Writing 4 Professional Communication: The New Recruitment Tool: Online Writing

Professional Bio

Lauren Mason is an admissions advisor for Weber State University. She loves helping students achieve their educational dreams, along with pursuing her own. She received her associate’s and bachelor’s degrees from WSU and is pursuing a master’s degree in professional communication at WSU. It is easy to say she bleeds purple. She writes content for several websites for the Office of Admissions and has been involved in writing training manuals, video scripts and content for publications. When she’s not at Weber State, she is trail running, doing yoga or exploring nature with her husband.

The New Recruitment Tool: Online Writing

The school decision process has changed since you and I were seniors in high school. Think back to when you were deciding to attend college. How did you research schools? I know my choice was heavily based on proximity and price. I knew I couldn’t afford attending school outside of my state and I was going to have to pay for most of it on my own. I remember sitting in my counselor’s office, waiting for her to tell me what schools would accept my ACT scores. I was nervous, I had questions and I felt like I needed a person to help me along the way.

Now think about what a high school senior in 2017 does to search for schools. They might be sitting in English class on their iPhone looking up schools located across the county. They define their search by programs, athletics or tuition costs. They might not interact face-to-face with a person until they visit a campus. Their insecurities and questions are answered by the click of a button. According to a Google study done in 2012, nine out of 10 students report using the internet to research higher education options.

The Pew Research Center explains that the internet has become an integral part of everyday life. Its research shows 84 percent of American adults use the internet daily. Whether it is for education, electronic commerce or enjoyment, people read web content.

Written web content is created every day. GWAVA, a global leader in electronic communication, shared the following approximations about the amount of content created every day on the internet:

● 500 million tweets

● 4 million hours of video content are uploaded to YouTube each day.

● 3.6 billion Instagram likes

● 4.3 billion Facebook messages

● 5.75 billion Facebook likes

It is crucial for any company or organization to understand the importance of the written word, especially the digital version. Julia McCoy, author of “So You Think You Can Write?” says, “The internet has become an invaluable tool for businesses that market both to consumers as well as to other businesses. In turn, high-quality content publications (blogs, web pages, resource articles, and other content types) allow a business to achieve the marketing goals it deems necessary in the short term, while preparing itself for a long-term investment in its chosen marketing channel.”

Google Education Industry Director, Jennifer Howard explains, “The key is to engage potential students in the right mindsets, on the right channels, and to enable them to experience all the great things your school has to offer.” One way this is accomplished is through effective web content writing.

Web content writing or online writing, is the strategic production of relevant content for websites. It is a unique writing style that can enhance information, tell a story, recruit a student and much more if done correctly.

Here are 10 tips to improve your online recruitment writing:

1. Good online writing answers the most important questions.

If you take a beginning journalism class, the first thing you learn is to write in inverted pyramid style. This writing style puts the most important or noteworthy information first. It immediately tells readers what the big picture is. Details such as background information are presented later towards the bottom.

Example:

You’re a student researching colleges in your state to study nursing. When you get to a website, you immediately want to know if that school has a nursing program, how to get in the program and how much it costs. You need information in order of importance. You might want to know the history of the program, or meet the faculty later on, but your reason for visiting the site is to answer your initial questions.

2. Good online writing knows its audience.

Every website is intended for a specific audience. One of the first steps in creating content for the web is knowing who you’re writing to. Learnnc.org provides questions to think about as you create content.

Who is my audience?

Ask yourself who you want reading your content. Once you identify the audience, think about how you can speak at their level.

For example, when writing for a university website you must appeal to professionals, college students, high school students and parents. Think about the prospective high school student. If your website has college jargon, the student might not understand the message. If an 18-year-old can’t understand how to get started at your university, they might not apply.

Also think about the parent of that student who might have little formal education, or speaks a different language. A parent information page provided in multiple pages is one way to cater to that specific audience.

What do I want my audience to know or feel?

Websites need to convey a feeling. Ask yourself if you want readers to get straight to the information, or if you want them to feel a certain way by reading more content.

If you want to give prospective students fast facts and figures about specific questions they might have, then keeping it short and easy to find will do the job. Stick to what they want to know.

If you want to showcase the amazing opportunities college has to offer, you need to write more in depth, requiring more thoughtful writing. This can come in the form of current student blogs. If a reader wants to read about a real student experience, highlight those blogs.

Why are they reading it?

Keep in mind the reasons readers visit your site. Prospective students want to know things like admissions and scholarship deadlines, or dates for new student orientation. Ask yourself if they can find that information on your website.

