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Instructor Guide
COPYRIGHT
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agreements. No part of this document can be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of Velsoft Training
Materials, Inc.
Courseware Version: 3.0
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ..................................................................................................... 1
Understanding Your Training Package ......................................................................................1
Preparing for Training .............................................................................................................2
Our Top 10 Training Tips .........................................................................................................3
Materials Required ..................................................................................................................3
Related Courses ......................................................................................................................4
Additional Resources ...............................................................................................................4
Agenda ..................................................................................................... 5
Icebreaker: Word Herd ............................................................................................................6
Session One: Course Overview ................................................................................................7
Session Two: Getting to Know the Web .................................................................................. 10
Web Writing Is Not The Same!............................................................................................................ 10
Design and Structure........................................................................................................................... 12
It’s Work to Influence Others .............................................................................................................. 16
Session Three: Tips on Creating a Site Hierarchy .................................................................... 18
Designing the Site ............................................................................................................................... 18
Break ................................................................................................................................................... 19
Pre-Assignment Review ...................................................................................................................... 20
Menus, Links, and Buttons .................................................................................................................. 22
Session Four: Creating Your Content ...................................................................................... 24
Writing Eye-Catching Headlines .......................................................................................................... 24
Writing Content .................................................................................................................................. 26
Writing Goals ...................................................................................................................................... 29
Debrief ................................................................................................................................................ 31
Morning Wrap-Up.................................................................................................................. 31
Lunch ................................................................................................................................... 31
Energizer: Return to the Word ............................................................................................... 32
Session Five: Testing the Waters ........................................................................................... 33
Walk the Talk ...................................................................................................................................... 33
Debrief ................................................................................................................................................ 34
Session Six: Deciding What’s Fit to Print ................................................................................. 35
What’s Getting Read? ......................................................................................................................... 35
Reviewing and Planning ...................................................................................................................... 37
Break ................................................................................................................................... 37
Session Seven: Adding Audio and Video to Your Content ......................................................... 38
The Debate .......................................................................................................................................... 38
Debrief ................................................................................................................................................ 39
Session Eight: Getting Your Content Noticed ........................................................................... 40
Standing out in Crowds ....................................................................................................................... 40
Search Engine Optimization ................................................................................................................ 41
Alternative Search ............................................................................................................................... 43
Optimizing Keywords .......................................................................................................................... 44
Balancing SEO and Word Stuffing ....................................................................................................... 46
Workshop Wrap-Up ............................................................................................................... 47
Writing for the Web
PREFACE
Understanding Your Training Package
Your Velsoft training package contains the following items:
o Instructor Guide: Contains all textbook information plus this preface, icebreakers,
activities, delivery tips, and more!
o Student Manual: Contains textbook information as well as areas to take notes. Each
manual also includes an evaluation form, action plan, and recommended reading
list.
o Handouts: Contains pre- and post-class answer keys as well as any additional
information or activity resources.
o Pre-Assignment: Task for participants to complete before the workshop to get them
thinking about the learning that will take place.
o PowerPoint Slides: PowerPoint presentation highlighting talking points in the
course.
o Quick Reference Guide: Two-page cheat sheet of tips and facts covered in the
course.
o Outline: Word document that outlines the overview and objectives of the course
and summarizes each session to be covered.
o Advertorial: Pre-made flyer that you can customize and distribute.
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Preparing for Training
To begin, read through this Instructor Guide. This is intended to be a guide and not a bible! Be
guided by your experience, the needs of the participants, and your own common sense, as well
as the information in here. Most of the suggestions and all of the information have been
developed through research and hands-on, classroom experience, but you will want to
customize the material for your particular audience.
Practice writing on flip chart paper before the workshop. You may want to draw lines on the
paper (lightly, in pencil) to help you. As well, many of the flip charts suggested in this course can
be prepared ahead of time. The first page should be set up like this:
o Name of Workshop
o Facilitated by < Your Name>
o Your Organization’s Name
For an extra touch, include sheets with the words Courtesy, Participation, and Confidentiality
written on them and post them around the room. You might also want to add the words
Exercises, Role Play, Learning, and Fun.
Have an emergency kit ready with the following items:
o Extra markers
o Tape and sticky putty
o Adhesive bandages
o An extension cord
o Safety pins
o Tissues
o A bottle of water
o A fuzzy toy (which can be used for many activities and to spice up any lecture)
Arrive at least one hour before the start of the session to ensure that:
o Signs are placed directing trainees to your room.
o The classroom is set up as desired.
o You know where washrooms, break facilities, smoking areas, and fire exits are
located.
o You have all necessary resources for the day.
o Materials for the morning are laid out, particularly for the icebreaker.
o Pens, sticky notes, and scrap paper are placed at every table.
o If you are using a laptop, it should be connected to the projector and both items
should be turned on.
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Our Top 10 Training Tips
Although we will provide advice throughout the workshop, there are a few tips that we think
every trainer should know.
1. I always shake hands with each participant and introduce myself as they come into the
classroom. I find that it breaks the ice and sets the type of friendly atmosphere that is
conducive to learning.
2. I always practice before the big day, even if I have delivered the course beforehand.
3. Bring extra activities with you. I have a list of children’s games that I’ve adjusted for
adults.
4. Always have a backup plan! For example, if you plan to use PowerPoint slides, make
sure you have a copy of the Instructor Guide, which includes the information to be
covered.
5. I like to print my instructor guide and place it in a three-ring binder. I put any
customized information in here, plus during the workshop I make notes about what
worked and what didn’t. This will be a resource that you can build on in the future too!
6. Things will go wrong during your workshop. If you are well prepared and confident, you
should be able to resolve most situations quickly and easily. Try not to let participants
see you stressed!
7. Involve participants as much as you can. Have them help you set the agenda, guide
activities (by passing out or collecting forms, for example), lead discussions, and
improve the course. The more participants put into it, the more they will get out of it.
8. Be ready to learn. I have not yet taught a workshop where I didn’t learn something.
Challenge yourself!
9. Tie everything back to the workplace. It’s no good knowing information unless
participants know how to use it.
10. And finally… don’t be afraid to have fun! I always bring a few fuzzy toys with me. I use
them as a speaking hat during discussions – whoever is speaking has the toy. Plus, it
sparks creativity and keeps participants interested.
