These are slides for a workshop on writing for the Web for CBC.

1. Writing for the Web
Steve Buttry
CBC
Nov. 15, 2011

2. Read more about it
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry

3. Answer the 5 W’s
• Who
• What
• When
• Where
• Why
• How

4. Answer the 5 W’s
• Who • Research
• What • Writing
• When • Ethics
• Where • Links
• Why • Visuals
• How • Promotion

5. Who?
• Research: Who’s playing? Who’s hot?
Who’s not?
• Writing: Characters
• Ethics: Double-check spellings
• Links: Artist page, bio, news stories
• Visuals: Photos, videos
• Promotion: Who cares about this?

6. What?
• Research: Shows, songs, concerts, tours
• Writing: Basic details, what happened,
plot, conflict, resolution
• Ethics: Fairness, tell the other side(s)
• Links: Links provide background, context
• Visuals: Photos, videos of actions, events,
relevant objects
• Promotion: Point of greatest interest

7. When?
• Research: Verify dates and times
• Writing: Not always chronological
• Ethics: When did they know what?
• Links: Previous events, future promos
• Visuals: Timeline (Dipity, Memolane)
• Promotion: Dates, deadlines

8. Where?
• Research: Venues, hometowns,
birthplaces
• Writing: Setting
• Ethics: Verify location info & spelling
• Links: Venue pages
• Visuals: Maps
• Promotion: Venue, where to get tickets?

9. Why?
• Research: Motivation, explanation
• Writing: Theme, conflict
• Ethics: Give subject chance to explain
• Links: Other stories (even competition)
• Visuals: Interview video, graphic
• Promotion: Motivation of target
audience (nostalgia, cool, romance)

10. How?
• Research: Interviews; numbers (how
much?)
• Writing: Explanations, resolution
• Ethics: Ask: How do you know that?
• Links: Others may have explained
• Visuals: Graphic
• Promotion: How do I enter contest?

11. Focus your story
• What’s the most important W?
• Subject, verb, object
• Summarize in 6 words

12. Start strong
Tell reader quickly what the story is about
• Get to point in the first few words
OR
• Intrigue w/ initial words & make point
soon and strong
• Sometimes simple declarative sentence
works best …

13. “In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth.”

14. Writing exercise
3 minutes non-stop writing on:
1. Today’s workshop so far
2. Why you like your favorite musician/group

15. Morning break
Listen to musicians telling stories about music

16. What’s a blog?

17. What’s a blog post?

18. Writing your blog
• Think posts, not stories & columns. A sentence
with a link, an embed or a question can be a
post
• Read aloud, listening to your “voice”
• What’s most important? Start there
• Get to the point.
• Engage the community (question, poll,
opportunity to participate)

19. Story structures
Choose the right form for your story:
• Inverted pyramid
• Narrative
• Summarize, elaborate, summarize
• Curation
• List
• Intro to video or other media

20. Think beyond writing
• Videos
• Photos
• Slides
• Graphics
• Audio
• Tweets
• Source documents
• Maps

21. Links provide:
• Attribution
• Context
• Authority
• Pingbacks (& reciprocal links & inbound traffic)
• SEO
Consider whether context implies endorsement
of linked views/content

22. The blogging conversation
• Crowdsource (specific questions: “Do you
know anyone who …?” “Did you see …?” “Has
this ever happened to you?”)
• Consider ending post w/ question
• Stimulate/continue conversation in social
media
• Engage with comments
• “Don’t allow trolls or mean people to spoil the
conversation.” Howard Owens

23. Blogs have a voice
News voice (with thanks to Roy Wenzl): John Goode is an aspiring
musician who hopes to make it big someday, in spite of his origins in
poverty.
He learned to play guitar while sitting beneath a tree in his native
Louisiana. Train engineers, running freight on the tracks near New
Orleans, recall seeing him sitting under the tree frequently, strumming
chords. Local residents living nearby say that he can play the instrument
unusually well.
They also say that the youth, who lives in a nearby log cabin, and is
illiterate, is so poor that he carries the instrument in a sack.
One of the chief inspirations in his life is his mother, who has told him that
his playing is so good that he will probably draw large audiences when he
grows a little older. She has said she is sure the boy will see his name on
nightclub marquees.

24. Lunch break

25. Keys to SEO
• Relevance
• Keywords in headline
• Keywords in story (best in lead)
• Understand how people are searching
• Relevant links

26. Relevance rules
Keep SEO in mind as you write, but …
• Relevance matters; popular but irrelevant
keywords can hurt you
• Quality matters
• Social matters, too, and people share
good reads
• Relevance matters in links

27. Keywords in headline
• What words would you use to search for
this post?
• Use those words in headline
• If possible, start headline w/ key phrase
• Check Google trends
• Use full names
• (VIDEO) in headline

28. Keywords in lead
• Most important: good lead
• Sharing drives traffic, too, so don’t write
for search engine
• Edit for search engine; would search
terms help or hurt original lead?
• If keywords don’t work in lead, be sure
head is strong & use them high

29. Links help people find you
• Relevant outbound links boost
Googlejuice
• Pingbacks bring you inbound links &
boost Googlejuice
• Add links as you do research
• Use relevant anchor text (not “click
here”)

30. Reach a wider audience
• Effective use of social media (Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare, etc.)
• Relevant comments (w/ links) on related
blogs
• Emails/tweets/#hashtags call to attention
of influencers

31. Effective captions
3 audiences
• Search engines
• Searchers
• Those who’ve reached your page

32. Captions for search engines
• Include relevant keywords, especially if
it’s a video or slideshow & not photo
accompanying story
• If each photo is its own URL, each needs
an SEO-smart caption
• Add keywords in metadata

33. Captions for searchers
• Keywords help it show up in search
results
• If caption is all I see in search results,
does it tell me enough to make me click?
• If I click, will I be pleased?

34. Captions for readers
• Does it answer my questions?
• Does it state the obvious? (If it needs to
state the obvious for SEO, can you
rewrite to work for search & reader?)
• If in a photo gallery, does the caption
stand on its own (it may be entry point)?
• Does it invite me into the next photo?

35. Afternoon break

36. Plan to write tight
• Coordinate with editor
• Consider reader (what’s useful?)
• Follow-ups, sidebar, graphics, links
• Write as you report

37. Set a brisk pace
• Avoid suitcase leads
• Make your lead brief and enticing
• Does your lead fit in a tweet?
• Challenge punctuation, attribution,
numbers in lead
• Are keywords in lead?

38. Keep focus sharp
• What’s the story about? (Answer in a
tweet)
• Write a headline
• Three words
• What’s the emotion?
• What’s the surprise?
• Write without notes

39. Challenge in rewriting
• Quotes (length, set-up, echo, value)
• Read aloud; how’s the voice?
• Challenge verbs (passive especially)
• Phrases (eliminate, condense)
• SEO keywords & phrases
• Attribution
• Redundancy

40. Find the right word
Let’s play “Name That Tune”