Note: You can access this gist here: http://learntocodewith.me/writing-tips
We all write. Important Emails, blog posts, copy for a website, notes for work or school, papers, etc.
Writing is a muscle. You can build it over time. Start with 100 words a day. Build up to 150 the next week, then 200 words a day after that and so forth.
Make writing coherent and digestible. (Because attention spans are shorter than ever, you want your copy -- whether on your site or in an email -- to be easy to read.)
Note: the following mostly apply for web based writing, NOT academic writing, business plans, grant proposals, fiction writing, etc. Instead, website copy, blog posts, and emails.
- Underline hyperlinks only, not plain text (or else people may click!)
- Use bold and italicizations for emphasis
- Use bulleted/numbered lists and subheadings to help break up text, and make your writing easy to scan
- Keep paragraphs short -- so that rule about 5 sentence paragraph not true
- Keep sentences short, also
- Put important links on separate line (especially in emails) .. Why? Because people open 51 percent of emails on their phone !! Always make important links easy to click because a little iPhone 4 + big fingers = hard to click
- Also , big blocks of text are especially hard to read on mobile
- using language your audience uses
- design choices your audience will understand (i.e. avoiding crazy hover effects and JS transitions if you're targeting those 65+)... example of this here (http://www.guillaumejuvenet.com/).. it's cool but it takes thought to navigate the site
- in blog posts, tell stories. (depending on the post/company/goals) be personal.
- it's all about transparency. They literally share how much each employee earns a month
“Transparency breeds trust, and trust is the foundation of great teamwork.”
- identity
- struggle
- discovery
- result
- call to action (sometimes)
Rough draft ...sorry, may be some profanity. and there will be lots of typos.
Final Version really shows an example of evolution process
No CTA, but could have added at end either: "Check out the Moto 360 today." or "Are you a female smart watch owner? If yes, how do you like your watch? Comment below!"
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Headline analyzer by co schedule (http://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer) use for headings, subheadings, titles, email subject lines, etc,
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Portent's title maker (http://www.portent.com/tools/title-maker) also good for titles. Different because you put in subject and gives you ideas
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Emotional headlines (http://coschedule.com/blog/emotional-headlines/) and why they get shared more on social media
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52 Headline Hacks Free Ebook (http://boostblogtraffic.com/headline-hacks/)
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WP users, use the popular Yoast SEO Plugin (https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/)it gives that [copy score] (http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Flesch%E2%80%93Kincaid_readability_tests#/Flesch_Reading_Ease)
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Google Docs, obviously
Remember, if you confuse people, you lose people. Be consistent. Be reachable. (Put contact info visible everywhere!) Make it so simple for your customers.