Writing for the web can really boost your exposure, and web markets are a great way to share key information in your areas of expertise while adding to your clips. Web articles are fairly simple to write and require a similar approach to articles for standard market. However, there are also key differences you need to know to maximize your web writing effectiveness.

1) Write to a web audience. The audience for web articles is different than for print. The average web reader is surfing, not reading. He scans quickly while scrolling down the page. He wants to know immediately if he should surf on, skim your article, or print it out to read on the bus. Carefully order your article so it immediately grabs attention, and keep your paragraphs short by getting to the point quickly. Think of evening news flashes, which use soundbytes to grab your attention before leading you to the meat of the subject.

2) Write for the top one-third (of the page). Your audience may start out with surfers, so you need to grab their attention right away. Critical information should appear in the portion of the article that the average reader will immediately see on her monitor, If you can hook the reader with a catchy title and sensibly organized and punchy content in 250 words, you have a good chance she will scroll further down or click the arrow to the next page. Also, think carefully about your title; it should tell your reader exactly what she will be getting.

3) Identify your target audience, and make it obvious that your article is for those individuals. For instance, this article is for writers. Specifically, it’s for writers who want to write for the web, so those readers will stick around to see what I offer. However, because the title mentions “writing”, any writer will be curious. Also, since it mentions “effective”, anyone who markets on the web might want to look. Therefore, I’ve directed this article to a specific, then general, then auxiliary audience. You should do that too; think of your priority reader, secondary probabilities, and auxiliary possibilities. The write your article to appeal on several levels.

4) Develop a simple layout. Many writers want to lead to a punchline, but in a web article, don’t. Give main points along the way so the reader can see where you are headed. Consider web articles as a version of a how-to article, in which you tell readers how to learn or do something specific. Lead your reader through a step-by-step process, like ‘easy web writing tips,’ or ‘how to market yourself on the web.’ Briefly introduce the issue and why the reader needs your solutions. Then, give several solutions, with 4-8 being optimal. The key for how-to and web articles is to be concise and informative while urging the reader to take some action, even if that action is to keep reading.

5) Prepare attachments/sidebars. Often, you may have lots of information in an article, but you can’t easily include it in your text or you’ll scare off busy readers. The web site administrator can link a key phrase in your article to a pop-up box that gives important sidebar information. This is where you might include a funny cartoon, or a brief list of great writing resource sites, or define technical terms that appear in your article. Be wary about how much you aim for this technology. Some web editors want it completely straightforward with no sidebars, whereas others love to add pop-ups, bordered boxes, etc.

6) Verify your content. This is always important for writers, but most especially for web writers. For instance, check and recheck all the links in your article before submitting it. Assume that your editor is too busy with his own site links to worry about yours, and test them yourself before submitting them. Also, do the usual editing with a fine-tooth comb. Whenever possible, replace complex words and phrases with simple ones, since web readers are often more diverse than those who might purchase a print magazine. Make sure that anyone you mention in your site knows that he/she is going to be highlighted for the world to see, and if you plan to include any e-mail addresses, make sure these work and that you have permission. Special tip: if including an e-mail address, you might consider spelling it out to avoid attracting spammers: ljbwrite at att.net, and so forth.

7) Don't forget your byline. This is your business card of sorts. Granted, the amount of space you have for your byline is up to your editor, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to add a brief resource box at the end of your article. This should identify you and provide contact information, including your own working e-mail link, website address, etc. You might even list two or three other markets you’ve been published in, or if you are appearing at an upcoming event. The great thing about web bios is that you can change yours with each article to reflect what’s current. The Internet is a terrific medium for communication and sharing information. You can literally reach hundreds of thousands of people who want to visit the site your article is on and even more who show up by accident. Make every piece you write for the web a grabber so that you can add them to your bio and gain more publishing opportunities. Good luck!

L.J. Bothell is a designer/writer with marketing communications emphasis from Seattle, Washington.

LESSON ONE: WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE A WRITER?

