“Almost all words do have color, and nothing is more pleasant than to utter a pink word and see someone’s eyes light up and know it is a pink word for him or her, too.” (Gladys Taber)

Back in my post grads day at the Ad School in Atlanta, I had a copywriting mentor (the actual head of the writing department at the school) who did a lot to challenge my writing style. My first few quarters there were all about settling in and embracing the process. But, as she reminded me on a few occasions, writing is about a conversation. Not a lecture.

Or as she used to say to me…. “Stop being so preachy!”

She was the one who introduced me to the writings of Tom Robbins. Still Life With Woodpecker was the first of his novels that I consumed. And there have been plenty more since. Doreen (the mentor) encouraged me to loosen up (I was heavy into preppy clothing, and she chided me one time during an end-of-semester review that the ads and copy I was showing for the final “looked like they came from someone wearing suspenders and a bow tie”). She quipped that I needed to “fill your bed with Jell-O and roll around in it nekkid.” For a kid from West Texas, this was just too….wild. (But boy has that, well, boy changed a lot over the last 20 years.)

She was also the one on the other end of the phone line that would remind me that “I had a quirky writing style that not everyone was going to get….let alone like. The secret to my job searching success would be finding the right place with people who DO appreciate my writing.”

But over the years, I have encountered some polarity to my writing. I guess I’ve had to face it through every interview I’ve been in. Or every time I’ve shared my portfolio with possible agencies.

The best thing, though, is when I HAVE found those connections. Having clients/employers/partners who totally get what I’m saying through my word choices.

So, as I’m sitting here thinking about the possibilities that 2010 will bring, I’m reminded by not only the words of Doreen, the grad school mentor. But also the quote from Gladys Taber.

Gravitate toward those who gravitate toward me. Those who don’t just see “pink” but actually feel pink when they see the word.

If you need just one work book to take away with you this Christmas/New Year, try this easy to read, full of great information book written by a New Zealander… it won’t even feel like work!

The pen may surrender to the mouse, but content is still king! Gain more hits, more responses, and more profit with this guide to writing for your website. Learn to make your website readable, credible, and profitable with this straightforward, authoritative guide to writing and content organisation. A clearly written, easy-to-follow essential guide to improving your website and how it works for you

Though the pen may have surrendered its mightiness to the mouse, clear, concise writing has never been more at a premium, both online and in print. Shocked by the lack of attention given to writing in the ever-growing number of books related to website design, New Zealand author Rachel McAlpine decided to right the balance with her first book, ‘Web Word Wizardry‘. When carefully edited and strategically placed, words will guarantee your website is noticed – and visited – time and time again

This indispensable guide is crammed with expert advice on how to make online content readable, usable, findable, accessible, and credible. Screenshots and checklists make Web writing easy for designers, wordsmiths, and businesspeople alike.

You can buy ‘Write Me A Web Page, Elsie!’ here >>

Tom Gauld | http://www.tomgauld.com/index.php



As shared by an art director friend….

Granted, my “bees” are usually my sister Cairn Terriers, who love to distract me with adorable looks, requests to play ball, or advance warnings of impending intruders.

Or, is it that the mailman is here? Or their “boyfriend” the Scottie has dropped by for an afternoon visit? Or, for Cody, that another ice cube has dropped into the tray?

Ah, the joys of being an independent contractor working at home. Taxing at times (and I don’t even want to think about the whole tax mess coming up), but I have certainly relished the opportunity to do my own thang.

This week I have begun a new experiment online. The goal is to study how we present ourselves by the links and stories we share.  In order to do this, I have created a Tumblr account where I post one link a day everyday. In a few months, I will present the site to a group of individuals who do not know me who will detail what views they have of the writer from the posts and links.

I plan to use my former web writing teacher’s next class for the experiment. Some time near the beginning of next semester, after her students have the basics, I’ll ask if 20 or so minutes can be dedicated to looking through my experiment, brainstorming words that come to mind and writing up their thoughts.

