1. Keep Readers
From Leaving
Your Site
Web

2. 7 tips for your publication
Connect to your audience
Develop a smart layout and navigation
Keep them clicking
Provide content for your readers
Include interactive elements (polls!)
Add slideshows and GIFs
Incorporate infographics and multimedia

3. What does the audience want?
New, great content as often as possible
Stories relevant to them
Content that addresses their needs

4. Who is your audience?
Have students brainstorm this question. Collect a list of ideas through a think-pair- share. Make sure the answers on the following slide are included.
CORI Middle School Reading / John Guthrie / CC BY-SA 3.0

5. Who is your audience? Students Parents Staff Alumni Community
CORI Middle School Reading / John Guthrie / CC BY-SA 3.0

6. How do they consume content?
Think-pair-share and collect answers before next slide.
Person Holding White Smartphone / Kote Baeza / CC0

7. How do they consume content?
Mobile
Social
Person Holding White Smartphone / Kote Baeza / CC0

8. How do you deliver content?
Don’t just post articles and hope readers find them.

9. Get social
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Snapchat

10. Twitter and Facebook
Writers should send out their work
keep it active
keep it short
keep it relevant
tweet more than just article links

11. Don’t stop at one tweet/share
Tweet your articles a minimum of three times, and make sure to change your tweet.

12. Instagram and Snapchat
less serious
have fun
show behind-the-scenes
promote your brand
These media are not for direct link promotion, but they can help keep people engaged with your brand.

13. Keep them on your site Have a clean, intuitive layout and navigation.
Engage your audience.

14. Layout and navigation
Make sure your navigation makes sense. You may have a special name for a feature on your website, but your readers may not understand what that means. If the name of a page isn’t obvious, put some text at the top of that page that describes what readers are looking at.

15. Navigation: Related Stories at the bottom
You can often find wordpress plugins or a theme that will allow you to easily add this.

16. Navigation: Other Stories at the bottom
You can have a plugin automatically add these. Give a reason for readers to click on the next story.

17. Embed links
Every time you post an article, there should be at least three links – to other great content you’ve written on the topic or to great content elsewhere on the web. Link your important sources.

18. Headlines generate clicks

19. Titles vs. headlines Titles: Headlines: Universe Nails and Spa
Boys varsity lacrosse Senior Night
Headlines:
Universe Nails and Spa offers otherworldly service
Emotions run high as boys lose on lacrosse Senior Night
Make sure your headlines are click-worthy. Use active voice!

20. What does your audience want?
Think pair share and collect ideas on what TYPES of stories people want.

21. What does your audience want?
Sports?
Campus Events?
Local News?
Review your analytics — see what category generates the most traffic.

22. Go beyond beats Veronika Dvorakova / Scot Scoop News
Columns, features, etc. Develop great stories that offer more than just 250 words on something happening.
Veronika Dvorakova / Scot Scoop News

23. Have a voice — make sure your web has an editorial, just as your print publication does.

24. Polls and comments
Again, WordPress plugins can be used to set up online polls. Comments can be enabled, but you probably want to moderate them. Develop a comment policy before a problem occurs.

25. Slideshows Ivy Nguyen / Scot Scoop News
Don’t post 20 photos take from the exact same spot with the exact same zoom level on the camera. Make sure you’re posting a variety of wide, medium and close-up shots.
Ivy Nguyen / Scot Scoop News

26. Slideshows Ivy Nguyen / Scot Scoop News
Don’t post 20 photos take from the exact same spot with the exact same zoom level on the camera. Make sure you’re posting a variety of wide, medium and close-up shots.
Ivy Nguyen / Scot Scoop News

27. Slideshows Ivy Nguyen / Scot Scoop News
Don’t post 20 photos take from the exact same spot with the exact same zoom level on the camera. Make sure you’re posting a variety of wide, medium and close-up shots.
Ivy Nguyen / Scot Scoop News

28. Slideshows Ivy Nguyen / Scot Scoop News
Don’t post 20 photos take from the exact same spot with the exact same zoom level on the camera. Make sure you’re posting a variety of wide, medium and close-up shots.
Ivy Nguyen / Scot Scoop News

29. Easy multimedia
Easel.ly
Giphy
StorymapJS
Storify

30. Easel.ly

31. Easel.ly
Multi-purpose infographics - not just for statistics
Simple - can be made in less than 5 minutes

32. Giphy: Select the option to upload

33. Giphy: Click “Browse”

34. Giphy: Upload your video file. Select and open

35. Giphy: Copy the embed code for posting

36. StoryMapJS

37. StoryMapJS
Tell stories with large photographs, maps and other image files.
Lily Bakour / Scot Scoop News

38. KnightLab tools for visual storytelling

39. Storify
You can use this to collect a series of tweets or other social media elements that can then be embedded as multimedia in a story.

40. Storify Good after big game/event
Events storified can immediately go on Twitter
Can embed onto web for visual storytelling benefits

41. Questions
and Discussion