CEUs: 0.6

Fee: $209 ($169 member)

Watch for upcoming dates.

Web sites are rapidly replacing other sources of information for both internal and external customers.  Today  people go to the Web to get information and to get it fast. To ensure this speed, you'll need to use a format and skills that are different from those you'd use for printed material. 

In this full-day session, you'll learn and apply the critical skills that will help you generate effective, user-friendly, and on-target copy for the Web.

Length:  One 8-hour session

Instructor:  McDonald

Who should attend: Anyone responsible for creating, writing, contributing to, managing or editing business Web sites, including  writers, editors, Web designers, and information designers for intranet or internet content.

Benefits:

• Confidence in your ability to give online readers what they want.

• Professional, well-organized Web pages.

• A clear, unified Web presence.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this program, you will be able to:

• Explain how effective listening and interviewing skills relate to effective writing.

• Explain the critical difference between paper and online content presentation.

• Define the audience for your Web site/Web article.

• Create a goal for your Web site/Web article.

• Focus an article for your audience.

• Make effective use of headlines and links in full-length articles.

• Effectively sequence a Web article.

• Use headlines, subheadlines, and bulleted lists as navigational tools.

• Use headlines and subheadlines to write better articles.

• "Repurpose" a print document for the Web.

Program Outline:

I.          Listening, interviewing, and effective writing

            A.         Overview

            B.         Exercise: Listening for key points

II.          The difference between the Web and printed material

            A.         Advantages and disadvantages of each

            B.         How the differences impact use

III.         Two must-ask questions before writing a Web article

IV.        Essential techniques for insuring online readability

            A.         Jargon:  A search and destroy mission

            B.         Summaries

            C.         The inverted pyramid

                        Exercise: Narrative to pyramid

            D.         Headlines and Subheads

                        Exercise:  Adding headlines and subheadlines

            E.         Bulleted lists

            F.         Using headlines and subheads to edit and organize your writing

                        Exercise: Test an article for organization and other issues

            G.         Re-casting from print to Web

                        Exercise: Convert a print article to a Web article

IX.         Review and action planning