The goal will be to see what people take out of what we present to each other through our updates and posts. I think this will be good information to have when I begin working for an organization in social media. It has occurred to me many times that newspapers and other organizations do not think through what they post, especially on Facebook and Twitter.

I chose to use Tumblr because it was one site with which I had very little experience, so this kills two birds with one stone. Updates to come soon.

For my Writing for the web class, I was in charge of developing a social media plan for the UGA Writing Center, as part of a class service project suggesting changes to the site. My plan incorporates some of the lessons I have learned about social media as a whole and the specific uses of each site over the semester.

I hope to be able to continue this study of social media with the job I get post graduation. In order to display some of my experience, I have reposted my findings here, and have linked this to my web portfolio.

In order to best connect with students on as many levels as possible, the Writing Center will need to develop a name for themselves in the Social Media world. The more comprehensive and far reaching the social media, the more respectability and connections the center will have. The ultimate goal is to keep up with the networks their clientele would use, not to necessarily gather more people coming in, but to establish a name as the place to find answers and to cut down on superfluous visits.

Before going into specific networks, there are a few rules that must be followed throughout the process. 1)Names/titles/accounts should be kept under a similar name. That makes finding and following easier, and of course UGAWritingCenter is a much better call name than something cheesy. 2) To make the pieces look connected and coherent, pictures should be the same or similar on every site. Profile shots and icons, whatever they may be, should be the same picture, maybe even matching that on the homepage. The idea is not monotony, but a brand, connected through logo. 3) Each site is only as good as the last update. So, the Writing Center should not extend the brand further than they can handle at any one time. But don’t over update. “Businesses that post too often crowd out the user’s real friends and become unpopular” (Neilson 1).  4) Don’t friend, follow or promote distracting or biased sites like some UGA pages. Theres no reason for a respectable, professional organization with no political ties to be involved in religious or political groups that distract from the true purpose of the page.

Again, it is imperitive that the main site contain links to the social media pages. “Unfortunately, once users decided to follow a company, it wasn’t always easy to find it. Users often visited a company’s own site to find subscription info because current social networking sites offer poor search and navigation” (Neilson 1). The first step is the base, which would be Facebook. This would reach the largest amount of students quickly. It would be an easy one-day task to friend people within the UGA network, and to cross advertise on other UGA sites, like the English page. This would take the form of a “fan page,” not a group, and should be constantly updated. Hours of operation, location and a link to the main site are imperatives on the page.

Twitter should be next. It is a useful tool for professionals. A good idea here would be daily Tweets on writing suggestions, interesting lectures or similarly helpful items. It would be a good way for students to connect and ask questions. This way, they could also connect with other writing centers, and retweet good advice, and also make a name for themselves in spite of better competition from OWL.   With these sites you will have to actively seek out followers. Users don’t go looking for companies most of the time. “Typically, the impetus to follow a company came via a prompt of some sort — such as a recommendation from a friend, an email, newsletter or confirmation from the company, or a link from the company’s website” (Neilson 1).   Further movements are more labor intensive, but will help establish the Center’s credibility and potentially extend its brand outside of the University community.

A You Tube account would be useful to make explanatory videos on anything from how to read a poem, to reading for editing and even how to get to the center. And this would give students the power to decide what was well done. The “video is relevant to the viewer, it is passed along through email, blogs, etc.” (Crane 1).

Having a Digg account would allow students to promote their and their fellow students’ writing,  encouraging them to get published.

Finally, some sort of blog where students could sign in with an account (using UGA ID or the same process used to sign up for tutoring appointments) would be useful for students to ask simple questions that could be answered by appointed moderators and even other students. It would cut down on the superfluous visits that take time from more in depth issues.  All take more exact expertise, but would not be difficult to implement.

A note: the blog has been suggested over something similar to the library’s AIM account because 1) students would not have to download software, and 2) AIM is not as popular as it once was, whereas a blog is still a movement people seem to be accepting. Each site should have a section explaining its purpose, for those less savvy online students. Theoretically, one appointed moderator could check the sites sporadically, and even student volunteers could be in charge of the keeping up with the simple, tedious work of the sites, maybe even for some sort of intern credit or resume boost.