3. Good online writing utilizes SEO and keywords.

McCoy describes search engine optimization (SEO) as “the use of particular keywords and phrases within the content of a site in order to give search engine robots an idea of what the site itself contains and how to rank that site priority.” If you want to be top on the Google search list, your writing needs to get you there.

SEO content must be good content, because unlike the ‘90s and earlier ‘00s, Google now uses sophisticated analytics to evaluate website content. Don’t stuff your web content with keywords. McCoy explains when Google updated its algorithm, the sites jam-packed with keywords received penalties costing them 50-100 spots lower on the Google rankings. Ouch. Make sure keywords are placed for a purpose.

Her advice is to write for humans. “If we create optimized, thorough, accurate content that answers questions at a human level, then Google will rank us well for that corresponding human question.”

MOZ.com explains just how important SEO can be to get traffic to your website. Think of search engines as roadways for the people who you want to visit your site. The easier the road, the easier they’ll arrive at their destination. It provides a free, comprehensive beginners guide on increasing SEO.

Two other factors in SEO worth mentioning are trust and citation flows. McCoy explains flow metrics keep website owners on their toes, and online writers in business. Let’s begin with trust flows. Trust flows indicate the trustworthiness of a website. It is a great quality control tool that creates competition of websites with quality content. If your website has numerous links that point to it, but are all low-quality, your trust flow won’t improve, but your citation flow could increase.

Citation flow indicates how popular a website is based on how many websites link to it. As a writer, you can be more influential with trust flows than citation flows as seen from the example above. Trustworthiness comes from good content, good content gets good authority, leading to more links, resulting in more citations.

Although this is just the tip of the iceberg in SEO, it give the clear message that quality of content is king.

4. Good online writing is short.

Online readers are scanners. Odds are that every word on your web page is not going to be read. Research indicates only 16 percent of people report reading websites entirely.

In just a few words you need to answer your scanner’s questions. A great way to do this is with a bulleted list. It reduces wordiness and is scannable.

For example,

The eight public universities in Utah are Utah State University, Weber State University, University of Utah, Salt Lake Community College, Utah Valley University, Snow College and Dixie State University.

Or...

The eight public universities in Utah:

● Utah State University

● Weber State University

● University of Utah

● Salt Lake Community College

● Utah Valley University

● Snow College

● Dixie State University

Which one is easier to read? Bulleted lists allow readers to find the information they want by just glancing through your page.

Here are more ways to keep your writing concise:

● Keep paragraphs short and to the point

● Remove unnecessary words

● Use dashes

Steve Krug advises to keep your text as short as possible. Try to eliminate half the words, then halve again.

5. Good online writing is visually appealing.

Igniteliving.com explains the importance of dressing up your writing. If you have top-notch content but it's displayed poorly, you won’t get any readers.

Here is a list of ways to make your website more visually appealing to short attention-spanned readers:

● Use short paragraphs. They allow the reader to organize the information as they read.

● Let the gaps work for you. The white space between text gives the reader a visual break from content.

● Make headings your friend. They allow scanners to quickly find the information they are looking for. They are also helpful with SEO keywords.

● Don’t forget about subheadings. They produce clarification on the same topic.

● Use non-text communication. Replace text with videos, images and infographics.

● Make sure you content can be viewed on multiple devices. That prospective student is probably viewing your site on a smartphone.

● Play around with font sizes and styles. Italicized or bolded words show emphasis and attract attention.

● Be smart about web layout. Placement of text and images are important. Marketetergizmo.com provides examples of how readers view content.

6. Good online writing has an engaging voice.

In the first few chapters of, “So You Think You Can Write?” McCoy explains the importance of writing engaging content. She explains that being engaging means being relatable to readers. Write to their emotions, and turn heads with headlines. She emphasizes how good storytelling can retain readers. The more people you retain, the more students you will attract.

Check out this paragraph from the University of California Irvine:

Destination beaches. Pristine hiking and bike trails. World-class entertainment. Elite education. Exciting career prospects. Unlimited possibilities.

Welcome to Anteater Country. UCI is located in the heart of beautiful Orange County, nestled between Los Angeles and San Diego counties and just five miles from SoCal’s sunny shores. A cornerstone of Irvine, one of the safest cities in the U.S. and home to Southern California’s burgeoning tech coast, UCI is the perfect place to study, work, live and play. Our close proximity to shopping, amusement parks, premier arts and cultural centers, and industry leaders make UCI a destination unlike any other. Discover how Irvine combines the best of a college town community with the vibrant opportunities of a bustling city.

