Chapters 7 and 8

1. Chapters 7 and 8 Writing For The Web I and II

2. Characteristics/Qualities of the Web • Immediacy: once information is available in some form, it can be loaded onto a Web site within a few seconds • The web does not require personnel or equipment & does not have any distribution problems • The Drudge Report:Drudge taught newspapers and magazines the importance of immediacy. A story, which may have been an exclusive not only became public, but became a question of good journalism.

3. The actions of Newsweek: Newsweek editors and Matt Drudge on January 17, 1998, have been the subject of many debates on journalism ethics and practices…they demonstrated the power of the World Wide Web. • Flexibility: The Web can accommodate a variety of formats for presenting information – html, xml, sml, .jpg, .gif, .pdf, .wmv, .avi and the list goes on and on.

4. Audio Photo Gallery: The Web is making the presentation of audio photo galleries simple and fast. • This formatmarries photographs and audio into a musical slide show presentation, allowing for commentary from the photographer. • Permanency: material on the web can remain in place and accessible as long as the Web server and electronic storage space exist. • Printed materials are certainly more lasting than broadcasting, but their life and usefulness is limited. With the Web, material can stay in place as long as the host Web server and storage space exists.

5. Capacity: The Web can keep and show huge amounts of text and image material—there are no limits like there are in broadcasting and print. • Thanks to the Web (and other technological advances) we can store more in smaller spaces and centralize information. • Not only can a news Web site load a story about an event, but it can also offer pictures, video, audio, graphics, and more detailed text like sidebars. • Interactivity: The Web offers a level of interactivity between producers and consumers that goes far beyond print media.

6. Interactivity: The Web offers a level of interactivity between producers and consumers that goes far beyond print media. • People have no control over what radio and television stations broadcast, or what newspapers print. • The technology of the Web offers a level of interactivity between producers and consumers that goes far beyond print media. • Visitors can communicate directly through e-mail or other means set up by the producers. • The Web remains a medium of Words, Images and Sounds, especially WORDS. The Web needs people who produce good, understandable text.

7. The Web Audience • Demographically, Web users tend to be younger and male. • A collaborative study by Harris Interactive and 360 Youth revealed that 93 percent of college students access the Internet in a given month, and Jupiter Research said this market slowly grew from 15.2 million in 2003 to nearly 16.5 million in 2007. • The single thing people of all demographics expect from Web sites is information.

8. Expectations for Web Sites • Speed: they should load quickly and their links should respond instantly • Visual logic: a web page should be easy to figure out; it should be clear what the web site is about, what it contains, who produced it • Simple organization and navigation • Depth: they must contain enough information • News: they need to present new and updated information

9. Characteristics of Web Writing • Efficiency: Writers should remember Web readers will not waste time. They GO! • Simplicity: A complex Web story is usually an unread story, except for a small, personally involved audience. • Tone: Although not a place where anything goes, the Web is usually a place that tolerates more casual writing. • Visual: Fonts, links, graphics, lists, short paragraphs and indentions.

10. Creating Web Content • Web writing follows the inverted pyramid style of writing. • Web content should be accurate, complete, precise and efficient. • Writers for the Web should use simple, clear language that is unadorned with personal opinions or personal writing style.

11. Concision • A term that explains the need for precision and concise Web text. • Elements of Concision: • Keywords: bold face words that indicate the information being presented; often provide links and/or are in bold print • Short Paragraphs: 3 to 4 sentences at most • Indentations: help provide visual cues for readers • Bulleted and numbered lists

12. Forms of Web Writing • Labels: one- and two-word monikers that indicate the overall organization of the Web • They must be specific • Headlines: cryptic summaries of information that indicate the content of a longer piece of prose • Written with present tense verbs • Articles like a, an, and the are missing • Secondary Headlines: complete sentences using full verb forms and articles; they assume the presence of a main headline, but do not repeat information that is presented in the main headline.

13. Other Forms • Intros and Summaries: • An intro is a one- or two- sentence paragraph that tries to sell the visitor on reading an article. • A summary is more straightforward and tries to tell what an article or web page is about; helps readers decide if they want to read the article • Subheads: a line of type within the body copy of an article that informs the reader what is coming up next within the copy

14. Search Engine Optimization • There are ways to use keywords and phrases to make your story appear high in online searches. • Using these words and phrases on purpose to increase your story’s popularity and your site’s number of hits is called SEO, or search engine optimization.

15. There are a number of tools to help you find popular search words. • Google AdWords Keyword Tool: Enter a search term and the site will show you other related keywords for that term. You can sort keywords in terms of search popularity. Keyword doesn’t provide any search terms but is great to find alternative keywords. • https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

16. Google Trends: This tool provides a way to chart keywords, based on the accumulated search data that Google sees. Also see Google Hot Trends, which explains more about the day-to-day reporting you can get from Google Trends. • http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends?sa=X

17. Trellian Free Search Term Suggestion Tool: When you enter a term you get back a list of 100 terms related to and including your term. The ranking is by how often they have been searched each year, not by each day. • http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

18. SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool: • Offers rough suggested daily search volumes by market for Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. • Links the search volumes to the related global search results. • Provides links to price estimate tools from Google AdWords. That Google AdWords tool shows the necessary bid to rank #1 for 85% of queries, and roughly how much traffic you could expect AdWords to send you based on that bid price and ad position.

19. Links to Google Trends, Google Suggest, Google Synonyms, Yahoo! Suggest, and Keyword Discovery keyword research results. • Links to various vertical databases like Topix.net, Google Blogsearch, and Del.icio.us to let you know if people are talking about your topic and what types of resources they are referencing. • Is driven off the Wordtracker keyword suggestion tool. If you sign up for a Wordtracker account they offer many additional keyword research features and tools that are lacking in our basic keyword tool. • http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/

20. MSN adCenter Labs Keyword Forecast: This is similar to Google Trends. It shows the popularity over time of terms you enter. In addtion, it shows the popularity of terms by age and gender. The site offers a varity of other keyword-related tools. • http://adlab.msn.com/ • http://adlab.msn.com/Keyword-Forecast/

21. Keyword Buzz • Yahoo Buzz • http://buzz.yahoo.com/overall/ • SEOmoz.com • http://www.seomoz.org/popular-searches/index/ • Ask.com • http://about.ask.com/en/docs/iq/iq.shtml • Google Zeitgeist • http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html • Lycos • http://50.lycos.com/ • AOL • http://hotsearches.aol.com/

22. Lateral Reporting • Background, details and lists • http://blog.al.com/pr/reports/ • Pictures • http://www.al.com/galleries/ • Graphics • Maps • http://blog.al.com/pr/2008/08/mobile_county_storm_surge_map.html • Documents—such as court opinions, laws, policy statements

23. Lateral Reporting • Previous stories • http://www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?archive • Audio and Video Clips • http://blog.al.com/videos/mobile-press-register/ • Links to other Web sites • http://www.al.com/ • E-polls • http://www.al.com/poll/popupalabama.html • Discussion forums • http://www.al.com/blogs/

24. E-mail • E-mail is now a tool of mass communication. • E-mail newsletters are an increasingly popular form of keeping people informed. • RSS feeds • Weblogs • Blackberries, Rasberries and iPods