When I teach at writers’ conferences, I always begin by asking my students, “Why on earth would you want to be writers?” They chuckle, assuming that I’ve made a joke. But my question is deadly sober. Writing is so difficult, requiring such discipline, that I’m amazed when someone wants to give it a try. If a student is serious about it, if that person intends to make a living at it, the commitment of time and energy is considerable. It’s one of the most solitary professions. It’s one of the few in which you can work on something for a year (a novel, say), with no certainty that your efforts will be accepted or that you’ll get paid. On every page, confidence fights with self-doubt. Every sentence is an act of faith. Why would anybody want to do it?

The usual answer I get is, “For the satisfaction of being creative.” The students nod, relieved that this troubling line of thought is over. But in fact, the subject has barely been started. I rephrase my question, making it less threatening. “Why do you want to be writers?” This time, I tell my students I don’t want to hear about the joy of creativity. Squirms. Glances toward the ceiling. Toward the floor. Someone is honest enough to say, “I’d like to earn the kind of money Stephen King does.” Someone else chuckles. “Who wouldn’t?” We’re on our way.

Money. We’re so used to hearing about the fantastic advances that writers like King, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, and Patricia Cornwell receive that many would-be writers think generous advances are the norm. The truth is that, in the United States, maybe as few as two hundred writers of prose fiction make a living at it. Every Thursday, in USA Today’s entertainment section, there’s a list of the top fifty bestselling books. Non-fiction is grouped with fiction, hardbacks with paperbacks. Fifty books. A longer list of 150 books is available on that newspaper’s Internet site. The lowest book might have sold only a thousand copies nationwide. Seen from this perspective, the figure of two hundred fiction writers who make a living at it seems huge. A couple of years ago, I came across an article somewhere that said the average income for a fiction writer in the U.S. was $6,500. I believe it. The unescapable moral, I tell my students, is that anyone who wants to become a writer had better not give up his or her day job.

“Why do you want to be writers?” I repeat. The squirms are more uncomfortable. Someone admits, not in so many words, that it would be neat to be the subject of magazine articles and appear on the Today show. The writer as movie star. We go back to the usual suspects: King, Grisham, Clancy, and Cornwell (while we’re at it, let’s add Danielle Steele and Mary Higgins Clark-–there aren’t many brand names). Again, the USA Today list gives us perspective. Scan the names of the top fifty authors. I doubt that more than twenty will be familiar to you. Even fewer writers are famous than earn a living at it. More important, while I can’t imagine anyone foolish enough to turn down money, I have trouble understanding why someone would want to be famous. As Rambo’s creator, I’ve had experience in that regard, and if your idea of a good time is to be forced to get an unlisted number, swear your friends to secrecy about your address, and make sure your doors are locked because of stalkers, you’re welcome to it. One of my devoted fans talks to my dead mother and to the brother I never had. Another was never in the military, but having convinced himself that he’s Rambo, he tried to sue me for stealing his life. In a connection I have yet to understand, he also tried to sue the governor of New York and the Order of the Racoon, which I had thought was an organization that existed only in Jackie Gleason’s television show, The Honeymooners. Fame’s dangerous, not to mention shallow and fleeting. I’m reminded of what a once-important film producer said to me before his fortunes turned for the worst: “Just remember, David. Nobody lasts forever.”

So if money and notoriety aren’t acceptable answers to “Why do you want to be a writer?”, and if I won’t accept the easy answer, “Because of the satisfaction of being creative,” what’s left? My students squirm deeper into their chairs. At this point, I mention someone who seems extremely unlikely in this context: comedian/film-maker Jerry Lewis. The students chuckle once more, assuming that this time I’ve definitely made a joke. But I haven’t. Years ago, Jerry Lewis taught a seminar in comedy at the University of Southern California. A hot ticket. How did Jerry decide which of the many students who applied for the course actually got to attend? Did he audition them? Did he ask for tapes of their performances? Did he read printed versions of their routines? Not at all. He merely asked for an answer to the following question: “Why do you want to be a comedian?” And there was only one answer he would accept.