If I’m not careful, people will think I’m conducting a one-man campaign against PR Opinions. But the case is, I don’t believe what Tom’s saying about online copy is correct.
There are some basic rules. For example typically people don’t read online, they scan. As a result your word count should be one third of the equivalent printed text.
If you say too little, you’re probably going to fail anyway.
While there are some very specific things about writing for the Web (or the screen), it’s not as different as many people would have you believe.
In any writing, you need to be aware of just how much to say – and that’s a characteristic of what you’re writing about and your audience, more than the medium.
It’s interesting that Gerry McGovern (linked from the PR Opinions piece) says:
Quality Web writing is rarely about volume, and it is never about padding. If you expect someone to read more than 500 words on a single topic, it better be extraordinarily good.Get to the point. Then stop.
Just remove the word Web, and you have a principle of most good writing.
And I haven’t even touched on Search Engine Optimised copywriting, where you’ll need to find 200-300 words of riveting, appealing copy to satisfy the engines and the reader.
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