Comments on: Three Differences in Writing for the Web vs. Print

By: Bob McClain

Bob McClain — Thu, 29 May 2008 23:44:25 +0000

Char, you hit the nail directly on the head. As a copywriter who specializes in writing copy for the Web, i run into these difficulties with almost every website I work on. in fact, I became an expert on search engine optimization for the reason that I kept running into conflict with SEO experts. At least this way, I can resolve the conflict based on what’s more important for the client rather than just always arguing for “pretty” writing.

I actually wrote an ebook on writing for the web (that I finished but haven’t put up on my website yet) and I have an ecourse on web copywriting and SEO combined. You can find out more at WordsmithBob.com. Just click on the link to Do-it-yourself eCourses.

By: Maryam

Maryam — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:35:59 +0000

writing for the web is more immediate, but you can’t beat the feel of a magazine piece. I love the freedom of writing for the internet but sometimes writing can be undervalued,esp. when there a lot of ” quantity vs.quality” web content jobs which care less about what you write, it is just sort of robotic and cold. Hopefully if you steer clear of this you can feel better about it.

By: Erika

Erika — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:27:03 +0000

Great post. Spot on. It can be hard sometimes for writers who write both Web content and print content to flip the switch so to speak. Great reminder for those of us who do, and great primer for those who want to become freelance writers and need to know the differences. Although, I will agree with Phil, that even with the printed word, editorial and design challenges can create other issues.

By: Char

Char — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:13:00 +0000

Thanks for the kind words and continuing this discussion in the comments.

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:36:34 +0000

I think the point is that when you’re writing for the web it’s tempting to try to control exactly how something looks. People often spend hours and hours making sure that line one ends with such and such a word. That the font is exact x points large. That the photo appears in the top left corner, etc.

But that they shouldn’t, because you never know what the page is going to look like on someone else’s computer screen that has different settings.

With a print article, at least SOMEONE has a final say in what it looks like, and it will look the same for everyone that buys that publication.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:46:33 +0000

I have to disagree on one point — you mention for print that the final product can be controlled. True enough, but not necessarily controlled by the writer. Editor, computer layout people, and other “gremlins” sometimes cut last lines off articles, make mistakes in edits, etc.

By: Abby

Abby — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:49:07 +0000

Great article.

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:59:29 +0000

I’ve worked on a little bit of web design and I admit it’s very frustrating giving up some degree of control over how your words will appear on someone’s screen.

You really can never know what it’ll look like on somebody else’s computer/hand-held device.

But I imagine in many cases that’s not something the average freelancer deals with unless you self-publish, since most people just submit content to someone else, or they post on a page that has already been formatted by a programmer.

By: Essential Links for 5-15-08

Essential Links for 5-15-08 — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:46:33 +0000

[...] Deb at Freelance Writing Jobs asked if I would give her a guest post this month. Since her site is about writing and mine is about design, I wrote about a few of the differences in for writing for the web vs. writing for print. [...]

By: Rhonda

Rhonda — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:38:44 +0000

Good article about the differences. One similarity of the two(for me anyway): seeing my writing and byline in both print and online for the first time was exciting!

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:38:13 +0000

Excellent post and spot on!

I have noticed that there are slight similarities in SEO writing and advertising in as far as keyword density and keyword placement.