There are times where I’ve found that finding new business is one of the toughest parts of being an independent contractor. During these past few months of being a freelancer, I’ve been pretty lucky to have either A) been asked by former coworkers to help out on their projects, B) referred by previous coworkers to people who were looking for a writer, or C) found new clients/agencies through my own networking efforts.

What has been an eye-opening issue has been my relationship with the umpteen different temp agencies I’ve registered with over the past few years. Sure, I get calls occasionally from them about my availability and/or interest in temp gigs. But why is it that their pay scale is less than half of what I’ve been able to bill on my own? I understand they have to make money, too. But why is it an agency will pay me my asking rate, but not get even close to that number when it comes through a recruiter?

I’m hopeful that 2010 is going to be a great year for my career. But before we get there (there still are 25 “shopping days” til the end of the year…and my birthday), I’m making a point of remembering the opportunities I’ve been blessed with during 2009.

As the inside of the Thanksgiving card read that featured the artwork above (1 of 3 that I sent out), I give thanks for this year’s opportunities to express my unique brand of creativity.

Language has gone through serious change since the introduction of the web and instant messaging. Especially with the influence of texting, words and language has been altered to accommodate the speed of our everyday lives. Thinking of sites like i can has cheezburger, the use of this lol-language based on typing errors and acronyms and weird grammar is everywhere!  Soon our dictionaries will be appended to include these words and historically alter language on an official scale.

Written language has gone though a struggle with the introduction of the internet, and the proliferation of instantaneous media. Newspapers in smaller cities have dissolved, and magazine that were once tangible and collectible have shifted to on-line only. While there will always be a need for traditional print, the demand for it is diminishing at an alarming pace. What took centuries and millenniums in the making to create and hone will be gone in the next ten years. What will happen to the bible? will anyone even care by then?

With the disappearance of tangible written objects, language has become loose and alterable, allowing it to become something new and contemporary to the times that we’re living in. Letter writing has been replaced by texting and email, which is a separate language in itself – more personal and colloquial. I say bring it on, i welcome the change. Things should always be new, in order to keep life fresh.

Just a quick post on something I came across that just reinforces what we know about web audiences, about how they are more impatient  and do not really read but scan mostly.

The article has a comparison of TV and web audiences and I’m reproducing the summary table here for you:

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/media-velocity.html

One thing that really strikes me is the amount of distraction you get online, and the compulsion to multi-task when you get online!

Oh, excuse me, let me check on the other page that’s loading and the attachment that I’m waiting to be downloaded and the article I’m waiting to upload… 

We’ve got a few classes to look forward to:

First, starting the month off on December 1st is Taylor Ellwood, who’ll be talking about why businesses need to use social media. He’ll be approaching those with some qualms about entering the world of social media, so if you have ever had doubts about the use of your time spent engaging with social media, this may be a good session for you. Tuesday December 1st from 6-7pm.

The next week, on December 7th, we have Peter Korchnak joining us again to talk about green marketing, and a five-step approach to making your marketing as sustainable as your product. Monday December 7th from 6-7:30pm

And finally, we have another presenter joining us again – Susan Rich will be doing an encore presentation of her Write it Rich: Real-World Writing Tips for Reluctant Writers class for those looking to write for an invisible audience on the internet. Monday December 14th from 6-7pm.

Seminars are $5 for MCNW clients and $10 for community members (check or cash please). They’re held at the Mercy Corps NW office at 43 SW Naito Pkwy downtown by the Burnside Bridge.

Contact Anu (asamarajiva@mercycorpsnw.org or 503-896-5080) to RSVP. Check website (www.mercycorpsnw.org) day of the event for any cancellation notices.

