How To Write GOOD Articles For Online: Keep Both People AND Search Engines In Mind!

How To Write GOOD Articles For Online: Keep Both People AND Search Engines In Mind!

Writing for ONLINE reading is different from writing for newspapers or magazines: throw out all the rules you learned for print media and be sure to use this checklist each time you write online:

1. In your article (and here's where most people fall down) use emotion to "sell" and don't just list the facts. We theater people live our lives with passion, emotion, telling stories of love, but when we write about what we're presenting, we get timid, tell the facts, and HOPE people connect with us (which, in their dull, boring lives, most people won't). If all you had to do was tell people you are presenting a show, all of your seats would be FULL… which they aren't! You must show people why, with ALL the ways they have to use their time, your show is the BEST thing they can do. REMEMBER… it's EASY to stay home and do nothing - it takes EFFORT to go out to see your show, and you must show people WHY they should expend that effort!

2. When writing for ONLINE, be SURE to use the Title Line for your headline. The job of the Title is to get people to read the article AND to attract search engines to index what you wrote. And don't worry about making it short, the way a newspaper tells you. Google and other search engines use this information FIRST when spidering a site, and to THEM it's the most important. So ALWAYS be sure to list the full theater name (for those who might search for the theater by its name), the full show name (for those searching that way), the author's name, and something about the show. "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel at the Walnut Street Theater Explodes Onto The Stage With Powerful Music, Dance, Costumes, and First Class Performances." OK… so your local newspaper wouldn't print that and they will want to be more subdued, but YOU don't have to be when writing on here! It's YOUR time to tell YOUR story… and you may only get ONE chance.

3. Keep your paragraphs short. FORGET what Mrs. McGillicutty told you in 7th grade English: you do NOT have to keep everything together in one paragraph. See how long paragraph #2 is above! Write like you speak. See? Short, punchy sentences work. Short paragraphs work too. REMEMBER: people are reading on their monitors, and it's ALWAYS harder to read on the screen than on a piece of paper! And if all they see is a sea of black, they won't even begin.

4. WRITE with EMOTION and then go back and EDIT for KEYWORDS. Think about the type search terms people might use when using Google. Romantic comedy… love story… beautiful story telling… Philadelphia area theater… theater for families… things like that. Some people even forget their town name, to say it's THEATER, etc. And repeat what you said in the title line as the first few lines of your article: people read the article, search engines read the title line.

5. Include photographs when you can. Online Reading is so visual and you need to stop people long enough to read your title and then your article… a good photograph can help.

6. Audio Interviews ALWAYS help. People don't have to WORK, all they have to do is LISTEN. And even if the mp3 or flash file says basically the same thing as your article, use it anyway. Here are two examples on our site that show you this: http://stagemagazineonline.com/articles/archives/63/trackback and also http://stagemagazineonline.com/articles/archives/39/trackback

7. Oh, one last thing about writing for online: ALWAYS put your contact information into the article in a way that people can just CLICK on it to contact you. See how this line cannot be clicked? See how this line opens your email program and already has the subject line filled out? You really MUST do everything you can to MAKE THINGS EASY for the people you're writing to. Put your web address as a clickable link. Put a way to send you an email as a clickable link. And if you don't know how, ASK: we're here to help you Sell Those Empty Seats!

Charlie Seymour Jr
StageMagazineOnline.com
Charlie@StageMagazineOnline.com

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