Whetever the form, effective writing on the web is about clear communication in a style suited to the needs of page visitors, as opposed to those who would be reading something in print. Sure, this applies to blogging, but it also pertains to techincal writing (such as in download or application use directions), page content, even the mundane stuff like link titles. Whenever the written word is used on a page, it should be done so as the result of a strategy of effective online communication.

As Gerry McGovern points out:

What makes the Web the Web is the fact that it is linked. When you go to great websites, such as Amazon.com, you find yourself in an environment that is rich in links that help you quickly gather the information you need, and then act on that information. Unfortunately, far too many websites are still being used to store print content. This means that they are much less effective.

Think about it. When was the last time you picked up a newspaper and read every story on the front page? When was the last time you read everything on the homepage of amazon.com? People use different informational media in different ways, usually to accomplish different things.

That's why even the most mundane pieces of text on a web page are important. It's so easy to click away that it's downright unrealistic to expect even tight, high-impact prose to hold a reader whose surfing habits exclude digesting long paragraphs.

Take, for example, the homepage of Orange County, California's Bristol Park Medical Group. Aesthetically, it's a very well-done website. Most of the page is taken up by a feature-length article about a heart transplant saving the life of one of the group's physicians' daughters.

Why do you, dear surfer, go to your HMO's home page? To quickly clear up some annoying problem? find out where to send the check? Find an appropriate doctor? As heart-warming as that story is, who's reading it?

My solution- use a business blog. Lead with a quote from the story, then, in the link, let the reader know they're going to a blog. This will shift an interested person from scan mode to read mode, and save a helluva lot of space for design and text elements that aid ease of use for customers.

Like it or not, people are going to use the business side of the web as a convenience tool. Any writing that doesn't directly relate to solving their immediate problem will wind up as wasted work. Fortunately, as Mr. McGovern explains, the web is about links, and they are ultimately the tools to get people in the mindset to read more deeply.

Blogs generate bucks for old media.

Meg Hourihan demonstrates yet another way that blogs are being used as revenue generators, not for the individual blogger, but for companies. This piece was written in 2002, and many things she predicts within the post have indeed come to pass, most notably in the hallowed halls of old print media.

My hometown paper, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, hosts numerous blogs by staff and community members on its website. Whereas real estate on the printed page is at a premium, digital content can be limitless in quantity. So we get a more personal, opinion-driven look at local sports teams, social issues, and the state of the world, complete with tons of feedback from the community.

Newspapers have to do this sort of thing to slow their increasing irrelevance. Blogs, and the style of writing they use, do a better job of reaching the internet generation than "old fashioned oratory." Plus, their content and tone can be modified constantly, as needed. They bring readers and generate increasingly large amounts of ad revenue.

Another interesting thing about old fashioned media using the blog is the legitimacy it lends to the medium. It's hard for media critics to dismiss the blog as a vehicle of amateur hacks when some of the most respected journalists in the country keep them.

Bloggers and book deals

As I've learned through the reading for this class, the first bloggers were often cyber-celebrities. They were hard-code connoisseurs of the Internet, and attracted large followings, media attention, and geek cred through their efforts.

The second wave of blogging, facilitated by content management systems (such as blogspot and livejournal) opened up the digital journal to noncoders, essentially flooding the internet with personal diaries and all sorts of niche stuff. Of course, it also opened the doors for plenty of people with a voice, vision, and point of view, but the sheer size of the blogging population made it difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Not that there's anything wrong with using your blog as a personal diary. I mean, the motivation to even blog at all had been deeply personal, right? It's not like bloggers were getting paid or anything...

Except, now, they are. Publishing companies have turned on to the blogosphere. They're finding smart, funny writers immmersed in the daily grind of life that already have a following, and they're offering book deals.

Waiter Rant is one of the most prominent of these blue collar workers cum authors. The Waiter simply wrote a blog about the ups and downs (mostly downs) of serving food in a New York City restaurant, and now he's finishing a book, advance in hand. Granted he's a fantastic writer with the brains to wait until he has something to say before flagellating his keyboard, but his subject matter touched a nerve, and the man has huge readership. What a fantastic way to show a potential publisher ROI: just track the visit stats.

