Writing for the web requires us to think about the entire ecosystem of digital channels, devices, and contexts. In this talk, we present practical tactics you can start using today to know your audience, find your voice, and consistently write copy for the web that actually gets read and builds your brand in the process. Writing tools such as a message hierarchy, editorial calendar, keyword strategy, and a web workflow can help marketers write better and write more.

1. October 26, 2012
Digital Marketing Boot Camp for Arts Marketers | Writing for the web
hugeinc.com
info@hugeinc.com
45 Main St. #220 Brooklyn, NY 11201
+1 718 625 4843

2. Michal Pasternak
Partner, User Experience
John McCrory
Content Strategy Lead

3. About us.
We help transform brands
and grow businesses.

4. Our approach.
Great user experiences are what drive
business performance and marketing.

11. Agenda:
1. The journey of your message
2. Key Principles 3. 10 Things you
can do right away 4. Q&A

12. The journey of
your message.

13. We’re here to talk about
writing for the web.
What do we mean by the web?

14. Our writing is carried through
many different channels.

15. Web pages.

16. Blog posts.
The Dallas Symph…
https://dallassymphony.com/blog/2012/10/16/young-strings-community-celebrations.aspx

17. Email.

18. Social media.

19. Search results.

20. Apps and app stores.

21. Our writing reaches people in
many different contexts.

24. Receive
module
on
Facebook

27. Receive
module
on
Facebook

28. A message serves many situations.
• A person is seeking information from you
• You are sending your message to someone
• Another organization (sponsor, newspaper, artist) is
sharing your message with its audience
• Natural word of mouth in which an individual shares your
message with a friend

29. We are writing for an ecosystem
of channels, devices and
situations.

30. You face a host of challenges.
• You aren’t only a writer… you wear a lot of different hats in
your organization
• Your time and resources are constrained
• Sometimes, it feels like you have to do it all alone
• Your organization can’t afford the technology you need to
produce and publish efficiently

31. Which of our
What should I events should I
write about spend more time How do I find
writing about? guest writers and
between
seasons? how do I motivate
them?
Who
am I writing Should I write
for? Where will I find less formally on
How do I write an time to update the Facebook?
email subject line blog?
that will get
opened? How do I write
copy that will get
How should I
us found better in
respond to tweets
Google?
What do I have to from followers?
How do I write do differently
for both current & when I write for
new audiences? the web?

32. 2 most frequent questions we
hear about writing for the web:

33. How often should we…
• Send email to our subscribers
• Update our Facebook page
• Tweet

34. Answer:
It doesn’t really matter
—if you are being relevant and
interesting to your audience.
Instead, pace yourself based on
what you know can handle and
do well. Start small.

35. What’s the best length for…
• Our email newsletter
• A blog post
• A web page

36. Answer:
The best length for writing is the
same length as a miniskirt:
Long enough to cover the
subject, but short enough to keep
it interesting.

38. So I have to keep it short?
Not so fast. Length follows context.

39. Key principles.

40. Key Principles
1. Know your audience.
2. Know yourself.
3. Know the competition.

42. 

43. Your audience already talks to you.
• Web analytics can tell you which topics and formats
provoke more or less audience interest.
• Search analytics can provide insight into the subjects your
audience cares about – and the terms they use.
• URL shorteners like bit.ly can help you learn from your
audience across different channels.
• Social media let you listen in on the conversations your
audience is already having.

44. Talk directly to your audience.
• Meet them face to face, not through third parties or the
computer.
• Anybody who is in your audience is also in your digital
audience.
• Focus groups can be formal or informal: greet audience
members when they come to a show, and ask them
questions.

45. Visualize your users as real people.
• Demographic group
• Aspirations
• Inspirations
• Relationship to your brand
• How they consume and engage with media
• How they spend their time and money

46. Personas.

47. Key Principles
1. Know your audience.
2. Know yourself.
3. Know the competition.

48. “Humans expect computers
to act as though they were people,
and get annoyed when technology fails
to respond in socially appropriate ways.”
- Clifford Nass, Professor of Communication, Stanford University

49. “Are you a real person?”

