Web Writing: It's Written

Web Writing: It's Written - Now What?

The content is finally written, now what do you do?

Re-write it.

Re-write it again.

If you haven't done at least three drafts, then you haven't done it at all.

A good rule of thumb for any Web writer, especially a new Web writer, is to take the original draft and do a word count. Cut the number in half. Make the new number the maximum word count and re-draft the document.

Only then, start editing. Leave a day or so between each draft if possible, and concentrate on each draft as if it were the final version.

Read Aloud

Read the content aloud every time. Reading aloud not only forces us to read word-for-word instead of skimming, but helps make sure phrasing conforms to natural speech cadences.

If it doesn't sound right when it's read aloud, it won't 'sound' right on the Web.

If you can't leave drafts for a day before reading again, convert them to a different format (eg. PDF, HTML) and read aloud from the new format to get a fresh view of the content.

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