Writing for the web 2013

Writing for the Web.

KNOW YOUR PURPOSE

SPEAK TO YOUR AUDIENCE

POLISH YOUR STYLE

PERFECTING YOUR PROCESS


Know your purpose.

All marketing content is essentially composed to achieve the same goal:

To get people to read it.

Know your purpose.

Why do we want them to read?

To educate To build rapport To build credibility To develop a relationship

To SELL!Generate Revenue( )$

Before you start: Get your head on straight.

Don’t assume viewers will read what you’ve written simply because you wrote it

Writing is selling, it is not meant to meet your emotional needs

Forgive yourself Make an adequate

timeline to achieve your process

Know your support group

Hold true to your process

Know your purpose.

Before you start: Set goals.

Know your purpose.

What do you want your viewers to do or learn? Knowledge Action

Your agenda Their agenda

To foster an interest in the home buying process.

Click on the link to visit the website for more information.

HOW?

Share the number of houses currently on the market and buying incentives.

A big link button leading to a page on the website with more stats and a call to action to contact an agent.

EXAMPLE

What’s your goal?

Before you start: Set deadlines.

When do you need to: send your email publish your post finalize your content

Create a timeline working from end to beginning

Know your purpose.

What will your timeline look like?Allow for wiggle room.Two days for revisions.How MayeCreate works as a group.

Before you start: Brainstorm keywords.

What are keywords and why are they important? Search terms or phrases Resonate terms or phrases that evoke emotion and/or action

What are key words or phrases you need to include for SEO or to relate to your audience?

Make a list to use during brainstorming and editing to include in blog post and page: Content Titles Meta Tags

Know your purpose.

What keywords do people use to search for your business online?

What keywords resonate with your audience?

Speak to your audience.

When trying to reach to everyone you end up touching to no one at all.


Interests

Income

Gender

Education Level

Communication Style

Life Style

Age

Location

Relationship

Who are youspeaking to?

Will these factors impact effective delivery of your message?

Who are you talking to?

Where are they?

Building a online bridge to your customers.


Your Audienc

e

Closed Busines

sFacebook

Email Marketing

Blog & Website

Pinterest

Other possible digital components of your marketing bridge:Twitter, LinkedIn, Houzz, Google+, YouTube, Google AdWords

Don’t just build a bridge, cast a net.


Your Audienc

e

Closed Busines

s WEBSITE

Blog

Email Marketing

Facebook

Pinterest

Sometimes in the process this is a good stopping point. Let your thoughts simmer and come back in a day or two to start writing.

Now…What to write?

Goal: Get people to read it…but what to write?

Subscribe to RSS feed of other popular blogs in your industry.

Keep a list of FAQ from clients & prospects.

Share photos, video, events and event summaries.

Testimonials

Check out your competition and those you admire.

Summaries explaining current events or technological advances in your industry.

Featured clients Industry specific

controversy


You don’t just have to write about what you do.

You do have to write about topics that interest your audience.


What information would they expect to find? Read competitor sites to see how much information they

provide.

Will you share pricing? (Does your competition?)

What questions are you commonly asked in a first meetings or phone conversations? Should those be addressed or left open to encourage viewers to contact?

What will tip the scales in your favor? Example: Brag about your competitive advantages using

video, testimonials, pricing and most importantly your personality!

?

?

When writing about a specific product or service place yourself in the shoes of your audience:


Are you promoting or conversing? Social media is about building a relationship, selling

constantly and never bonding does not build relationships

Are you contributing too little or over contributing? Everyone likes a chuckle or a helpful hit but steer clear of

continually talking about mundane tasks

Are you keeping true to company culture? If you’re formal everywhere else keep your conversation

formal yet inviting in social media, don’t change your persona.

Stay positive, no one likes a whiner.

?

?

When writing for social media:

?

!

What is your communication style?

Communication Style: DISC

Strong-Willed

Competitive Demanding Independent Direct Self-

Centered Decisive Tough Impatient

Sociable Talkative Open Enthusiastic Energetic Persuasive Spontaneous Emotional Impulsive

Steady Laid Back Modest Trustworthy Family

Oriented Sincere Patient Careful Calm

Precise Exact Analytical Systematic Follows

Rules Quiet Careful Formal Disciplined


D I S C

What communication style are your readers?It’s okay if they’re not the same.Get mentally prepared…


D I S C

Doesn’t matter what style you are, everyone loves to see their own name!

Communication Style: DISC

Brief and to the point

Results oriented

Focus on the future

Get to business

Positive and conversational

Quirky and friendly

Ask for feedback

Get personal Be excited!

