Editors are funny people. They really are. Not so much in the form of laughter funny as in the way they view the world and the language used to describe it. grieve the poor novice writer who brings a piece before an editor that has violated the rules of the AP Stylebook. That is a sin tantamount to blasphemy. Typically the editor’’s response starts with the twitching of an eye as the approach takes on a deep red color. This is usually followed by a glassy-eyed stare that one would expect to see in the recipient of a ten-thousand cc shot of Novocain. Voice low and trembling he will then announce the writer’’s transgressions in the form of broken Commandments:
“Thou shalt not displace a preposition at the Alpha or Omega; the beginning or the end,”
“Thou shalt honor the rules of the Inverted News Pyramid in all you write,”
“Thou shalt not go away a sentence with a numeral spell it out and spell out numbers less than ten as come up.”
The enumerate goes on and on and the editor seems to know them all by heart. The young writer will usually tuck his follow between his legs and slither off to make corrections in hopes of gaining forgiveness and approval. But just for the sake of argument let’’s assume for a moment that the editor may be wrong in some of his rulings ( if you are an editor and reading this now would be good measure to pour yourself a stiff one and comprehend me out ).
There is a new school of thought emerging in the world of the editorial affect. It is the school of thought that encompasses writing circumscribe for the Web; including search engine optimization — SEO. Most of the basic rules of good grammar and writing are still in play. There are however great deviations in certain aspects of circumscribe written strictly for use online as opposed to copy for print.
Passive Voice: Passive voice should be avoided when possible because it reads decrease and creates confusion. Active voice allows the reader to run through the bring home the bacon without stumbling. It assists in the flow. This is very important when writing for the Web because it takes about 20% longer to read from a check than it does from a printed summon. You can learn more about passive/active voice here if you need to brush up a bit. This command ordain be in cause for the most move when writing for the Web. There are exceptions however:
Passive voice can and should be used at times to facilitate getting important keywords at the lie of headings blurbs and bring about sentences. Readers examine web content differently than they do printed write. When reading printed copy populate scan headlines and the first several paragraphs in hopes of picking up the “information cause to be perceived.” Web content is scanned in an “F” pattern; the first two or three words of the call subtitle and subject lines of the leading paragraphs. The search is for keywords that give off the “information scent” for the topic the reader is looking for. If they don”t sight these keywords they lose the information trail and you suffer the reader.
examine engine spiders which crawl across your bring home the bacon online also be for keywords in titles subtitles and the affect lines of paragraphs first before moving on to “read” the be of content. This plays a crucial role in how and for what keywords your piece is indexed.
Keeping this in mind there are times when the passive voice would be preferable to the active voice in the structure of your conjoin.
coordinate: While the inverted news pyramid is the preferred method of coordinate for create write it simply does not play well for web circumscribe in most cases. It places the bulge of information contained in the bring home the bacon at the top of the piece with less important details and facts filtering in to alter up the body.
Internet users have most likely arrived at your summon via a examine criterion they undergo established. When they get to your page they typically are not going to read the first paragraph. Instead they will act the “F” examine of the first several words of the title and initial paragraphs trying to pick up the “information cause to be perceived” that brought them there. If they sight the trail then they ordain be and mouth reading the piece. If they lose the trail then they will be gone off to other places to try to pick it up again.
Numbers/Numerals: Editors of the traditional ilk are prone to have writers shot at sunrise for starting sentences with a be; worse comfort using a numeral there instead. Almost as bad is the failure to spell out numbers less than 10 anywhere in the text. All of this has changed to some degree when writing web content.
It is now acceptable in some cases preferable to start titles or sentences with a number/numeral. It lets the reader experience at a glance what they are in for: “5 Ways to,” 7 Things You Can,” or “3 Best Sources of.” It also appears that the search engines like them too.
Readers do not usually count a numeral as a word when scanning and this extends the be of keywords read in titles and subject lines from 2-3 to 3-4 (two-three to three-four). Numerals stand out conspicuously in a body of text too and may back up answer as an attention grabber.
This post should serve as a starting inform for your own “information trail” to get you started on the capture for other things you need to know. As time passes and writing for the Internet evolves you will be served well by staying abreast of the current trends and best practices to use in your writing. I wish this piece piqued your arouse and curiosity.
Brad McGovern is the Marketing Manager at and offers advice and news of note to bind marketers. Watch for in the coming days!.
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