It has been apparent for some time that effective writing has become an absolutely core competency when communicating online. We’ve moved away from the pseudo-words beloved of text messaging and are now at a stage where true wordcraft is vital to communication.

Not just any writing, however. Different media require different approaches. The headline that might have looked wonderful in the newspaper probably won’t fit within the constraints of Facebook or Instagram character counts.

And the few seconds that represent the average time-on-site for typical web browsers means that we simply don’t have the luxury of indulging in long paragraphs.

Yes, writing for the web requires a whole different approach — and you can either learn that the hard way, by discovering it for yourself, or learn from us.

A couple of years ago, in response to this need, we developed a popular half day workshop to take marketers through the requirements of writing for the web.

Now, in response to demand from New Zealand businesses, we have repurposed that workshop as a full-blown online training course, complete with content that’s been refreshed and updated to reflect today’s needs.

Writing for the Web – online training course

Here’s what the course covers:

Introduction

Why writing for the web requires different approaches to writing for traditional media (and how this course takes you through the key elements you need to know).

Lesson One: Understanding the Essentials

1. WHO
Who are You Writing To? Before you create a single sentence, you need to understand your target consumers — otherwise your words may be wasted.

In this part of Lesson One, we cover:

• Profiling your ideal customers
• Determining their motivations and attitudes
• Reviewing their media habits
• Understanding their preferred communications formats
• Determining their needs & wants
• Identifying their concerns, goals & challenges
• Shaping your solutions accordingly

2. WHAT
What are you writing about? Take a closer look at your self and your organisation, so that your communications reflect exactly who you are. We review:

• Understanding your brand personality
• Staying true to your brand values
• The importance of authenticity and credibility

3. WHERE
Where should you promote your products and services? Not all digital media are alike. For every Trade Me that has more than 700,000 visitors a day, there are a million websites that have 1 visitor or less. Don’t waste your time putting your content where no-one will see it. Instead, take a look at this section of the course, where we discuss:

• Selecting the most appropriate digital media vehicles
• Reviewing the performance of your own digital assets
• Evaluating traditional media website offerings
• Determining the most appropriate social media options

4. WHEN
When are consumers most likely to be exposed to your messages? With consumers bombarded by messages all day every day, you need to know exactly when your followers are online and most likely to see what you’ve written.

In this section, we show you:

• What you should know about your email open rates, by day and by time
• How to identify when your Facebook followers are online
• How to determine the most appropriate times to use messaging apps

5. HOW
What format(s) should you use for your messages? Not every format is equally popular. We explore which formats are right for your followers, and identify:

• Average shares by content type
• The most popular content formats
• the importance of pictures
• The runaway popularity of video

Lesson Two: The Content Formula

What should you talk about online? Too many organisations are too busy talking about themselves to even notice that their followers just aren’t bothering with them anymore.

In Lesson Two, we share:

• The content sweet spot
• The seven attributes of effective content
• Google’s Zero Moment of Truth formula and why it matters to marketers
• The new importance of listening
• Seven consumer comment types and what they mean

Lesson Three: Keywords & SEO

How can you make your writing insanely popular? The answer, as you’ve probably guessed from the title of this lesson, is Keywords.

But not just any keywords. There’s an Art and a Science to effective keyword usage, and in Lesson Three, we’re going to tell you:

• What you need to know about keyword search patterns
• The importance of longtail keywords
• The hotlist of buyer keywords
• The essential knowledge that you can learn from the Google Keywords Planner
• Best practices for optimising your content for search engines
• Headline length, keyword density, using alternative wording and other key strategies to get noticed by Google

Lesson Four: Consumer Psychology

A good working knowledge of psychology — and in particular of the relevant human characteristics that can enhance your communications — will stand you in very good stead when it comes to writing for the web.

In this lesson, we are going to take a look at some key psychological insights and triggers that will help you to write more effective content, including:

• Understanding ELMR, which stands for Emotion, Logic, Motivation and Reward
• Professor Cialdini’s Theory of Influence and how you can use its six key elements in your marketing messages
• Why People Buy (and the implications for your copy)
• 13 Key Psychological Triggers which you should consider using

Lesson Five: Seducing Your Digital Visitors

How can you best lure visitors to your content? In this Lesson, we discuss the gentle practice of luring interested prospects to you, which involves:

• Crafting an effective description
• Teasing your story
• Capturing the essence of your offering
• Placing keyword phrases as effectively as possible
• Avoiding duplication
• Developing unique descriptions
• Using SEO plug-ins

Lesson Six: Sharing

How can you get people to share your content?

In this lesson we explore the types of content that people love — and love to share. You’ll learn about:

• Why people share
• The 20 types of sharing styles that are most effective in social media
• Finding and using hash tags effectively
• How you can help your content travel

Lesson Seven: Content Structure

How can you best plan out your content so that you don’t end up staring at a blank page and wondering what to write about?

In Lesson Seven, we cover:

• How to create an effective content calendar
• Optimal sizes and word lengths, by medium
• Most popular lengths for blog & social media posts
• What you need to know about email subject lines

Lesson Eight: Online Advertising

What should you know about online advertising now that it’s become New Zealand’s most popular advertising medium?

All these and more:

• How to create an effective AdWords advertisement
• The secrets of dynamic ads
• What you need to know about Facebook advertising
• All about Pinterest Promoted Pins
• Video advertising explored and explained

Lesson Nine: Content Curation

Much of your online activity can, and often should, involve sharing other people’s content. So how do you find and share that content?

In Lesson Nine, we reveal:

• Curation tools you can use
• Where to find trending topics
• How best to share

Epilogue

We close with a warning, as we reveal the seven deadly sins of writing for the web.

————————

WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM THIS COURSE?
Every organisation and every person who needs to prepare online content, whether for your website, for your blog, for social media or for video.

————————

WHAT CUSTOMERS ARE SAYING ABOUT OUR COURSES

Here’s a sampling of the feedback we’ve received from those who’ve taken our courses:

• Thanks for an informative and interesting [Facebook Accelerator] course. Your presentation held a good balance of theoretical and practical information and was clear and simple enough for a non IT Facebook novice like me to follow. There are many ideas that I have gained that I will attempt to incorporate in the overall marketing plan my team is currently developing for our brand. Facebook can offer so much more than I thought as a medium for communicating with our current and prospective customers. Julie D

• I found this course fantastic, i started off knowing very little about facebook (just how to run my own personal page) to now having a thorough understanding of ALL the things you can (and there is a lot). The course format was great and allowed knowledge to be built up over time. Course length was great and this will definetly be something i come back to constantly as we develop our facebook pages more within my company. Aleisha H

• I have really enjoyed the course and the way it was structured. It was informative and interesting – liked the way you incorporated slide-shows, video, statistics and different forms of media to provide information. Lisa C

————————

TIMING

This course begins on Wednesday 08 May, 2024.

————————

INVESTMENT

This nine-part online training course is available for $597. However we offer an EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT of $100 — pay just $497 for bookings received by the end of Wednesday 01 May, 2024.

Bookings are confirmed on receipt of payment, which can be by bank deposit or credit card. We can raise an invoice in advance if you need it.

To reserve your place in this course, please pay by credit card through PayPal by clicking here.

If you would prefer to pay by bank deposit, or require an invoice, please send an email to [email protected] with your requirements.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

You’ll receive our emailed confirmation of your booking. Then on the first day of the course we’ll follow up with details of your Login and Password, along with an Enrolment Key for the Writing for the Web online training course.