1. WRITING FOR THE WEB
Writing for the Web
8:30 am – 12:30 pm :: May 3, 2013
Century College
Instructor: Lynne Morioka
2. About the instructor: Lynne Morioka is a writer, content strategist and
social media specialist for her company, Social Visibility Consulting
(founded in 2005). She has a background in journalism and public
relations and 15 years of experience encompassing writing, editing,
communications, PR and social media. She works with web designers
and agencies and businesses of all sizes to help them find their voice,
effectively express who they are and inspire action across multiple
platforms. Her passion is writing -- in its many forms for any medium.
Her hobby is writing and her business is writing. She is a "word nerd"
of the highest order.
3. Part 1: Why is website content important?
Part 2: How to write for the web
Part 3: Content strategy basics
Part 4: Uncovering and making the most of content assets
4. Wake up ice breaker:
Introduce yourself
Why are you interested in learning about web content?
What is your current or future role in creating web
content?
What would you like to learn about web content today?
6. • Content defines a company/brand – website content
provides a baseline “voice” for company/brand in other
outlets (like blogs, emails, marketing pieces, etc.).
• Content gets you found by search engines – search
engines rank fresh, relevant, innovative content higher in
search results. Want your website to be found? Be smart
with your content. When content is interesting, people share
it and link to your website (inbound links) which also helps
the website get found.
• Content gives visitors a way to take action – buy now,
read more, contact us, etc.
• Content is information – Content is basic information like
address and phone number, but it can also show visitors
that a company is an industry leader or someone is an
expert in their field.
7. Content can enhance design (and vice versa) – A website can’t easily
convey much information without content and blocks of text do not make an
attractive or user-friendly website.
A perfect example of design and content NOT working together.
9. NO to jargon (industry jargon, corporate jargon,
meaningless words, etc.)
10. Spot the meaningless jargon (bonus points for spotting the spelling and
grammar errors)
11. • Keep it brief – don’t write six paragraphs when you need one paragraph
• Highlight important information with bullet points
• Break up long text with interesting headers
17. • NEVER USE ALL CAPS
• No underlining unless it’s a link
• You have about 20 seconds to capture a reader’s
attention and compel them to take action – make it
easy!
18. Write it right:
You are providing copy for the website of a local electrician. Write
up your best worst home page website copy incorporating as
many of the “do not’s” above as you can.
You are providing copy for the website of a local plumber. Write
up your home page website copy keeping in mind the best
practices above.
20. What is content? Words, images, videos,
games – anything that conveys a point and can
be seen/read and shared with others.
21. What is content strategy? An individual’s or
organization’s plan to create, maintain and market
unique, engaging and valuable content.
22. Who needs a content strategy?
Any individual or organization with a website and trying to market
themselves for any purpose – job seeking, nonprofits looking to build
support, companies trying to sell products/services, etc.
23. Why is content strategy important?
Content marketing produces roughly three times as many leads per
dollar as traditional marketing. - Kapost
Sixty percent of consumers feel more positive about a company after
reading custom content on its site. - ContentPlus
Visual content drives engagement. Brands saw a 65 percent increase
in engagement w/into of FB timeline for brands. – Simply Measured
Seventy percent of consumers prefer getting to know a company via
articles over ads. Ninety percent of consumers find custom content
useful. – ContentPlus
24. How to set up a content strategy?
Step One: Figure out what you’ve got.
A website, articles, photos, videos, white papers, newsletters,
blog posts, presentations – it’s all part of your content
inventory.
25. Step Two: Define your audience.
Who is your target audience? What are their interests? Why should they
be interested in you/your organization? What are their “pain points”? How
can you make it easy for them to do business with you?
26. Step Three: What is the objective of your business?
Do you want to sell a product/service or increase sales? Gather data to use
or share? Inform people?
27. Step Four: Do your research
If you want to know what your customers want or need from you? Ask! Do a
survey and collect/analyze the results. Keyword research will help you
incorporate SEO into future content. Order reports from reputable companies
on your target audience demographics, behavior and other key metrics.
28. Once you know what you’ve got, know your audience, know your
business objectives and have done your research, you can plot out
with better accuracy a content strategy to interest and engage your
audience.
Remember, it’s not about you or what you offer, it’s about your
audience and what you need to give them to get them to take
action.
29. Strategize: A local gift shop with several brick and
mortar locations would like you to redesign their
website. What do you need to know to help you
design their site with a solid content strategy in mind?
Work in pairs to come up with a questionnaire.
31. Website
Your face to the world.
Use it wisely as a home for your content.
Incorporate SEO.
Blog
Can help you position yourself as a thought leader
or an industry expert. Incorporate SEO.
Original, dynamic content that keeps people
coming back to the website.
Social Media
Need a separate social media strategy,
but social media can also direct people back to
website, be crucial in sharing content
(yours and others) and incorporate SEO.
Presentations
SlideShare is one of the world’s leading
education and e-learning tools with 60 million
monthly visitors.
Articles
Interviews, unique and useful content, simple storytelling
can be ready made for sharing and publication.
Videos
Photos
Events
Podcasts
Webinars
Email marketing
Print pieces
Annual reports
32. The match game: Group discussion on how each of
these pieces can affect each other and be repurposed
into other content assets.
