Writing for the Web and Other Media

Copywriting in the Digital Age Course

(Click here for Tailored Training Writing for the Web and other Media)

This one day Public Writing for the Web Course is for anyone involved in developing or writing for the digital world.

Copywriting in the Digital Age is run by:

Julie Wales and Joe Britto

The course is designed to help you master the challenges of communicating to an audience electronically and provide you with options for making your copy stand out from the crowd.

The overall aim is to help writers build and maintain relationships with unseen (and very possibly, unknown) online readers.

Click here for our Creative Business Writing Course - Effective Report Writing Course - Writing Winning Tenders and Proposals Course - One to One Writing Skills Training

Writing for the Web Course Objectives

*Identify your key messages
*Clarify why you are delivering them
*Address your audience effectively
*Reflect the brand identity of your corporate voice
*Ensure your personal style resonates with your   professional internet writing
*Structure and present your ideas successfully
*Find the appropriate tone for your content
*Achieve real impact with your copy
*Create great first impressions
*Leave constructive lasting impressions
*Understand how to optimise your message

Writing for the Web Course Programme

The course content may include many of the exercises listed below, and any additional material that the trainers feel is relevant to the delegates on the day.


Copywriting in the Digital Age is designed to help you master the challenges of communicating to an audience electronically.
How do you keep this audience reading when at the click of a mouse they could (and will) go somewhere else?
How do you present yourself so that what you offer is compelling, attractive, informative and most of all will make 'them' want more?
How do you make your words 'sing' so that you have your audience – whether external or internal – humming your tune?

What we do know is that there are huge numbers of websites (and intranets) out there. Some are fantastic - eye-catching and beautifully designed, with copy that is easy to read and reflects their organisations to a T. Others (dare we say the vast majority), however, are dull dull dull. Packed with too much information, too busy and most of all badly written.

The Digital Age requires new copywriting skills

So whether it's your task to write copy for the internet or for your company's intranet website - or whether you're charged with producing E newsletters, E-magazines or other marketing materials, brochures or advertising flyers - we'll help you to finesse your skills so that you attract your audience and keep it humming.

Our focus will be on how to achieve the 5 E's:

Engaging
Enticing
Entertaining
Exciting
Eloquent

Writing online for electronic media naturally creates different opportunities and challenges for writers and readers. Perhaps an obvious statement, but also one which seems too easily overlooked, as messages are cut and pasted from one medium to another, as if each was interchangeable for the reader.

Apart from which there are other crucial considerations which can really help your copy to make its mark.

This day will explore those considerations and provide options for making your copy stand out from the crowd.

Brand Game

At the beginning of the day, we will look and discuss the importance and impact of brand identity. Perhaps you have a favourite brand or love the way a brand communicates and can't wait to unravel their latest e-newsletter?

Why do you like it so much and would you like to have a similar effect on your audience? Can you think of a brand that is stuck in its old ways or uses common words and phrases to describe products and services that it offers? Fancy a go at making this more appealing to you and others?

Corporate Voices

Have you experienced a situation where your writing for the web has been overhauled to a familiar monotone to match the resonance of the rest of your brand's website?

Would you like to be able to add your personal individual style but maintain your corporate brand's voice and identity?

Every company has a 'voice' in the way it speaks to its customers/clients (both external and internal). That voice can be based on the company's Values and Vision and what it is trying to achieve.

We look at each person's unique style and what they may have to turn up or down in order to write with their corporate voice.

Compose the Symphony

Rather than just visualising, how would you like to represent your corporate voice through melody, beats and vocals? What does this sound like to you and others around you?

Tuning up

What is your favourite song or band? How could you echo a similar euphoria with your web writing skills?

There are huge numbers of websites and intranets out there that are written for the person doing the internet writing rather than the people doing the reading. What are all the things you need to do, before you start to play your music in real life copywriting scenarios?

Here, we get you to be 'ruthless' to make sure you are communicating for and to others!

How do you know there'll be an audience?

Good optimization, key words, search engines, spiders, link pages and social networking all promote large audiences who are seeking the sort of information you're offering.

You could take a five day course on how to get the best from your website - instead we have a couple of key pointers to help you stay ahead of the pack.

We'll pay Clever Clogs – where key words are cleverly hidden regularly, without compromising your carefully crafted copy.

Engaging Listeners

Do you want to convey feeling or expression? Writing for the Web is clearly about more than conveying information and here we take a good look at the relationships you can build through words and their familiar associations.

What would getting it wrong sound like? What would have to happen? How could you rewrite your symphonies to actually make your audience click off?

Yes there are internet writing aids, Dictionaries, Thesaurus, and Synonym city, visual and aural triggers, but we all get bored with a scratched record. We will explore a variety of usual and unusual ways to help make your copy sing.

First Impressions

First impressions are made in a matter of seconds. Well the same considerations apply when writing online! We look at presentation format, body language, font, colour, spacing, navigation and structure.

Middle 8

How can you avoid being seen as predictable and boring? How can you avoid being just like hundreds of other informative, but pedestrian websites/e-newsletters/corporate brochures? How can you avoid being seen as just more blah blah blah?

So your audience is listening and engaged but how do you truly captivate them? How do you increase the average time spent on reading the page as well as promoting your click through rate? Keep them reading, make an impact, surprise them, sustain their interest and keep it relevant! We will explore the WOW factors available to your web writing.

Lasting Impressions

How do you know they've got it? How will you know they'll come again?

Part of knowing you've been successful lies beyond the first impression, it's the lasting impression made. Will people actually use the material, buy your services, bookmark the site, read the articles?

Documents:

Writing for the Web and other Media

Web card & memory stick

These great 1GB ultra-slim portable memory cards contain all course handout materials. They also provide details of access to our extensive online library of helpful documents.

Writing for the Web and other Media Skills Course

   

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