Since the beginning of the summer, I’ve been compiling a list of things that I absolutely hate. They are mostly social faux pas, but some do relate to Web writing. Here they are, for you reading pleasure:

• Conversate. According to Jesse Sheidlower, editor of the OED, it is a word. Much to my dismay. Using it, however, will not make you sound smart, it will only make you sound like a fool.

• Using the word literally too much or in the wrong context. This summer, my cousin and her Auburn Greek-life friends said the word no less than 87,000 times. Literally. If you hate it as much as I do, check out this blog that tracks the use of the word.

• When people type “prolly” instead of “probably” in their text messages and/or on Facebook.

• When people (girls are especially notorious for this) draw out the last letter of their words on Facebook. For example, “Pleaseeeee.” That is read as “please-y.” If you want to be whiny and annoying, pleeaase do it correctly.

• Air quotes.

• This is unrelated, but I can’t stand it when I’m driving and the person in front of me does the stop-and-turn. It enrages me.

For more, check out Toothpastefordinner.com

So that’s about it for now. More hateful ranting to come. If you have any questions or concerns, leave a comment and we can prolly conversate about it.

The traditional newspaper format is the most efficient way to present information on the Web.

 
You might or might not have heard the name “inverted pyramid,” but you know the structure. Information on the newspaper’s front page is more compelling than what you find on the “run-over” page, where the story continues inside. That is because you are moving progressively toward less important information. This organizational structure is called the inverted pyramid because the pyramid represents the descending importance of the information. The most significant comes first and the least appears last.

Most feature stories are told in a different format, and they are presented differently online than they are on a printed page. But people generally do not go online to read stories anyway; they go in search of information that they want to absorb quickly and move on, and the most-to-least important structure is the most efficient way to deliver it.

The opening paragraph (the first two sentences), should contain the essential facts or the main point of the message, and then you develop that idea in the subsequent paragraphs.

Also, make Web pages self-contained whenever possible to save readers from clicking to another page to finish the piece. A great site to see for tight writing is the Mayo Clinic site.

Reprinted from EHotelier.com

Nov 11, 2009
By Jennifer Rodrigues

 
Q: What’s the difference between writing for my marketing brochures and writing for my property’s website?

A:  The major difference between writing for brochures and marketing materials and writing for the web is this: people read brochures/marketing materials from start to finish (linear) and people read websites out of order (nonlinear).  They might read the second page before the home page and then only read paragraphs 3 to 5.  So obviously, it’s important that your writing reflects the style of reading that you can expect for each piece. 

Writing for marketing materials can be longer and more drawn out.  You can write about a particular topic for a paragraph, or four.  But when writing for the web, you have to write each paragraph or section as a cohesive whole, meaning that each section has to be complete by itself.  Also, when writing for the web, avoid using long paragraphs; instead, use lots of short sentences/paragraphs and bulleted lists. This makes it less daunting for readers and encourages them to actually take the time to read your website. 

Other web writing tips:                             

• Use subheads.
• Add space between paragraphs.
• Make type legible; avoid fancy backgrounds or colored fonts.
• Don’t date your materials by referencing dates.

A: Before you can properly evaluate your campaign, you need have developed measurable objectives. These should have been developed before even undertaking your program so that you can make sure that each pitch/activity is on-target each step of the way. 

Next, you need to decide on how you want to evaluate your campaign. Again, this should have been done at the beginning of the campaign so you know what you’re working towards. Some common ways to evaluate the campaign include:

• The number of press clippings?
• Increased sales?
• Increased market share?
• Increased awareness?

The most common way of evaluating a PR campaign is measuring the campaign’s exposure by compiling press clippings and broadcast mentions – 70% of PR practitioners use media analysis/press clippings as their major tool to evaluate their campaigns’ success.

This is something that can be done yourself or can be outsourced to a news clipping service, like Cision.  If you do it yourself, keep in mind that although it will save you money, it will take a lot of time to monitor the thousands of newspapers, broadcast stations, radio stations and online news channels every day.  But it’s possible to do, using ongoing Google searches and a handy tool called Google Alerts. 

