The Non-Writer’s Guide to Writing for the Web

Originally published at: http://www.sitepoint.com/non-writers-guide-writing-web/

Five centuries ago, the Gutenberg press made books available to the masses. Fifteen years ago, blogging platforms like WordPress and Movable Type made self-publishing available to anyone with a computer.

Inbound marketing firms encourage small business owners to blog because “it will cause your business to reach new heights and succeed in today’s virtual marketplace.” This means plumbers, roofers, and office managers are beginning to produce content for their company or organization’s website.

Perhaps you’re one of these. Or maybe you’re a WordPress developer cringing at the copy your client sent you. An amateur behind a keyboard can often be as scary as an amateur behind a camera. But that doesn’t mean someone with no writing experience or training can’t become a good web writer.

Write First, Edit Later

Editing while writing requires switching between your creative brain and your critical brain, so you end up not doing either job well.

Setting a timer can prevent this. Try the Pomodoro technique. If 25 minutes of writing is too intense, pick a shorter increment.

Continue reading this article on SitePoint

1 Like

Hi John,

Thanks for the guide. I would like to add some more points.

As far as the editing concern then one must go for at least 2 proofreading software. I use 1Checker and Ginger then check my document score on Grammarly.

I would also recommend to use some unconventional terms in writing.

Eg. I have used “some CHARMING facts about blogging trend 2014” instead of “some FASCINATING facts about blogging trend 2014”

Hi John,

Thanks for the great post! I do have one question.

Why do titles of sections be uppercase per word? Could you give me more information on that?

Thanks!

Great article, was looking just for something like this.
Looking forward for next post on SEO.
Also, would love to see the list of awesome tools that professional blog writers use.
Many thanks.

There have been numerous studies conducted on headlines and capitalization over the years. I’d imagine it’s because the contrast between upper and lower case it makes it easier for the reader to scan.

That’s why all uppercase is discouraged, because the eye tends to skip past uppercase sentences and headlines due to this lack of contrast.

Basically, the eye needs to “rest.” When confronted with too much information, or information presented in a manner that’s too similar, we tend to skip over it. That’s why my article says to break up your content into shorter paragraphs. It’s also why we break up phone numbers with dashes.

Hope that answers your question.

Good points. I’ll have to check out those proofreading sites. Thanks for sharing.

My pleasure; glad I could help. I’ll be sure to suggest your topic to my editor.

There’s a need linter for English prose here: https://github.com/btford/write-good
Pretty good. Trying to cut out the passive voice cold turkey is quite rough though. :stuck_out_tongue:

Whoa, that Hemmingway tool instantly made my content stronger. Almost too strong…it’s like a gym for words :stuck_out_tongue: Great post!

This topic was automatically closed 91 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.