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Audience, Relevance, and Search
Book

Audience, Relevance, and Search

Targeting Web Audiences with Relevant Content

James Mathewson, Frank Donatone and Cynthia Fishel
IBM Press, 2010
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

Even if you’re the next William Shakespeare, if you don’t write according to online standards you will fail as a web content creator. Internet users will not just ignore your web content; they probably won’t know it exists. This savvy new Internet writing guidebook by IBM web pros James Mathewson, Frank Donatone and Cynthia Fishel covers all of the technical information you need to develop web content that Internet users will find relevant and engaging. The authors emphasize that quality web content – material people can find and will read – depends on the right keywords. getAbstract recommends this superb, readable, wholly practical guide to editors, writers and those who plan and create material for the Internet.

Summary

Web Writing Is Not Traditional Writing

The web can be a difficult environment and many professional writers do not understand how to write for it. Three primary rules of writing for the Internet align with the habits of web readers: 1) Be brief; web readers have short attention spans; 2) Readers find content through search engines, so choose words search engines can find; and 3) Readers enjoy passing content on to others, so provide links. Some other important considerations:

  • The web is a vast universe of unstructured content – On the web, relevance is paramount. With infinite choices, readers will focus only on what matters to them. Design your web content for search engines. In functional terms that means: Write for Google. When you do, your material will be relevant to your website visitors. Plus, they will be able to understand it and “act on it.”
  • Web users evaluate your words to check for relevance – Flowery, figurative or highly technical words and terms will send readers elsewhere. In traditional media, writers are in charge of the terms they use. Web readers establish what “they think” a particular word or phrase...

About the Authors

James Mathewson is editor-in-chief of ibm.com and former editor of ComputerUser magazine. Frank Donatone is an IT professional in charge of improving IBM search rankings. Cynthia Fishel is an IBM expert on interactive and social media marketing.

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