Writing for the Web



This introductory course looks at how people actually read copy online and how you need to prepare, write and edit your copy to meet that reality.

The course is editorial rather than technical in emphasis and will cover the principles and techniques involved in getting text right for an online environment.

You are encouraged to bring in examples of your own work in order to put together your own strategy for writing online copy that works.

Pre-Course Requirements

You need no previous web writing experience to attend our Writing for the Web course.

  • Introduction
    • How visitors read online and how they scan a page
    • The difference between writing for the web and writing offline copy
    • Putting together a strategy for writing web copy that works

    Knowing your users
    • Who uses your website?
    • Developing the right tone of voice on the web

    Style guides
    • Developing and implementing editorial content style guides

    Principles of web writing
    • Techniques to produce targeted, relevant copy
    • Inverted pyramids
    • Using heads and sells in web copy
    • Sentence and paragraph structure
    • Signposting your copy
    • Chunking down copy
    • Self-contained copy units
    • Evergreening online copy
    • Non-linear formats
  • Editorial styles and formats
    • Developing editorial style guides
    • Creating attention-grabbing structures to standardise and simplify your content

    The art of webifying
    • Re-purposing or webifying existing offline copy
    • Practical examples of how to take existing offline copy and turn it into accessible online copy that works

    Language skills
    • Reducing errors and inconsistencies when writing for the web
    • Practical exercises designed to improve your ability to write clear, concise, user-friendly, brand-focused copy
    • Proofreading online copy

    Questions and answers