One of the best ways to ensure your writing gets stale is to stay within your box. Just because you choose a certain type of writing, whether its authoring books, blogging, or screenplays, does not mean you should only work on that one style. By branching out, you can keep your writing fresh and learn new tactics. Friday Freewrite provides small, easy writing exercises to help you break out of your box and learn more about your own writing style.
So let’s chat about voice. Your writing voice is what you say and how you say it. Pretty straight forward, right? Then why is it that many of us change our voice to fit what we think we are supposed to do, or say? Be true to your voice and you will find it easier to attract good clients, good employees, good friends…you will attract like-minded people.
Recently I learned the power of writing a run-on sentence to learn more about your voice. This is not something you would want to publish (except maybe as dialog for a crazy character), but a good exercise nonetheless. Let’s give it a try…
First, pick a topic that you have some emotion about. The emotion does not matter, although pain emotions are more powerful. Then just start writing. Don’t stop for punctuation and try to keep the sentence going using “and” or “but”. Use the exercise to really get something off your chest!
I’ll share mine…and would love to read yours!
It never stops and just piles up and up and then on top of that he throw his stuff in the floor not in the perfectly wonderful color coded sort bins that save time because you don’t have to sort everything but can sort within the overall colors like darks and lights and then delicates and towels and sheets instead of a big pile on the floor that you have to bend over and sort into their own piles which is exhausting and makes me frustrated so I’ll just forget it and go eat a piece of chocolate cake!
Search engine optimized writing could potentially become the new “death by PowerPoint”. You know what I mean – people using PowerPoint as a crutch for their presentations, simply reading the screen, making redundant comments, and boring you to death! It can be the same with SEO writing.
“Find your unusual wood picture frames here at ABC Company. We specialize in unusual wood picture frames and want you and your family to have the best unusual wood picture frames.”
OK, so not only are we SO done with unusal wood picture frames, and it is a “long tail” phrase so the redundancy is even more obvious! Long tail phrases are 3 or more words related to your keyword strategy. They are great to use on those pages where you are speaking to buyers. Research has proven that people who search on them are ready to buy and are just looking for the right item or the right deal.
It works the same with a more popular keyword or keyword set.
“Find your picture frames at ABC Company. We specialize in picture frames and want your family….” You get the idea.
Following are some easy ways to make sure you do not bore your readers to death, or make them think you are perhaps a bit touched in the head!
- Read Your Copy Out Loud – I cannot tell you how many mistakes I find by just doing this one thing before I finalize my copy. If it sounds redundant to you, it is.
- Understand Your Target – write to your target market, use phrases they are comfortable with, write at the appropriate education level for your target, and do not worry so much about the keywords and keyword phrases. You will be able to weave them in and it’s more important that your message is delivered in a clear, concise manner.
- Break Up Keyword Phrases – you can insert small words and punctuation within your keyword phrases to break up the monotony and still get the benefit. “Our products are made from the most unique and unusual wood. <new paragraph> Picture frames are a wonderful gift for the new bride, Mother’s Day, or a birthday.”
- Use Tools to Determine Keyword Density – you don’t want to get too caught up in keyword density, but it’s a good idea to use some of the free tools available to get an idea of how often your keywords show up, and ideas for using keywords without writing redundant copy (like image tags).
- Remember that Conversion is Key – while content is king, conversion is still key. All the best SEO tactics and Pay-Per-Click campaigns won’t motivate customers to purchase from you unless your copy speaks their language and addresses their motivations.
It’s important to balance any keyword strategy with good content, and just as important to ensure your content has a strategy as well. Your site should flow between pages and balance the message with addressing your target customer’s needs. You don’t want to create pages that make your readers feel like they are enduring “death by SEO.”
Ideally we want our writing to clarify and compel. But sometimes, it comes out …
Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley is one of my favorite comics. So, since the main character, Bucky Katt, has decided to try his paw at writing, I thought I would share the fun. Alas, poor Bucky takes the creative out of creative writing!
A key to making your web site work is to determine the best ways to repurpose your web content. The return on investment increases by repurposing your web content while providing an opportunity to readers who might not see your web site to learn about your company.
There are many ways to repurpose web content, and not all will make sense for your company. You will need to determine the best use of content based on your target market’s needs. Two of the most effective ways to repurpose content is through e-newsletters and web logs (blogs). Utilizing content from customer comments or questions not only gives you good content, but makes the information customer centric while allowing you to profile your company’s services or products. Therefore, making good use of your FAQs page, or customer service center, is a good idea.
