“Let’s put it on our website.” The refrain is increasingly common, but, as always, there’s a right way and a wrong way.
An amateur will do what’s easiest: copy and paste. But a pro knows that to copy and paste is to deprive readers of the Web’s richness. Shifting copy from dead trees to Web browsers is both art and science.
The art: to write for the web, you need to be not only a writer, but also a marketer, a designer, and a publicist. The science: to write for the web, you need to understand how people read on the web.
To this end, we’ll review the differences between reading something designed for a monitor and something designed for print. We’ll walk through the best practices of web writing, and review a variety of good and bad examples. We’ll also intersperse exercises throughout, so you learn by doing.
By the end of this workshop, you will:
* Be able to develop powerful headlines
* Know how to leverage lists, bullets, tables, headings, and other visual cues
* Understand the importance of images
* Write in a web-friendly tone
2. WHAT YOU’VE BEEN TAUGHT
Aberrational
Behavior and the
Causal Effect of
Incentives
WHAT WORKS
Freakonomics:
A Rogue Economist
Explores the Hidden
Side of Everything
• sold four million copies
• became a New York Times
bestseller
• led to a movie, a podcast,
a blog, a column in the
New York Times, a follow-
up book, and a consulting
group
3. THE FLORIDA TIMES-
UNION
Woman Tells
Putnam County
Deputy That Son, 4,
Shot Her in Back
While She Was
Driving
FIRST COAST NEWS
Deputies: Jackson-
ville Woman Shot by
4-Year-Old Son
“Stable”
MAIL ONLINE
Pro-Gun Poster Girl
Is Shot in the Back
by Her 4-Year-Old
Son While Driving in
Florida After the Boy
Found Her Pistol on
Back Seat of Truck
4. “Just because the Mail Online represents some
of the least savory aspects of digital
journalism doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t
learn from what it does well. Finding the most
compelling angle for a given story, and
presenting it in a way that will encourage
online audiences to read and share it, should
be a part of every journalist’s skill set by now.”
— Will Oremus
10. “Once headed for a bland retirement within
newspapers, the headline is making a
striking comeback online. No longer the
exclusive province of copyeditors, it is now
the cornerstone of emailed political appeals,
the fulcrum of crowdsourcing capital on
Kickstarter, and arguably the basis of an
entire communications medium, the all-
headlines microblogging system Twitter.”
—Ryan Grim
11. “We are in a street fight for human attention.”
—Amy O’Leary
12. “The headline is our one chance to reach
people who have a million other things that
they’re thinking about, and who didn’t wake
up in the morning wanting to care about
feminism or climate change or the policy
details of the election.”
—Peter Koechley
14. “Imagine your headline not as it looks above
your article, but as it looks at the bottom of
an unrelated site, in someone’s Twitter or
Facebook streams, or in a search result.
Think of your headline as an emissary for
your post, written to travel around the
internet, selling the material to potential
readers.”
—Matt Thompson
23. 1. Hey White Guys! I Got Your Back
2. Do You Know How Hard It Is Being a White Guy?
3. Being a White Guy Is Harder Than You Think
4. You Don’t Know What It’s Like Being a White Guy
5. White Guys Don’t Have All the Luck
6. If You Knew What It Was Like for White Guys, You’d Keep Complaining
7. Seriously, Who Is Watching Out for the White Guys
8. This White Guy Thing Is Pretty Rough
9. You Don’t Know What It’s Like Being a White Guy
10. Imagine You Were a White Guy. You Know How Hard That Is?
11. Why Are White Guys Always Being Picked On?
12. Seriously, White Guys Can’t Catch a Break
13. White Guys Have So Many Problems, if Only You’d See That
14. An Open Message on Behalf of All White Guys Everywhere
15. This Is What a White Guy Has to Deal With
16. Put Yourself in a White Guy’s Shoes. Comfy, Right?
17.The Life of White Guys Is Way Harder Than You Realize?
18. This Is Why You Should Feel Sorry for White Dudes
19. An Open Letter From White Dudes to America
20. A Public Service Announcement on Behalf of All White Dudes
21. White Dudes Have It Really Hard
22. Being a White Dude Is Harder Than Being Not a Woman or Not a Person of Color
23. Do You Know How Hard It Is Being a Woman? Try Being a White Dude
24. It’s Pretty Hard Out There for a Dude
25. Your Life Is Hard? Try Being (1) A Dude and 2. White
24.