Another advantage of using a company like Cision to monitor your media placements is that they will calculate the impressions, or how many people each message touched. For example, if a story appears in a publication with a circulation of 100,000, the clip will have 100,000 impressions. This is a useful number because it will show you how far your message reached but it won’t tell you the actual number of people who read the article.

Advertising equivalency is another method that can be used to calculate the value of a PR placement by determining how much the placement would cost if it were an advertisement in that same publication. 

There are also companies and programs that will calculate your media placements by various factors including (but not limited to):

• Article size
• Mention of key messages
• The type of article, etc.

No matter what method you choose, it is very important to continuously evaluate your campaign so you can decide what to continue, what to stop and whether your messaging is on target. Compare your results with your original objectives to see if you are meeting your goals. If not, change up your campaign accordingly. If you are meeting your goals, then congratulation, you’re a PR expert already!   

To read the article at EHotelier, go to http://ehotelier.com/hospitality-news/item.php?id=17513_0_11_0_C

The following blog post is part of this exercise.

Birdwatching: combining leisure and conservation.

Crimson Rosella are easy to see in Boho South. Photo by SouthernAnt on Flickr.

BOCA bird camp

The Strathbogie Tableland is a special part of the world, hidden on a plateau in the Strathbogie Ranges, 200 km north-east of Melbourne. It’s here that Bird Observation and Conservation Australia (BOCA) spent five days camping and birdwatching recently.

Both BOCA members and non-members are welcome to join in on holidays like this, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The aims are to socialise, to relax, and to watch birds and collect valuable information on them.

I joined this BOCA camp for one afternoon for a walk in a private property in a part of the Tableland called Boho South.

Birdwatching

Birdwatching isn’t difficult. All you need are a pair of binoculars, a bird identification book, and an interest in birds. Of course, it helps to have the company of a more experienced birder, which is why joining a bird camp is a great way to learn more.

Birdwatching isn’t boring, either. Many people envisage birdwatching as sitting silently in a hide, watching birds as they pass by. In reality, there are many ways to watch birds. On this bird camp, we simply went for a small walk and kept an eye out for birds. The aim was to enjoy the bush as much as it was to enjoy the birds.

Conservation

Birdwatching is more than a sociable and leisurely pastime. Data collected from birdwatching can be valuable for conservation. Many landowners who are actively engaged in revegetating parts of their property ask BOCA and other birdwatching groups to survey their land.

The result is that land owners find out which bird species are found on their property, and the ornithological community—that is, the community concerned with the study of birds—can add to its bird distribution records. Ultimately, we can determine which areas are the most important to protect, depending on species diversity and the presence of threatened species.

Why birds?

Birds are good indicators of how healthy an environment is. What’s more, generally, they’re easier to see than other fauna, and research suggests that rises and dips in bird populations can indicate environmental change.

Join in

Anyone is welcome on BOCA camps, regardless of membership and birding experience. It’s a relaxing weekend activity where you can combine leisure-time in the bush with a little bit of conservation, and learn something new. Contact BOCA for more information.

The following blog post is part of this exercise, however, the article has been written for the blog on my chosen web site (G Online).

Helping life return to the Yarra Ranges after bushfire

 

Clearing Cumberland Walk. Photo by C Eaw, used with permission.

 

Bushfire recovery

Two weekends ago, I volunteered for Bushwalking Victoria’s bushfire recovery effort in the Yarra Ranges, east of Melbourne.

About 38% of Yarra Ranges National Park burned in February’s bushfires. Our task in the Yarra Ranges for the weekend was to clear bushwalking tracks to make them safe for people again. This meant removing logs, pruning branches, and casting away any twigs or bark that might trip up a person.

People can be in danger in the bush even after a bushfire has passed. Limbs can fall without warning, and tracks can become heavily eroded.

The track we worked on was no exception. That weekend, as I stood on an exposed section of Cumberland Walk—a once beautiful rainforest walk, now burnt, that takes visitors through roughly 4 km of Myrtle Beech forest—charred timber crumbled beneath my boots. The wind roared and tree limbs creaked, threatening to fall at any time. Imagining how frightening the place would have been in a fire wasn’t difficult.

