Web Copywriting - Ughh!!
Does the idea of writing a web page bring back all that gut-wrenching anxiety you felt when faced with an English assignment at school?
Take a deep breath and relax. Writing for the Internet is nothing like writing for school!
Forget about all those obscure rules of grammar you never quite got. What people are looking for online is information – in a form that’s easy to read and understand, written in a friendly and helpful tone. You can start a sentence with ‘and’. You can write sentences that consist of one or two words. As long as it all makes sense to the reader and you get your point across.
Which is not to say you can forget about spelling and punctuation. Your purpose is to make the experience a pleasant one for your reader, so you don’t want them distracted by bad spelling, or having to read a sentence a couple of times to make sense of it. Bad punctuation - like throwing in too many commas or not using enough periods – can trip up your reader and cause them to click away in frustration.
As for the tone of your writing, imagine you’re writing to a friend or pen pal. Write informally and genuinely. And please stay away from too much hype. We’ve all had more than our fair share of pushy sales people and we cringe when we’re confronted by a hard sell spiel.
Some suggestions for easy web page writing:
1. Write your web pages as clearly and concisely as possible. Use the spellchecker in your word processing program. Re-read your pages 3-7 days later and you’ll see all sorts of places where you could have expressed yourself better. Make your corrections and let it go.
Don’t do this more than twice. You could rewrite your pages forever and you’d probably always find room for improvement. This is a waste of time, unless you’re adding some new sales technique you’ve just learned.
2. Ask a friend who’s a good writer to do a quick edit for you. Preferably they should be familiar with writing for the Internet. Beware of literary types who want to polish your copy according to publishing standards. This may not be helpful and could lead you off track.
3. For a pain-free way of writing articles and web pages, take a look at Melanie Mendelson's excellent 30 Minute Article Writing System. This ebook and audio will help you write a web page or article in 30 minutes. It’s a form of speed writing and it works!
4. If you realize writing isn’t your forte or you simply don’t want to do it, hire a freelancer at www.elance.com or www.rentacoder.com to write your web copy for you.
It may be a case of trial and error until you find the person who can write ‘in your voice’, but when you do, don’t let them go! This person may be the key to your success, so show your appreciation readily. Pay them a bonus when they do a great job or get a difficult assignment in on time. Most of the top Internet marketers have several key people who write their copy. It’s a major factor in their success and they reward these freelancers accordingly.
Next time we'll talk about writing an ebook the easy way.
Until then,
Marguerite Bonneville
JSL Professional Services
P.S. To download a free ebook that explains the secrets of writing for the Internet in more detail, please click on the following link:
The Netwriting Masters Course
Learn to do effective netwriting by
mastering the basic principles.
Take a deep breath and relax. Writing for the Internet is nothing like writing for school!
Forget about all those obscure rules of grammar you never quite got. What people are looking for online is information – in a form that’s easy to read and understand, written in a friendly and helpful tone. You can start a sentence with ‘and’. You can write sentences that consist of one or two words. As long as it all makes sense to the reader and you get your point across.
Which is not to say you can forget about spelling and punctuation. Your purpose is to make the experience a pleasant one for your reader, so you don’t want them distracted by bad spelling, or having to read a sentence a couple of times to make sense of it. Bad punctuation - like throwing in too many commas or not using enough periods – can trip up your reader and cause them to click away in frustration.
As for the tone of your writing, imagine you’re writing to a friend or pen pal. Write informally and genuinely. And please stay away from too much hype. We’ve all had more than our fair share of pushy sales people and we cringe when we’re confronted by a hard sell spiel.
Some suggestions for easy web page writing:
1. Write your web pages as clearly and concisely as possible. Use the spellchecker in your word processing program. Re-read your pages 3-7 days later and you’ll see all sorts of places where you could have expressed yourself better. Make your corrections and let it go.
Don’t do this more than twice. You could rewrite your pages forever and you’d probably always find room for improvement. This is a waste of time, unless you’re adding some new sales technique you’ve just learned.
2. Ask a friend who’s a good writer to do a quick edit for you. Preferably they should be familiar with writing for the Internet. Beware of literary types who want to polish your copy according to publishing standards. This may not be helpful and could lead you off track.
3. For a pain-free way of writing articles and web pages, take a look at Melanie Mendelson's excellent 30 Minute Article Writing System. This ebook and audio will help you write a web page or article in 30 minutes. It’s a form of speed writing and it works!
4. If you realize writing isn’t your forte or you simply don’t want to do it, hire a freelancer at www.elance.com or www.rentacoder.com to write your web copy for you.
It may be a case of trial and error until you find the person who can write ‘in your voice’, but when you do, don’t let them go! This person may be the key to your success, so show your appreciation readily. Pay them a bonus when they do a great job or get a difficult assignment in on time. Most of the top Internet marketers have several key people who write their copy. It’s a major factor in their success and they reward these freelancers accordingly.
Next time we'll talk about writing an ebook the easy way.
Until then,
Marguerite Bonneville
JSL Professional Services
P.S. To download a free ebook that explains the secrets of writing for the Internet in more detail, please click on the following link:
The Netwriting Masters Course
Learn to do effective netwriting by
mastering the basic principles.
Labels: sales
posted by JSL Internet Marketing at
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