Materials Required
o
o
o
o
o
Flip chart paper
Markers
Soft ball or object
Timer (Morning Icebreaker)
Instructor access to the Internet for demonstration purposes (optional)
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Related Courses
o Advanced Writing Skills
o Basic Internet Marketing
o Persuasion and Influencing
Additional Resources
If you would like more information on training, Velsoft offers Train-the-Trainer courses at
several different levels. We also like the following books:
o The Trainer’s Tool Kit, by Cy Charney and Kathy Conway
o Diversity Training, by Cris Wildermuth
o Games that Teach, by Steve Sugar
o Sivasailam Thiagarajan’s books on games and activities
If you have a favorite resource, please share it with us!
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AGENDA
8:30-8:45
Icebreaker: Word Herd
8:45-9:00
Session One: Course Overview
9:00-9:45
Session Two: Getting to Know the Web
9:45-10:45
Session Three: Tips on Creating a Site Hierarchy
10:45-11:45
Session Four: Creating Your Content
11:45-12:00
Morning Wrap-Up
12:00-1:00
Lunch
1:00-1:15
Energizer: Return to the Word
1:15-1:45
Session Five: Testing the Waters
1:45-2:15
Session Six: Deciding What’s Fit to Print
2:15-2:30
Break
2:30-3:00
Session Seven: Adding Audio and Video to Your Content
3:00-4:15
Session Eight: Getting Your Content Noticed
4:15-4:30
Workshop Wrap-Up
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Writing for the Web
Icebreaker: Word Herd
(8:30-8:45)
Activity
In order to start thinking about writing, we’re going to start the course with a writing exercise
that can help get ideas, words, and information flowing.
Arrange participants in teams of four and provide each team with a sheet of flip chart paper
and a marker.
Assign each team a different letter (consonants are probably best at this early part of the day!).
Team one can have B, team two can have C, team three gets D and so on. Explain that each
team will have 90 seconds to create a list of words that all start with their letter. To make things
challenging, each word must be at least four (or five or six if you prefer) letters long.
Set your timer for 90 seconds. The team with the longest list of words wins!
Debrief
Sometimes when we are writing, we are looking for a way to make our writing interesting, or
use clever words, or alliteration, and when writing for the web, often we are writing in a big
hurry! The ability to generate words out of context like this exercise asks us to do is simply a
great tool for getting us thinking about writing, and what it is that we have to say.
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Session One: Course Overview
(8:45-9:00)
Setting the Stage
Introductions
Introduce yourself. Establish credibility by giving examples of training experience, and your own
experiences with today’s topic, including some war stories if you have them.
Give the participants a chance to introduce themselves to you. You will probably want to know
their name, their department, their position title, and what their interest is in today’s topic.
Ground Rules
Ask participants for some ground rules that should be followed during the course. Record ideas
on flip chart paper. After the activity, create a final version and post them where everyone can
see.
Some common ground rules include:
o What we say in this room will stay in this room.
o We can disagree with one another and provide feedback as long as we do so
constructively and respectfully.
o We will all put on our listening hats when someone else is speaking.
o Everyone will participate to the extent that he or she feels comfortable. You get out
of a workshop what you put into it.
o We agree that this is the place to make mistakes and to learn.
o We agree to each be responsible for our own behavior.
Housekeeping Items
Let participants know:
o When the workshop will end
o When breaks and lunch will be
o Where they can find break and restroom facilities
o Where fire exits are and what will happen if there is an emergency
o What the building’s smoking policy is
o How you would like cell phones to be handled, although this should be agreed upon
by all participants
o What the classroom food and drink policy is
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Agenda Review
Present the agenda as a handout, PowerPoint slide, or on flip chart. Review the topics and the
timeline.
Here is how our in-house trainer handles some common concerns.
This looks like a lot of information. Will we be able to cover it all?
Reassure participants that today’s timeline is indeed feasible. If issues arise, promise that you
will involve participants in solving the problem, rather than cutting out topics or breaks
autocratically.
We’d rather spend more time on x rather than y. Is that possible?
If it is at all possible, accept suggestions like these. For example, you may be able to move an
activity (particularly discussion activities) from one topic to another. Make a few minutes
before the session to prepare.
I was expecting to discuss _______. Is it included in today’s course?
If it is included, reassure participants and let them know when it will be covered. If it’s not
included, suggest resources or provide additional information. If you don’t have the answers,
promise participants that you will track the information down and get it to them as soon as
possible. (Give a timeline if you can.)
I didn’t realize that this course covered_______. Why is it included in today’s course?
This can be a tough one! Usually, I briefly explain the connection and let participants know
more information will be provided when the topic is covered.
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Course Overview
Ask students to turn to Session One in their workbooks. Read the introduction below.
 Workbook Material
The Internet is full of fascinating places to find information, check out your favorite
companies and stores, look for deals, read the news, and much more. However, people
don’t read information on the web in the same way that they read a printed newspaper,
magazine, or a book. As writers, we have to be very aware of how people approach a web
page so that we can create interesting and engaging content. This one-day course is for
people who write for readers on the web.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this workshop, you will be able to:
o Apply engaging techniques that draw readers to web pages
o Plan what to write to reflect your web hierarchy
o Create engaging content, including catchy headlines
o Enhance your writing with other forms of media
o Make your writing accessible to a variety of readers
Give participants a moment to write down their own learning objectives in their workbook.
Action Plans and Evaluations
Next, pass out evaluations and action plans. (Both of these items are in the Handouts folder and
the Student Manual.) Ask participants to work on these throughout the day. They will also have
a few minutes at the end of the workshop to finalize their ideas.
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Session Two: Getting to Know the Web
(9:00-9:45)
Web Writing Is Not The Same!
(15 minutes)
You may have already heard this, and it may be what prompted you to take this course: writing
for the web is not the same as writing for print materials.
People do not read information on a website in the same way that they read a newspaper or
other print media. They tend to scan for keywords, phrases, or sentences that catch their eye.
This doesn’t mean that you are going to write using large fonts and red-colored letters like
poorly written sales or marketing ads. It means that you have to write content that is engaging,
catches people’s attention, and gets picked up in search engines. If you think of the social
nature of media, and the way that people will interact with you (or your company) through
social sites, and using their mobile devices (which have small reading spaces), it gets easier to
see how writing for the web is different.