25. HEADLINE CLICKS IMPRESSIONS CLICK-
THROUGH
RATE
9 Secrets That Will Make Your
Headline Go Viral
31 42,946 .04
The Surefire Way to Make Anything
Go Viral
8 10,375 .08
The Closest Thing We Writers Have
to a Silver Bullet
2 5,683 .08
The Single Most Important Thing
You Can Do to Make Your Content
Go Viral
1 1,314 .08
How to Write the Perfect Headline
Every Time
1 1,228 .07
REVEALED: Every Trick in the Book
to Write a Magnetic Headline
1 1,386 .07
26.
27. That’s how many drafts it took David Ogilvy
to perfect his Rolls Royce copy.
28.
29.
30. That’s how many slogans the Washington Post
brainstormed before deciding on a winner.
31.
32. That’s how many times Thomas Edison failed
en route to inventing the light bulb.
33. NUMBERS
✓ X out of 10 people will read your headline.
✓ X out of 10 will read your article.
✓ Upworthy tests XX headlines per article.
34. If These 6 Case
Studies Don’t
Convince You,
Nothing Will
38. IOWA HOUSE DEMOCRATS
Zach Wahls
Speaks About
Family
MOVEON.ORG
Two Lesbians Had a
Baby and This Is
What They Got
2.8 million views 17.4 million views
39.
40. DEALBOOK
Realities Behind
Prosecuting Big
Banks
• Andrew Ross Sorkin
• 970 words
• 82 comments
• Mark Gongloff
• 509 words
• 4,591 comments
• 2,300 likes
THE HUFFINGTON POST
Eric Holder Admits
Some Banks Are Just
Too Big to Prosecute
41. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE
How Companies
Learn Your Secrets
FORBES
How Target Figured
Out a Teen Girl Was
Pregnant Before Her
Father Did
• Charles Duhigg
• 6,800 words
• 60 likes
• Kashmir Hill
• 1,200 words
• 13,000 likes
42. “I was stunned. It was an amazing anecdote
that crystallized so much anxiety we feel
about corporate data collection, how much
‘they’ know about us, and how they’ll use it. I
couldn’t believe it was buried nearly 5,000
words into the story rather than being the lede
or broken out on its own.”
— Kashmir Hill
43. “The New York Times article is a delicious
nine-course dinner; mine is an equally tasty,
bite-sized snack for readers on the go. Most
readers online are looking for something quick
and easy to digest, so my version worked
better for them.”
— Kashmir Hill
44.
45.
46. THE NATION
The Hunted and the
Hated: An Inside
Look at the NYPD’s
Stop-and-Frisk
Policy
UPWORTHY
Meet the 17 Year Old
Who Blew the Lid Off
Racial Profiling With
His iPod
40,000 views 2.5 million views
47. THE WASHINGTON POST
Business Coach Anne
Loehr Tries to Bridge
Diverse Generations:
X, Y, Baby Boomer
GAWKER
“Generational
Consultant” Holds
America’s Fakest
Job
• Ian Shapira
• 1,568 words
• 1 hour to interview
• 2.5 hours to attend
• 4 hour to transcribe
• 1 day to write
• Hamilton Nolan
• 436 words
• 1 hour to write
48. “Nearly every day a Washington Post staffer
not only sends us links to its expensive
reporting, but even pulls out the most
interesting quotes so as to make it easier to
pirate.”
— Gabriel Snyder
49. CASE STUDIES
✓ When you got it, _____ it.
✓ Don’t serve up your summary. Serve up
your _____.
✓ Pull out your meatiest ______.
