Research and preparation are essential in good web copy by Rachelle Money, 15 December 2007

People expect accuracy in your web writing. Getting things wrong not only damages your credibility, it may get you into hot water with some company’s legal department. Journalists in busy newsrooms have to face this problem every day. How do they cope and what can you learn from them? Our resident journalist explains...

As a journalist I am regularly faced with the daunting task of having to familiarize myself with stories that I have little prior knowledge of. In a busy newsroom my editor will ask me to write articles on just about anything, and it’s up to me to make sure the details I include and the background information I give is accurate. It is down to thorough research and preparation that you enable yourself to cover all bases.

How to begin?

There are many ways in which you can begin to do research. Let’s say you want to concentrate on a specific company. The first port of call would of course be the official website. This is good for a general overview, like their history, a client list, or how much their annual turnover is, but you only get one side of the story.

If you want to find out about the kind of attention a company has been subject to, then you can always look to the search engines. For example, if I wanted to tease out the various issues surrounding Mattel’s toy recall in August, I would simply type ‘Mattel toy recall’ into Google. The world’s biggest toy company was forced to recall millions of toys from the shelves after it was found that their Chinese manufacturers used lead paint.

This BBC News story was published on August 14, detailing a second recall made by the company. It states the ‘made in China’ label has been “seriously damaged” by this latest controversy, and looks at the reassurances made by the Consumer Products Safety Commission. They stated that no injuries had been reported as a result of the faulty toys.

As testament to Mattel’s response to this incident the second, third, fourth and fifth results are all from Mattel’s own customer relations team. One result in particular with the headline tag ‘Voluntary Safety Recalls’ is this video statement from the company’s chairman and CEO, Bob Eckert. He apologizes to parents around the world and attempts to restore customer confidence by saying: “The safety of your children is my personal priority.” The web page also lists three key promises on safety - paints being tested for lead, unannounced inspections on production line, and tests made on every production run. These promises are backed up on the video with shots of technicians in a laboratory making these checks.

The next result, from MSNBC, an online news organization, which on August 14 published an article which centered on the political fallout created by the Mattel recall. It features a number of reactions from politicians including Sen. Dick Durbin and Republican Mike Ferguson, who both called for stricter controls on Chinese imports to ensure they meet US regulations.

Back in the UK the national newspaper The Daily Telegraph published a story on September 6 with the headline ‘Mattel in third "made in China" toy recall’ which focuses mainly on the problems the US has had with Chinese imports. This includes not just toys, but pet food, toothpaste and even pyjamas. The Telegraph article also claims there is a “consumer and political backlash against Chinese goods.”

As a journalist there are a few things I would do with these four results in order for me to broaden my research. In the first result the BBC mentions the Consumer Products Safety Commission, who completed a large amount of research into the injuries and fatalities caused by faulty toys/goods for children. Why not look at the CPSC’s online library on their website and see if there’s a story to be written on the number of toy-related deaths and injuries.

For any company which has had to pull their products from shelves around the world it is a painful and costly process to have to go through. Mattel’s first recall was for 1.5 million products, the second was a for bruising 18 million and the third 850,000.

I think there’s a very good discursive piece to be written about companies like Mattel who have had to bite back against such negative press. Do you think they were successful in limiting the damage to the Mattel brand? Maybe you could speak to PR executives or marketing managers and ask them what process a company should go through when faced with such a disaster. Look at Mattel’s online video, the numerous statements they made, the full page newspaper adverts they took out - do you think this was enough to satisfy their customers?

Additionally, Eckert in a video statement talks extensively about the tests the company carry out on their products. How many technicians have they employed? Where do the tests take place? How many products do they test a year? What are the processes they go through to determine if a product is safe?

Next, the MSNBC piece looks at the politics involved in this. The fact that the US government made a statement calling for parents to check their children’s toys shows the gravity of this incident. What regulations are imposed on Chinese imports? What legally can the US government do to avoid this from happening again?

Lastly, the Telegraph said there was a consumer and political backlash against the ‘made in China’ label. How accurate is this statement? Look at the online discussion forums where parents may have commented on the recall. Are they planning to boycott toy manufacturers who use factories in China? Will they stop buying Mattel toys altogether?

These are just a few ways in which you can use research to produce what can be fascinating branches of additional research. The use of these points of detail will add strength and color to your article. This is an opportunity to seek out other angles on the story which will enable you to write about a topic from a unique perspective. There are of course other avenues of research too.

I have found LexisNexis is particularly good for extracting primary sources like national newspaper and magazine articles. It acts as a searchable archive but also contains company and industry reports as well as legal data. They provide a number of services depending on your needs, but I like the LexisNexis AlaCarte service. It allows you to search the database of articles and you can read the titles and headlines for free. However, you have to pay for the documents you retrieve - this is usually around $3 per document. This service has been specifically designed for small to medium sized businesses who want cost effective research tools.

If you think research will play an important feature in your work you could always set yourself a research budget. As little as $20 can go a long way in letting you access vital information.

