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)
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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 Eye
 YES: 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 do
Help me do something
Deliver on your promises
Get out of my way
Source: Brain Traffic 2009
 Usable:
Educate me quickly
prompt me in context
get out of my way
Source: Brain Traffic 2009
 Enjoyable:
Be personable
Reward me
Entertain me
Make 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 Cities
After: 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.