Writing for Public Relations 97202

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Writing for Public Relations97202

• Unit Leader / Lecturer - Elizabeth Dougall
• August 11, 2000
• Writing for the Web (Part 1)
• An Overview

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Learning Objectives

• On completing the workload for this week you
  will be able to
• Describe some of the principles of contemporary
  web site design
• List and describe the fundamental requirements
  for content, style, design, layout and
  organisation of web pages.

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(No Transcript)
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The evolution of web sites

• Broadcast (brochure-ware)
• Interact
• Transact
• Integrate
• Kirsty Garrett, GM Zivo Brisbane

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The evolution of web sites

• Commerce,
• Community, and
• Content
• Today, content is dynamically built from complex
  back-end databases and applications.

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Writing for the Web -The Challenges

• Web users are typically impatient.
• Many visitors are very goal-driven.
• Content on web sites must be tailored to the
  audience. When its not, visitors wont stay.

• Once visitors determine that the content is not
  aligned with their needs, theyre gone.
• Search engines and outbound links on sites that
  send visitors to other destinations of
  questionable interest are not desirable.

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Writing for the Web -The Challenges

• Writing for the Web is very different from
  writing for print.
• Print today remains superior to the Web when it
  comes to visible space, image and type quality,
  and speed.

• As a result weve turned to Web animation,
  streaming audio and video, and other
  technologies.

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Writing for the Web -The Challenges

• Reading on the web is more difficult than reading
  from the printed page for most.
• Reading speeds are around 25 percent slower on a
  monitor than on paper.

• 90 of people reading a web page dont scroll
  down.
• People tend to scan web pages, reading only the
  subheads.
• Most wont take the additional time required to
  read online.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• Web pages must be written and organised to grab
  the readers attention.
• Make the main points in the first screen.
• Keep words, sentences, and paragraphs short.
• Use meaningful, not clever, subheads to break up
  and summarize text.
• Apply the inverted pyramid approach i.e. start
  with key messages.
• write for scanability.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• Dont expect web site visitors to read lots of
  continuous text online - they wont.
• Most users wont scroll unless theyre thoroughly
  engaged with the content.
• Articles either should be short or have several
  sub headings to break up the text.
• Apply bulleted lists to break up continuous text.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• page chunking, is popular for Web content.
• content is separated into nodes and connected via
  links.
• the depth of the content should remain.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• Headlines and Bookmarks
• Headlines often serve as page titles in the HTML.
  
• These titles are used as the main reference to
  the page.
• bookmark a story page on InfoWorld.com, and that
  headline will be whats stored in your file.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• Headlines and Bookmarks
• Unlike print headlines, online headlines must be
  able to stand outside their origin, such as
  results on a search page.
• Unlike print, online headlines are not always
  directly associated with the content.
• Headlines should be short (six words). Most
  likely, the first word will be indexed so avoid
  A, The, and so on.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• Links and Search Engines
• Providing a search engine is another way to let
  readers control their own surfing experience
• Links are fundamental but dont subdivide pages
  too much.
• Dont frustrate by forcing readers to tunnel
  down through too many links
• With each page, provide a link back to the top.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• Links and Search Engines
• Unfold the rest of your story through links to
  interior pages.
• Make it clear up front how many links are
  involved so readers know what to expect.
• dont straitjacket readers into one path.
• If you dont let them take control, theyll do so
  anyway by clicking to another site.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• Infusing the Personal
• The web is a personal communications medium.
• Personality and style help to combat short
  attention spans.
• Have a distinctive voice.
• Infuse organisational or individual personality
  into your text.
• Be conversational, (not chatty) using words such
  as you, we, us, and our.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• Watch your Language
• But remember that your Web audience spans the
  borders.
• 50 all surfers today are non-native English
  speakers, so avoid regional slang.
• watch out for wit, charm, and humour that
  international visitors may not understand.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• Think Visual
• Think visually as well as verbally to make web
  content compelling.
• Use drawings, photographs, animation, audio, or
  video where appropriate.
• Multimedia enhancements must relate to the words
  - not just be inserted as gratuitous glitz.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• Integrate and Interact
• More than anything else, the web differentiates
  itself from other media by its interactivity.
• Tap into this by building in ways for readers to
  react to what you write e.g. email feedback,
  discussion boards and chat rooms.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• R.I.P. Brochure-ware
• One of the worst mistakes made in web sites is to
  re-purpose stuffy bureaucratic-sounding text from
  printed sources
• avoid marketese-exaggerated, self-congratulatory
  puffery.
• Web users are skeptical. The more you exaggerate,
  the more theyll blow you off.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• Making the Rules
• Finally, keep in mind that the web is a young
  medium, like TV was in the 1950s, says Matt
  Friedman, author of the book Fuzzy Logic
• Not all of the rules have been ironed out yet.

