Online copywriting has the same goals as print content, but there at least seven distinct points of departure between writing copy online and for print.
Online copywriting and print copywriting are very different. You hear that all the time. But that’s an observation as unhelpful as it is obvious. What are the real similarities and differences […]
Written on October 29th, 2006
Read more articles on Copywriting.
Online copywriting has the same goals as print content, but there at least seven distinct points of departure between writing copy online and for print.
Online copywriting and print copywriting are very different. You hear that all the time. But that’s an observation as unhelpful as it is obvious. What are the real similarities and differences between writing for the web and writing for print?
Similarities between Online Copywriting and Print Copywriting
Despite their differences, copywriting for print and online copywriting share some essential similarities, which are just as important to understand as the differences:
* Communication: you’re trying to get ideas across.
* Quality: spelling, grammar, proper word choice, clarity of expression, and other marks of quality are generally the same.
* Clear tone: the author’s attitude toward his or her subject–authority, humor, cleverness, outrage, fascination, dismay, glee–should be clearly defined for the reader to involve him or herself in the writing.
* Sales tactics: you still have to appeal to both reason and the emotions, provide calls to action, and employ the other traditional sales-writing tactics when you are writing for sales.
Differences between Online Copywriting and Print Copywriting
1) Most web and email newsletter content has to appear more informational than promotional.
Subtly promotional content usually does better than out-and-out sales copy. Site visitors and newsletter readers who aren’t ready for a sales pitch–usually, that’s most of them–may still be open to informational content that presents a problem and shows how it can be solved using the product or service being sold on the website.
As for readers who are ready for a sales pitch, they don’t need to be told twice on two different web pages. Aim for one sales page per offering, unless you are testing out different sales pages, or unless you only make the link to one of the sales pages prominent, with the rest of the pages serving as landing pages for search engine traffic.
Purely informational content with no clear promotional angle should make up at least a few of your pages. The credibility of a website depends on solid information. Natural links will come more readily to pure information, too.
A sales or lead-capture paragraph or two in the sidebar of every promotional or purely informational page will also help you get responses from your library of informational content.
2) Web content must be easy to scan as well as read word-for-word.
“Scannable” means that the key ideas of content are clear at a glance, and statements make sense when read out of context.
Scanning for main ideas is preferred over reading word-for-word among a large majority of web users. Nearly all of the fully literate users scan. Even if inclined to read a page word-for-word, highly literate users will scan the page first to make sure it will repay their investment of reading time. As for less-literate visitors who cannot parse words quickly enough to scan, scannable content will usually be easier to read word-for-word since it tends to be simpler.
3) With web content, quantity is almost as important as quality.
If you try to make every page a killer sales letter or literary masterpiece, you will end up with 10 pages instead of 100 (or 100 instead of 1000, depending on your budget). Fewer pages mean fewer visitors, both new visitors and repeat visitors.
Besides, since most literate users will only scan the page, your investment in literary merit or sales tactics is largely unappreciated.
4) Syndication and content distribution add new considerations.
Thanks to syndication and content distribution (e.g., RSS and Creative Commons), web content is its own promotional vehicle. Other websites, RSS feeds, and email newsletters will reprint good content without asking anything in return. Unlike with traditional advertising and promotion, you do not need to buy space to send out your web content message. Unlike with public relations, you do not need to filter your message through reporters, either.
You do, however, have to write for publishers and gate-keepers as well as end-readers when syndicating or distributing content. Informational value becomes more important since something that is too promotional will not take wing. Other syndication-specific issues include syndication-friendly keywords, titles, page length, tone, style, and formatting.
5) Less-literate and less-fluent readership requires simpler writing.
Less-literate people constitute up to half of the population of the wealthy countries, and somewhat more in many of the less wealthy countries. Less fluent non-native speakers of English are also a huge part of the online audience.
An eighth-grade reading level is as literate as the essential pages of your site should get, unless they are aimed at an audience that is necessarily literate (as is this page).
6) International readership requires more universal terms of expression.
Cultural, legal, or local references and nuances, as well as anything written for effect, will make less sense to people outside your country or even your region.
North Americans writing for dramatic emphasis and Britons writing for pointed understatement will write right past each other. Complaints about sky-rocketing housing costs will resonate among North Americans from Montreal to Miami to San Diego, but less so among North Americans from Ottawa to San Antonio to Cheyenne.
Try to write in terms anyone would understand: birth, death, family, thirst, hunger, love, sadness, the sun, the moon, buzzing insects and singing birds.
7) Building trust is more important on the web.
At the very least, print takes enough money and effort to buy the paper and ink. Anyone at all can build a web page with little effort. Besides, the web is filled with misinformation. Make sure your web pages look trustworthy with solid facts and convincing logic, and no grammar or spelling errors.
In conclusion, Nobel-prize-winning literature may make bad web content, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t standards. Follow the standards for good online copywriting, or your visitors may go to another site.
About the author:
About the author
Joel Walsh owns UpMarket Content: web content online copywriting services.
How To Outgrow ‘Write What You Know’Jenna GlatzerEvery writer has heard it time and again, and its not without merit: Write what you know.
