Want some advice about writing for digital formats? You’re in luck! The web is swimming with hip, young thrusters explaining the ideal headline length for a blog post or the perfect tweet.
A lot of it is good stuff. Young writers, editors and publishers come at web sites, blogs and social media with a native’s instincts – and can teach long-in-the-tooth writers and publishers (including lots of brands and dinosaurs like me) plenty.
But some of the best advice in the trade comes from older heads – brains trained in the days before word processors, much less the internet. And they’re worth a listen because they understood the fundamentals of effective writing long before we got worried by the short attention-spans of Generation Y.
Drayton Bird
Let’s start with Drayton Bird, an advertising copywriter much revered by those in the know. He’s been plying his trade since the 1960s, but realised that good copy works in any environment, with any audience.
That’s one reason his must-read 1982 book, Common Sense Direct Marketing had the words ‘and Digital‘ inserted into its title for the fifth edition. Great copy and comms design works as well on an email as it does on paper – because it’s about people.
Bird’s mantra has always been that you shouldn’t take your readers for granted. Get to the point, explain the benefits of what you’re saying, make it easy for them to digest and respond – and be personal. In other words, it’s the Young Turks’ recipe for web success.
(Although, as Bird is at pains to point out, that doesn’t mean shoe-horning your messages into 140 characters. He loves long copy, even online. “75% of people who get past the first 250 words of copy will read 2,000 words,” he claims.)
Deirdre McClosky
Next, Deirdre McClosky, an American economist who’s been a professor since the 1960s. In 1987, she published a guide on how to write on technical subjects clearly and with impact. Economical Writing (as it’s now known) stresses simplicity, empathy for the reader and self-criticism as the essentials of good comms. Just like the web gurus do.
Check out this rather good article about her by Evan Davis, by the way.
David Ogilvy
Our last dinosaur? David Ogilvy. (He died at the time Economical Writing hit its second edition; and gave Drayton Bird his big break.) Frankly, Googling ‘david ogilvy on writing‘ will give you a couple of hours of useful browsing. But this famous checklist is well worth reading.
Why? Because it encapsulates the best of his writing advice. It’s snappy, direct, focuses on the reader and offers explicit advice.
The best tip on that list comes last, and is something every brand looking to craft a web site or magazine should remember: “If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.”
Even as a professional writer, I applaud the sentiment.
* Feel free to add further ideas for Gen X-ers and older with webby wisdom in the comments below – such as Jon Winokur’s Advice for Writers twitter feed or Jon Bernstein’s excellent workshops on web writing.