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Writing for the Web
Whether you are writing to inform or writing to sell, the goal of your writing has to be to catch
the attention of a reader. Catching their attention means that your content is engaging. When
they engage with you, they get to know you (and the company you write for), which gives you
the opportunity to get involved in dialogue, and if your goal is to sell them something, to
convert them to paying customers at some point.
Writing for the web means that you need to write information that your readers want and
need. This is not the same as writing about what YOU want and approaching writing as though
you are a marketer of bygone days who is replicating print ads by adding a little flash and
placing them strategically on a web page. Instead of building awareness for your company, your
products, or your services, you need to be influencing reader behavior. This means you have to
work on gaining trust, and building trust means that you have to be credible.
Some writers are so focused on creating copy for web pages, publishing their blog articles,
putting six new statuses on Twitter, posting on Facebook, etc., that they lose sight of what is
important: the message. If you want to engage your readers in dialogue, you do not need to
flood your pages with desperate “LOOK AT ME” messages. You need to create a compelling
message that people want to read.
 Discussion Points
 Slide and Workbook Material
Ask participants:
o Have you written content for the web already?
o If so, what kind of writing are you doing (informing, sharing, selling, or something
else)?
o If not, what are your goals for writing?
o Think about the last website that you visited. How did you find the web page that
you were reading? How long did you stay on that page? Which page did you go to
after that?
To wrap up the discussion, ask participants for ideas in growing their expertise with writing
so that they write less TO a reader, and more FOR a reader.
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Writing for the Web
Design and Structure
(15 minutes)
Working with Your Designer
While writing and design are most certainly different activities, design is extremely important in
terms of getting your writing read, and in engaging in dialogue with your readers. It is the
designer who creates the experience (through a user-friendly interface) that your reader
navigates through, and its importance cannot be understated. The design of your site must
focus on usability, so that readers can easily read what you have to say.
Designers can help you lay out your pages, use metrics to understand what visitors are reading,
and to help you figure out where to place links and a search bar on every page of your site.
They can set up your pages so that they reflect your brand whether someone is visiting your
site from their computer, tablet, or the small screen of a smartphone. They can also create
forms so that visitors can sign up to read your site, receive e-mails, or whatever you choose.
Keep in mind that even a top designer cannot fix any shortcomings you have as a writer, and
that you are still responsible for creating great writing and content.
Understanding HTML
Whether you have some programming skills and are using an HTML editor to create your web
pages, or you use a template to create your pages and the HTML is automatically created in the
background, there are some things you should know about web pages.
Web pages are created to look one way on screen and contain source code in the background.
The structure of source code is important because it provides web browsers and search engines
with information that help to get your pages found by readers. A web page can be read through
the source code, and is organized in something called a document tree. The lines within the
tree are organized into branches.
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Viewing the Source
 Activity Ideas
 Slide and Workbook Material
The following image is in the student guide and on a slide to share with participants, or you
can display an Internet browser on the screen and show the source code directly from there.
(Simply go to www.coursewareoutlines.com, right-click the page, and click “View source” to
display the file tree.)
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In this example, the first line shows that the coding is done in HTML:
At that level, you can also sometimes see an addition that states the web page is public
(meaning anyone can find it) or private (meaning people need to be provided with the link in
order to find the page).
The next level of the tree is called the <head>. It contains the title and keyword information
(metadata) about the page:
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Next, we have the <body>, which is the information that is displayed on the web page for your
visitors to see and read, but in language that the computer understands:
 Activity Ideas
Demonstrate the source code for a few additional web pages. You could include some of
your participants’ sites, or your own if you have one.
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It’s Work to Influence Others
(15 minutes)
You may already be thinking that writing for the web is going to be tough work, and we’ll agree
with you that it is work. However, although writing for the web is a different style of writing
than you may be used to, it’s all writing just the same. If you can write persuasively, and you
can be concise, you can learn to write for the web.
 Handy Quotes
John Hancock
“The greatest ability in business is to get along with others and to influence their actions.”
In writing for the web, creating dialogue, and building trust, we have to make a conscious effort
to write persuasively without being pushy. While there are lots of techniques to choose from in
being persuasive, we like the research basis behind Robert Cialdini’s work in Influence: The
Psychology of Influence and Persuasion. His work focuses on these concepts:
Predictability
People respond to things that they expect. If I purchase hangers at a discount store, I expect
that they will work out to be cheaper than a big department chain, even though sometimes
they aren’t any cheaper at all. This principle is also reflected by the idea of high-priced item
being of better quality than lower-priced items, even though the product may not change at all.
Reciprocation
This describes the way that people respond when given something, especially a gift.
Reciprocation is the reason behind sending a thank-you note after we receive a gift. It’s also the
reason that we can take a new car for a test drive: the sales person arranges a test drive as a
gift and so the customer might be more likely to purchase the car.
Consistency and Commitment
Once we’ve made a decision, our actions will support the choice we made, even if we later
learn that we could have made a different (or even better) decision. Thus, gaming
manufacturers and smartphone developers know that some of their customers will come back
to purchase again even if they don’t need to replace worn out items; they will come purchase
new items because they know what they get from a particular company.
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Social Evidence
We tend to work with what works. We look at best sellers, best practices, and ideas that are
endorsed by other people because if it works for them, it just might work for us. Another
incident of social evidence is where you participate in a fundraiser where the television screen
lists the names of everyone who donated. This is a way of saying, “Hey, look at what your
neighbors are doing. Your name needs to be here too!”
Authority
We tend to believe people who are in positions or authority, whether they have earned our
trust or not. We automatically trust doctors, police, and firefighters. But we also sometimes put
trust in actors who are dressed up as an authority, because we want to believe that they know
what they are talking about.
Likability
Customers will purchase from companies of friendly staff because they are likable, even when
prices are higher than the competition, especially where the competition provides poor service.
Scarcity
Companies will use all kinds of excuses to explain why their products are not available, while
customers search high and low to get their hands on a prized item in order to be part of the
special group that has the item.
Self-Interest
If you are using influence as a way to support a dialogue, you should understand that
everything someone does includes an element of self-interest. People don’t always ask “What’s
in it for me?” but it would be a rare person indeed who does not think about it on some level.