When I began freelancing, I was just out of college, so what did I write about? College. I wrote profiles of collegiate entrepreneurs, I wrote editorials about college life… and after a while, I really wanted to move on and write about other things. But I didnt feel qualified.
Luckily, I didnt let that hold me back for too long.
Write what you know is a very good starting point. But thats all it is. Its a place for you to go to get your feet wet, and a place to come back to when the tide gets too high. But its not a place to stay for very long.
A better piece of advice, in my opinion, is Write what you WANT to know. One of the great perks of being a freelance writer is that you get paid to learn about things. So what do you want to learn about?
If I had completely disregarded Write what you know and simply opened a page of the Writers Market at random, figuring Id send a query to whichever market my finger happened to touch, my career would be very different today. I might have ended up writing about finances, miniature horses, and aerobics. And you know what? I would have hated it.
I have no experience with any of the above topics, and theres a good reason for that: I never really WANTED to have experience with them. Since I have no real passion for any of the topics, if I had to write articles about them, it would feel like work.
But did you ever stop to think about the things you always wanted to know, but never found out? Or all the interesting people you wanted to meet? Or the problems youve encountered that you wanted solved? Now those are article topics.
Try this exercise. Fill in the blanks with your answers.
1. If time and money werent factors, Id love to take a course in ___________________.
2. Ive always wanted to ask (person you know)______________________ about _________________________.
3. Ive always wanted to know how __________________________ works.
4. My life would improve if I could only ______________________________.
5. When I have a sleepless night, its usually because Im worried about ____________________.
6. The worst injustice I can think of is ______________________________.
7. When I was a kid, I was really passionate about _________________________.
8. I have always been embarrassed to admit that ________________________really interests me.
9. In my life, I have overcome ___________________________________________.
10. If I could volunteer for just one cause, it would be __________________________.
11. I wish I were better at ___________________________________.
12. I have always wondered why _________________________________________.
You may have lots of answers for each statement. Thats great! Each answer is a possible article topic. Most of them wont be specific enough (or perhaps too specific) for an article, but they should give you lots of new starting points from which to brainstorm angles.
Think of freelance writing as your own opportunity to learn about all the things you ever wanted to know, and dont worry if youre not yet an expert in any of these areas! Among my favorite writing assignments have been topics in which I had no previous expertise:
-An article about a woman who started her own greeting card business for Womans Own. Of course, Ive never started my own greeting card businessbut the topic certainly interested me, and I wanted a good excuse to learn more about it.
-An article about how media overload affects childrens development for KidsGrowth.com. Im not even a parent, let alone an expert in child psychology. But Ive always wondered how increasing media immersion (TV, Internet, video games, radio, etc.) has affected people in MY generation.
-An article about book packagers for Writers Digest. Okay, I had written for a book packager at that point– but just one, and I was eager to learn more about the industry and its players. It gave me the perfect excuse to contact book packagers and learn more about the market. And If not for this article, I would never have written Celine Dion’s book… I sent my resume and samples to one of the packagers I interviewed, and an editor there wound up calling me years later with the assignment!
-Several articles about interesting inventions for Zooba.com. How much fun did I have learning about how Velcro, aspirin, and Post-It Notes were invented? This made for great dinner table conversation for weeks. My father always fancied himself a bit of a mad inventor, and I guess the gene spilled over to me. I devour these quirky stories of how the human mind approaches problem-solving creatively.
-Every disabilities-related article Ive ever written. Was I an expert in this area when I began? No. I have a brother who has Down syndrome, so I had the benefit of some extra understanding, but I only became an expert by writing about this topic over and over. Each time, I learned something new that I really wanted to learn– new legislation for people with disabilities, profiles of amazing people with disabilities, issues of discrimination, etc.
When working to broaden your writing horizons, be sure to think about two things: your passions, and your curiosities. You dont need to write only about topics that mean everything to you; you can– and should– also write about the little things that bounce around your brain. Have you always wondered how the custom of kissing under the mistletoe evolved? Or how Mexican jumping beans jump?
Have you wondered what it feels like to go back to school in your 40s or 50s? Have you wondered if theres a way to stop all that junk mail and those telemarketing calls from darkening your doorstep?
Do some preliminary research, formulate a query letter, and… ta da! You get paid to find answers to these pressing questions, or learn more about your hobbies and passions.
Consider it a challenge. Keep learning. Use your writing as a vehicle to answer every question you never had time to answer before. There are lots of people out there who have wondered about those very same things, and you can help them!
You dont need to be an expert. You need to be a great researcher, and you need to be willing to ask questions. Lots of questions, sometimes. But thats one of the great things about writers– were such curious creatures.
Write what you want to know, and soon enough, itll be what you DO know.
About the author:
Jenna Glatzer is the editor of http://www.absolutewrite.com(pick up a FREE list of agents looking for new writers!) and the author of 14 books, including MAKE A REAL LIVING AS A FREELANCE WRITER, which comes with a FREE Editors’ Cheat Sheet. She’s also Celine Dion’s authorized biographer. Visit Jenna at http://www.jennaglatzer.com
Written on October 29th, 2006
Read more articles on Copywriting.