Take your time

Do what you say you’ll do

Remember the little things

Human interest

Go into

details Keep it

formal Explain why Reflect on

the past (working results)

Tonality: What personality do you want to portray?

Conservative Clinical Traditional Professional Resonate Powerful

Distinct Brave Courageous Heavy Steady

Polish your style.


Agreeable Fair Friendly Pleasant Helpful Tender Kind Quaint

Innocent Warm Calm Easy going Gentle Laid back Neutral

Polish your style.


Lively Light Charming Curious Thoughtful Cheerful Witty

Comfortable Open Encouraging Energetic Enthusiastic

Polish your style.


Trendy Youthful Clever Alive Outrageou

s Bold

Unusual Wild Funny Different Noisy

Polish your style.


When we do website

design for others we

make sure they don’t

stray too far from the

yellow brick road. Now

we need your help to

keep us from being

attacked by those darn

flying monkeys.

When we do website

design for others we

keep them on track

ensuring they reach

their goals. Now we

need your help to make

sure we don’t stray

from our original

objectives.

Polish your style.

-VS-

What tonality will you use?

Format for success: Textbook meets inverted pyramid.

A textbook organizes information with a

table of contents, easily identifiable

chapters, sub-titles and captions on images.

Polish your style.

website navigation

page titles


Vocal story telling Build interest

This is so funny That reminds me of

this one time when… You won’t believe this

Supporting details Bang!

Inverted pyramid Bang!

If you don’t get past this statement it’s OK, the reader still got the information they needed.

Supporting details Less important

information

Polish your style.

You only have 3-5 seconds to hook your reader.

Speaking vs. Writing: Free flow then edit.

When you talk you add all kinds of unnecessary words into each sentence to get your point across. I know my brain clips along faster when I’m speaking than when I’m writing. When communicating with your audience they probably don’t want to read all the fluffy stuff in between, they want to get right to the point.

When speaking you add extra words into each sentence unnecessarily. My brain clips along faster when I’m speaking than writing. Your audience doesn’t want to read all the fluff, so get to the point.

Polish your style.


Create visual hierarchy with text sizing and colors

Bold key informationBreak apart information into bulleted lists Place captions with graphics to emphasize

key elementsUse meaningful original graphics instead of

clip art or stock photos whenever possible

Polish your style.

How long is too long?

Blog PostsKeep entries around 250-300 words, less

than 500 300 words not enough? Breakdown your article into

logical parts and make a series of entries.Keep paragraphs short, 3-5 sentencesBreak up every few paragraphs with a sub

heading to help viewers skim for contentRemove all content that is not needed

Polish your style.

These rules

also apply to

e-newsletters.

How long is too long?

Twitter Max is 140 characters This includes links

names and all! So shoot for 124.

Facebook Ideal length is 100 to

119 characters Max 63,206

Email Newsletter Take the very best

content Put that in your

newsletter Link to everything else

on your website Try for 500 characters

or less

Polish your style.

E-Newsletter Styles

Magazine-style Short copyYour newsletter is primarily used as a portal to content on your website.

Polish your style.

Hybrid Medium-length copyBoth inform readers and promote a product or service — one large excerpt with link to site for more.

Single-Topic Long copyInclude all the information readers want into the email itself. No links necessary unless needed.

How often is too often?

Facebook 1-2 times per day, be consistent

Twitter As many times as you want say the

message in different ways each timeBlog

At least 1 time every two weeksEmail Marketing

1 per month is effective, effectiveness drops until 5 then holds steady

Polish your style.

Tasty title writing tips.

Short and sweet is best, keep it 50 characters or lessPack a punch, make it interesting, the subject is the

first thing viewers see and maybe the only thing if it’s not intriguing

Capitalize Letters of Each Word for Easy Recognition.Consider starting emails with the business name so

they know who the email is coming fromAVOID: help, percent off and reminder, special, ALL

CAPS, !!!!!!!, freeCreate urgency and the must read feeling

Polish your style.

Tasty title writing tips.

Examples from Bnet.com Shut Up! Why Your Company Needs Quiet Time. What Cleaning Toilets Taught One Exec. Is Someone Stealing Your Ideas? Let Them. Why you should go home early. Stop the Whining: How to End Corrosive Complaining.

Polish your style.

Test your call to action.

Close your eyes and open them, what do you see first?

Put yourself in the shoes of a viewer, be objectiveDo you know where to click instinctively?Did you ask your viewers to take action? Is it front

and center?Look for consistent punctuation and capitalization of

bulleted lists and subtitlesDon’t forget your contact information

Polish your style.

