Editing Online News

Editing Online Stories “ Inverted Pyramid 2.0” Ryan Thornburg University of North Carolina [email_address] Carroll 219 919-962-4080

What’s Different Online?
Headlines
Homepage Blurbs & Packages
Sidebar Links
Inline Links
Story Structure

Elements to Consider
Search Engine Optimization
People Don’t Read, They Scan
Every Page Is a Homepage
Inverted Pyramid 2.0
Trust

An Example …
U.S. News & World Report
MSN Money

Content Is King Because Editors Don’t Control Layout
Browser Penetration:
44% Firefox
26% IE 7
20% IE 6
4% Chrome
3% Safari

Screen Resolution:
38% greater than 1024 x 768
48% 1024 x 768
8% 800 x 600

Operating Systems:
71% Windows XP
17% Windows Vista
5% Macintosh OS X
4% Linux

Headlines

Headline Editing for Searchers and Scanners
Be Brief. Google and MSN display the first 8-10 words of your headline. Yahoo displays up to 16.
Make the first 3 words the most important, even if you have to write in passive voice
A headline is a label for the page. More emphasis on nouns. Less emphasis on verbs and adjectives.
Headlines must be able to stand on their own, without context of other page design elements.
Remember: Even when editing for an engine, a human still makes the click.

Headline Verb Tenses
Simple Present Tense
Use When …
Action Recently Completed: “Obama Signs Bill”
Habitual Action: “Santa Brings Joy”
General Truths: “Happiness Is a Warm Puppy”

Present Progressive Tense
Use When …
Action Is Ongoing: “Weather Hampering Commute” or “Congress Voting on Bill”

Simple Past
Use When …
Past action only recently revealed: “Government Denied Benefits to Veterans”

Present Progressive Tense
Use When …
Action Is Ongoing: “Weather Hampering Commute” or “Congress Voting on Bill”

Present Infinitive
Use When …
Future action is almost certain: “Obama to Sign Bill Tuesday”

Blurbs
Blurbs ALWAYS promote the story. They SOMETIMES summarize it.
Blurbs are not leads.
Blurbs mimic a magazine TOC:
62 Parents Battle High Costs of College
This year’s freshman class will take out more
college loans than any group of college
students in history.

Blurbs
Compare washingtonpost.com blurb and lead
After Iraq, the Battles Continue
Mixed martial arts star Brian Stann has a story that sells and an undefeated fighting record.
The War Is Over for Stann, But the Battles Continue
Before each fight, Brian Stann walks into the cage knowing that whatever happens, nothing will compare to the hell he survived in Iraq.

Headlines & Blurbs: Working Together
From NYTimes.com …
McCain Camp Says Obama Is ‘Playing the Race Card’
The statement was in response to remarks Barack Obama made warning that Republicans would try to scare voters.

Writing Homepage Packages
There are five elements of headline and blurb writing.
Heads
Blurbs
Links
Labels
Timestamps

Every Page a Homepage

Every Page A Homepage
50% to 70% of visits start at article page
Serendipity …
… and Spiders
Low Click Rate

Editing Link Sets
Group similar items together under a unifying label.
Don’t write generic labels. Don’t be repetitive.
Limit lists to 3-5 links.
Do not mix links that are relevant to the story with links that promote unrelated content elsewhere on the site.
When writings link text, follow SEO headline tips. Keep them short and descriptive.
Avoid commands such as “Read More” or “Click Here” whenever possible. Remember: The User is in Control. The Editor is the Guide.
Links within the main text column are more likely to be clicked, even if they’re at the bottom.

Editing Inline Links
People say that links within text are more annoying, but they are more likely to click on them than links on the side.
Link no more than three words in a row.
Link only the first instance of a word (unless the word is in the first graph, then you should link only the second instance of the word)

Linked words should be selected because they describe the content to which they link.
Linked nouns often indicate the destination is an evergreen reference page.
Linked verbs often indicate either a visual of the action or a contemporary text account of the action.

Link Trust (or “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Wikipedia”)

Elements of Link Trust (a theory)
Transparency
Empowerment
Community

Make sure links work
Whose job is it?
Tell readers…
When they are going offsite.
When they are going to a different media type, such as photos, video, audio, PDFs, or discussion boards.
When files are particularly large (>1 MB)

Links : online new :: Quotes : print news
Show the direct words of another person.
Need to be put in context.
Need to have clear attribution.
You’re responsible (ethically, not legally) for inaccuracies.

In the right context, links can provide humorous irony.
In the right context, links can serve as a narrative “reveal.”

News at the Top
Practice Sustainable Journalism
Choose Your Own Adventure
Related Content

Search Engine Optimization

SEO
Paid Search Results
Relevance of Search
Popularity of Term
Publisher’s Bid
Organic Search Results
Relevance of Search
Popularity of Page

Page Editing For Search Engine Optimization
Avoid using images for text
Be Brief: Anywhere from 800-1,000 words
Be Focused: One topic per page.
Label: Use page headers and paragraph headers with keywords
Use Metadata

Meta What?
Metadata: Data About the Data
<title>
<description>
<keyword>

Metatag: <title>
5-10 words; 70-80 characters
Unique for each page on your site
No Superlatives
No Prepositions, Conjunctions, Articles

Metatag: <description>
Marketing: A Call to Action
Use Keywords
Who, What and Why

Metatag: <keyword>
Be Brief: 10 keywords; 200 characters
Be Focused
Don’t Deceive

How do I know how searchers think?
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

SEO Is …
A black art…
Always changing …
A battle of good vs. evil …
http://SearchEngineWatch.com
http://battellemedia.com

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Editing Online News

by Ryan Thornburg

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