After a fire, it takes time for people to return to the bush. Bushwalking Victoria’s ultimate goal was to make the Yarra Ranges accessible to walkers once more, and engage the community in a positive way post-bushfires.

War against trees

The crumbling track on Cumberland Walk. Photo by C Eaw, used with permission.

One negative result of the bushfires—among the many—is that people have turned against trees. In a way, it’s understandable; when a bushfire is raging, people’s lives and livelihoods are at stake. But is the answer to destroy already depleted vegetation?

Trees are home to wildlife that are already suffering from rapidly increasing urban encroachment. To clear yet more land would be disasterous for wildlife; not to mention, for people—experts argue that trees can mitigate bushfire by reducing windspeed. In this way, actually, trees can help protect homes.

Consequently, conservationists and people whose homes are at risk from bushfires needn’t be at loggerheads. Yet there seems to be a local dilemma that reflects a global predicament; can humans and wildlife co-exist?

Regardless, Bushwalking Victoria’s bushfire recovery effort aims to encourage people to return to the bush. And, the more people spend time in the bush, the more people grow to love it and consider it to be valuable to both humans and animals alike.

You can help

To get involved with Bushwalking Victoria’s conservation activities, contact Bushwalking Victoria directly.

There’s an article in a recent issue of Wired where the author lists a whole bunch of “technology” that, despite being inferior in build and results than more expensive competitors, is having a huge impact on the way business and industry are bringing their products to market. From video cameras to the MP3, today’s consumers are content to purchase products and services that are “good enough” for now, and almost adapting a disposable mindset.

So what happened? Well, in short, technology happened. The world has sped up, become more connected and a whole lot busier. As a result, what consumers want from the products and services they buy is fundamentally changing. We now favor flexibility over high fidelity, convenience over features, quick and dirty over slow and polished. Having it here and now is more important than having it perfect. These changes run so deep and wide, they’re actually altering what we mean when we describe a product as “high-quality.”

And it’s happening everywhere. As more sectors connect to the digital world, from medicine to the military, they too are seeing the rise of Good Enough tools like the Flip. Suddenly what seemed perfect is anything but, and products that appear mediocre at first glance are often the perfect fit.

Is this new attitude making it more difficult to market products and services to the right target audience? It seems that, for a whole bunch of marketing communications, the thinking and creative behind them matches this “good enough” mentality. Especially in the digital marketplace.

The beauty (and possible flaw?) of most digital marketing is the ability to quickly adapt and change the look, feel, and message. It’s not like print ads or broadcast, where you want to be absolutely sure before you put something on press, on in the can.

But is this “hurry up and get the best message [for now] up” really doing a service for the advertising industry? I know there are still numerous agencies that still do focus group testing, and then use the learnings from such sessions to tweak and adapt the message to make sure they get the biggest bang [to the widest audience] for the buck. But that seems to be more of a rarity than the norm.

Of course, part of the challenge for this disposable thinking, is the constant shopping of ad business from ad shop to ad shop the minute sales stall or decline. Don’t people know that building a brand takes a little time? And that constantly changing your message leads to confusion, not brand loyalty?

Sure, there are times that I’ve adapted the “hurry up” approach to some projects. But only when it was appropriate. The rest of the time, I remind myself that, in this day of practically “no act left undocumented,” that it’s not just a company or product’s name on the communication. In a way, it also has mine.

Because of this, I’ll continue to take a little extra time to make sure the words are doing their job. And that I’m doing mine. Because anything less isn’t good enough.

Who needs 140 characters? For the past couple of months, I’ve been lucky to be included in a weekly Haiku exercise. It’s great to see how the people in this Tuesday group see the world through the simple pattern of 5-7-5.

It’s not like the addiction that is tweeting and Facebook. I mean, really, how much do I really need to know about the small details of people’s days? I don’t even want to share my own. But hey, we all get to choose how we want to share, with whom, and which gory details.