Polish your style.

Polish your style.

Polish your style.

The final edit.

Plug in additional key words (web pages and blogs only)

SPELL CHECK!!!Read it out loudSkim it backwardsSend to the proofing authorities in your process

Polish your style.

The final edit: Grammar check.

Grammar Consider composing in Word to easily recognize spelling

and grammar errors. Note: Writing in Word doesn’t negate reading proofing your grammar and spelling upon completion!

Look for consistent punctuation and capitalization of bulleted lists and subtitles

Check for correct comma, semicolon and colon usage

Polish your style.

Put your new found knowledge to work!

Perfecting Your Process.

GOAL:

TIMELINE: Sooner the better, supplies are needed. No approval needed from superiors, I’m the boss of my own blog!

AUDIENCE: Followers of the task force blog. Friends, family, fellow search and rescue professionals. Varied communication styles and backgrounds.

KEYWORDS: Joplin, MO, Needs List, Search and Rescue, Task Force

Knowledge Action

Your agenda Their agenda

To let readers know about the Joplin situation.

Tell them how to donate supplies.

HOW?

Tell our story about Home Depot and share a picture.

Highlight needs list and how to contact for pick up.

OUTLINE: • Explain the mission• Share the GPS story• Street sign not right• What Home Depot?• Share Nancy’s contact info• Needs list

Our experience in Joplin.Our taskforce was deployed to Joplin, MO to search for missing persons. We were assigned to search the Home Depot area. We piled in the car and drove toward the corner of Main and 20th Street. We drove in circles around the fallen 19th Street sign a few times in search of 20th Street, looking for Home Depot but didn’t see the store anywhere in sight. Finally we consulted our GPS navigation system and searched for the Home Depot. Turns out we were on the corner of Main and 20th Street all along! The street sign from 19th Street had been torn out of the ground by the tornado and thrown a full city block to the corner of Main and 20th were it lay impaled in the ground. All that was left of Home Depot was a bunch of shelves sticking out of a bunch of concrete that looked like a parking lot.

The people of Joplin would greatly appreciate all supplies and donations you can provide. Much needed items are water, bandages, blankets and canned food. Please contact Nancy with the Red Cross at [email protected] to coordinate supply pick up.

Get it all out.

mailto:[email protected]

First impression? Be a critic!

What information is the most important?What makes you think, “Wow I’m glad I read that?”



Get it all out.




What else can be done to improve this piece?

Revise for style.


Our experience in Joplin.Our mission was to locate missing persons but first had to locate the missing Home Depot store formerly located on the corner of Main and 20th Street. The landscape in Joplin was so unrecognizable we needed a GPS to find our task force location, the Home Depot My task force circled the impaled 19th Street sign near Main Street for 15 min before we thought to use our GPS. We then discovered we’d already reached our destination; the street sign had flown a full city block to reach its new location. What was once Home Depot is now shelving standing in a parking lot.

Help this city in need.Email Nancy with the Red Cross at [email protected] to coordinate supply pickups. Items needed include:

Bottled waterBandagesBlanketsCanned Food

Revise for style.


Joplin: Shelving , Street Signs & Needed Supplies. Our mission was to locate missing persons but first had to locate the missing Home Depot store formerly located on the corner of Main and 20th Street. The landscape in Joplin was so unrecognizable we needed a GPS to find our task force location, the Home Depot. My task force circled the impaled 19th Street sign near Main Street for 15 min before we thought to use our GPS. We then discovered we’d already reached our destination; the street sign had flown a full city block to reach its new location. What was once Home Depot is now shelving standing in a parking lot.


Bottled waterBandagesBlanketsCanned Food

Revise for style. Write title. Test call to action.

I find I tend to write the most important information last in my paragraphs. I often move the last sentence to the beginning.


Joplin: Shelving , Street Signs & Needed Supplies. The landscape in Joplin was so unrecognizable we needed a GPS to find our task force location, the Home Depot. Our mission was to locate missing persons but first had to locate the missing Home Depot store formerly located on the corner of Main and 20th Street. What was once Home Depot is now shelving standing in a parking lot. My task force circled the impaled 19th Street sign near Main Street for 15 min before we thought to use our GPS. We then discovered we’d already reached our destination; the street sign had flown a full city block to reach its new location.


• Bottled water• Bandages• Blankets• Canned Food

Joplin, MO Home Depot wreckage.


KNOW YOUR PURPOSE

SPEAK TO YOUR AUDIENCE

POLISH YOUR STYLE

PERFECTING YOUR PROCESS


Business

Writing for the web 2013