difference is ...
... now we know what works and what doesn’t.
And it turns out ...
Wri$ng for the Web has a lot in common with wri$ng for
broadcas$ng – wri$ng for the ear.
From 1993
$nyurl.com/journclass (click “Older Posts” at boLom of page)
Secrets to geOng people not to tune out -‐-‐ for radio and, it turns out, just about anything
on the Web ...
• Select the most interes$ng word or phrase.
• Make that the first element of your story (and, on the Web, your headline), and let your wri$ng flow from there.
But what are the most interes$ng words?
• Develop a sense of your audience’s priori$es by monitoring clicks.
• And develop a sense of the wider world’s priori$es by checking sites like Google Trends <google.com/trends/>
Secrets to geOng people not to tune out -‐-‐ for radio and, it turns out, just about anything
on the Web ...
Omit needless words. -‐-‐ Will Strunk, The Elements of Style, 1918
TwiLer. Tex$ng. Tiny smartphone screens, 2012.
Need we say more?
Read your wri$ng out loud.
Especially important for broadcas$ng, but a great test of any piece of wri$ng or repor$ng. If your ear doesn’t get it, neither will others’
ears. Or eyes.
Bonus proofreading /p: Change font, font-‐size, window width, etc.
Secrets to geOng people not to tune out -‐-‐ for radio and, it turns out, just about anything
on the Web ...
Really, not that different from the ol’ “inverted pyramid.”
hLp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_pyramid
All your work’s for nothing if people don’t read your work.
... So you need great headlines, great subject lines, great Tweets and Facebook posts.
If the headline doesn’t hook ’em, the rest of your work goes unseen.
Headlines that work Two kinds of headlines:
• Search-‐engine-‐op6mized headlines. Good for story-‐level placement.
• “Curiosity gap”-‐op$mized headlines. Good for front-‐page and email placement, for print publica6ons ... and for social media (TwiCer, Facebook).
SEO-‐friendly headline techniques
• Place the story's most interes6ng word or phrase as close as possible to the start of the headline.
• Simple, direct headlines (with familiar names).
• “How-‐to” or “Why” headlines.
• Accentuate the posi6ve. Say what did happen, not what’s unchanged or stable.
‘Curiosity gap’
The difference between what you know and what you want to know
Like The Onion, the editorial team at Upworthy begins with dozens of headlines and works on them un"l they create what Mr. [Eli]
Pariser called “a curiosity gap” — a need to know more that prompts the impulse to click on something.
-‐-‐ David Carr, The New York Times
hLp://mediadecoder.blogs.ny$mes.com/2012/07/09/two-‐guys-‐made-‐a-‐web-‐site-‐and-‐this-‐is-‐what-‐they-‐got/
‘Curiosity gap’ headlines
• Assume most people aren’t interested. Write headlines to engage people who think they’re not interested, and your core audience will s$ll be there for you. (Dare them not to be interested.)
• Play down loca6on. (Except for famous loca$ons.)
• Play down names. (Except for famous names.)
‘Curiosity gap’ headlines
• Simple, direct headlines (with generic nouns for unfamiliar names).
The most-‐clicked Internet headline (or most-‐read newspaper headline) ever might be ...
Most-‐clicked headline ever?
-‐-‐ Credit for headline: Paul Muth, Concordia University
... or maybe more so:
With a puppy.
Elements of Style: Use definite, specific, concrete language
• Regardless of headline or wri$ng style ... Consider words’ “point value.”
hLp://www.amazon.com/University-‐Games-‐1520-‐Man-‐Bites/dp/B000087BDT
‘Curiosity gap’ headlines
• Ques6ons: ‘Who was Deep Throat?’
• Ellipses, teases: ‘Na$on’s faLest city is ...’ • Pull-‐quotes: ‘Suck it up, wussies.’
The power of YOU • Works with SEO-‐friendly headlines.
• Works with “curiosity gap” headlines.
hLp://www.theonion.com/ar$cles/secondperson-‐narra$ve-‐enthralling-‐you,30380/
Bad headlines
• Unfamiliar words and names – including all but top-‐line acronyms and abbrevia$ons.
• “No-‐change” words: – “Stable” – “unchanged” – “s$ll” – “con$nues”
Bad headlines
A string of words that can be both noun and verb, or verb and adjec$ve, or ...
• Police chase winds through 3 towns • Teacher strikes idle kids • Owners responsible for bi$ng dogs • Juvenile court tries shoo$ng suspect • Downtown hogs grant cash • Cop picks open can of worms
Bad headlines Words out of order: • Sisters reunited aner 18 years in supermarket checkout line
• Services for man who refused to hate Thursday in Atlanta
• Trial ends in mercy killing
• Poten$al witness to murder drunk
• Clinic gives poor free legal help
Charlie Meyerson Bit.ly/Meyerson
linkedin.com/in/cmeyerson 708-TEQ-NEWS
