Writing
Women TM
Writing: Your Passport to Life
Writing for the Web
by Carla King
Study after study shows that readers read differently when they're reading on their computer than when they're reading a printed page. If you're writing today, you're probably writing for the Web. Luckily, there are many of great articles on how to write for the Web. Here are my best recommendations.
Johnathan Dube's Online Writing Tips is focused on writing news features, but anyone writing for the Web, online travelogues included, would do well to listen to his advice, including, "take risks, but heed the basics," and, "never bury the lead."
Read Mark Bernstein's 10 Tips on Writing the Living Web for some honest words: write for a reason, write often, write tight, make good friends, find good enemies, and be sexy.
Daniel Will Harris' Writing for the Web is a good, short description of how writing for the Web is not so different than writing for print, and how to be effective online by formatting your page correctly. "Use plenty of subheads," is one recommendation. "People skim headings looking for specific topics—so use subheads liberally. If you started by creating an outline, your outline headings will automatically become subheads." Make sense? Sound obvious? So does his other great advice.
Good stories often include quotes from sources in the know. Don't forget to follow good interviewing etiquette when you're collecting your data. Check out the very good email interviewing tips by Sandeep Junnarkar for Poynter Online.
Are you thinking of using the Weblog as your online journal? I love Dennis A. Mahoney's How to Write a Better Weblog, which starts with a classic example of professional vs. amateur writing:
The professional writer writes:
New York is magnificent in spring.
The amateur writer writes:
I know this is a cliché nowadays, especially after 9/11, but I live in New York, which is much cleaner and safer now because of Giuliani, who really ought to be president after handling the crisis so well, and I know I’ve had some issues in the past with the mayor’s handling of the NYPD in regard to African Americans and his war against art involving sacred religious icons and feces (hello!? freedom of expression!?), but when all is said and done, New York, as maybe the best example of the ‘melting pot’ etc. etc., is a great city, especially when it starts getting warmer and people go outside more, like around March or April.
Hmmmm...do you agree?
Weblogs began as a way to share comments on the news, but have quickly become a way to disseminate your opinion about anything. To be a popular blogger, you need to be a great writer or have a really hot topic; preferably both. Here's where "niche" really works.
One of my favorite blogs is Rebecca Blood's Rebecca's Pocket. She literally wrote the book on Weblogs, and though her interests are broad, her site really works. If you're going to start a Weblog, please take a look at hers first. You'll probably find it easier to focus on just one topic, for example, I chose to make my focus Motorcycle Misadventures, though I also write bicycle travel articles, technical articles, and general adventure stories.
A Weblog is also a great way to keep an online journal for sharing because you can post from any computer anywhere by accessing a Web page. I'm finding the Typepad tool extremely user friendly, and it costs only about $5.00 a month.
Hypertext (linking to details)
When writing for the Web it's important to link to deeper sources of information, or sources of tangential information you think your readers will appreciate. If your article is long, you'll want to break it up into titled sections and link those using anchor links hooked to a table of contents at the beginning of the page -- or from a sidebar.
Here are several ways to link to different Web pages or to information on the same page:
Why use a sidebar instead of an inline hyperlink? If you've got a lot of links, it's more important that your reader isn't disrupted by hyperlinks in your text. So list them here, or at the end of your article, like this: |
1) Here's an example of an inline hyperlink like to my Motorcycle Misadventures blog.
2) You can collect links in a reference box or sidebar like the one to the right.
3) You can list all the links in a footnote at the end of your article.
4) You can create an anchor link that connects items on the same page. The list of headings at the top of this page is an example of an anchor link. When you click on the heading for "Weblog" the reader jumps to that section.
Be selective about links when you're writing for the Web. Your readers, and your editor, will appreciate it.
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