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Online Getting there, staying there How to get people to see, read and enjoy your stories Michael Baker, Local Editor of The Oklahoman July 9, 2009 Maynard Institute Reno, Nev. Why the Web Print circulation in decline Web circulation new hope Numbers TK Numbers TK We want people to see our work What we will learn How to drive people to Web stories by writing headlines that use effective search engine optimization (SEO) strategies How to write for online so that people stay with the story Bad headlines Another questionable head The story goes on - and on and on ... Readers on the Web want information quickly And they want it broken up Not like this recent story on NewsOK.com But something more like this story, also from NewsOK.com It’s a new world It’s a sideways world Users don’t browse — they search Traffic also comes from other Web sites 80% of Internet sessions begin with a search engine About 40% of traffic comes from search engines; 50% of that from Google Drudge, Digg, Facebook, Twitter, blogs Visitors come to a story sideways, bypassing the homepage What Google looks for Google crawls, searches for and indexes words in the title bar of homepage, URL, headline and tops of articles Say what? Web heads are often displayed out of context. They need to stand on their own Ask yourself: Can you tell from the headline what the story is about? Avoid puns and clever headlines perfect for print — be straightforward online In print there is context A good headline for print A better headline for Web One more example When the pope died, The New York Times had this headline: ‘Thousands flock to Vatican’ Nobody flocked to the Web page Then, an SEO expert saw it ‘Pope dies’ People slammed the servers Headline rules and regs Start with keywords Such as “Pope dies” First 11 characters, about 60 characters long Use names, not descriptions, in headlines when a famous person is involved “(Oklahoma) Governor Henry,” not just “Gov.” “Michael Jackson,” not just “Pop icon” Michael Jackson or Pop Icon? A few more rules and regs If the person is not a celebrity, use keywords not names “Woman gives birth to eight children” (until the name becomes well-known, then you can use “Nadya Suleman” or even better, “Octomom”) Put company names in headlines More rules and regs Use city names Yes: “Oklahoma City fire kills three” No: “Fire kills three” City names should be used with sports teams Yes: “Oklahoma City Thunder win home opener” No: “Thunder win home opener” For columnists, put names upfront OKC is not a well-known abbreviation outside Oklahoma. “Painter: Tulsa looking for a new hospital” Know your readers Oklahoma: Oil, Sooners, Cowboys, Underwood Helpful tools Finding effective keywords http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com Example: “weather forecaster” used in 9 searches. “Meteorologist” 435 http://google.com/trends Example: No ranking for “weather forecaster” vs. 1 for “meteorologist.” About articles Hard news ledes outperform feature ledes because of front-loaded keywords Who, what, when, where and why — the old inverted pyramid Remember the first reader is likely a Web spider Remember how Google searches: title bar, URL, headline, tops of articles What goes up first, gets picked up first File short and quick, then update Wire service thinking with constant updates Make a new article when there’s enough to merit it Write for the scanner On the Web, it’s even more important to serve the scanner (F-shaped: Nielsen Norman Group, 2006) What makes a good Web story? Good writing is good writing Pages with many references to location, rank higher in search engines But avoid local jargon Don’t change the text just to stick in keywords Don’t use nicknames for locations like “Big Apple” for N.Y., or “Charm City” for Baltimore Disconnect briefs and letters to post them separately so they can be indexed individually What would Google think? Web writing is good writing 10 tips to writing on the Web 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Having a good story always helps Break up long blocks of copy with subheads One thought per paragraph Paraphrase long quotes Avoid listing numbers and stats in the text — make a box instead Web writing (cont.) 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Write for the eye — Not just scanners, but look for some white space and get rid of long blocks of text. Use boxes, timelines and other devices Be obvious Active voice Strong verbs Look at the art while you’re writing — they could be right next to each other online But that’s just good writing? Yes, it is Head games IF IT’S A GROUP FROM DIFFERENT PLACES, PUT EXAMPLES OF THEIR WEB PAGES HERE AND GO THROUGH AND CRITIQUE Other exercises Let’s go to the handouts Summary Front load headlines and text — 11, 60 Think about keywords Control what you can — headlines, subheads, breakout boxes Online readers are scanners, grab their attention and don’t let go SEO sources SEOmoz.org: http://seomoz.org SEOmoz Blog: http://www.seomoz.org/blog Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google & SEO: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/ SEO Browser.com: http://seo-browser.com PPC Blog: http://tools.ppcblog.com/ Wordtracker.com: http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com Google.com/trends: http://google.com/trends Google Webmaster Tools: http://www.google.com/webmasters/ ReelSEO: http://www.reelseo.com/ SEO Egghead: http://www.seoegghead.com/blog/ Search Engine Journal: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/ Search Engine Watch: http://searchenginewatch.com/ Search Engine Watch Blog: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/ John Battelle’s Searchblog: http://battellemedia.com/ SEO Chat: http://www.seochat.com/ SEO Chat’s SEO Tools: http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/ SEO Scoop: http://www.seo-scoop.com/ Natural Search Blog: http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/ Applied SEO: http://www.appliedseo.com/ Mashable – The Social Media Guide: http://mashable.com Micro Persuasion – Steve Rubel: http://www.micropersuasion.com/ Website Analytics Toolbox (great list of tools): http://designm.ag/resources/website-analyticstoolbox/ Compiled by Gil Asakawa Manager of Audience Development, MediaNews Group Interactive [email protected] My sources Outside the obvious in this presentation, the following sources where used: Gil Asakawa, Manager of Audience Development with MediaNewsGroup (June 29, Maynard Institute in Reno, Nev.) Dennis Joyce, an editor of the Data Circle in the newsroom of The Tampa Tribune, News Channel 8 and TBO.com (June, Maynard Institute) Amy Eisman, director of writing programs, School of Communication, American University (June 15, Maynard Institute)