 Discussion Points
What additional aspects of persuasion do participants see in their everyday lives?
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Session Three: Tips on Creating a Site Hierarchy
(9:45-10:45)
Designing the Site
(15 minutes)
Since you are putting all this effort into creating great content that influences and engages
readers in dialogue, your next task will be to make sure readers can find your pages. If your site
is well designed, you will have a clear hierarchy set up, and an intuitive way for people to move
through your sites.
If you are designing a website about different kinds of birds, it makes sense that your
homepage is clearly representative of your topic. In this case, a site hierarchy could look like
this:
Readers and search engines would think the site is about birds, which is just what you want.
However, let’s say that you start out fascinated by one type of bird (a raptor) and then build
your site from there. The hierarchy might look like this:
Search engines and readers would probably think your site is all about raptors, and may miss
the other information there. If visitors to your site are looking for information about seabirds,
but they think that your site is all about raptors, they may not stay on your site. As well, no
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matter how strong the writing is on your raptors and songbirds pages, people won’t stay to find
your section on the marbled godwit if they think they’ll only find ospreys and peregrine falcons.
Take the time to create a website plan, and decide what your overall topic (home page), and
sub topics (subpages or branches) will be. Arrange them in a way that makes sense to the
visitors of your site, not just you as a writer or designer.
Break
(15 minutes)
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Pre-Assignment Review
(15 minutes)
 Activity Ideas
Participants were asked to complete the following worksheet. If you have more than 12
participants, break them into groups of four to six to discuss, share, and learn from one
another’s responses. Have them discuss what they think, and have already learned about
writing from this exercise. Answers will vary, but the goal is to look critically at what
different sites have to offer, to look at what techniques of persuasion are being used, and
how people are being engaged in dialogue through the web.
Go to a website that you frequently visit, or if you don’t have one that comes to mind, ask a
friend where they go. Instead of looking at it from your customary visitor’s point of view, have a
look at the site with a critical writer’s eye.
What is the site URL that you are reviewing?
What things are they doing well on the home page?
What things could be better?
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Find at least one example of really good writing on the site. What makes it good?
Next, think about why YOU are writing for the web. Some options are below. Check any that
apply, and use the blank spaces to add any additional ideas.
_____ To increase traffic to my website
_____ To sell products and/or services
_____ To develop my writing skills
_____ To get more readers/site visitors to click on links within each page
_____ To get responses to my blog posts/social networking updates
_____ To provide free resources and/or articles
_____ To ask questions that lead to conversations
_____ Other (list details here) _______________________________________________
_____ Other (list details here) _______________________________________________
_____ Other (list details here) _______________________________________________
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Menus, Links, and Buttons
(15 minutes)
Menus
Each website you visit has menus, hyperlinks, and buttons. Part of your site design will
determine where on the page those links should be, and how you want to set them up. Some
sites have the menu buttons at the top of the page, while others are on the side.
Menu buttons at the top of the screen can look like this:
Or like this:
Menu buttons along the left margin often look something like this:
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Links
Many websites also have a series of links on the bottom of some pages, like this:
Your menus are an integral part of each page on your site. In smaller sites, the menu may be
exactly the same on every page, but larger sites will have different menus that relate to help
simplify navigation for visitors. One good strategy to see how well visitors can move through
the site is to do some testing before you launch the site, or before you make changes.
 Trainer’s Tip
With the range of devices that people now use to read or visit any site, it is a good idea to
keep at least some version of the menu high on the page, so it is easily found.
Your pages should also have hyperlinks to help readers move around, and buttons. Hyperlinks
are embedded in your text and link the reader to another area of your site, such as a resource
page, terms of use, definitions, a shopping cart, etc. Each time you have a hyperlink set up, it
will appear as a highlighted word so that readers can identify it easily.
Buttons
You can also place buttons on your pages. A button is really just a fancy looking hyperlink. It
might take the reader to a shopping cart, an interesting image related to the content, and so
on. Some images are actually buttons, and when the visitor clicks on the image, they are taken
to a new page where the image is bigger, or color options are shown, and so on.
You can place a hyperlink in your text like this: “For more information, see our quarterly
report.” Or, you can create an attractive button to do the same thing:
Read our most recent
quarterly report.
It depends on what your purpose for the link happens to be, and how you want things to look.
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Writing for the Web
Session Four: Creating Your Content
(10:45-11:45)
Writing Eye-Catching Headlines
(15 minutes)
Influencing readers is not about using a trick, schmoozing, or a pushy sales tactic. It’s about
giving people something to think about and influencing how they think and feel about you,
while engaging in a dialogue with them. This kind of thinking takes work, just as your headlines
do.
Since we know that readers are scanning what we read rather than reading it, we typically
break the material up and use headlines and headers to catch their attention, or pull them
toward you.
This means that instead of doing these things:
o Barraging our target market with messages
o Telling everyone our message
o Repeating the message ad nauseum
o Coercing, forcing, or tricking someone
We do these things:
o Encourage a dialogue
o Build trust by being credible and doing what we say we will do
o Show and demonstrate our message (walking the talk)
o Share the message and how our customers use our products or services
This shift in thinking means that we focus on content that people can use. Your headings don’t
have to be wild and crazy, but they do need to be interesting. They don’t need to be weird,
although that sometimes is a good idea, and they do need to draw a reader into the material
that follows.
Tabloid editors seem to have a great way with words and can write some catchy headlines. This
kind of writing is what encourages people to pick up those papers in a supermarket checkout
line. They play with words and language just enough to catch our eyes as we walk by.
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Tips for Creating Great Headlines
Keep them short and direct.
Often, readers are coming to your writing through a search engine, a link or from an e-mail, or
an RSS feed. However, there are also plenty of ways for them to find you without coming to you
directly, so you must be very easy to find. Keeping headlines short and direct is a good start.
Avoid being cute, and use vocabulary that relates to the audience you are appealing to.
Avoid confusing or pretentious language.
Remember that even though we know some great vocabulary, headlines are the way for the
reader to find you and tuck into your content. Use active language and strong verbs. Don’t try
to hide unsavory elements in your writing, either. Once you’ve frustrated or tried to trick a
reader, it will be very difficult to get them back to your site.
Use subheadings.
Readers will engage when you catch their eye, and subheadings are a great way to help them
scan through your material quickly and focus on the information they need and want. Select a
word or short phrase that describes what is in the section so that they can easily find what they
want.