51. OLD MEDIA
The Debt Ceiling
Explained in Three
Videos and One Chart
NEW MEDIA
The Debt Ceiling
Explained in 3 Videos
and 1 Chart
52. OLD MEDIA
How Social Networks
Change the World in
5 Ways
NEW MEDIA
5 Ways Social
Networks Are
Changing the World
53. OLD MEDIA
King of Thrones:
America’s Best
Restroom Is in
Minneapolis
NEW MEDIA
King Of Thrones:
America’s Best
Restroom Is In
Minneapolis
54. OLD MEDIA
When “60 Minutes”
Checks Its Journalistic
Skepticism at the Door
NEW MEDIA
When ‘60 Minutes’
Checks Its Journalistic
Skepticism at the Door
55. OLD MEDIA
Boom, Roasted:
Here’s Why You Don’t
Ask a Feminist to
Hawk Your Sexist
Product
NEW MEDIA
BOOM, ROASTED:
Here’s Why You Don’t
Ask a Feminist to Hawk
Your Sexist Product
56. OLD MEDIA
The Single Best Short
Talk About Psychology
NEW MEDIA
The Single Best Short
Talk About Psychology
[VIDEO]
60. “Contemporary media culture prioritizes the
smart take, the sound bite, the takeaway —
and the list is the takeaway in its most
convenient form. You are, initially, sucked in
by the promise of a neatly quantified serving
of information or diversion. There will be
precisely 10 (or 14, or 33) items in this text,
and they will pertain to precisely this stated
topic. You know exactly what you’re going to
get with a listicle.”
—Mark O’Connell
61. “Promise me 11 things; I will at least read
three of them.”
—Choire Sicha
62. HEADLINE SOURCE
7 Important Tax Facts About Medical
and Dental Expenses
75 Facts About the 75th Secretary of
the Treasury
The 10 Most Unintentionally Hilarious
Propaganda Videos
8 Things We Still Get Wrong About
Policing
The 6 Things You Never Thought
to Tell House Guests
63. SCIENCE
✓ “List” + “article” = ________.
✓ Write numbers as numbers,
or with letters?
✓ Where do numbers go?
✓ Should you capitalize each word?
✓ Double quotes, or single quotes?
✓ Italics, or capital letters?
67. “Did the local sports team win
tonight’s big match against
their rivals? We’ll tell you,
next.”
“A well-known politician got
into a screaming match with
reporters today. The video,
after this break.”
68. You Will Not
Believe What Mitt
Romney Wants
to Do to You
Just right: I can’t help
but click.
Mitt Romney
Says Something
Bad, Again
Too vague: I don’t want
to click.
Mitt Romney
Says, “I Want the
Middle Class to
Be Tied to the
Roof of My Car”
Too specific; I don’t
need to click.
70. Now This Is Why
I Voted for
Barack Obama
What’s this mean? I
must know! Click…
Click… Click…
Obama Blasts
Obama’s Evasive
Stance on Gay
Marriage
Great job, but now I
know what it is and
don’t need to click.
Obama Says
Same-Sex
Marriage Should
Be Legal
Boooring. Already
done.
71.
72. “Headlines now are a strange cross between
imperative and inviting. The tone is soothing,
seductive and at least a little bit demanding,
like every character ever played by Linda
Fiorentino.”
—Choire Sicha
75. You’re Doing It Wrong: Poached Eggs
This Awesome Ad, Set to the Beastie Boys, Is How to Get Girls
to Become Engineers
Why the FBI Director Is Wrong About Encryption
All the Problems at Bloomberg Come Down to One Stat
Bill Gates Makes Over $1 Million Every Day Doing Almost
Nothing
77. Why Infographics Are Terrible, in One Terrible Infographic
Demand Media’s Bold New Strategy for eHow: Suck Less
What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage
Headless Body in Topless Bar
80. Think Like a Woman and Make More Money
Congress Deserves a Big Fat Raise
Coverage You Can’t Buy: Why the Disastrous Healthcare.gov
Rollout Could Be Good for Obamacare
Don’t Say Goodbye When You Leave a Party. Just Ghost
Why Tom Brady Is the Most Overrated Quarterback
in NFL History
83. Don’t Ask Hillary Clinton About Abortion if You Can’t
Handle Her Answer
Everything You Need to Know About iOS 8
19 People Who Are Having a Way Worse Day Than You
What Recruiters Look at During the 6 Seconds They
Spend on Your Resume
9 Questions About Syria You Were Too Embarrassed to Ask
86. Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan
in Your Movie
10 Things You Need to Know Before the Opening Bell
The 15 Best Countries for You to Move to Right Now
The U.K. Has Officially Begun the Brexit Process. Here’s
What Happens Now
87. POPULAR SCIENCE
Meet the Climate
Change Denier
Who Became the
Voice of Hurricane
Sandy on Wikipedia
GAWKER
This Guy Is the
Reason Hurricane
Sandy’s Wikipedia
Page Didn’t Mention
Climate Change
Until Today
89. The Impossible Choice That Had Elon Musk on the Verge
of a Nervous Breakdown
The Most Sensational Murder Trial You’ve Never Heard of
Started 100 Years Ago
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
The Pope Just Published One of the Most Powerful Critiques of
Modern Capitalism That You Will Ever Read
This Is the Greatest Hoodie Ever Made
90.
