Writing For The Web, Isaac Kaplyuk

Computers, and then the Internet, as we know, are quite recent developments. Despite this however, the Internet didn't take its time in overtaking the print world, which has been around considerably longer. (Over five hundred years, more specifically, since the first Gutenberg printing press, or 1450.) In the past few years, many news outlets have taken their publications online, and are the main reason that nearly all journalism institutions say that print is 'dying'; So, that means that many writers have to take their craft online, and with this change comes a big consideration towards the writing style. Writing online is much different than writing for print. Because so many more elements can be included within an online story, such as video, audio, pictures, links to other stories and more, these have to be considered, along with other things never before considered for print such as keywords, or 'SEO', 'scannability', and more.

Writing for online means writing to grab reader's attention quickly, and keeping it. This means changing up the traditional way of writing so that the optimum amount of 'eyeballs' are on YOUR article. Articles written for online should be quick, and easy to read , and contain short paragraphs. When there are numbers or other bits of information, these should be bulletted for further ease of reading. What it all boils down to is scanability- how easy is to read, and can the reader get the most important information as quickly as possible-remember, everybody is always super-dooper busy, so time is of the essence. Another thing to keep in mind is writing to ensure that people will actually find your story-this means putting in keywords for SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. Chelsey Smith also talks about SEO, and other tips for writing copy for the online world. What this means is when someone types in keywords related to your story, your story will pop up in the search results, and hopefully they will read it. Things like this must be kept in mind in the online world where there is so much out there, to ensure your article rises above the rest and is read by the most people.

Because the Internet and its componets are much more than just words on a screen, journalists can add a large amount of depth to their work by encorporating multi-media elements such as video, audio, and links to other sources of information, or other audio and video elements. EXPN, an action sports website, recently did a story on the future of Freestyle Motocross, in an article titled 'No Contest'. It contains video, pictures, and links to a multitude of other sources, including websites, other stories, and bios. It creates for a much deeper reading experience, allowing for the reader to do their own investigative work if they desire, checking all the links, and watching the video for added story depth, allowing the reader a much greater amount of insight. When writing for the web, journalists must be tech-savvy, and employ video, audio and links whenever possible so that the reader can be that much more involved, because really, who wants to just read print on a screen?

*Note: image thanks to http://www.german-info.com/images/edu_images/Web-journalism-large.jpg