50. Who is this? Could be anybody.
Welcome to The ______ Center for the
Performing Arts, the new heart of the arts
for Southern ______ . This world-class
performing arts center was built to
showcase the very best in theater, dance
and music from around the world. The
stage is set, so how can we inspire you
today?

51. Boardroom voice.
Founded in 1972 as a 501(c)3 professional company, the
Monterey Valley Dance Theater (MVDT) has for 40 years
enriched the cultural life of Monterey Valley through countless
dance concerts and training for young dancers. Maureen Scott
was appointed Artistic Director in 1994 and under her direction,
MVDT has earned its reputation as a company of fully-
professional dancers committed to unconventional and deeply
courageous programming which expands access to the stage
for dancers of many nationalities, races, ages, and physical
abilities. We are also known for our cross-border projects, our
site-specific Border Fence Dances, our summer dance
workshops, and for the sheer beauty of our dancers.

52. Over-the-top voice.
She's back! Dixie Longate returns to throw her good
ol'fashioned Tupperware Parties filled with
outrageously funny tales, FREE giveaways, audience
participation and the most fabulous assortment of
Tupperware ever sold on a theater stage. Loaded with
the most up-to-date products available for purchase,
see how Ms. Longate became the #1 Tupperware
seller in the US and Canada as she educates her
guests on the many alternative uses she has
discovered for her plastic products!

53. There is no perfect model.
Use your own voice, but in
language your audience actually
uses — avoid your own jargon.

54. Be the person I want to know.
• The friend with great taste who is always in the know
• The curator who deftly articulates an artist’s unique vision
• The concierge who can direct you to experiences that match
your interests
• The performer or artist who cares about sharing the works of
other artists
• The outsider who knows all the insider gossip, and dishes

56. Re-write in your own voice.
Target sells nearly 1 million products. The descriptions of
these products are delivered by the manufacturers –
thousands of different brands, each with their own voice.
Thousands of new products are being added every month.
We designed a publishing workflow that helped Target bring
these products “on-brand.”
Start with the top priorities – pick the top 10%.

57. Key Principles
1. Know your audience.
2. Know yourself.
3. Know the competition.

58. You have 3 kinds of competitors.
• Our audience’s other interests
• Demands on our audience’s time
• Claims for our audience’s attention

59. So much email, so little time.

60. Who gets you to open their emails?
Who gets you to open their emails?

61. Do: make me care.
Don’t: tell me how to feel.

62. 10 ideas to start
working with
today.

63. 1.
Find your voice.

65. How do you market to members?

66. “World-class service is our brand.”

67. No one likes to be a target.

68. Stop marketing and start helping.
• Create an editorial style guide:
— Audience personas
— Voice, the personality we speak from
— Tone, the feelings and values we convey
— Value proposition, the unique promise we make that
differentiates us from others
• Structure your message: a single core message, and
supporting messages for different offerings or different
audiences.

69. Create a message hierarchy.
Core Message
Supporting messages by product or audience
Attribute A Attribute B Attribute C
message message message
Proof points Proof points Proof points
supporting supporting supporting
attribute A attribute B attribute C

70. 2.
The same rules of good writing
still apply.

71. Respect your audience’s time.
The Dallas Symph…
https://dallassymphony.com/blog/2012/10/16/young-strings-community-celebrations.aspx

72. Help the reader scan the page.
• Write in tight chunks: one idea per paragraph.
• Break up blocks of copy with headings and subheadings
• Write meaningful headings, not clever or cute ones
• Use bullets to highlight key details

73. Remember the essentials.
• Be direct. Use active voice: When we make the performer of
the action the subject of a sentence, we build up energy in our
writing.
• Write short, declarative sentences. Avoid parenthetical
explanation.
• Omit needless words.
• Describe what things are, not what they aren’t.
• Stick to one tense.

74. Be punchy.
• Favor short words. They hit us in the gut.
• Multisyllabic words tend towards the abstract, requiring
our brains to interpret them to understand your meaning.
• Etymology trick: replace Latinate words when a simpler
Germanic word will do.

75. Guts vs. Entrails.
Germanic Latinate
body cadaver
ask inquire
bug insect
eat consume
feeling sentiment
ban prohibit
helpful beneficial
guess estimate
irk irritate
talk converse

76. 3.
Write for humans.

