Web writing is a good gig. I make $30 an hour writing at home.
Steps to Getting Started Writing for the Web
For those of you who would like to write for the web, here are some things I did to land a job that you should be able to do:
Get general writing experience. I wrote a little food column and a few feature articles for our local paper.
Learn everything you can about search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is what needs to be done to have the search engines like a Web site, i.e., give it a high ranking. Anything published on computers is generally obsolete by the time it is published, this book is still relevant and will give you a good idea what SEO is about.
Learn how to write for the Web. In addition to writing in a way that attracts the search engines, Web content writers need to write for the impatient folks who will surf the net.
The content you write for the Web is coded with HTML/XHTML. If you are going to be the one to actually add the content to the Web site, you will most likely be using a content management tool (CTM). I would suggest going through a book that will take you through the process of writing XHTML.
Write the content for a Web site, even if you don’t get paid. Ask non-profit organizations, relatives, and friends if they would like you to write Web content for them.
If possible, write for an industry you are familiar with. If you know the industry, you will have a better
Write a sample Web page to send with your resume. For my Web page, I researched a topic for a couple of hours on the Web and then wrote the page using everything I had learned about Web writing and SEO. This is, I think, the best way to let people know you have a firm grasp of writing for the Web and SEO.
Sample Web-writing Page
I have built a page on the Web site I am working on to give you an
- keywords in headings for SEO.
- Headings for easy scanning.
- Content-rich links for scanning purposes.
- Key words in page title (in light orange).
- Bullets to set apart important information.
- Content-rich links (no “click here” links).
- The words “free consultation” in bold to make sure someone who is scanning the page will see them.
I have to work around a bad content management tool that doesn’t write valid code, doesn’t give me access to the key word meta content (an SEO issue), and unduly limits the length of my description meta content (another SEO issue). I also have to use caution when writing because, in addition to copyright and other legal issues, we have to consider legal ethics.
In addition to writing in a way that attracts the search engines, Web content writers need to write for the impatient folks who will surf the net. Write the content for a Web site, even if you don’t get paid. Write a sample Web page to send with your resume. For my Web page, I researched a topic for a couple of hours on the Web and then wrote the page using everything I had learned about Web writing and SEO. I have built a page on the Web site I am working on to give you an idea how to write a sample web page.
