Good copywriting, for all its artistry and elegance, is nevertheless a form of selling. The writer needs to know two things: who her readers are and what her copy needs to communicate. Effective copy is clear and economical, audience-appropriate and intolerant of self-serving cleverness. It has the power to allure and persuade, turning readers into buyers while also beefing up an organization's bottom line in other ways, like reducing calls to customer service. A good copywriter brings plenty of empathy to the table too, able to identify with readers and speak to them directly. A command of the English language, a love of words, and an eye for grammar, punctuation and spelling doesn't hurt either.

See also content strategy.

Despite being lowest on the technical totem pole, text remains one of the most critical elements of the user experience. After all, web users spend most of their time doing one thing: reading. But the web is quite different from other text-based media: reading text on a screen is hard work; web readers use text as a navigational tool much of the time; the web is non-linear, and so each page must be able stand alone as a complete, coherent unit of information. And web readers have different expectations: they want to feel as though they are involved in a dialog, a lively conversation. That dull, flat monitor packs a surprising ability to engage users' emotions. Use it.

See also web writing workshop, user experience.

A web writing workshop can't teach someone how to write, but it can augment a copywriter's skill set by demonstrating how to write effectively for web delivery. A workshop covers: identifying and empathizing with the user; the challenges of writing for a non-linear medium; the application of hyperlinks for referencing related material; and writing in a particular voice. Workshop content can be customized to incorporate specific content or content types, or directed toward writers of different skill levels and experience.

See also writing for the web.

A content strategy is a plan of action for deploying a content system, understood as a collection of related documents organized to support specific communication goals (such as a web site, corporate publications, product literature, etc.). It identifies selling points and product differentiators and places them into a hierarchy. It crafts key messages and positioning statements and integrates them with other forms of communication, such as graphic design. If the goal is to redo content, or move it to a new medium, the strategy informs how that transition will occur. If the goal is to create a totally new content system, the strategy is a blueprint for building it. Once the strategy has been applied to the immediate problem, it goes on to inform and undergird ongoing content efforts, so a content system retains its consistency, organization and voice.

See also content auditing, content guidelines, blueprinting, "findability".

When a new content strategy is in order, or when content needs to be rearranged to serve its audience more effectively, it's nearly impossible to approach the problem if you don't know what raw materials you're working with. A content audit is a low-level step-through of all the elements in a content system. The result is a complete inventory of the system, revealing — perhaps for the first time — the full spectrum of material. Now the strategist can note what's missing, eliminate redundancies and begin the careful work of arranging and reshaping content to support a new strategy or structure.

See also content strategy, "findability".

Content guidelines are the copywriter's "user's manual" for implementing and adhering to a content strategy. Guidelines define and demonstrate how the strategy is applied at the copy level. Voice guidelines cover tone, style guidelines cover convention and usage (e.g., "Web site" vs. "website"), and tutorials can aid the copywriter in the nuts and bolts of copyediting.

See also content strategy.

Technical writing is typically either user- or product-focused. User-focused writing includes things like help systems, user manuals or instructional copy. Such material needs to be communicated simply and directed toward a non-technical audience. Product-focused writing includes things like functional specifications, design guidelines or feature/functionality lists. These act as codifications of one or more aspects of a product's design, behavior and purpose. This enables everyone to agree on what is to be created before the actual effort of creating the product has begun.

See also programming.