Sometimes we write stuff. Sometimes, like where this blurb should be, we don’t.

Ha.

No, let’s give it a go. Copywriting for the web. I remember back when I started “on the web” in advertising in the 90’s it was all like “oh yeah, copy on the web is so different.” And it is true – and it was true. There’s a lot of “click here, dummy” copy you need to write, and generally a lot MORE copy than you write for broadcast or print. You can’t get away with just writing a great tagline.

Some copywriters never liked this. A lot of them hate writing for the web. They don’t consider it part of the brand to write instructional copy. They are wrong. Copy on a site is copy of the brand. From the terms and conditions to the “next page” copy. We think our site exemplifies this. We like to think we do this for our clients as well. Couple examples: check out the terms and conditions on the Milwaukee’s Best Light site, at left, and you’ll see what we mean. Also register for an account on the Kashi.com community. Look at the CAPTCHA anti-spam check. It’s branded. It’s easy. It’s fun. Both of these areas are where traditional copywriters often have difficulty making the transition to interactive.

Another big area is writing for length. Length is a much more stern taskmaster on the web than it is in print, and there’s a lot of this we have to do. Often, even when our clients are all like “we’ve written all the copy we don’t need a copywriter,” we have to edit the copy for length, and this is an art. It’s more than just truncating. It is, admittedly, perhaps, more editing than copywriting, but honestly, if we made a “copyediting” section of this site, would anyone read it?

Finally, then, there’s content copywriting – screenwriting and whatnot, for interactive content. This is such a unique realm – and one that is only now really beginning to evolve. But writing for non-linear narratives is unlike writing for broadcast. That picture you see at left? The screenplay for Samsung’s Anyfils. On index cards. In a graph.