Let me start by saying that this is the end of my second month at Quirk… and my first blog post. I am not a bad employee (hopefully) but have just managed to fly under the blogging-radar for quite a while. I do appreciate blogs, I just hesitate to assume that I have anything of importance to say.

So, imagine my delight when, as the topic of “what I have learnt about writing for the web” popped up, I was the obvious choice. Being the new copywriter, with limited web experience, it was apparently the perfect blog for me.

My first week at Quirk was spent giving people blank looks when I was told to “add it to your RSS Reader”, and “put it in the meta description”. Sorry, the what?? Apparently the Internet offers more than just Facebook and free smses. I obviously had a lot to learn. I mean, I still say I got it on the email *Insert blush here*.

So, if you are web guru, stop reading, because my little discoveries are going to seem inane. But, in my defence, sometimes it’s good to look back at the basics that astound newbies like me and be grateful that, thank goodness, you already know all this stuff!

Back to day one. Feeling industrious, I googled “writing for the web” to feel prepared for my first day. The first website I found headlined, “How Users Read on the Web”. Perfect, I’m getting somewhere. Until I read the answer – they don’t.

Huh? I panicked for a few moments until I realised the truth of that statement. I hadn’t actually bothered to read on either.

Readers apparently only scan webpages and pick out what seems useful. So this, of course, affects how we write. To make webpages as readable and scannable as possible, some basic rules apply:

• Use highlighted key phrases (hypertext links, bolding, colour, font variations)
• Use meaningful sub-headings (not "smart" ones)
• Put information into easy-to-read bulleted lists (like this one)
• Only use one idea per paragraph 
• Use the inverted pyramid style of writing - starting with the conclusion
• Use, at most, half the word count than conventional writing

So basically, all the stuff I spent four years perfecting during my Media and Writing degree at varsity - forget about it. No more I’m-too-clever-literary-device-filled emotive headlines, no props for being able to eek out 7000 creative words about ambulances (don’t ask).

My slightly subdued self accepted my first assignment in anticipation - an article on the wonders of self-cleaning glass (I know, I didn’t know it existed either - and it really is wondrous). These articles are written to provide users with useful information and (hopefully) lead them back to our client’s site. The more sites that contain links to ours, the better our genuine credibility and rankings in search engine results pages - Link Building to be technical.

My first reaction was that most of my varsity essays were probably a little dodgy, with my belief that the first results from search were the best. I had the brilliant revelation that us online copywriters write the copy specifically for the search engines so that they'll appear in the top of the results pages, making them more about sneaky keywords than real relevance. 
And with that “realisation” I fell straight into the trap of how NOT to write for the web (pretty good for day one).

Bad search engine optimisation does just that, inserts keywords and emphases solely to attract spiders and rank in results pages, regardless of the page’s actual relevance to the term searched for. Harsh lesson number one – a good online writer can work in relevant keywords and create a readable, user friendly article that focuses on the user, not the spiders. Uh oh. Drawing board. 

Even after deleting my multitude of not quite relevant keywords, my very professional article with an intro, middle and conclusion was not a hit. I needed to talk to the people and be friendly. I could even use contractions. My heart skipped a beat. This major technique of writing for the web is to speak to the user, not at them, as is true academic style.

I referred to myself in the first person, I spoke to you, the user, and I used one word sentences. I mean, what better way to refer to self-cleaning glass than simply - clever!

The best advice I can give any web writers? Be yourself. (See another short sentence!) Write like you’d speak and set it out just like you would want to see it online. No mess, no fuss, no academic jargon to impress professors.

Writing for online is one of the most liberating experiences for a writer and I dread ever changing jobs. No newspaper or publisher is going to appreciate my new found use of the dash and exclamation mark.

My Varsity professors would be horrified – I on the other hand think it’s pretty darn cool.

P.s. – I hope you appreciate all the easy-to-scan-bolding!