77. Get to the point, then call to action.
Most important info
Who, What, Where, When
Call to action
Details
Background

78. Zappos kills it with microcopy.

79. Write microcopy calls to action
for people, not machines.

80. Machine words are not inviting.
SUBMIT

81. Human language has verve.
LET’S GO

82. 4.
But, also write for robots.

83. Words are key to ranking in search.
Components of Google Ranking Algorithm
Social Graph Registration and
Metrics, 7% Hosting Data, 5%
Traffic and Click
Data, 7%
Domain Authority,
24%
On Page
Keyword
Usage, 15% Link Popularity of
Page, 22%
Good
wri(ng
Anchor Text of
helps
here
External Links, 20%

84. Keyword strategy is crucial.
• Each URL on your web site should be mapped to a specific and unique
keyword or phrase
• Top-level pages should target the most competitive and important keyword
phrases
For example, ASME, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers:
Page URL Targeted Keyword
asme.org ‘Mechanical engineering’
asme.org/Education/Courses/ ‘Engineering Training’
calendar.asme.org/ ‘Engineering Conferences’
asme.org/Jobs/ ‘Engineering Jobs’

85. Good application of keywords.
“How to change a flat tire”
Keyword in Page Title and URL,
Keyword in Breadcrumb
Keyword in Headline / H1
Keyword variations in content –
especially the first 200 words

86. Keywords got Edmunds to #1.

87. 5.
Write portable headlines
and summaries.

88. Search engines cut you off midsent…

89. Truncation happens.

90. How brief is brief?
• For page titles and headings
50 characters
• Summaries and descriptions
160 characters
• Tweets are limited to
140 characters
• Allow space: don’t write up to the limit

91. “A line is the length
of a boulevard.”
—Derek Walcott

92. 6.
Choose link words carefully.

93. The words you link from count.
Pilobolus at Joyce: Click here!
Learn more about Pilobolus at Joyce.
Learn more about Pilobolus at Joyce.

97. 7.
Write for each stage of the
customer journey.

98. The journey follows a story arc.

99. Message and tone change through
each step of the journey.
1. Invitation
2. Advice
3. Instruction
4. Feedback
5. Support
6. Checking-in

100. 8.
Create an editorial calendar.

101. Who has time for it all?
The most-recent blog post is a year old.

102. How do we feed the beast?

104. Planning ahead cuts anxiety.
• Make a spreadsheet with a column for each week for the next
three months.
• List each week’s events at the top of its column.
• Make rows for each channel you use, and decide what you’ll
create in each channel for each week.
• Bonus points: color code your events by type or audience.
• Near the end of the second month of a quarter, create the next
quarter’s calendar.

105. Start small and do it really well.

106. 9.
Create a workflow.

107. How do we work together?

108. Workflow for print is one-way.

109. Workflow for the web is a loop.

110. Learn from experience.

111. List who performs each activity at
each step in the workflow.

112. 10.
Have a point of view.

113. Really, really care, and be interesting.
Amazing Heroes has come a long way. I started collecting as a young
child. Comics, Sports cards, Coins and Stamps. If you could collect it, I
did. (I even collected Insolators from phone poles.) ….Steve's
Collectables was our first name and we moved into the worlds smallest
store. It was 7 x 12, I built the floor and put in lights and paid the
rent late every month but I was able to learn what NOT to do. I also
picked up Pete at this time. He started by just watching the store when I
needed to use the rest room (the first store didn't have one and I had to
go next door) and he has been a big part of the success ever since.
Then came the dark time. I moved to a bigger store but I picked up a
partner. We changed the name to We Could Be Heroes (I never liked
that name, too far back in the phone book) and we started selling
records as well as Cards and Comics. Long story short, came back
from dinner to a empty store. I changed the name to Amazing
Heroes and restocked the place…

114. “When you write, you are finding
the never-before thought about.”

115. If you want your audience to give
you time in their day, to pay
attention and listen to you,
you gotta have something to say.

116. hugeinc.com
info@hugeinc.com
45 Main St. #220 Brooklyn, NY 11201
+1 718 625 4843

117. Questions…