Category Archives: Writing for the web

guidelines to optimize texts for on-screen reading

How to write a headline: Discussions and rewrites in my Writing for the Web course

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Mu Lin

Following the online headline writing tips, students in my open online course, Writing for the Web, discussed how to improve the headlines of sample articles. Readers of this blog may be interested in reading some selected student critiques and rewrites.

Posted in Writing for the web | 7 Comments

2014 year in review: How I do SEO for my blog

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Mu Lin

Among other things, the routine SEO practice helps drive this blog’s traffic – about 180,000 page views and 120,000 visitors in 2014. SEO techniques deployed for this blog include (a) proper metadata writing and (b) keyword research and placement.

Posted in Writing for the web | 6 Comments

How to do SEO: A sample SEO strategy by student in my web writing course

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Mu Lin

A participant in my open online course Writing for the Web did a good job developing an SEO strategy following guidelines in class lecture. I want to share with my blog readers this step-by-step SEO plan for a proposed online … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing for the web | 5 Comments

A case study of writing for the web: How to rewrite for online readers

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Mu Lin

A participant in my open online course Writing for the Web did a good job rewriting an article following web-writing guidelines discussed in class. I want to share with my blog readers the analysis and rewrite by this participant.

Posted in Writing for the web | 4 Comments

How to use Storify for storytelling: Two examples of Obama SOTU address story

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Mu Lin

A curated story can be a good narrative piece with the collection of live tweets playing a supporting role; it’s less effective if the story is mostly a collection of “what he said, what she said.” Two Storify stories of … Continue reading →

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SEO tutorial: Keyword research and placement

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Mu Lin

SEO techniques for people who don’t have access to commercial keyword tools – how to research keywords using free SEO tools, and place selected keywords in a way that facilitates search engine indexing and ranking. These search engine optimisation (SEO) … Continue reading →

Posted in Social media marketing, Writing for the web | 76 Comments

Free online course, Writing for the Web, to start Dec. 2

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Mu Lin

Writing for the Web is a free, four-week massive open online course (MOOC) offered by this blog. This free journalism course focuses on optimizing web texts for (a) easy online reading and (b) higher search engine ranking. Update: This course … Continue reading →

Posted in Social media marketing, Writing for the web | 5 Comments

Writing for the web: Sample work in my open online writing course

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Mu Lin

Here’s a sample writing in my online course in Writing for the Web that I want to use as an illustration of how print-style texts can be optimized for online reading. Course participant Carole Rich examined an article titled “Plagiarizing … Continue reading →

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How to write for the web: Writing guidelines and sample rewrite

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Mu Lin

Participants in my free online course in Writing for the Web are asked to rewrite sample online articles following writing guidelines discussed in class. I want to share with my readers a rewrite by a course participant, Keith Perch, who … Continue reading →

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Academic researches are being wasted if the article is not optimized for online readers

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Mu Lin

Some comments by participants in my ongoing online course in “Writing for the Web” highlight the necessity for academic researchers to optimize their writings for the web audience. In Week 2 of this course, based on guidelines in the reading … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing for the web | 4 Comments