In addition to using your web content’s well written value proposition as part of an elevator speech, you can also repurpose much of the content to add value to various social networking sites. LinkedIn is a highly respected site that focuses on business networking. Using the web site copy will not only speed up the process of writing your profile, but by linking your web log to LinkedIn, you can drive traffic to your site by capturing your profile visitor’s attention. Facebook and Twitter are definitely up and coming in the business marketing arena, and should be consider as a serious part of your content strategy. People want interesting, useful content, and they want to get to know you. Using social networking is a great way to fulfill all those needs.
Determining how to use keywords can seem daunting. First you have to determine which keywords your target market might use to find your services or products. Then you need to research to make sure you have keywords that are being searched for, and finally, determining your keywords and phrases based on search criteria.
Now what?
I recommend using your site map. By having a diagram of your entire web site, you can easily determine where to use each of your keywords and key phrases. Here’s how it works:
- Put your higher level keywords on the higher level pages. These keywords are the most broad, such as leadership versus executive leadership training. Your higher level pages would include your home page, and then any page that describes overall areas such as services, broad products, etc.
- Use your more detailed keywords and phrases for secondary pages. These would be pages that go into more detail about services or products. For example, this is where you might use leadership training.
- Use your key phrases to any page that describes a very specific product or service. These are pages that typically only cover one subject or product, and do so in great detail. Think of these pages as the place where your buyers will want to go to understand in great detail what you are offering them. These pages are appropriate for a long-tail search phrase.
By outlining each of your keywords and phrases on your site map before you begin actually optimizing your web content, you will find it much easier to develop the site. The map gives you a reference point, and allows you to make sure you stay on task regarding your keywords. Plus, your content will definitely stay on-point.
One of the toughest things about writing is getting enough thick skin to accept criticism. Not everyone is gracious about delivering their critiques, and some people can be down right nasty.
A big help to me in this area has been participating in peer reviews. This can be with writers you know or don’t know, or even people you trust who understand what you are writing. Just like your muscles, your must exercise your writing in order to improve.
I ask for a lot of help to improve writing from both peer reviews, friends in the industry, and my husband, who happens to be a great editor. When I know that I’m having to present something to a tough critic, I always let the person know who is helping me so that he can be overly critical of what I’ve done. It is important to get it right, whether you are submitting work to a client, or submitting to a publisher.
Writing exercises take many forms, whether for creative or business. One of the biggest mistakes we can make when writing is to do so in a bubble. Ask for help! After all, wouldn’t you rather have a tough critique from a friend or peer than from a client, or publisher? It’s always much nicer to hear only good things from those who receive our professional submissions!
This was the question raised among several of the most intelligent marketers I have had the pleasure to meet. Social networking still has that stigma – it’s for kids, it’s for social stuff, I don’t care what everyone is doing every second of the day. Fascinating!
I personally cannot tell you the last time I actually read a post where someone told me something I truly did not care about. Perhaps it’s who you are friending or following. Hmmm…now there’s a thought. Perhaps you should consider instituting some guidelines around social networking. Have a strategy about how you are using social networking? Say it isn’t so!!
I try to use my accounts for business purposes. Now, that is not to say that I do not ever say anything personal, or communicate in a personal way with someone online. I did it when I worked in the “corporate world”. I had work friends and we shared all sorts of things from personal issues to business challenges to opinions about out latest boss.
Yet, when it becomes part of the Internet, people view it differently. Perhaps it’s because of the sheer number of people who can actually see that information. Or perhaps it’s because they are uncomfortable with the technology. I can certainly understand both those positions. But think about it – how often did you know someone who either was reprimanded at work or worse, fired, because the rumor mill was in full force and somehow that disparaging remark got back to the new boss? It happens all the time.
Now, I’m not condoning putting everything you are doing on your social networking accounts (see my netiquette blog for some tips). There are some direct posting and messaging options that allow you to state things more privately (much like closing the office door before you gossip about a co-worker). But, just like everything else in life, you need to pay attention to what you are saying, how you are choosing to behave, and remember the repercussions. If you don’t care, hey – then tell everyone everything. It’s your life. But if you do care – if you are one of those people who is insightful enough to realize that you can have repercussions from your actions – then keep your blog posts, social networking information, and even e-mails a little less personal. I don’t mean cold, or even totally professional all the time. Just something a bit less revealing.
