As online business flourishes, today’s writers must script for a new and increasingly younger audience with a gnat-like attention span of, if you are lucky, 5 seconds - which has to be the most gloriously successful benefit imaginable of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
This is because the average virtual-space hopper does not read. They scan. Rapidly. This demands an instant-gratification writing style aimed at maximum stick and minimum bounce. For the uninitiated, ‘bounce’ is the swift response of a dissatisfied surfer to a website that doesn’t deliver the goods quickly enough i.e. now. In a flash, they hop from one site to another until a clever one captures their interest and speeds them successfully towards the required action.
As always, money’s behind it, what with online budgets overtaking offline budgets faster than you can hit a ‘Buy Now’ button. Focus is moving from traditional, passive promotional paths to digital, mercurial marketing at a rate of knots.
So, goodbye (well, not quite, but getting there) to newspaper advertising and direct mail (a 40% drop in market share according to some sources), and hello to websites, search-engine-optimised text, podcasts, texting, blogging, social networking, YouTube et al. The list is long and evolving at a brain-boggling rate.
So here’s how writing for Webworld shapes up:-
Get To The Point Pronto – state the problem and solution swiftly and succinctly;
Highlight Benefits Immediately – save time and cut to the chase;
Use Short Sentences – bite-size chunks of easily-digested information;
Use Plain-speak – concise, objective Standard English for direct communication;
Keep It Conversational – zero formality for total connection;
Ban Bureaucratese & Jargon – honest, no-barriers straight-speak at all times;
Tailor To Your Market – e.g. write for Youth and you can sling slang willy-nilly;
Keep Text To A Minimum –plenty of elbow room for the great god White Space;
Pepper With Bullet Points – lots of these for the terminally impatient.
Just as pre-Webworld designers responded to a developing digital scene by migrating from drawing boards and traditional skills to computers and design software, so too have trend-spotting writers drawn upon honed capabilities such as good communication, flexibility and discipline to meet the needs of a burgeoning online market.
Having hoofed the distance to write in this growing Webworld, they are super-fit for purpose which has to augur well for a progressive business community that values a contemporary capability supported by a proven pedigree.
So, if you ever wondered why well-scripted websites support a cutback style of copy, it’s because it pays big dividends, competing successfully in an ephemeral and demanding market that cannot resist an astutely-crafted path to the ‘Buy Now’ button in all its guises.
I learnt something new today!
So I need to ask you if it was just new to me or new to you all?
How many of you are space-sweating? And would you know if you were?
It sounds like a very unpleasant way of working next to someone you’d rather not be near…but in fact it’s the newest expression for maximising space in warehousing!
Used to be called ‘cramming’ or saving on rent but not any more!
And of course, there will be environmental advantages to space-sweating too.
Getting more ‘stuff’ into a smaller space saves on lighting, heating or cooling, land..
need I go on?
So next time someone goes all minimalistic on you just be surprised and tell them that’s so passé. Space-sweating is the new buzz, don’t waste space you don’t really need – just build a mezzanine level in every room and crouch all day!!
I’m trying to work out how to get ‘space-sweating’ into my next press release…
Maybe you could suggest something?
Take care
Angela