Writing and Editing for the Web

What We Do

Have a strategy first, what’s yours? Build affinity audiences in our core silos To be the “best of the Twin Cities” to

an affluent, younger, female audience who are deeply engaged in local dining, shopping, homes, health, events

NOT a magazine archive; daily lifestyle content producer

Aggregator and partner

7 Newsletters (push) 7 Blogs update daily (community, POV) 1-2 videos a week (multimedia) 2 Party Patrols a week

(community/multimedia) 2-3 Contests + Sweeps/mos.

(engagement/lead gen) Web Extras and mag tie-ins: quizzes, polls,

videos, interactive maps, slideshows, etc. (engagement/mag-web integration)

Magazine content from MSP, weddings, shops, law (content)

Events ongoing all year long (promotions/conversions)

How We Do It

Key findings from Poynter Institute study on how readers read online. (http://eyetrack.poynter.org)

Reading Depth: Participants read deep into stories (including jump text) in print and online, although reading decreased as story length increased.

Information Recall: Alternative story forms (including Q&As, timelines, lists and fact boxes) helped readers remember facts presented to them in a test of six different prototype designs of one story.

Reading Sequences: The contrast between print and online points of entry is especially stark. Headlines and photos were the first visual stop for print readers; navigation was the first stop for online readers.

Your story is a package, not just text.

Less is more. Bullets, small paragraphs, etc. are

preferred.

HEDS/DEKS need to be straightforward.NO: Apple of Your EyeYES: Health Value: Apples

Link within text (choose phrases), but do not say “click here.”

Remember SEO (search engine optimization) when linking.

Style, style, style.

Taking a long feature and breaking it into multiple articles is one way to make content more digestible for the user. What is highlighted in red is the part of the feature that we used for our first story on arts in Detroit.

Getting writers and editors involved at story conception is a priority.

In this case, I was able to sit in on the original conception meeting, and we discussed both how the story would work in print and online. As a result, not much work had to be done to get the material ready for the web.

When you have a feature that contains great photos, create a slideshow.

Creates interactivity with the user Formatting generally tends to be

easier than embedding a photo within the text.

For this story, we used the text as the captions for the slideshow. Depending on the content management system you are using and your expertise, however, you can create a separate story and slideshow that are connect to each other.

Here we have created a link right under the feature photo for “View Slideshow.”

Useful:Know what I want and show me you doHelp me do somethingDeliver on your promisesGet out of my way

Source: Brain Traffic 2009

Usable: Educate me quicklyprompt me in contextget out of my way

Source: Brain Traffic 2009

Enjoyable:Be personableReward meEntertain meMake my life easier right now

Source: Brain Traffic 2009

Use voice and target content to your core audience

Magazine titles don’t always translate to web

Before: Award-Winning Twin CitiesAfter: The New West End Development

Restaurants

Push content to audience Your audience is at deeper level of

engagement because they’ve opted in

Balance e-news exclusive content in tandem with links pushing back to mspmag.com

Scannable, use BEHAVIOR to tweak content

Action and benefit oriented

“Your May Issue of Delta Sky is Here”“VIP: Very Important May Parties”“Swag | Get Ready for Mother’s Day +

Start Seeing Swimsuits”

mspmag.com blogs brand editors

Popular content on mspmag: fresh, frequent, voice, community, web-only

High-profile personalities and provocative topics get more traffic and comments

For all the Type-As out there: schedules and manuals 

Creating these is pertinent to the maintenance and user-friendliness of your site.