Are you content with your content?

“If it’s visible, it’s saleable”. We all have heard and read this not-so-true remark like a zillion times before. Even a fifth grader knows that intangible offerings can and are sold (at times with lesser effort) just like their tangible counterparts. So, there’s Coke competing with VLCC beauty & slimming clinic (you can see the clinic but that’s not what they’re selling) for a share of the consumers’ wallet.

You must be wondering what has all this to do with writing content for the web. For one, the web is undeniably the biggest platform for a marketer to announce, “I’ve arrived”. And if the site is user-friendly, interactive and lists the product’s USP (s) in a captivating manner, half the job is done. This is precisely what we, at Indus Net Technologies, try and deliver: websites that work and keep our invaluable clients happy (which in turn keeps us happy!). Thus, this hoopla is all about ‘how.’

Since I’ve dared to knock at your grey cells and rattle them off their afternoon siesta, I might as well put an end to this intrusion and your agony by informing you about one of India’s highly sought after Internet consulting and interactive marketing agencies – ‘webchutney’. With its humble beginnings as a two-man team back in 1999, today Webchutney operates out of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Many of you might already know about it; others can check it out at: www.webchutney.com

The tone is light throughout with humor thrown in for good measure. The pages are colorful; the content is crisp and easy- to- understand. The home page gives easy access to their work, clients and some amusing photos of their employees @ work & play. I’m confident you’ll find it interesting and helpful (in whatever little way) in generating more effective content for our clients which they’ll presumably be content with.

How to write an attention-grabbing headline

If you have visited my blog just because of the headline, then you already know how important it is to write a good headline. Headlines, whether in printed pages or in electronic ones, are the launch pads for the information they convey. There are many professional content writers who have more problems in phrasing a great headline for a topic than in writing on the topic itself. So to help fellow writers, here are some tips on how to write a headline that shouts its presence in the cyber world.

· Make it simple and short. Avoid using clichés and popular catch phrases. Assume that the person looking for information doesn’t know much and won’t understand your clever word play.

· Make sure that your title is reflecting the content that is there below it. The headline is the first thing that a searcher in the net will read. If he can get hints on what lies ahead (and that is what he is looking for), then only he or she will click on the relevant link.

· Also, ensure that your headline is not too long. It will be better if it is under 10 words. Among the words, make sure that there are at least two to three words that describe the topic or the content of your page. If you have to give a proper name, give it at the end of the headline.

· But the headline should not be a random selection of the keywords of the page. The headline, no matter how short it is, should have a meaning of its own.

These are some of the tips I could think about. You can check out the following links to know more about the subject: http://www.masternewmedia.org/2005/06/01/how_to_write_great_titles.htm and http://www.7nights.com/dkrprod/gwt_seven.php.

Following the Rules of Writing on the Web

No doubt we have “freedom of speech” and we have learnt to believe that rules are meant to be broken for a good cause. Yet, without rules we would not be able to communicate. If the alphabets “t”, “r”, “e”, “e” put together in a sequence meant “tree” for one person and “table” for another, then the world would be in a chaos! I would say one thing and you would understand something else.

Rules are necessary. With a common understanding among us, we have decided that the alphabets “t”, “r”, “e”, “e” when put together signify a “tree”. Similarly, when I say “sky” it means the same thing to all English speaking people. Rules define our existence, even though sometimes we need to break them, because rules are born out of ‘need’.

So, why web content writing would be an exception to the rules of writing? It is an accepted fact that writing for the web is entirely different from writing for the print or the audiovisual media. Most of us are aware that no rules are followed in web content writing. There is much scope for creativity in this medium.

Yet, wouldn’t it be great if we made some rules and followed them? Don’t forget the ultimate purpose. It is after all better communication that all of us are seeking.

I got to know about this book that I thought would be very interesting in this context. It is called “The Web Content Style Guide: An essential reference for online writers, editors and managers”. Published by FT Press in 2002, it has three authors: Gerry MacGovern, Rob Norton and Catherine O'Dowd.

