What's the difference between online and print promotions?

You may have heard and read that writing for the web is very different from writing for print publications. That's especially true if you're trying to promote your website. Keep it short, use bullet points, summarize, make sure it grabs your readers' attention; that's just some of the advice given to web writers. Have you ever wondered why?

More precisely, have you ever wondered why this advice is so different from what you learned about writing in school – or even professionally for print publications? I used to wonder. Every one of the articles I read about writing for the web made the point that web users have short attention spans. Obviously, if you're trying to promote your website, you need to capture that attention, and you need to do it fast.

But that's true of writing for print publication, too. In fact, whether you're writing fiction, non-fiction, advertising copy, or what have you, experts recommend grabbing your reader with the first headline or sentence. Why do you need to write for the web as if that first “grab” isn't enough? The short answer to that, of course, is “because it isn't enough for someone reading the web,” but WHY isn't it enough?

Stoney deGeyter answered that question very well. It's not you, or your content; it's the way your reader approaches the medium. The same person will approach different media very differently – with a completely different mindset, in fact. Don't believe me? Let me run a couple of scenarios by you, and see if they don't sound familiar.

You've just received a book or magazine that you've been looking forward to reading for a while. You settle down in a comfortable spot with it, maybe with your favorite beverage or a snack, and you focus on the material. If you have limited time for reading (like a lunch break), you may set yourself the goal of making it through the next chapter or two before moving to other tasks. Either way, you make a point of focusing on what's in front of you, tuning out other distractions...possibly to the point that you don't hear what's happening in your surroundings.

You don't read much for pleasure? Okay, then say you're reading a report for work. You're probably making notes as you go along, editing it if necessary (if that's part of your job). You may spot a few items that need to be looked up or more closely scrutinized, but you're not doing that right this instant; you make a note that it needs to be done later, though, after you finish reading the report.

The simple point is that most of us, when we're reading something that isn't on the web, are goal-oriented readers. Reading, itself, is an occasion: we get comfortable, set aside some time, and give it our full attention. Even if we're just e-reading a book on a bus or train until we get to our destination, we're focused on a goal: “You're going to get through this and be done with it,” notes deGeyter.


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