Workshop for freelance print sub-editors looking to update their digital skills.

1. Digital school for subs
Intro talk
The meat!
– how to edit (and why)
– pics/video/metadata
Work discussion

2. Intro by Pete Ashton
What's the difference between print & digital?
What need did sub-editing fulfil for publishers?
What needs exist now and in the future?

3. What does an online sub-editor do?
Cathy Relf, Rantingsubs.com:
The boring answer is: they cut copy to fit space, correct
spellings and grammar, change copy to fit house style,
check facts are correct, write headlines and proofread.
For the web, they also source pictures, write captions and
credits, add links and optimise for search engines. Yada
yada. More things too, such as poking tardy journos, laying
out pages, clarifying meaning, finding missing information
and sometimes rejecting articles.

4. Managing online content
• CMS • Content template

5. So someone gives you some copy...

6. 5 tips for online headlines
• Clarity over cleverness
• Delivers
• Stands alone
• 40-60 characters - frontloaded
• Google tools

7. Which heads/sells work?

8. 5 tips for intros
• Stands alone and delivers
• 'Must read more' factor
• Frontload the good stuff
• Intro = metadescription
• Alternative keywords

9. Keywords
from
Google's
Keyword
Tool

10. How to edit body copy - ideas?

11. 1. Break up running copy
• Sections with subheads
• Q&A format
• List format
• Bulletpoints, images, blockquotes
• Use shorter paragraphs/sentences

12. 2. Sub-editing for tone
• Site's personality
• Variations in tone
• Narrative modes
• Don't oversub or 'featurise' blogs
• Slang, jargon and SEO

13. 3. "SEO the copy!"
What does this mean?
http://www.google.
com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-
optimization-starter-guide.pdf

14. My quick SEO checklist for editors
• Post useful, engaging, relevant content
• Use tools to find alternative keywords
• Put top keywords in head, URL and intro
• Sprinkle don't stuff!
• Include relevant slang or jargon
• Word endings: -ings -es -ed
• Go niche to beat the competition
• Proper names, nouns and titles in full
• Must-click metadescription

15. 4. Edit for easy scanning
• People read in an F shape

16. Editing for scanning readers
• Head/sell most important
• De-waffle start of paragraphs
• Subheadings
• Pull out/emphasise but avoid underlining
• Links

17. 5. Links - why are they important?
● Currency on which the web is built
● People want and expect “linky-ness"
● Businesses want links for SEO value
● Link karma
● Marketing/networking
● Stickiness
● Transparency/trust

18. Links
When to link?

19. Some examples
● Explanation or definition
● Context or background
● Attribution of source content
● Required by © licence
● Navigation to related material
● Email links to a contact
● Google juice

20. How to create a link
Two ways to turn text into a link:
1. Code it in HTML
<a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk">Ebay</a>
2. Highlight text and click chain icon
Ebay

21. Links need link text
● Use relevant text
● Rewrite 'click here'
● For PDF links, add: (PDF)
● Keep short
● SEO value
When subbing in a doc:
Underline the link (aka anchor) text http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_text and paste the
link next to it – like so.

22. 5 final tips on body copy
• Widows
• Smart quotes
• Copyfitting
• Call to action
• Ask 'Why?'

23. How to style (mark up) copy
• Cascading style sheets (automatic)
• HTML in text doc
• Style using CMS tools

24. Basic HTML
● <b>Bold</b>
● <i>Italics</i>
● <blockquote>"Indented text."</blockquote>
● <ul>
<li>Bulletpoint list</li>
<ul>
● <a href="http://.....">Link text</a>
● mailto:name@emailaddress.com
Full list: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_quick.asp

25. Review so far
CMS & content templates
Headlines
Intros
Body copy (structure, tone)
SEO
Links
Styling copy

26. Images, audio/video - subs checklist
● Break up heavy text
● Does content match the copy?
● Check copyright permissions/credits
● If audio/video is main story, include a
transcription or summary
● Write alt text for all images
● Accessibility check
● Resize for web use

27. More on accessibility
● Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG) 2.0
● Yahoo! Style Guide on gauging accessibility
● Fangs tool on Firefox
● Slideshow all about accessible content

28. How to resize and upload an image

29. How to resize and upload video

30. Metadata...
…simply means 'data about data' or, in this
case, information about your content, eg:
● it describes the structure/type of content
● it tells you who created it and when
● it shows intellectual property rights
● it describes subject matter

31. Describing content with metadata
It is your job to tag with keywords, categorise
and describe the content you are creating.
● Metadescription
● Metakeywords
● Categories
● Tags (keywords)

32. Pressing publish & final checks
• Beware sub's notes – Oh you dummy!
• What exactly happens when you publish?
• Cross-platform checks
• Errors: amend, strike through or update note

33. Post-publishing tasks
• Social media work and social bookmarking
• Monitor and respond to comments
• Analytics and iterative editing

34. Contact details
Email: fionacullinan@hotmail.com
Twitter: @FionaCullinan
Blog/website: fionacullinan.com