If you want to write effective content for the web then this book can be really useful as it covers all the rules and standards of writing for the web. It is surely a must have for all those who are involved in web publishing.

Who’ll find this book useful?

• Online writers
• Editors
• Designers
• Managers
• Anyone involved in web publishing
  

This book is definitely different from the existing style guides as it focuses only on web writing. From grammar and punctuation to documentation issues it covers all. Here’s a brief list of topics that is covered by this book:

• Accessibility
• Animation
• Fonts
• Forms
• Information Architecture
• Intranet
• Navigation
• Newsgroup
• Search
• Style Guides
• And a lot more

Common spelling mistakes and how to avoid them

English can become a very difficult language sometimes. There are some words that are so near in spelling and pronunciation that they very frequently switch places with disastrous (and sometimes hilarious!) results. In my career as a professional content writer, I had my share of “malapropism” (and still do to the utter annoyance of my editor), but I have learned to rectify them. Whenever I commit a new “blooper” and am pointed out, I write it down in a post-it and stick it in front of me. There are also some forums and sites that give handy hints and lessons.

There are some common words that are usually misplaced like lie/lie/lay. One is related to sleeping and lying down like “She lies on her bed” while the other is not telling the truth: “she lies about her affairs”. The third one is also a verb; it means to put down something like “softly lay the baby on the crib”. You can learn more of such common mistakes in http://www.fanfiction.net/topic/30302/1966428/1/, a forum of users who love the English language despite its peculiarities.

If you want to learn about a list of words that are commonly misused in English, you can see Wikipedia for their list of frequently misused English word. On the lighter vein, if you like to see a list of hilarious malapropism from the net and other sources, see http://www.fun-with-words.com/mala_explain.html for a quick laugh. I end my blog with this immortal line from Sheridan’s “The Rival” quoted by Mrs. Malaprop (who gave rise to the word in the first place):

“….she is as headstrong as the allegory on the banks of Nile”

Can you guess what she wanted to say???

Some helpful concepts for new webmasters

One-way links send out a significant message about your website. It shows that your website is so useful that other websites want to direct visitors to your site. One-way links increase your link popularity and when Google ranks your site, this link popularity plays a huge role in determining your site ranking.

The most valuable one way links are the ones which find a place in the content of another site, which directs visitors to your site. These are, however, quite tough to get. You can get them if your website is already a reputed one and you offer something, which proves to be of great value to the visitors of another website.

Until then, all you new webmasters can do one good thing. If you are planning to launch valuable link building campaign, you must be clear of certain essential concepts.

Firstly, make sure that your website is interesting and useful enough; especially the content of the website must be highly gripping.

A link is, in general, a vote – a vote cast by a website for another website. This vote offers credence to the linked site. But then, here every vote does not come with similar weight, very much dissimilar to politics where every vote is of equal value.

Now, if 2 websites (say website A of PR 5 and website B of PR 4) link you, the vote of website A will be of more value than that of B.

At times, you might come across some links that have little value or of no value at all. If you tend to easily get a link from another site, it is safe to believe that the link is of less value. Since, everyone else is keen to get links, they give away links too.

As a starter, one way of getting one-way links is through directories. Here, you might get tired of the level of energy you need to put into the submission task. You might buy a service or software to do the job and get innumerable links within no time. But then, it is best to keep your linking system ‘natural’ since, as you are availing the software, another webmaster must be doing something similar as well.

When you are into link exchange, try to use something unique that most of the other webmasters haven’t tried. In fact you can ask yourself “What would I do to rise from a few links to a few hundred links within a few days?”

For new webmasters, these concepts can surely be of great help. In fact, I suggest you to move out from the crowd and plan something unique, something which can set you apart from many others!

Write with a reason

While generating content for a page, you must be aware of one thing - ‘a well-organized and informative content always comes from good references’. It is pretty difficult to develop an entirely new page all by yourself. A few people do possess the skill and creativity to start from the scratch. But for many to develop content about a subject you haven’t read at all is surely very difficult.