I guess I like that it’s the rules of this particular engagement. It’s weekly. It’s Haiku. And that’s about it. There’s no limit to the maximum number you can submit. One is super. More is good, too.

Just goes to show that using the power of language, with restrictions, can still provide an impactful message. Sure, I get paid to write. But that doesn’t mean I’ll always want to use a bunch of words. Quite the contrary. I believe less can be more when that’s the best/right solution for the communication. But I also don’t believe in the “a picture is worth a thousand words” mentality that some art-directors-who-will-go-nameless want to use.

It’s amazing how much I start thinking of responses in the 5-7-5 rule. Especially as Tuesday approaches and I know I’ll start seeing the weekly contributions from the group. And know that I have my own to share.

Tweet if you want to,
But I’d rather share my world
Through 5-7-5.

The better you understand WHO you are writing your website for, the better you can tailor your words to make your audience feel comfortable, included and eventually persuaded – to do what you want them to do.

One way to make your readers – your potential customers – feel comfortable and included is to make sure you use the words that they use.  This is a simple, yet often overlooked, principle in website copywriting.  Why?  Here are 2 common reasons:

1. If you are writing the content for your own business’ website, you are probably an ‘insider’: you know the industry jargon; you may inherently write the way people inside your company or industry speak; you’re probably thinking about what you want to say – not about what your readers want to know.
2. You may think that using big words or “officialese” will make your website sound more important or informative.

Don’t use “insider” words

Think about your customers when you write, and make sure you don’t use industry terminology or insider jargon they might not be familiar with.  Such expressions can make your readers feel excluded at best, and at worst your readers won’t even understand what you’re talking about.  Remember, it just takes one click for a potential customer to leave your site in search of information they can easily understand. 

To keep potential customers on your site, make sure you use terminology they are familiar and comfortable with.  Use the words your customers themselves would use.

Use simple words

Long words, complicated phrases or “officialise” will not make you or your website seem more important.  They may even intimidate your readers and make them leave your site.  Website readers are busy; they are looking for specific information; they scan content.  Even the most highly educated website readers appreciate simple, easy-to-recognise words they can quickly understand and absorb.  Consider the words your customers would use if they were having a verbal conversation – in most cases they are straightforward, clear words.  Use the same on your website.

To persuade your readers to become customers, you need to make them feel comfortable and included.  Using clear, simple words and familiar terminology will make your readers feel at ease and help convert them into customers.

www.strongideas.com.au

contact@strongideas.com.au

Not meaning to sound preachy and self-righteous…yeah, well maybe just a little … but it has occurred to me that some people are making the same mistake I made when I first started trying to make money online. You’ve bought the BS that the traffic is going to come to you, all you have to do is sit back and wait and let the site do all the work.That’s just crap! I learned the hard way, as some of you are now, that it’s up to you how much traffic you get. I know some of you do this part time, and you really don’t have a lot of time to do promotion, but if you don’t do your own promotion, stop complaining when the search engines stop being your friends.

Writing sites are businesses. They offer us the PAID opportunity, AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE to get our writing seen. How many people see it is entirely up to us, not Examiner or eHow or AC or Google…US.

I spend about 20% of my time doing promotion. I even started a social network for women who write online to promote their work, because women are only 32% of those who write online, and the men were kicking our butts.

Every morning, I tweet some of my articles, and I retweet other’s articles and blogs, and stumble a few of mine and a few of other people’s. I don’t have the biggest niche in the world, so I have to put myself out there. I am actually jealous of the celebrity writersers who get all that generic traffic, and the Trendy Living Examiner, who for some unknown reason is on every freaking page and is always #1, but I’m not them, so I have to work at it.

We’d be glad to have you if you want to join our network, Women Who Write Online at Ning.

Just stop whining, please! We’re all adults. I get frustrated and whiny sometimes myself, but I stopped playing the blame game, and you know what?  Things got better.

All this being said, I’m here to support any of you, so if you want,  follow me on Twitter, and @ me to let me know you’re there so I can follow you back, because my tweets are private.