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Writing for the Web - Effective strategies for
writing and content organisation

• Some clues on content follow from Brisbane based
  web content specialist, Yvette Nielsen.

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Content is by Yvette Nielsen http//www.brizcomm
.com.au

• the reason people surf
• the message, words, graphics, structure
• the missing link
• often badly written, confusing, annoying
• interesting, helpful, educational or entertaining

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Content must be by Yvette Nielsen
http//www.brizcomm.com.au

• clear
• concise
• consistent
• client-centric (cut the fluff)

• interactive (but accessible)
• fresh
• credible
• accountable

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How to build a sucky site - 1by Yvette Nielsen
http//www.brizcomm.com.au

• start with no purpose, goals or target reader
• make it slow (bloated graphics, gratuitous
  animation and obscure plug-ins)
• make it ugly and overly fancy

• make it confusing and difficult to use
• include lots of broken links
• leave content as an afterthought (then scan in
  existing print material)

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How to build a sucky site - 2

• include typos and spelling mistakes
• use small, illegible fonts
• dont use white space
• use cryptic category labels

• use a bold watermark or busy background
• loop background MIDI music
• keep spinning that logo
• choose a cheap or free web host

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How to build a sucky site - 3

• lead with our history, mission statement or
  audio welcome from our director
• write long, wordy waffle with lots of hype,
  marketing speak and internal jargon

• sell, sell, sell at every opportunity
• dont let your visitors interact
• dont tell anyone your URL
• spam visitors to your site
• by Yvette Nielsen http//www.brizcomm.com.au

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How to build a sucky site - 4

• never offer anything free
• never update
• never respond

• never promote
• never monitor
• never mind
• by Yvette Nielsen http//www.brizcomm.com.au

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The content team

• content writer/manager/creator/producer
• programmer
• graphic designer

• marketer
• business strategist
• project leader

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Next Week

• Writing for the Web (Part 2) - Media Relations
  Online

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Readings for this week

• Text - N C, ch 16

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Preparation for tutorials

• Your task -
• Researching and Writing a Media Release
• Contact an organisation you know. Research the
  facts associated with something newsworthy
  associated with that organisation and its
  operations. That is, you need to gather as much
  information as possible about some event,
  announcement or occurrence that will have news
  value for the local Toowoomba media or some other
  media grouping. Think carefully about the news
  angle or angles that will make your story work
  and ensure that you undertake sufficient research
  to draft a release that answers the "who, what,
  why, when, where and how" questions and provides
  appropriate sources and direct and indirect
  quotes.
• Come to class
• a) prepared to brief others about this newsworthy
  story
• b) prepared to describe the "news angle" you
  think will work to attract media coverage
• c) prepared to write a news release of at least
  250 words.

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Contact Details

• Lecturer Elizabeth Dougall
• Tutors Elizabeth Dougall Alison Feldman
• Location Q211
• Phone [phone]
• Consutation Times
• Monday 12 - 2 pm Friday 12 - 1 pm.
• Ancillary materials are located at
• http//www.usq.edu.au/ancil/foa/97202/
• or via P drive accessed on-campus (Computer
  Lab)
• Links to PR Resources
• http//www.usq.edu.au/faculty/arts/MASSCOMM/PRHOTL
  1.HTM