Sheldon Nesdale offers five useful tips to help newcomers to web writing.

Nesdale is a marketing consultant. So his approach to web writing differs from mine.

When I wrote  Writing for the web in 300 words I called on the lessons I first learnt as a newspaper journalist almost 30 years ago.

Nesdale's How to write for the web attacks the same subject from a marketing and sales point of view.

The two approaches overlap. We both prefer snappy, well signposted text. We both pay attention to the way words are organised on a page.

There's only one piece of Nesdale's advice I disagree with. And then only partly. He starts by telling readers to write long descriptive headlines to help skimmers find their way to the story.

I say skilled writers should do the same job with tight, smartly written headlines.

If you're not a skilled writer, then by all means use those  long descriptive headlines. But think how you can compact the same meaning into fewer words.

Feeding a news story to a journalist is an effective way of getting publicity. But you need to be careful.

Journalists have an ethical code. They are not for sale.

Many people mistakenly think applying commercial pressure influences the way journalists approach stories. For example, by saying you'll advertise in their title.

This can work with some journalists in certain circumstances. Most of the time threats or promises do more harm than good.

At best you will insult them or offend their professional pride.

At worst they'll decide not to risk touching your story in case they are tainted. Or they may underline their independence and cover your story with a more hostile approach.

Even if they bite, they may not see the story the same way as you.

Remember, their loyalty is to their readers. Journalists don't see helping your sales as part of their job.

This sounds confusing – media companies sell advertising so you might think journalists would jump at the chance of boosting sales. They like advertising, but they won't trade their integrity.

Journalists have a long term view. They know readers have more respect for titles with a strong ethical code. This translates to commercial success.

Respected titles have more readers, so they sell more advertising. They also get a better class of reader, which means a better class of customer for advertisers. Research shows advertising is more effective in credible titles.

A blog post, article, or whatever else you call your copy, is what a journalist calls a story. Here's how to write one.

You start a story by telling the reader what it is about. You do this briefly in the headline. Then again in the introduction or intro, which is really a stop press paragraph.

Ask yourself:

• what is this story about,
• what information am I trying to get across and
• what points must I make to do this?

Sum up the story in your mind in one simple sentence. This is your intro.

Its purpose is to tell the reader what the article is about and draw the reader in. As a rule, readers prefer brief intros.

Write so a reader who only samples your intro still has a basic grasp of your story.

Newspapers teach journalists — on both tabloid and quality papers —  to start with a single sentence of between 15 and 21 words. This is what you should strive for, although at times you'll need to use more words.

As an aside, proper nouns made up of multiple words only count as a single word when you're calculating the ideal intro length.

Your first paragraph can be one sentence or three but keep it short and crisp.

Next comes the how — how did it happen or, more usually in your case, what happens next?

This is background information or explanation.

After the explanation comes amplification. You amplify the point or points following on from the intro.

Make these points one by one and in descending order of importance.

Last, after making all the main points, tie up any loose ends — ie., add any extra or background information deemed necessary but of lesser importance.

Sitting in front of me as I write are six paper notebooks. They undermine my paperless journalist goal.

Four are A4 size, two are old-school reporter notebooks. One A4 notebook is open and I've an array of pens to hand – I've left a few messages this morning and am waiting for various call backs on stories I'm writing. There are many more used notebooks packed away in boxes.

I've made huge strides in the past two weeks reducing the amount of paper in my life – cutting the notebooks looks harder.

There are reasons

1. A journalist's notebook is a legal record of interviews, conversations and so on. If something goes badly wrong and I find myself on the wrong end of a defamation action, my notebook could be valuable evidence. In the past I've been told to keep old notebooks for seven years – many journalists keep them for longer.
2. Notebooks are valuable. I write quotes, dates, times, phone numbers, web and email addresses as I go. There have been many times when I've gone back to a notebook and found a missing piece of information.
3. It's physically hard to scan notebooks – I mainly use ring-bound ones.
4. My handwriting is not easy to read, I use self-taught shorthand. It's even harder to read scans of this material.
5. There's far too much to scan anyway.

Years ago I though my Apple Newton MessagePad might solve this problem, but it was too slow and clunky. My Palm TX was also a useless substitute and the old style tablet PCs couldn't hand the job either. I did see something called a 'chording keyboard' which looked useful, but in practice it was too flawed.

I'm interested in hearing how other journalists have dealt with this problem.

Craig McGill's tips telling bloggers how to get the most out of public relations people is an eye-opener. I'm a journalist with 30-odd years experience, so from my point of view most the 15 tips on offer here veer between being bleeding obvious at one extreme and  a heartfelt plea on behalf of an industry needing to deal with inexperienced, paranoid nincompoops at the other.

After reading it I felt sorry for the PR people – which isn't something you'd expect from a journalist.

Nevertheless, if you're rubbing up against paid flacks for the first time, there's some useful advice. I particularly like item 6:

The PR person may be a tech-wizard and be an online guru but if their client doesn't like online and doesn’t want to engage online, don't blame the PR person. The PR person is very much in the middle a lot of the time.

If you're on the other side of the fence, there's also 15 Tips for PRs dealing with bloggers

15 Tips for bloggers dealing with PRs | Contently Managed.

See also:Ten tips to ensure your press release fails

IBM Business Partner Awards
	Recognising the outstanding achievements of IBM Business Partners and IT resellers for their most innovative customer success stories. More details.
RCN
	Albany-based RCN takes unwanted computers and electronic equipment and either recycles the devices or disposes of them in an environmentally sensitive manner. More details.
New Zealand Reseller News
	Former editor and associate publisher of the top independent newspaper for people at the sharp end of the computer business. Visit the Reseller News web site.
Smales Farm Technology Office Park
	The best place to do business on Auckland’s North Shore, Smales Farm is an environmentaly sustainable office park designed for technology and business tenants. More details.
Sydney Morning Herald
	More than a decade’s worth of contributions including writing a weekly small business technology column, higher education, careers and entreprenurial stories.
Australian Financial Review
	Contributed features on a regular basis to the Australian Financial Review, writing covered many aspects of business and technology.
PC World Gear Guide
	Wrote a number of chapters in PC World’s special publication focusing on consumer electronics and home computing.
Windows XP magazine
	The Australian edition of Windows XP magazine has a distinctive style. Bill Bennett wrote a number of “how to” stories for relatively inexperienced computer users.
Australian Personal Computer
	Feature writing for Australia’s leading personal computer magazine.

You can read some of my stories in my clippings file.

My name  Bill Bennett. I'm a freelance writer.

I've worked as a journalist, a writer, as an editor and a publisher. Now I'm available to help you get your message to your audience.

I can improve your communications and;

* Raise your company’s profile,
* Increase sales,
* Project a better image,
* Increase your influence and
* Help you steal a march on your rivals.

Free consultation

For a free, no-obligation consultation call me, Bill Bennett on +64 9 418 2445 or email bill@billbennett.co.nz.

I'm based in Auckland, New Zealand, but I have freelance writing clients in Australia and internationally.

What can a freelance writer do for you?

I know how to grab people’s attention and communicate messages. You can apply my writing skills to your:

* Websites — writing snappy copy that quickly turns visitors into customers and clicks
* Newsletters — driving traffic to your web site
* Advertising — using words to sell
* Brochures — developing tempting offers
* Case studies — showing customers how it is done
* Press releases — getting the word out to a wider audience
* Presentations — keeping audiences engaged and avoiding ‘death by Powerpoint’
* Reports — making convincing arguments

find out more:

There's a short biography, a portfolio and examples of my writing. I've also written a page of writing tips.

cforms contact form by delicious:days