Web Writing — Part Two, Writing detail
In Part One we looked at how to get assigned to a web post or choose to write one, and the kind of work this can provide. Now you have a post set up and a topic to cover. Let’s look at the detail of the content writing itself.
Overall
Write in a word processor. Don’t type directly onto the screen unless it’s absolutely unavoidable. The spell and grammar check can save you from having to go into a post and correct something later.
Sentences should not get too long and paragraphs should be not more than a few lines long.
An image really can save you explaining. Keep taking your own photos. Get them when the conditions are right and store them for use. Look at my two photos of a lemon traybake, taken a few seconds apart on different sides of the same room, to see which would suit a web post on baking. Check what is in the background — the third photo looks messy. Again, keep it simple.
Punctuation
Leave out hyphens online. Mother-in-law and five-year-old become mother in law, five year old. This is the standard for America now. If the sentence looks confusing, rewrite.
Do not use repeated punctuation marks. ??? Those are always wrong.
Don’t use all caps as capital letters look SHOUTY, are hard on the eye and you will find spell checking harder. Don’t use a long section of italics as this is too hard to read.
Don’t use a serif font. Sans serif like Arial are cleaner to look at and easier for people with vision impairment, or for text to speech software like Dragon.
Similarly, we often don’t put a period after Mr, Dr, Ms or initials like IBM.
I use semi-colons in my longform writing, but an editor will sometimes remove them from web content. They will also remove a full colon and tell you to make a bulleted list. The site may use single or double quote marks. Leave one space between words and between sentences, not two. You can search in Word for a double space.
An image really can save you explaining. Keep it simple.
Words
Think about the words that are easy and modern to read. Instead of envisage, use visualise.
Don’t play buzzword bingo, but do use words appropriate to the industry, age group or topic. If you are not sure of the correct word, spelling or meaning of a word, Google the meaning. Nobody is perfect.
Gender biased words need to be changed to something more appropriate and inclusive. Man-made, changes to human made tracks, artificial fibres or anthropogenic climate change. Manning the exhibition stand needs to be staffing the stand. Tradesman, becomes tradesperson or carpenter, plumber. If you are writing for an airline you can’t assume pilots or cabin crew are male or female.
Best avoided
Good writers avoid using it. Poor writers often have sentences beginning and ending with it. Example: It was hard to keep track of it. Other pronouns can be confusing, so use names clearly.
Avoid cliches. They are lazy. Do not swear. Do not use sarcasm, which is unprofessional. If in doubt, be professional, even if you are writing a humorous blog.
Don’t generalise. Don’t say, “We’ve all checked our Facebook page over breakfast.” You will be wrong. Speak for yourself, “I check,” or say, “Many people check.” Example from my own life: a fitness instructor called Karl Henry wrote in his regular newspaper column: “Show me a woman who is 100% happy with her body and I’ll give you a million euro.” I wrote in asking for my money.
Too much detail would be a person’s full address or full date of birth. This could lead to identity theft.
Avoid sounding pompous, boring, or vague.
This covers you on someone else’s website as well as your own. Next time, American style and Content Management Forms.
Originally published at http://insidedbs.wordpress.com on January 14, 2021.
