{"id":637,"date":"2010-03-26T11:17:18","date_gmt":"2010-03-26T17:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/?p=637"},"modified":"2010-03-26T11:17:18","modified_gmt":"2010-03-26T17:17:18","slug":"writing-for-the-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing for the web"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/140068142_c81810885d.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-640\" style=\"margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px;\" title=\"140068142_c81810885d\" src=\"http:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/140068142_c81810885d-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>The way people consume information online is different from the way they consume information in print. And more importantly, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/\">the way people get to your information<\/a> online is very different than in print.<\/p>\n<p>Below is a preview of what I will be talking about at Drake University Saturday for a session titled Writing for the Web. I&#8217;ll also be giving an introduction to search engine optimization. <a href=\"http:\/\/smcdsm.ning.com\/events\/writing-for-the-web-and-intro\" target=\"_blank\">Here&#8217;s more info on the session Writing for the Web and Intro to SEO.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>1. How people read online<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They don\u2019t read every word<\/li>\n<li>They scan (quickly), looking for information they want<\/li>\n<li>If they don\u2019t find it fast, they click on something else<\/li>\n<li>They jump from site to site (meaning they expect you to link to great content on other sites)<\/li>\n<li>They avoid ads (and anything that looks like an ad)<\/li>\n<li>They read across the top, then down, then across, then down, like an F&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>They don\u2019t scroll<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2. What gets read online<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Short paragraphs<\/li>\n<li>Bulleted lists<\/li>\n<li>Occasional use of bold to prevent skimming<\/li>\n<li>Short sentence fragments<\/li>\n<li>Explanatory subheads<\/li>\n<li>Literal headlines<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>3. The web is very literal. Be straightforward. Those pun headlines that work great in print won&#8217;t work online &#8211; especially when we consider how much of our <a href=\"http:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/07\/how-to-rank-high-in-google-news\/\">traffic is coming from search engines<\/a> (searches are straightforward &#8230; Iowa football, Des Moines newspaper, Britney Spears naked).<\/p>\n<p>4. Use links. They\u2019re the currency of the web. They&#8217;re a great way to add context to what you are writing for readers who want more information.<\/p>\n<p>5. Explore alternative story forms. Not everything should be a 15-inch story. In fact, not everything should be a &#8220;story.&#8221; We have a wealth of tools online to use to present information to readers.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lists<\/li>\n<li>Photos<\/li>\n<li>Videos<\/li>\n<li>Thought posts<\/li>\n<li>Interviews<\/li>\n<li>Live chats<\/li>\n<li>Live videos<\/li>\n<li>Slideshows<\/li>\n<li>Best of posts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>6. Link to your related content. Don\u2019t assume today\u2019s readers have been with you from the start. Help them easily find your previous content.<\/p>\n<p>7. Comment back to people. The story doesn&#8217;t end when you hit &#8220;publish.&#8221; The web is social. When someone leaves a comment on your site, comment back and keep the conversation going.<\/p>\n<p>8. Make it easy to share your content and easy to subscribe to your content. In addition to offering an <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/feedburner\/dleQ\" target=\"_blank\">RSS feed<\/a>, use <a href=\"http:\/\/feedburner.google.com\" target=\"_blank\">Feedburner<\/a> to let people subscribe to your new posts via <a href=\"http:\/\/feedburner.google.com\/fb\/a\/mailverify?uri=feedburner\/dleQ\" target=\"_blank\">e-mail<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>9. Comment on other people\u2019s blogs. Do you really expect others to comment on your posts when you&#8217;re not commenting on other blogs yourself?<\/p>\n<p>10. Know your metrics. Use <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/analytics\/\" target=\"_blank\">Google Analytics<\/a> to see which of your content is most popular and which isn&#8217;t getting read at all. Do more of the popular stuff and less of the unpopular stuff.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/dbdbrobot\/140068142\/\">Photo by <strong>dbdbrobot<\/strong> via Flickr<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatcow.com\/join\/index.bml?AffID=582094&amp;LinkName=blog post\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fatcow.com\/affiliate\/banners\/82\" style=\"border: 0px\" alt=\"affiliate_link\"\/><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The way people consume information online is different from the way they consume information in print. And more importantly, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/\">the way people get to your information<\/a> online is very different than in print.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[147],"class_list":["post-637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-online-information","tag-writing-for-the-web"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Writing for the web - Chris Snider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The way people consume information online is different from the way they consume information in print. And more importantly, the way people get to your information online is very different than in print.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Writing for the web - Chris Snider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The way people consume information online is different from the way they consume information in print. And more importantly, the way people get to your information online is very different than in print.