I like to use news feeds as a source of up-to-date information as well. These allow you to see when a website has added new content, so if you want to keep your eye on a few competitors, this is how to do it. You can get the latest headlines and video in one place as soon as it’s published, without having to visit the websites you have taken the feed from. News feeds are also known as RSS (Really Simple Syndication).

The most effective research tool I’ve ever used is the telephone. Speaking to someone, whether they are a press officer for a company or a journalist (for example), is a great way to mine for additional information. They may also be able to get you in touch with other people, or point you in the right direction to where you can get hold of research material.

Online encyclopedias are another fruitful resource, however there are some which should be treated with caution. Take Wikipedia for example. It has come to be known as the online encyclopedia, with more than 8.2 million articles. You should always approach what has been written on Wikipedia with care, because the chapters are written collaboratively by volunteers. It can also be edited by anyone with access to the internet. In 2005 John Seigenthaler Snr, who was Robert Kennedy’s administrative assistant in the 1960‘s, was outraged when he found a false biography had been on Wikipedia for four months which insinuated that he had been involved in John F Kennedy’s assassination. He wrote in an article for USA Today of his frustrations at not being able to discover the identity of the author and bemoaning the little legal recourse he had. This should be a warning to anyone thinking about gleaning information from Wikipedia. By all means use it, but check your facts as thoroughly as you can before repeating the information.

How do I know when enough is enough?

It can be difficult to stop researching a particular topic, especially when it is varied or is something you are very interested in, but there must be an end. It’s easy to procrastinate through research and to avoid writing, but it’s just as important to ensure you don’t do too much research and wind up confusing yourself!

You probably have mountains of paperwork in front of you with print outs from websites and articles. What I do at this point is get a stapler and a highlighter out from my office drawer.

First I collect all the pieces of paper together and think about each section in chapters. For example, if I wanted to look at how Ryanair began I would collect all that information up, and staple it together. The same would be done for the positive stories I want to include in my article, the negative, and maybe something about the financial situation Ryanair is in, as well as customer comments. (You can get these on Trip Advisor, or take them from blogs).

Then I get the highlighter out. It can be bewildering to have so much information in front of you so read it through. Research has shown we glance over web pages and only read the top one third of the page, so make sure you are reading all the information, and then highlight what you think are important points. This makes it much easier to locate those key paragraphs or quotes when it comes to writing.

Give yourself a deadline

Most people respond better to these kinds of tasks if they know there is an end point - a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. I would say that a day researching is all you need and then maybe spend a few hours making sure you have covered all bases, and checked those facts or figures you found surprising. Remember, if it sounds too good (or bad) to be true it usually is, so double check them.

Now for the writing. We all write at different speeds. As a journalist it’s difficult for me to suggest how long it should take to write a 1,000 word article - it can take me just a couple of hours, but then I’ve had years of practice.

Just do it! Get on with it. I know it’s easier said than done, but I have always found that once you nail the first sentence the rest will follow. It’s amazing how the time flies when you feel your article is beginning to flow.

May I introduce myself?

An introduction can be one of the most difficult pieces to come up with in an article. The best way is to use your top paragraph as a summary of what your piece is going to say. You may want to pose a question; Mattel: how badly has the brand been damaged? Or you could even start with a quote you have found which you feel is especially good at summing up the debate you want to focus on.

Writer’s block

There is debate around whether there is any such thing as writer’s block. I believe this only ever happens when you actually have too much to say, and don’t know how to condense it into a well constructed sentence. I know some writers go for a run and work the articles out in their head before returning to their computer. Some go and make a cup of coffee. People deal with writer’s block in different ways, but staring blankly at a computer screen is not the way through it. One tip I suggest is to use a Dictaphone. We all know talking through your problems helps so that’s exactly what you should do when you have a problem expressing yourself on paper. There have been numerous times where I have sat frustrated and unable to get beyond my byline and have said out loud, ‘all I want to say is ……….’ and there it is, the perfect sentence.

Be confident

Finding your own voice takes time. Even the most experienced of writers will say they aren’t sure they’ve found theirs yet. Nevertheless, it is important to say what you mean and mean what you say. I bet there have been many times when you have wanted to speak up and express your own opinions but it hasn’t been the time or place. Well, now it is. This is your opportunity to put your own stamp on the issue.

You also have to have confidence after you have finished writing. In the first instance, you need the confidence to know when you have finished and it’s time to put the article to bed. I suggest you write your piece (or copy as it is also known) and then sleep on it. The second best thing to an editor is having fresh eyes - that renewed perspective is invaluable.

In addition to this you have to be confident enough to take criticism. You are not only putting a document out there for the world to read - you’re also voicing your own opinions. Someone may not agree with your viewpoint, and believe you me they will express that to you, so be prepared for that and take it on the chin. In fact, it may work in your favor; opposition is one of the best and most effective ways of generating debate and discussion.

You'll find more articles on copywriting for the web at Wordtracker's copywriting page.