A web writer must convey the main point in the first 25 or 30 words of his article – usually the length of one sentence. Reason being that many Content Management Systems (CMS) show a synopsis of the article, which is the beginning part of the article, and there’s usually a numeric limit – anything longer will be cut.
Here’s an example from today – when publishing a post to LinkedIn user group, I tried several times to write/rewrite so that the main point of my post gets across in one sentence. Here’s a screen shot of my final, actual post:
In its current form, the synopsis (the first sentence) runs for 25 words, including the two commas. Assuming that is the automatic word limit for the LinkedIn CMS, it took me several tries to fit one complete sentence – the one I actually posted was my third try.
Here’s two drafts I tried; I’m marking in red the part that was automatically cut by the system:
Just saw a job ad for an online news editor. Reading the expectations of this position, I feel sad that none of the expectations is currently being taught in many of the journalism programs……
Just saw a job ad for an online news editor. I feel sad that none of the expectations in the job description is being taught in many of the journalism programs……
By the way, the first sentence of this post is 25 words – my second try.
Related posts:
- “Inverted pyramid” is still a functional guideline for web writing
- 5 tips and a special workflow for effective web writing: Anatomy of a functional blog post
- Writing for the web: Headline needs to work out of context
- Writing for the web is different: Print article needs refocusing and reformatting
- Writing for the web is different: Why and how