Club Life, an angry blog by a nightclub bouncer, also exemplifies this phenomenon. Between bouts of rage at nightclub customers, pontification on world events, and advice on writing and fitness training, The Bouncer expresses bewilderment that a little nobody like himself could find his calling and a success he'd never imagined just by working on the craft of writing and having an interesting point of view.

My prediction: The handful of blog-driven book deals will touch off a wave of hopefuls trying to have the next wry, unique perspective and catchy turn of phrase. A lot of this is going to be crap, but the good stuff will be really good. Bloggers, ride that wave. I'll certainly be reading.

Good webwriting gets an "F?"

This study by the Neilsen Norman group tracks the eye movements of web content readers. The findings point to an "F" pattern of readership, as opposed to the print page's "Z" pattern of the eye flowing from left to right, then diagonally down the page..


"F" pattern of skimming web content

This is interesting, because it shows a difference in the perception of written information based upon the medium through which it is presented. One of the principal challenges with using the Web as a tool for communication is the difficulty of transmitting your specific message amid a near-infinite torrent of information. In solving this problem, readability is a vital component.

This might seem purely a design/layout problem, but in the world of the Web, the writer and designer are frequently the same person. Also, a writer can select word length and content organization structures that lend themselves to this type of layout.

A road map?

Google the phrase "improving your blog" and you'll find there's plenty of material available on the why of web writing, but precious little on the how. While lots of journalists and communication specialists pontificate on the purpose, place, and theory of blogging, articles that actually describe how to improve one's writing for the digital medium are relatively rare.

Dennis Mahoney's piece on how to write a better weblog is the sort of thing we need more of. Not only does the article discuss the techniques of writing, but also thematic and contextual issues. He pretty much starts the aspiring blogger down the trail with this quote:

The web is a tremendous hodgepodge of media. There are sites about books, sites about music, and sites about sites. Plenty of weblogs center on consuming and critiquing other people’s work, and all this recycling and redistribution has its place—a very important place that we’ll make note of later on. But why not make something new? Instead of linking to a few articles every day, write one. Instead of showcasing and discussing the latest designs, design something. You’ve got this absolutely batty opportunity of instant global publishing. Publish! The world is your oyster!

Of course, the only surefire way to improve one's writing is to write, but a lot of capable people are hampered by a lack of focus or specific thematic ideas. Articles like this fill a necessary role. After all, that's why we have English classes, right?

It's the access, stupid

The hot topic since the advent of blogging has been where this recent form of self-publishing fits in along the journalistic continuum. In 1999, J.D. Lasica talked to some dedicated and well connected bloggers with actual backgrounds in journalism and tech, and posted their takes on the issue.

Paul Andrews, former tech columnist for the Seattle Times, was full of optimism that blogs would allow an outlet for the voice of the people, allowing a raw form of data to bypass the filters of editorial style and bias. He cites the Seattle and Quebec WTO protests, pointing out a misrepresentation or ignorance by the mainstream media of the protesters' opinions and methods.

Indeed, one of mainstream media's greatest tools is omission: the power to isolate and ignore. In a way, blogs nullify this ability. It's hard to only include in a story that which supports the lead when a hundred blogs are linking together and saying "that's not what really happened." And indeed many bloggers assume the role of "watchdog of the press" today.

In the same piece, Deborah Branscum, a Newsweek contributing editor, waxed rhapsodic about the immediacy and lack of demography of online publishing, but she remains reserved about the displacement of traditional media by the blog, mostly due to the fact that (at least in 1999), bloggers are unpaid, so reporters, needing to eat and house themselves, would continue to do their best work for paying publications.

I think there's a key point that wasn't addressed in these early pieces: access. The best journalism is based in facts and first-person accounts. Reporters credentialed by newspapers, news weeklies and broadcast media outlets are able to obtain access to these accounts. Just try and get into the White House press room as a blogger.

So the big boys get access to the big players, while citizen journalists are forced to watch from the sidelines. For the forseeable future, this is what will separate bloggers from reporters, and commentary from news on the Web.