91.
92. A Boy Makes Anti-Muslim Comments in Front of an American
Soldier. The Soldier’s Reply: Priceless
See Why We Have an Absolutely Ridiculous Standard of Beauty
in Just 37 Seconds
Dustin Hoffman Breaks Down Crying Explaining Something That
Every Woman Sadly Already Experienced
9 Out of 10 Americans Are Completely Wrong About This Mind-
Blowing Fact
This Amazing Kid Died. What He Left Behind Is Wondtacular
100. WEAK WORDS
11 Tips to Writing
POWER WORDS
11 Quick Tips to
Brilliant Writing
101. WEAK WORDS
5 Grammatical Tips
Everyone Needs to
Learn
POWER WORDS
5 Grammatical
Errors That Make
You Look Dumb
102. WEAK WORDS
5 Beliefs That
Make It Harder
to Write
POWER WORDS
5 Crippling Beliefs
That Keep Writers
Mired in Mediocrity
103. WEAK WORDS
Don’t Do This With
Your Marketing
Efforts
POWER WORDS
The Most Dangerous
Threat to Your Online
Marketing Efforts
104. THE ART
✓ Create an ____.
✓ Make your headline i__________ and i_______
✓ Imperative: Be b___, f__, and c_________.
✓ Inviting: Make it p_______, i________, and
e__________.
✓ Get ________.
134. “Millions of readers are lured by
sensational headlines, only to be
disappointed to find a superficial
dispatch with no new information,
dashed off by a harried journalist
tasked with producing three stories
a day.”
—Steven Levy
135. “Upworthy posts don’t go viral because
people click — Upworthy posts go viral
because people share. ‘Clickbait’ is a
totally viable way to get a bunch of initial
views. But it doesn’t create viral content.
By far the most important factor in
getting people to share a post is the
actual quality of the content. To share,
they have to love what they see.”
—Upworthy Insider
136. “There is hyperbole and the occasional
withholding comment, and then there is
the pulling at your bleeding heartstrings
with the subtlety of a monster truck.”
—Lexi Nisita
137. “Today’s headlines may appear
gimmicky, and no doubt some still are.
But when a gimmick endures after the
novelty wears off — when it proves
resilient to the backlash and to changing
tastes and algorithms and market
conditions — eventually it’s no longer a
gimmick.”
—Will Oremus
138. “What special virtue is there in letting
great videos, articles, and images fall
into the Internet’s abyss simply because
nobody thought of the right combination
of words to unlock their audience?
What’s more, when readers find
themselves hating a headline picked by
a testing audience and shared by 10
million people, whose tastes are we
really objecting to — Upworthy’s or
ours?”
—Eli Pariser
139. Clickbait is such a scourge that
Facebook recently changed its news
feed algorithm to reduce the prominence
of these deceptive headlines.
140. “This is Facebook’s fourth or fifth
algorithm tweak in the past two years
that was aimed at reducing clickbait.
The problem is that clickbait headlines
tend to get lots of clicks. So should
Facebook alter its behavior based on
what people do, or based on what they
say they want?”
—Mathew Ingram
145. “You may know some of the elements you’re
going to include, you may know how you
want it to begin and end, and you may know
a dozen other big ideas that have to be in
your story. But until you can come up with a
headline, chances are you are going to end
up like me, with all the hard work behind
you and this small sign before you, demon-
strating as clear as a Bahamian bay that the
greater purpose was never framed and
fixed.”
—Mike Long
146. QUESTIONS
✓ Can I envision this headline in the sidebar
of ____ _______ articles?
✓ Would I ____ this article or post it on
________ based on the headline alone?
✓ If others are writing about this subject,
is my headline _________ enough to stand
out?
151. YOU TRY IT!
✓ Your organization’s blog
✓ A recent news release from your
organization
✓ An important email you recently sent
✓ A memo or proposal you recently wrote
✓ A current event