Have a strategy
When I decide who to friend, or follow, I look for a common thread. The person has information I’m interested in, they are in an industry I would like to follow, they have a hobby I might want to undertake one day, they are funny, or I’m intrigued by their writing style. I do not simply friend or follow every person that comes along. Not trying to be a snob, but for me it’s not a numbers game. I’m not interested in having thousands of people on my social networking accounts that I cannot provide some value for, or that are not a fit for me professionally or personally. I don’t need to be the popular kid.
Because I make a point to consider various criteria, I rarely get some crazy post or Tweet telling me about bodily functions, or mostly inane information. I receive a lot of valuable information from my connections, and find them to be interesting people that I would not have had the opportunity to get to know otherwise. Bonus!
If I find aftering following someone that we do not have the level of commonality I prefer, I simply unfriend or unfollow them. It’s not personal. I’m sure they have lots of other cyberfriends who are thrilled to read their posts. And I do not feel bad about it. I’m simply trying to maximize my social networking time, and would understand the situation in reverse. Time is precious, so no reason for someone to continue reading my posts if they are not receiving some benefit from them.
The bottom line is you have to decide how you wish to use social networking. If you want it to be all personal, fine. If you want it for business, then accept that you will have to merge your personal and business, or not ever friend a personal friend. Either way, it’s all good. After all, you really have friends at work, right? It’s fine to be yourself, and have some fun! Just remember to respect other’s time, and that anything you put online can be found.
I recently saw bits of a company address where the new president had to convince the employees that the pay cut they were all taking was (a) in the best interest of everyone overall and (b) only temporary. Since these are cuts on the heels of other recent cuts, his audience was skeptical at best.
As I listened to him sometimes taking the more direct, honest approach and sometimes giving the “corp speak” answer, it made me wonder “What if he just told the bottom line, this is how I feel, version?”
People are often afraid to speak their mind, either because they fear rejection or they fear being wrong. But let’s face it – more often than not it’s your opinion, basically a perspective, that you are voicing. So can you be wrong, really?
I think the key lies in sincerity. If you are speaking, or writing, from a place of manipulation, it will show. People are smart – much smarter than we give them credit for. Particularly people who spend much time on the Internet and use it as a purchasing tool. They are savvy at searching, research, and reviewing information.
By making sure that what you say is truly sincere, it will shine through. People want to be helped, not sold to. They want to be supported, not manipulated. They want truthful information, not sales spew.
When you are writing, or speaking, to a group, make sure you understand their position. What is it they want when they read your article or blog? And are you providing it with their best interest at heart.
Obviously you need to sell your products or services. But isn’t it easier to understand your customers, identify their needs, and then deliver than waste a bunch of time and energy trying to convince them they need something they do not? I certainly think so.
Are you comfortable with your writer’s voice? Learning your best writer’s voice can take time, and some practice. Honestly, I think most of us have more than one voice. Here’s why:
When you are in different social settings, you behave differently. This is not bad, or good, but reality. You will slightly alter behavior based on the circumstance (church requires a different type of behavior than a basketball game with your buds).
It makes sense that your writing style will change based on the “setting”. For example, tweeting with friends will be different than a tweet with a potential business contact. Only slightly, but different. You will share things on Facebook with friends that you may not wish to share with a new business associate. This is fine…and often preferred by many.
So here’s the rub: You will want to pay attention to how you write in these different settings. At the core of everything you write, or say, will be your prominent voice. It may be kind, enthusiastic, or authoritative. There is no right or wrong here, just reality.
My voice is direct – both in person and in my writing. That’s OK and often desired by people who are ready to make a purchasing decision. They want details and nitty gritty – not a bunch of fluff. Right up my alley!
When you are writing in these different settings, pay attention to your body. Do you feel stressed or calm? Is it easy to write, or are you struggling? When finished do you feel a sense of accomplishment and pride, or are you just glad it’s over?
I understand that writing to friends and family is often easier, but still pay attention to how you use your voice. It’s what comes naturally to you, and will allow you to expand your writing overall.
For a decent definition of writer’s voice, check out Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writer’s_voice.
Just be true to yourself, and your natural voice. You’ll find it pays off!