While print media might use a subheading only after five or six paragraphs, that’s because
when you fold open a newsletter, you can easily see where the subheadings are. They break up
a page into digestible pieces. When reading on the web, however, we don’t get the same kind
of overview, so a good rule of thumb is to have a subheading within the distance of one to one
and a half screens, so that readers come across them frequently.
Have a look at some of the sites that publish news or information that you visit from time to
time, and you can assess whether they are using too few headings and subheadings, too many,
or seem to get it just right (based on your own preferences).
 Activity Ideas
If you have an Internet connection, share a few examples of current publications making
great use of headings and subheadings. We have listed some sample sites below. These
external sites are not endorsed nor recommended by Velsoft; we simply provide them here
for reference.
o www.cnn.com
o www.nytimes.com
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Writing Content
(15 minutes)
No matter how brilliantly your site is designed, no matter how many hours you devote to
search engine optimization, if your writing is poor people are not going to read what you say.
Here are some tips to turn your writing into something that can be easily read on the web.
Format Carefully
It seems like you don’t really care how your content looks if I go to your page and see that the
apostrophes and quotation marks have been replaced by a short string of symbols. You’ve
probably seen these many times, and it is something that happens when you paste your copy
directly from a word processing document. The trick to fix this problem is to paste your content
into Notepad (on a PC) or TextEdit (if you are working on a Mac), and fix the problems there.
That will stop your “best work” from looking like %$#sloppy work#$%.
Be Concise
Web writing is short. People scan rather than read. Make it easy for them to scan quickly.
Use Bullets
The short nature of online writing makes it ideal for bullets and lists. Write a short sentence and
support if with bullet points. Writing for the web requires:
o Concise construction
o Strong editing
o Excellent content
Use Hyperlinks
New visitors spend very little time on any page. Depending on what report or resource you
read, they might spend between 20 to 40 seconds on something that you took many hours to
write and edit. That’s just the way it is, and we need to get used to it. Your goal is to take
advantage of their tendency to click on a link to move through the site, so make sure that you
provide lots of links, and that the links always work.
Usability studies encourage us to use descriptive links rather than the term, “click here.” For
example, instead of: “To see the new projects we are working on, click here,” try this: “For
information about our latest projects, see our Innovation Page.”
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Build Trust
The Internet is full of information, and it can be hard to know what’s right and what’s been
made up as fiction. Develop credibility in your writing by citing your sources and linking to
them. Visitors prefer (and search engines also like) when you make links available. You will build
credibility by being open about who your sources are, and by sharing them with your visitors.
Use Inverted Pyramid Construction
When we learn to write, we generally follow the format of paragraphs constructed around topic
sentences, supporting sentences, and a summary statement or link to the following paragraph.
When writing for the web, however, we do the opposite. Remember that readers are scanning,
so give them the most important message first, even if it is your conclusion. You’ll word it
nicely, of course, so that the flow and rhythm are there for readability, but you must approach
your pages (and the top level of your website) with the most important information. Save
lengthy discussions for pages that are more deeply positioned on your site.
Think Rich
You may have heard about rich content; it’s a phrase that gets bandied about a lot. It means
that you are writing to inform, persuade, or advise about things that your readers need to know
(which may not be the same as the things you want to write about). If you have content that
stimulates a discussion, encourages dialogue, and provides something people can use, then you
are getting the idea of what rich content is all about. You cannot create a website that is
peppered with banner ads, messages to “buy now,” or “look at me” statements unless you are
only focused on creating a digital brochure. You don’t encourage readership and engage
dialogue with a brochure. Think about rich content, engaging readers in dialogue, and building a
tribe (to channel a bit of Seth Godin), and bring readers to your site.
Presenting Your Message
You have plenty of options for how to present your message. We know that reading time on a
page is short, and that visitors like to click on hyperlinks more than they like to use a back
button to return to the menu, so give them places to go. But what about the look of your page?
How can a writer prepare good copy that is appealing on a page? And how should we handle
more lengthy pieces of information?
The Page
In terms of how a web page gets set up, you need to place your important content “above the
fold” so that readers can see it without having to scroll far through the text. The fold is the part
of the page that appears on their screen before they have to scroll, and is caught in the view of
the reader instantly when the page loads. Keep in mind that the fold is different for every
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device; you have a larger space on a laptop or PC, but a smaller space if it is being read on a
tablet or smartphone.
Sizing Things Up
When you have lots to say (perhaps in a position paper, opinion piece, annual report, or a
research project), you’re probably writing several thousand words. Most blog posts that
actually get read are 350-500 words in length. You don’t need to do anything special with a
document of up to 1000 words (as long as you realize it is being scanned rather than deeply
read), but with longer work, it’s better to set up a link to a PDF for readers to download (instead
of putting all the material on a web page and having readers scroll and scroll and scroll).
A downloadable PDF is a great tool because:
o We know that readers are scanning on the web. It’s possible that with a PDF, they
can add it to their reading list and at their leisure they will absorb a greater portion
of the material.
o A PDF document is easy to print off or transfer to an eReader, allowing your visitor
to read in whatever way they prefer, and to keep a copy of that document for later
reference.
 Discussion Points
Ask participants for additional ideas related to writing content for the web and list them on a
flip chart.
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Writing Goals
(15 minutes)
Each piece that you write needs to have a purpose. Whether you are writing copy for a website
or publishing a blog, you need to know where your writing will appear and what you want the
readers to do with what they read. If you do not have a good plan set up, don’t expect that your
readers will know what to do.
You can set up goals for different parts of your writing. For example, if you are setting up a
website for your company and you also have a blog, you might want to create different goals
for each major part of it.
If the overall goal of your writing is to persuade, inform, or direct, you need to be really clear
about that, and just how you want to get your message out. If you are also writing to develop
better writing skills, that makes sense too.
In general, there are two important questions to ask yourself:
o What do you want from the work that you are doing?
o What are your goals for your website, your blog, or additional writing that you are
doing on the web?
With a company website, your goals could be to increase the number of people that come to
your site and download information or make a purchase. Or you may want to provide them
with a free product (such as a partial report or product sample) so that they later come back to
purchase the product. Or perhaps you want to get hired as a consultant. Any of these choices
require a reader to take action, and that’s a good purpose. But unless you know what you want
from the copy you create, you won’t know how to position your text.
