Suggestion for the ABC news on Tom Hanks diagnosed with coronavirus

I think the original post can be improved in three aspects:

Content

  • According to google trends, I think the title “American actor Tom Hanks gets coronavirus in Australia” would be better to improve the SEO ranking.
  • Since Tom hanks confirmed this message on his Instagram, using the screenshot of his post with a link to his account would be more appropriate than the video of a half-naked tattoo guy on the top of the page. The video of his son is great, but I might want to see it after a certain context.

    video at the beginning of the news
  • The key point and the brief summary are great. In the summary section, I want to add several well-known labels of the celebrity to show the significance of the news. Meanwhile, the latest update about the overall situation is needed to make it more relatable to people who are not a fan.

Format

  • Instead of the endless quotes, wishes from other public figures could be shown in the format of a slideshow. The second section could thus be deleted for the purpose of brevity.
  • Highlight keywords by making it bold; Underline the words where it is a link
  • Infographic or even motion graphic can be added when describing the figure

Interactivity

  • Icons of social media sharing could be more obvious
  • Enable people to leave a comment online
About Jessy Zhang 5 Articles
Hi, I'm an international student from China who is currently doing master of digital communication and culture at The University of Sydney. Obsessed with different culture, I am striving to be a good storyteller!

1 Comment

  1. Interesting suggestion for a more SEO-friendly headline, but I think most people know he’s an American actor, and the fact his wife also tested positive belongs in the headline of the story. Agree with the placement of the video – it does belong in the story somewhere because it’s an original source (Hanks’s son). I admit I found it a little confusing! I think a photo of Hanks, rather than his Insta post with a latex glove, would be more engaging?
    You have structured your post well, using subheadings and bullet points. Both make the post scannable and easier to read and understand. Using heading tags for your subheadings would enhance the SEO – look in the post toolbox above the strikethrough and horizontal line functions and you’ll see ‘paragraph’ as the default text type; you can choose a heading type there.
    Good use of an embedded link that opens in a new tab.
    Your screenshot is captioned but also needs attribution for the copyright holder or source of the image (even if with a screenshot it seems obvious).
    Excellent suggestions for changes to the format, especially the slideshow of well-wishers.
    Regarding users’ comments, the ABC site doesn’t invite comments on stories, but encourages interaction in other ways (via Facebook, for example).
    Your key word tags are mostly ok; try to keep them simple (1-2 relevant words or terms) and separate the words e.g. “online journalism” – unlike on Twitter, WordPress reads multiple words or a short phrase as a single tag. You do not need to use the # symbol.

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