For Newbies: A Brief Guide to Writing Online
A reader of my newsletter wrote to me this morning asking if my video course on running your own newsletter would be suitable for him as a complete beginner.
I told him to save his money.
It was clear from his writing style that he needs a bit more practice before trying to engage with many others, but if he has the will to succeed, he will soon prevail. After all, writing for an online audience is simply a skill that can be learned.
Having written 1,115 editions of my newsletter now, I think I've got the hang of it - at least on my better days - and so to help him onto the right track I shared these 10 tips...
Almost every way there is to make money online involves writing in some form or other.
Article marketing, creating website content, blogging, forum posting, writing and publishing a newsletter - all require two things: you have to write them and someone else has to want to read them.
There isn't much more to making money online than that. And the most important part is the second - that someone has to want, and has to be able to read what you have written.
Reading online is much harder than reading from a book, magazine or newspaper. There are distractions and people's attention span is much less. Also, reading from a monitor is quite hard on the eyes, so people prefer their online reading to be short, entertaining and to the point.
As the writer, it is your job to make reading as easy as possible. You do this by doing a few basic things:
1. Write short sentences.
2. Write very short paragraphs.
3. Put a line of blank space between each paragraph.
4. Use simple words in preference to complicated ones.
5. Write in conversational English - never 'business' English.
Incidentally, conversational English uses much looser grammar - sentences can begin with And, for example.
6. Write as if you only have one reader - even if you have thousands.
7. Don't be formal - be friendly and likeable. But always capitalize in the right places and don't write in text speak.
8. Never, ever deceive your readers. Always remember that a lost customer is only one click away.
9. What you want to write is irrelevant - try to find out what your readers want to read.
10. Practice, practice and then practice some more. You don't have to be a great writer, but you do have to be an engaging one. And that's a skill that takes a while to learn.
I hope that helps.
Judging from his response, my reader thought it did.
Martin
I told him to save his money.
It was clear from his writing style that he needs a bit more practice before trying to engage with many others, but if he has the will to succeed, he will soon prevail. After all, writing for an online audience is simply a skill that can be learned.
Having written 1,115 editions of my newsletter now, I think I've got the hang of it - at least on my better days - and so to help him onto the right track I shared these 10 tips...
Almost every way there is to make money online involves writing in some form or other.
Article marketing, creating website content, blogging, forum posting, writing and publishing a newsletter - all require two things: you have to write them and someone else has to want to read them.
There isn't much more to making money online than that. And the most important part is the second - that someone has to want, and has to be able to read what you have written.
Reading online is much harder than reading from a book, magazine or newspaper. There are distractions and people's attention span is much less. Also, reading from a monitor is quite hard on the eyes, so people prefer their online reading to be short, entertaining and to the point.
As the writer, it is your job to make reading as easy as possible. You do this by doing a few basic things:
1. Write short sentences.
2. Write very short paragraphs.
3. Put a line of blank space between each paragraph.
4. Use simple words in preference to complicated ones.
5. Write in conversational English - never 'business' English.
Incidentally, conversational English uses much looser grammar - sentences can begin with And, for example.
6. Write as if you only have one reader - even if you have thousands.
7. Don't be formal - be friendly and likeable. But always capitalize in the right places and don't write in text speak.
8. Never, ever deceive your readers. Always remember that a lost customer is only one click away.
9. What you want to write is irrelevant - try to find out what your readers want to read.
10. Practice, practice and then practice some more. You don't have to be a great writer, but you do have to be an engaging one. And that's a skill that takes a while to learn.
I hope that helps.
Judging from his response, my reader thought it did.
Martin
nothing to see here.
Just when you think you've got it all figured out, someone changes the rules.