Professional bloggers often have an overall purpose for their blog, and each post will have a
purpose too. Blogs that are widely read and have an active community of people making
comments will be more likely to get picked up in searches. A blogger might ask questions and
the advice of their readers to get some answers and also to get some action from the
community. They may want to get people thinking and debating, so they will write about
something from a different perspective than usual or present an idea that is contentious. They
may want to promote an idea or product that readers would find helpful, or to highlight a
company, an individual, or an idea that is interesting. Whatever their purpose is, they always
have one.
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Making Connections
 Activity Ideas
 Slide and Workbook Material
Ask participants to complete the following exercise independently. If time permits, you can
have them share some answers and collaborate on the goal(s) for their writing.
Are you writing for a website, a newsletter, blog, or something else?
What was the purpose of the last piece that you wrote (or one you are working on now)?
Do you have too many goals? Too few? Feel free to make some changes and detail them
here.
What can you do to make your writing stronger, based on what you have learned so far?
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Debrief
(15 minutes)
 Discussion Points
Discuss the answers to the exercise. The purpose of this discussion will be to get participants
taking action and setting very clear goals for each and every piece of their writing.
Morning Wrap-Up
(11:45-12:00)
Use the last 15 minutes to answer any remaining questions. Key points of the morning included:
o Clear understanding of what it takes to write for the web (concise, short, purposedriven writing)
o Site structure is important so that readers can find the information they want
o Using menus, links, and buttons to help visitors engage
o Writing headlines and subheadings, creating great content, and establishing writing
goals
Lunch
(12:00-1:00)
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Energizer: Return to the Word
(1:00-1:15)
One of the neat aspects of writing for the web is that there are some really interesting tools to
make our words into images. Images catch people’s attention!
Arrange groups into teams and provide each team with a list of at least 20 words. You can have
them use their words from the icebreaker exercise this morning, or you can show the words
below on a slide.
Their task is to create a word cloud. (We have included an example below and on the
PowerPoint slides.) They can create it in any shape they like. (Hint: Rectangles are common and
straightforward for beginners.) Have them hang their finished doodles up for others to see.
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Session Five: Testing the Waters
(1:15-1:45)
Walk the Talk
(15 minutes)
 Activity Ideas
 Slide and Workbook Material
We can certainly talk about how to write concisely and to make our writing short so that
readers get what they need while also encouraging them to engage with us. In this session,
your objective is to walk the talk. Ask participants to look at the following text and cross out
all the unnecessary words that they see. They can rearrange sentences and re-work the text
however they like.
Writing for the Web
We’re writers. We understand what it means to put together a series of disparate ideas and
then to distill them carefully so that they are clear and concise to our readers. Even those
among us who come to writing from other fields, because we happen to be good at it, have
learned the value of a capable editor at making our messages stand out.
Sure, there are writers who say that they write without editing. At one time or another, we are
in a huge rush and probably do the same, but it is not really a good idea. Good writing takes
work. We research, write, and then re-write, edit, and re-write some more before anything is
ready for publishing. This takes time and energy in addition to the basic knowledge of how to
write in different styles, for different purposes, and for different audiences.
A very effective approach to writing for the web includes doing a lot of reading. Reading on the
web is the natural place to start, so that you can see how other writers are doing what you
want to be doing. Looking for sites that offer great writing makes them a tremendous resource.
This should be supported by taking courses. (Like this one! How’s that for self-promotion?)
Go ahead and set your purpose; get writing; get it edited; and read, read, read!
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Debrief
(15 minutes)
 Discussion Points
There are plenty of right answers to this assignment, which is positioned as a bit of fun
about a serious subject.
You may get people who create answers in a couple of extremes. Here is one possible
answer:
o Write
o Edit
o Read
Or you may get something closer to this:
Writers understand what it means to be clear and concise, and the need for editing.
Sure, there are writers who say that they write without editing, but good writing needs
editing. This reflects our ability to produce good work in different styles, and for different
audiences.
A very effective approach to writing for the web includes doing a lot of reading.
Go ahead. Write. Edit. Read.
 Trainer’s Tip
Neither of these suggested answers is more correct than the other. Participants need to
know that they do not have to create something this brief, but they do need to be able to
cut out the extra words in order to present their essential message. The writer has to
determine the right way to get their message across.
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Writing for the Web
Session Six: Deciding What’s Fit to Print
(1:45-2:15)
What’s Getting Read?
(15 minutes)
One of the best ways to decide what you want to print is to measure what people are reading.
There are plenty of tools available to help you do that, including the analytics that accompany
your website. They can usually tell you where a visitor was before they arrived at your site: did
they use a search engine or did they access a link from another site or an e-mail? They can also
show you how long they stayed on a page and where they went next. (This is where you can
assess the effectiveness of your hyperlinks.) We refer to these metrics as usability, and they
help you decide what’s fit to publish and what to forget.
Give Them What They Need
Remember that the design of any online site is about what readers need and want as opposed
to what you want to say. You will get site visitors by drawing them toward you with compelling
content, answers to their problems, and engaging dialogue rather than doing a hard sell or
bragging about every accomplishment you make. If you don’t know what they want, start the
dialogue now. You can use focus groups, interviews, surveys, and even software to collect input
and to build on your visitors’ demographics and personalities.
Test Your Usability
We have to carefully and accurately measure the time it takes to develop your online presence
and build your community. One way to help with this is to measure the elements that users
interact with and their satisfaction with what you have. You can use their responses to help
make revisions and refine your design.
It’s helpful to learn things like:
o How long things take, including image loads, video loads, document download,
and/or simple page loads.
o Does the site function the same on a laptop as it does a tablet or smartphone?
o The number of links or steps it takes to complete a request or form. If you are still
collecting complete demographic details on a clunky form, you need to ask how
many people left the site without completing it. Only collect the information that
you need, like first name and e-mail address, and then stop yourself from asking
more.
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o How appealing and engaging the user finds the site and whether they found what
they wanted.
o Whether they encountered dead or incorrect links.
Consider Eye Tracking
You don’t need to arrange eye tracking measures for your site right now, but you do need to
know what they are and how they fit into the science of readership. Eye tracking measures the
length of time someone’s eyes rest on a portion of the screen (measured as a fixation), and
where their eyes travel. It’s fascinating to review this kind of technology!
