Writing for the Web: A New Market

Writing that is targeted solely for a web audience.

 

Yes. But that is not all. The web has opened up new markets that companies are eager to develop and exploit. Gone are the days when companies just stuck pdf versions of their reports and products on their webpages and hope for the best. Nowadays, companies have communications and marketing departments specifically dedicated to developing their web presence. Web content writers are usually based in either one of these departments.

 

A lot more than you think. With millions of competiting websites vying for our online attention, a web content editor's primary role is to drive web traffic to the company's website, build up a profile of the web visitors and market the company's products strategically. They do this by developing web-specific content for the company's website that would ensure that they get paying returning visitors.

 

Ever tried turning a 300 page document into 300 words? Because that will be part of your remit as a web content editor. Web visitors do not read web content. They scan it and in most cases, download the fuller versions of what they scan for future reading. So if you want people to download that vital 300 page pdf of your company's mindblowing report on turbines, you better make sure your 300 word summary on your company's website will be the best thing your web visitors have read all year.

A website is a window into a company's soul (product). The biggest companies in the world want you to see their 'souls'. If you like what you see, it is inevitable that you will buy they are selling. You've heard of the adage, 'On the web, content is king.' Well, it's true. Millions of websites are launched everyday. It is also equally certain that of the millions launched each day, only a few hundred thousand will be updated regularly with fresh content. This is good news for web content writers because it means that our skills are in demand as never before. Web content writers ensure that Internet and Intranet (a company's internal portal) sites are constantly updated with fresh information. The fast turnaround of information and technology is such that web content writers are needed to satisfy the voracious hunger of information-seekers that surf the web. Google, Yahoo, Virgin...these are all international corporations with hundreds of writers plugging away and updating the companies' webpages. Information is constantly evolving and web writers have to respond to these developments and adapt it for their targeted audience.

 

The easiest thing to do would be to register with a new media employment agency. For those in the UK, try www.staffordlong.com, www.media-types.co.uk and www.reedbusiness.co.uk. Or better still, go to www.google.co.uk and type in 'web content editor job'. If you are not based in the UK, type in the aforementioned keywords followed by your country name. The results should point you in the right direction for a web content editor job.

 

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