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Chris Snider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chrissniderdesign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chrissniderdesign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-03-26T17:17:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/140068142_c81810885d-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Snider\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@chrissnider\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@chrissnider\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Snider\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/26\\\/writing-for-the-web\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/26\\\/writing-for-the-web\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Snider\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/47cd1e9e0e98b10ac61deb8080909e22\"},\"headline\":\"Writing for the web\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-03-26T17:17:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/26\\\/writing-for-the-web\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":459,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/26\\\/writing-for-the-web\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/140068142_c81810885d-300x225.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"writing for the web\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Digital information\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/26\\\/writing-for-the-web\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/26\\\/writing-for-the-web\\\/\",\"name\":\"Writing for the web - Chris Snider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/26\\\/writing-for-the-web\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/26\\\/writing-for-the-web\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/140068142_c81810885d-300x225.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-03-26T17:17:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/47cd1e9e0e98b10ac61deb8080909e22\"},\"description\":\"The way people consume information online is different from the way they consume information in print. And more importantly, the way people get to your information online is very different than in print.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/26\\\/writing-for-the-web\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/26\\\/writing-for-the-web\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/26\\\/writing-for-the-web\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/140068142_c81810885d-300x225.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/140068142_c81810885d-300x225.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/26\\\/writing-for-the-web\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Writing for the web\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Chris Snider\",\"description\":\"Chris Snider teaches digital media in Des Moines, Iowa\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/47cd1e9e0e98b10ac61deb8080909e22\",\"name\":\"Chris Snider\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a0d4447c358a0165030d09153c7cd5b48d415ee48e10f8eb90c1068f35dbb7c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a0d4447c358a0165030d09153c7cd5b48d415ee48e10f8eb90c1068f35dbb7c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a0d4447c358a0165030d09153c7cd5b48d415ee48e10f8eb90c1068f35dbb7c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chris Snider\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/chrissniderdesign\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/chrissnider\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chrissniderdesign.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/csnider\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Writing for the web - Chris Snider","description":"The way people consume information online is different from the way they consume information in print. And more importantly, the way people get to your information online is very different than in print.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Writing for the web - Chris Snider","og_description":"The way people consume information online is different from the way they consume information in print. And more importantly, the way people get to your information online is very different than in print.","og_url":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/","og_site_name":"Chris Snider","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chrissniderdesign","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chrissniderdesign","article_published_time":"2010-03-26T17:17:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/140068142_c81810885d-300x225.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Chris Snider","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@chrissnider","twitter_site":"@chrissnider","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Snider","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris Snider","@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/47cd1e9e0e98b10ac61deb8080909e22"},"headline":"Writing for the web","datePublished":"2010-03-26T17:17:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/"},"wordCount":459,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/140068142_c81810885d-300x225.jpg","keywords":["writing for the web"],"articleSection":["Digital information"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/","url":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/","name":"Writing for the web - Chris Snider","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/140068142_c81810885d-300x225.jpg","datePublished":"2010-03-26T17:17:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/47cd1e9e0e98b10ac61deb8080909e22"},"description":"The way people consume information online is different from the way they consume information in print. And more importantly, the way people get to your information online is very different than in print.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/140068142_c81810885d-300x225.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/140068142_c81810885d-300x225.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/26\/writing-for-the-web\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Writing for the web"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/","name":"Chris Snider","description":"Chris Snider teaches digital media in Des Moines, Iowa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/47cd1e9e0e98b10ac61deb8080909e22","name":"Chris Snider","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0d4447c358a0165030d09153c7cd5b48d415ee48e10f8eb90c1068f35dbb7c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0d4447c358a0165030d09153c7cd5b48d415ee48e10f8eb90c1068f35dbb7c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0d4447c358a0165030d09153c7cd5b48d415ee48e10f8eb90c1068f35dbb7c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chris Snider"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chrissniderdesign","https:\/\/x.com\/chrissnider"],"url":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/author\/csnider\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrissniderdesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}