You might think that your eye-grabbing image and highlighted keywords are drawing
someone’s attention, only to find out that they are drawn to a particular color or attribute that
you did not expect. If visitors do respond to your site in unexpected ways, and consistently so,
you may need to rethink how you manage your layout and design.
Break Up Content
We already discussed how important content is and how your readers scan information. If you
are writing long pieces of information, what can you do to make sure that people get the
message? One helpful technique is to break things into small chunks that can be easily scanned
and quickly read. Organizing your material so that related pieces are close together, there are
plenty of links to help visitors move through the material, and pieces are a reasonable length,
all contribute to good readability.
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Reviewing and Planning
(15 minutes)
 Activity Ideas
This session is to allow participants to take some of the ideas now percolating in their heads
and to reflect on what they want to write, how to do it, and how they can change existing
pieces of writing they already have on the web, and make them stronger. If participants
have their laptops or tablets with them, they can refer to writing they already have started,
or they can use the writing space in their workbooks, which is reproduced below.
 Slide and Workbook Material
Now that you’re learning how to present your writing and what is fit to print, take a few
minutes to write some objectives about your own writing. What are you committed to do to
ensure that you are writing the right things, in the best way possible, to engage as many
readers as you can? You might make adjustments to a piece you are currently writing, or to a
piece that is already online.
Break
(2:15-2:30)
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Session Seven: Adding Audio and Video to Your Content
(2:30-3:00)
The Debate
(15 minutes)
As writers, do we care about audio and video, or do we care about great writing? It’s a
controversial topic! The reality is that we have to care about all of it if our goal is to engage in
dialogue with visitors to wherever we appear on the web.
The other issue for debate relates to people’s personal feelings about audio and video when
they reach a site. If they are surfing on their smartphone or tablet and the clip takes a while to
load, they could be using up their data and paying for what they see, so those pages had better
load fast! Then again, some people like to experience information in different ways, and so they
want to have audio and video when they go somewhere. Besides, it makes a whole lot more
sense for us to show than tell, doesn’t it?
 Activity Ideas
 Slide and Workbook Material
Arrange participants in groups of five or six so that you can encourage some lively debate.
Put the following questions on a flip chart or display the slide so they can read and consider
the questions, and debate them together.
o What are the pros and cons of audio clips to support the writing that you do?
o What are the pros and cons of video clips to support the writing that you do?
o Do you think you would attract more visitors to your site if you had video or
audio clips? Why or why not?
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Debrief
(15 minutes)
 Discussion Points
If I write about a moose that wandered into a backyard and got tangled in a children’s swing
set, and the moose was rescued by a police deputy, I want to see what happened rather
than simply read about it. If my company is launching a new product, I need to show it
rather than only write descriptions. Don’t I?
Have the groups share the highlights of their discussions and see what the consensus is with
this particular class and the writing that they do. Potential answers may include some of the
following:
o Professional audio and video work can get very expensive. (This is very true,
although there is some tolerance for poorer quality production if the content is
good.)
o People don’t want to listen to audio or watch videos if they are on the bus or
train. (Are you sure?)
o We are visual: we need color, pictures, and sound! We should be incorporating
these elements into our web work.
o We are a company that has little to share; audio and video aren’t appropriate for
the type of sites/blogs/presence that we want. (Are you sure?)
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Writing for the Web
Session Eight: Getting Your Content Noticed
(3:00-4:15)
Standing out in Crowds
(15 minutes)
If people are unable to read what we write, we might as well give up writing! Accessible
content is all about helping people find us on the web. They have plenty of options, so we want
them to read what we have put there for them.
People who are using the web come from a variety of backgrounds, skill levels, and abilities. A
big consideration is to think about the tools that readers with disabilities will be using. A visitor
who is visually impaired can use a program to have the text on the page read to them. You
might already be thinking that your image-filled page will be difficult for them to navigate, and
you would be correct. When you design your page, it is important to have tags included with
images that describe the image for a visually impaired reader. This also has an impact on
visitors to your site who have the images turned off to save page upload time.
Equally important for the visually impaired are descriptive buttons. Instead of writing
something like, “To order a sample of our newest product, click here,” and the visually impaired
person having a very difficult time finding the right place to click, try something like “Order your
complimentary sample.”
If you are using audio clips that play automatically when a page loads, consider that a hearing
impaired person will not know that something is being read and may miss information that you
are presenting. Incorporate a written passage that includes the information that is being
broadcast so that hearing impaired visitors can engage with you.
Many accessibility problems can be effectively managed by using alternative text (also called
“alt text”) when you set up your pages. Whenever you place an image on a page, for example,
an image tag will be created in the source code (<img/>). When you correctly add the alt text to
it, the image can be described by reading programs when someone hovers their mouse over it.
The alt text needs to say exactly what the image says with no additions. Don’t be tempted to
create alt text that says “your company logo;” it should simply read “your company.”
 Discussion Points
Ask participants for additional ideas they have for making their information accessible and
what is currently working for them.
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Search Engine Optimization
(15 minutes)
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a tool that you can use to help people find you online. SEO
is not a one-time activity where you focus on creating keyword lists; it is a process to help you
get your writing as close as you can to the top of search results (or at least within the first
page).
In order to appear at the top of a search page, you need to select search terms and keywords
that people look for, and then optimize your content by writing with those words to make
yourself search friendly.
 Discussion Points
Ask participants to think about the last time that they searched for something online. You
can use these questions to guide your discussion.
o What words did you use?
o Which links did you click on from the search page?
o Did you just look at the paid ads at the top of your search or the first few organic
links?
o Did you go to the second page?
It’s worth noting that we rarely (if ever) look at search results on the second page, unless we
are really, really desperate. Most people will refine their search terms and search a second
time rather than going to a second page.
To wrap up the discussion, ask participants to share what SEO tools they are currently using
and how effective they find them.
How It Works
Search engines use tools like spiders, crawlers, or bots to trawl the Internet for new
information. They are working all the time! Remember, though, that they may work on a
different schedule than you do, so you need to prompt them to come look at what is new on
your site by sending them a message.
