As media professionals, we have come a long way since the days of scribbling in black-and-white composition books and fretting over dangling participles. Now, we write for the Internet — a medium where things are constantly changing and it can be hard to keep up.
For example, The Associated Press stalled for years to change its guidelines on the word “website” from “Web site” while the rest of the industry insisted it was one word but couldn’t get confirmation from one of the leading authorities on writing style. The media giant finally caved to popular opinion in mid-April, which sent shockwaves, and relief, through the editorial arena.
Also on Mediabistro
But there are a slew of old-school conventions, like “don’t split an infinitive” and “always write in complete sentences,” that are customarily set aside when writing for the Web — and when they are, the content gets even better.
Going for the Quick Skim
By nature, Web writing begs to be kept concise and succinct. Whether you are crafting an e-newsletter article or sales-based copy, it is likely that you want people to read the text — or at least get a gist of what the message is. That’s why it is okay to use shorter paragraphs or sentences. Copywriters tend to use this method for extra drama, and a more conversational tone can be more effective and relatable. Hey, whatever conveys your point.
“Web writing is becoming increasingly more choppy and more SEO-driven… Formal style rules have effectively gone out the window,” says Christina Couch, a Chicago-based freelance writer. “I write for certain sites that don’t even abide by paragraph form anymore. I believe that Web style is far more driven by the graphics, audio or video accompanying text than it is by any of the traditional rules of style.”
| “I tend to use a punchier and much more conversational style than I do for print. People read slower on a computer monitor.” |
Couch notes that because the majority of Web content is designed to emulate speech, you can get away with breaking traditional conventions provided that your reporting is strong and the tone of the piece flows well. But not all online writing should appear this way. For example, there is plenty of research published on the Web, and that would follow a more traditional style. “You have to know your publication to tell the difference,” she says.
Breaking It Up
Mallary Jean Tenore, a copy editor and writer with The Poynter Institute, says that sub-headlines do wonders for breaking up text.
“When I’ve done a lot of reporting for a story and am trying to figure out how to structure the information in a way that won’t seem overwhelming to the reader, I use subheads to break up the text. Subheads seem more common online,” she says.
Michelle Goodman, a Seattle-based freelance writer and author of My So-Called Freelance Life, says that she always uses subheads when shifting from print to online writing. “Online, all your editors want catchy subheads to break down 750- to 1,500-word stories into digestible chunks. In print, you don’t always get the luxury of using subheads to clearly delineate new topics and transitions in an article,” she notes.
Ed Gandia, co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle, does the same thing because he says attention spans are shorter on the Web.
“I tend to use a punchier and much more conversational style than I do for print. People read slower on a computer monitor, so I try to make it very easy on them,” says Gandia, an Atlanta resident.
Writing with Keyword Intentions
While we may not have been instructed to fit in keywords, say, in headlines, the Web is a vastly different place where the right blend of words (especially on the top fold of a page) can mean the difference between getting noticed and, well… not. In addition to being able to quickly skim a page, SEO plays a huge factor with Web content, especially in headlines. The right word combination can get your content noticed, and can also help readers find out what they can learn from an article.
“When it comes to writing for the Web, I think that headlines that let readers know what they’re going to learn can really help. For a recent story I wrote about bounce rates, for instance, I wanted people to know what they could learn from the story. So I titled it, ‘5 Strategies to Lower Your Site’s Bounce Rate,'” says Tenore. In this instance, she was able to offer a catchy headline while getting a keyword — bounce rate — prominently up top.
Starting Sentences… and Ending Them, Too
In addition to a more choppy style, the Web frequently models content that starts with conjunctions like “but” and “and.” And that is perfectly okay according to Robyn Bradley, a Massachusetts-based copywriter who has also worked as a journalist for print and Web. “Readable writing — especially on the Web — mimics the way people talk in real life. So go ahead: Listen to how people talk. We start sentences with words like ‘but’ all the time. And it sounds perfectly okay to do so,” she says.
| “Fact is, grammatically correct copy — copy that would earn an A from your junior high English teacher — is often boring copy.” |
Bradley, also known as The Copy Bitch™ on her blog, says writers creating online content should consider breaking the rule about ending sentences with prepositions. “It’s okay, especially if it sounds too clunky to rewrite it ‘correctly,’ but grammar purists hate me for it,” she says. “That’s when I pull out a quote (often attributed to Winston Churchill) to make my point: ‘Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.'”
The Age-Old Split Infinitive Debate
Whether it was your seventh-grade English teacher or your college literary professor, they probably both voted against splitting infinitives. An infinitive is a verb preceded by the word “to” as in the phrases, “to play” “to make” or “to be.” You probably learned in school to keep your “to’s” and your verbs together, as in “to be absolutely sure.” But in the Internet copywriting age, it’s okay to write like you speak so long as it’s professional and doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence. If you want to tell potential customers “to absolutely be sure,” for example, that’s absolutely alright!
Ditching Third-Person Tone
As a student, you were probably told to keep things formal. And that made sense at the time, because all you wrote were term papers. That’s the way it was for Tenore. “I was always taught, for example, to never use the first person when writing news stories,” she recalls.
Many formal publications, such as newspapers, probably agree that unless it’s a first-person account of something, reporting should be objective — and thus, from a third-person point of view. But depending on what you write, especially on the Web, you can get away with first-person. “I like occasionally using the first person in news stories because it can give them more personality and voice,” says Tenore.
But sometimes, first-person gets a little too narcissistic. “When some people use first-person, they fall into the trap of ‘I, I, I’ or ‘me, me, me,'” says Susan Johnston, a Boston-based freelance copywriter and journalist who just released The Urban Muse Guide to Online Writing Markets. “Too much of that can feel self-indulgent, and if you’re trying to sell a product, you really ought to focus on the customer’s needs, rather than making it all about you.”
Another one of Johnston’s pet peeves is when a solopreneur tries to beef up their business by using “we” in the copy. This could also fall under your English teacher’s age-old rule of keeping things factual.
Contractions are Conversational, Catchy
Your English teacher may have taught you how to use apostrophes to make one word out of two (for example, “let” and “us” becomes “let’s”), but as your education went on, you likely weren’t encouraged to use contractions.
But online content, is more powerful when it is conversational, so a contraction here or there cannot hurt; just don’t use them too much. They help to make everything a little more personal, as opposed to visiting another site where the writing sounds like a technical journal. Copywriters may be more apt to use them than journalists, but unless you are writing technical information, make your text more casual by considering the use of contractions.
“Fact is, grammatically correct copy — copy that would earn an A from your junior high English teacher — is often boring copy,” says Peter Bowerman, an Atlanta-based copywriter and author of The Well-Fed Writer series. “To make something readable and engaging, I’ve broken a lot of rules. Using contractions liberally? Don’t hesitate. And starting sentences with “and” or “but”? But, of course.”
Kristen Fischer is a copywriter, journalist and author living at the Jersey Shore. Visit www.kristenfischer.com to learn more.
Topics:
Mediabistro Archive