Writing for the web Outline of session by Julie Starr at evolvingnewsroom.co.nzevolvingnewsroom.co.nz

1.Make it easy to find - use keywords (searchable) 2.Short, specific headline (reason to click) 3.First paragraph tells the story (reason to read) 4.Make it engaging (multimedia, interactive, keep audience longer) 5.Make it easy to scan (quick and easy to read) 6.Include links to related material (context, extra value)

1. Make it easy to find - use keywords

Keywords are the words people type into a search engine to find what they’re looking for.

What percentage of traffic to a news story comes via the website’s homepage? –100% –75% –50% –25%

What percentage of traffic to a news story comes via the website’s homepage? –100% –75% –50% (give or take) –25%

“It’s about ensuring that your content is found by the millions of people who use search engines as a filter for news (Google News, Yahoo News). “These people are essentially asking a computer to tell them the news. Shane Richmond, communities editor, telegraph.co.uk

“If you want your story to be read, you’d better make sure the computer knows what you’re writing about.

“To do that you need to ensure your article contains certain keywords.”

1.Make it easy to find - use keywords … in the headline … in the intro/first paragraph/abstract … in the text

2. Headline –Short, specific, tells the story –Include keywords –Include place names –Be wary of puns, metaphors and wordplay –Needs to make sense on its own

1.Shannon found alive near home 2.Gunfire as Tibet rallies turn violent 3.Teen shot dead – police 4.Horse sense on frontiers 5.Supreme court to rule on right to carry guns

Exercise: Rewrite headlines on handout for web –Short, specific, tells the story –Include keywords –Include place names –Be wary of puns, metaphors and wordplay –Needs to make sense on its own

3. First paragraph tells the story (intro/abstract)

4. Make it engaging (multimedia, interactive)

5. Make it easy to scan (quick read)

6. Include links to related material

1.Make it easy to find - use keywords (searchable) 2.Short, specific headline (reason to click) 3.First paragraph tells the story (reason to read) 4.Make it engaging (multimedia, interactive, keep audience longer) 5.Make it easy to scan (quick and easy to read) 6.Include links to related material (context, extra value)

Goodbye Pork Pie: a rewrite exercise  Open the file called ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Exercise ’  Rework the headline, intro and layout according to the principles we’ve looked at today.

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