In 100 words this tells a story of what it would look like to be a student at UCI. You can see yourself walking to the beach after class, or shopping in the city. It keeps you engaged and excited.

7. Good online writing keeps a consistent tone.

Good web content has consistent messages. Whatever it is, keep it consistent on every page. Similar to branding, make sure your content fits the brand you’re writing for.

For example, Weber State University prides itself on being an open-enrollment institution. It is a culture of open access education to anyone who has a dream. WSU’s branding guide encourages their online communication to reflect that message by using consistent words like “you” or “we”, instead of “they” or “them.”

Another crucial consistency is keeping an active voice. Active voice tells what a person or thing does. Passive voice tells what has been done to someone or something.

Compare these two sentences:

During your visit, your application questions will be answered by admissions advisors.

Or,

While on campus, an Admissions Advisor will answer application questions.

The first sentence is in a passive voice, telling the reader something has or will be done. Passive voice can reduce the impact of a sentence and should try to be avoided if possible.

The second sentence tells exactly what someone does. The active voice makes the sentence more engaging and exciting.

8. Good online writing is happy writing.

40 percent of the world's population uses the internet. People get their good news and bad news while searching online. Why not be the good someone hears that day? Write to make the reader happy. Prospective students might view several college websites before they read yours. You don’t want to come off as cold or intimidating. Try to keep the writing conversational and positive.

Making a read feel happy is as simple as using familiar words. Weber State University’s web writing style guide gives the example of avoiding college jargon.

For example, writing “what you’ll learn” instead of writing “student outcomes” might reduce anxiety to some readers.

9. Good online writing adds links to words.

Content doesn’t always come directly from the author. When referencing other websites, it is crucial to cite your sources by using hyperlinks. This makes it easier for readers to jump to the source if needed. If you’re worried about directing them off your page, create the hyperlink to open in a new window.

If you want to read where I got this information from, just click on the hyperlink. It’s that easy, and the internet world will thank you for it.

10. Good online writing is proofread.

This last tip is important for any type of writing. Make sure your grammar and punctuation fits the appropriate style guide you use.

Oftentimes words are misused. Using a simple tool like dictionary.com can be your best friend in times of need. For example, the words prospective and perspective do not have the same definition, but can be confused because of the spelling. Also think about words often used in higher education. Does your campus use the word advisor, or adviser? Check the university branding guide if you’re unsure. Remember to only use a word if you’re certain of its meaning.

Interview with an expert

Jaime Winston is a web content editor for Weber State University. He creates online content for department websites, writes articles for Wildcat magazine and edits press releases. He’s been working at Weber State since 2015, and loves it.

His online writing experience has given him the eye for what good online content looks like. Winston says, “Just like every publication has its own voice, so does every website. So good content really matches that voice.” He gives the example of different voices from his previous position as web editor for Salt Lake Magazine. “It was a very conversational tone, and sometimes cynical. Here at Weber, it is a more inviting tone, and we use a lot of ‘our’ and ‘we’. So for example, ‘our majors’ instead of ‘the majors’.”

Although he loves working for Weber State, Winston says he faces a few challenges as a web content editor. “There are a ton of acronyms. The students aren’t always going to know what they stand for. I have to go through a lot of content to make sure it is understood.”

Along with acronyms, he explains the intricate major requirements are often times difficult to articulate in a concise manner. He emphasizes the importance of using headers, breaking up long texts and playing around with bulleted list to combat the information load.

He gives insight on helpful tools that he uses to be successful online writer. “You’re going to have to work in the source code. I highly recommend trying to learn some coding. Lynda.com has been a good resource for me. They have html tutorials that I learn a lot from.”

He also says to take into consideration those who are visually impaired or blind. “When I write for the website, I have to consider those who use screen readers. It is important to make sure the information present is as clear to them as it would be to a sighted user.” He gives the example to never use colors to instruct website users. “It doesn’t help someone who uses a screen reader to put something like ‘all degree requirements are listed in red’ or something similar.”

Winston says his favorite part of his job is the sense of ownership. “It’s knowing that I am responsible for the content on this website. Once it’s done, I can say that is something I accomplished. I really like that feeling.”

Conclusion

The student decision journey has changed over the years. The internet has become part of everyday life and is an integral tool in a college search. Writing good online content is needed in higher education websites.

Practicing writing techniques like the inverted pyramid, concise writing, knowing your audience or keeping a consistent tone will help you on the path to becoming a more proficient writer.

For additional help visit:

· The Associated Press Stylebook 2016

· “When Words Collide” 8th edition by Lauren Kessler & Duncan McDonald