You can update a search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo by using their webmaster tools and
submitting the URL of the new or updated page. You have to submit to each search engine
separately, and they don’t like it if you are sending them all the same link.
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Instead, you can choose to update one site and wait for the spiders from the other sites to find
your new content, or you can stagger things. For example, you could send one site the updates
for your website, another your blog updates, and the third an update to your social networking
page. As you can already tell, this could get to be a big job, so you might find this easier if you
use something called pinging.
Pinging is a process where you can advise the search engines that a change has been made. You
can start pinging with a third-party service, or you can set up your website, blog, and so on to
do it automatically. For example, large blogging sites such as WordPress, Blogger, or TypePad
have pinging built in to their service already. For other sites, you simply have to submit the URL
(the address of your website, like www.yourcompany.com/blog) of the page you updated, the
name of the page or title of your article or information, and then click Submit. The service you
are using will respond by broadcasting a message that your URL has been updated.
 Discussion Points
o Are participants familiar with these terms?
o Do they have any to add to the list?
o What is their experience with SEO like so far?
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Alternative Search
(15 minutes)
Portals, directories, resources, multimedia, and social networking sites all offer search
functions, and your consumers are using them. We use search functions on sites like eBay, Kijiji,
Squidoo, Amazon, and others to look for almost any kind of product.
Although these searches may not be what we would think when we think of search engines,
people are using them, so you must be monitoring them, too. What does this mean for you?
You must be found by people who may not even know they are looking for you.
 Activity Ideas
 Slide Material
Ask participants to take a few minutes and reflect on the writing they do and the goals they
have for it already. They should think about which alternative searches their customers are
using, what is currently on their website, and what they can add to their current site so that
people can find them.
 Workbook Material
They can write ideas in the space provided in the workbook.
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Optimizing Keywords
(15 minutes)
What Do They Want?
When people look for your company or your products, they will put terms in a search box on
your site or a search engine page. People are different and live in different parts of our global
community, so not only do you need to know what they are searching for, you also need to
figure out how they will ask for it.
For example, a knitted cap for winter weather is called a toque in Canada, a knitted cap in
America, and in some places we sit on a sofa, couch, chesterfield, or a settee. Even though
everyone is speaking about you in English, they are all using different words to express the
same thing. This happens with other items, like soft drinks, pop, soda, and fizzy drinks.
Keywords, Search Terms, and Tags
Keywords, search terms, and tags are used all over the web, and are an important part of the
design for a website as well as a blog.
When a potential customer is looking for your product, they are only going to type a few words
into a search box. The total number of words can vary by search engine, but as a rule of thumb,
the fewer words they need to find you, the larger your profile gets. However, some marketing
resources also tells us that longer search queries tend to lead to more conversions (sales),
possibly because the searcher already knows exactly what they want.
Search engines ignore certain words, so you can leave them out of your phrases. (You can leave
them in so they make sense to you, but just know that search engines ignore them.) This
includes prepositions (about, beside, of, than, under, etc.), conjunctions (for, and, but, yet,
etc.), articles (a, an, the, etc.), and punctuation.
To keep your keyword list reasonable, words that have the same root when in plural form can
be entered as a singular word. You would use the words dog, skunk, or car but you don’t have
to use dogs, skunks, or cars. However, knives, mice, and companies will need both versions of
the root added as a keyword, because they change from knife, mouse, and company.
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Tips and Tricks
Here are five tips for getting a solid list of keywords:
o Brainstorm a list of every potential keyword and phrase that you can think of.
o Writers, like they marketers they are often writing for, should not isolate
themselves. Ask your colleagues, friends, and employees for ideas.
o Use the names of all your key products and services, company name, subdomains,
and nicknames.
o Include industry and geographic (location) terms and jargon. If you have a popular
name, try to secure as many versions of it as possible. For example, London is a city
in England and Canada (as well as many other countries).
o Use a search tool like the Google Keyword Search tool (used for Google AdWords) to
help identify lots of keywords and phrases.
Remember that searchers have to be desperate before they will look onto a second page of
search results.
 Activity Ideas
Have participants complete the following task: Brainstorm a list of 30 search terms (words
and short phrases) that can be used among the different pages of their website and/or their
blog. They’ll have to consider the terms that searchers use to look for their product and
balance that with the goal of showing up on the first page of results.
 Workbook Material
There is space in the workbook for participants to record their ideas.
 2005-2012, Velsoft Training Materials Inc.
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Writing for the Web
Balancing SEO and Word Stuffing
(15 minutes)
As writers, one of the things we must be very mindful of is the careful balance between what
needs to be written, and the temptation to write specifically for SEO. For example, if you have a
newly written whitepaper about the benefits of veterinary care for your pet rabbit, you might
be tempted to place specific words in the text that you would not have used if you were writing
in a more natural way. This can lead to the same words being repeated over and over and the
writing becoming stiff. Worse, it may look like a blatant marketing blast for a business you
cannot establish connections with or trust.
Temper what you have to say with what needs to be written. Remember that engaging in
dialogue will connect you to readers; creating strong content will bring them back to you again
and again. Use SEO to help you support your brand, engage in dialogue, and grow your
readership. Do not succumb to the temptation of writing just for the purposes of SEO. Create
meaningful, engaging work that draws people to you.
 Discussion Points
Lead a brief discussion about how writing for the web can be done while paying attention to
SEO and also creating good writing. Ask participants for their input on how they will
accomplish this. Possible solutions include:
o Creating frequent posts and adding new content so that search engines pay
attention to their site
o Monitoring analytics regularly
o Working with designers and editors to ensure that we are creating a great site or
blog where people want to be
 2005-2012, Velsoft Training Materials Inc.
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Writing for the Web
Workshop Wrap-Up
(4:15-4:30)
Take the last 15 minutes for a quick review and to answer any questions the class may have.
In closing:
o “The difference between the right word and the nearly right word is the same as the
difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” (Mark Twain)
o “Good things, when short, are twice as good.” (Baltasar Gracian)
o “Every writer I know has trouble writing.” (Joseph Heller)
This is also a good time to help participants wrap up their action plans, collect evaluations, and
to pass out certificates.
 Trainer’s Tip
If you haven’t provided students with the Student Manual, print out the Recommended
Reading List handout and give it to participants as a bonus.
 2005-2012, Velsoft Training Materials Inc.
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