For this, you can look through the web for information or refer to old books or periodicals at a nearby library. Thus, while you are writing, you must have enough knowledge about the subject. Though it is a fantastic idea to refer to valuable resources, I personally feel you must write for a particular reason and have a clear idea of ‘what you are writing’. Above all, your write up must reflect your passion and love for the subject and refer into its tiniest detail.

Now, the challenge simply does not lie in writing informative content or going into details, but in making it unique and exciting. Yes, your content must bear its freshness and of course, needs to be catchy. Don’t just write what the matter is all about; also write why the matter is important. Reveal the details and its ensuing significance; describe why it concerns you and how it can matter to someone else too.

Effective ways to search the net

When I started my career as a professional content writer, the most difficult phase of my new job was to learn how to effectively search the net for information. Not only me, many of my colleagues and friends too get equally frustrated when google shows a lot of pages, but none of them contain the information we are seeking! Sometimes, I just used permutation and combination of the major keywords of the information I was looking for, till I got satisfactory results.

But that cost me lot of time and the end result was either working overtime or compromising on the quality of my writing. But one day I was like “enough is enough” and wanted to find ways to improve my search techniques. I searched the net for that and these are the websites I found educative and useful:

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/searching/fournets.htm: This site gives you handy tips with exercises (just as you did in school!) to help you learn the art of shifting through the pile of information available online.

http://hanlib.sou.edu/searchtools/searchtips.html: This site will give you great tips on searching not only google, but also other search engines on the net.

You can also see Google web site help Center, if google is the only search engine you know (like me and million of us).

Hope this post helps you whether you are a fellow professional or anyone looking for some information on the net.

Where have all the writers gone?

When I started this blog, one thing that kept bothering me is the quality of writing on the web. The Internet is so full of information! It is a huge knowledge base for people around the globe. There is hardly any subject on which you won’t find information the web. Yet, from my experience I can tell you, over 90% articles or content I come across on the web are written in a way as if the writer didn’t have any clue about the subject!

And the story doesn’t end here…sometimes the writer doesn’t seem to know even basic English grammar! I wonder why they take the Internet so lightly… You will never find such quality of writing in other media like newspapers and magazines. There seems to be a dearth of good content writers for the web. Net users spend so much time on the Internet… at least they deserve to read good English!

Some tips for developing effective web content

Have you ever thought why the role of content is so important in bringing in visitors to your website?

What are your parameters of writing good content?

Are right spellings, proper punctuation marks and grammatically correct sentences are all that you need to write effective content?

Of course not! There are several other things that you need to keep in mind.

The popularity as well as the profitability of a website largely depends on the content of that website. To establish your website’s value, content plays a big role. So, you can easily assume how a content writer or content developer is esteemed in this era of Internet marketing. But, what are the fundamental characteristics of quality content?

• At first, capturing the attention of the readers is a must. Your content should strike the right chord in the minds of the visitors. Otherwise, why would they stay glued to your website?

• Shorter content with bullets and highlighting in proper places is always a hit among the visitors. Longer content too is sometimes welcomed, but try to keep them as interactive as possible.

• Easy to read, comprehensible content is always a winner! Develop the content in such a way that even a layman can understand what you are trying to say. Moreover, always check out whether the flow has been maintained throughout the content.

• Quality is always important, no matter what type of content is there in your website. So, never ever try to give up quality for the sake of quantity!

• Your content should be able to generate interests and meet the requirements of the readers. Also, give a thought how the content of your website can stand out among the rest of the websites.

• The content of your website needs to gel with the design of your website. Properly organizing the content in different pages is vital as well. So, you have to pay special attention in this department too.

• Understanding exactly what kind of content you need is another important thing. For instance, you may want to write some blogs, pages for your website, newsletter, press release or just some informative SEO articles. Your approach and way of writing need to be different in all the cases.

• Whatever content you are developing, comprehensive research work is always essential. And the most important thing – steer clear of copy-pasting jobs!

I think now you can surely understand what it takes to write great content for your website! But, it’s better if you resort to professional content writers. They can lend you a helping hand in this matter.