Happy Writing!
Deb

For my latest assignment, I was to write a script either for a video or interactive feature. Web writing includes creating preliminary documents to a project, such as an outline, proposal, flowcharts and/or design documents as well as storyboards, scripts, and final documents.

I decided to create a fitness video script. The process began with a clear goal set in mind, to educate and inform women how to properly perfom an arm exercise, specially the dumbbell curl. From this, a clear location and set was determined by thinking it to be an at-home video.

Then I had to plan out what exactly the model would say, where the camera would zoom in/zoomout and its focus points, the angle of the camera, the set directions, and the writing format. Using a linear screenplay format, the fitness video script was produced.

Check out my work: Fit Fashionista Video Series

What do you think? Would this be a video you would be interested in watching?

If you judge by the posts on the Community Chatter forum at eHow, there is big trouble at the site.  Starting with the buyout by Demand Media, the site has seen increasing glitches that are frustrating writers and driving viewers elsewhere, if the sudden drop in income for writers is any indication.

Lately, strange things have been happening there.  Suddenly, Demand Studios writers were called “eHow Contributing Writer” and the eHow members’ articles were simply called “User Submitted Articles”.  What is it with sites changing what they call their writers now?  Associated Content did the same thing not too long ago, and caused a huge uproar in their community.  Why can’t these sites just leave well enough alone?

Anyway, they are still trying to determine what to call them, and how to differentiate between the DS writers and the eHow member writers.  Everyone has an opinion.  Seems that a huge concern like Demand Media could make a simple decision like that, doesn’t it?

Then came the “sweeps”, where eHow claimed to be deleting “non compliant articles”,  meaning not in compliance with the new eHow Article Submission Guidelines posted on the forums.  The problem was, suddenly articles were being “swept away” with no notice and no reason, and replaced by DS writer articles with the same names.  eHow promised to send out notices of why the articles were deleted, but they sometimes do, sometimes don’t.  Consistency is not the eHow staff’s greatest talent, it seems.

Now, suddenly, articles that disappeared in the sweeps are just as suddenly showing back up in writers’ accounts, as if nothing happened.  Has eHow offered any explanation of this?  Why of course not.  One writer says she had one reappear that she had already rewritten and resubmitted, and when she again deleted it, it showed up again the next day.

The editor is always on the fritz in some way or another.  Just recently, no one was able to post articles at all, and of course posting pictures is an ongoing problem that comes and goes.

Then there is the issue of certain writers not getting articles removed, no matter how many members complain or flag them, which is something that continues to be a problem, and probably always will.

Earnings are a problem as well.  In the month of September, hundreds of writers did not get paid, even though they had reached and some far exceeded the payout limit.  No explanation was offered, and payments went out in October as scheduled.

Is eHow having financial problems?  Are they having trouble being paid by Google?  If so, it wouldn’t be the first time, and since they aren’t allowed to say anything bad about Google without losing their account, this wouldn’t be something they could report to the members.  Also, if they are having other financial cash flow problems, they couldn’t report that either, or risk losing writers who don’t want to go down with a sinking ship.

Writers are leaving eHow, and some of them had quite a few articles on there.  It’s hard to say how many, exactly, but it’s not a tiny amount, and eHow has to be noticing the content that is just disappearing from the site.  Some writers don’t even bother to take down their account, so there are hundreds if not thousands of accounts with no articles posted for years, and no avatars (which is strange, since the avatar is loaded onto the eHow servers).

There is also the theory that eHow is trying to drive the member writers out, and replace them with Demand Studio writers so they won’t have to pay residuals anymore.  You can imagine what an accounting nightmare all those residuals are, when DS writers simply get paid per article, and are not anymore trouble.

Only time will tell what will happen to eHow.  It’s bid to become the new About.com is clearly a failure, and it has almost become a joke.  Can they pull their fat out of the fire and make eHow all that it could be?  Better online sites have folded.  It’s just the way of the web.