Oh dear...
Did you know that there are 7 writing mistakes that a spell checker won’t spot?
It won’t catch correctly spelled words that are used incorrectly in a sentence.
It can’t query facts, dates or events and it will often struggle with the spelling of people and places.
A spell checker also doesn’t know whether a hyperlink works or even points to the right page.
These things require a human eye. A proofreader’s eye. Preferably two.
In terms of the structure of a news article, the classic Inverted Pyramid favoured by journalists is a process of ordering your information in order of its importance to the reader.
So your first paragraph talks about the main point; the next most important point goes into the second paragraph; the next most important point forms the basis of the third paragraph. And so on.
Using the Inverted Pyramid structure has two benefits…
Got an idea? Take action. Do it. And do it quickly.
What’s really stopping you? Fear of what people will think? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you if they don’t like it.
If you don’t try… Well, you’ll never know whether it would have worked,
And you might regret not knowing.
By implementing a content writing system you could become more productive, writing faster than you ever did before.
Such a system could help when you’re struggling to get an article started; point you towards information you hadn’t thought of; and help you think through the structure of what you’re writing.
Where can you find such a system? Oddly, the author of The Jungle Book wrote about one over 100 years ago…
In the previous article, I talked about how to come up with article ideas using the Google Keyword Tool. ‘Related searches’ is another useful brainstorming option.
Simply type your core keyword(s) into Google and view the Related searches it spits out – you’ll find the option in the left-hand column, under ‘More search tools’.
This is a different kind of proofreading test.
The challenge is this: can proofreading software provide an effective shortcut to good text checking?
Of the five options I’ve chosen, four are digital tools that claim they can help you with proof reading/checking your copy.
They are Grammarly, Ginger, After The Deadline and the built-in grammar and spellchecking talents of Microsoft Word 2010.
The fifth option is my wife, Kate. She obviously doesn’t like to be referred to as a ‘proofreading system’. But she is a trained magazine production editor who dissects raw copy for a living. Often brutally. She plays the part of a proofreading service for hire.
Read on to see the results.
Guess who didn't spend five minutes proofreading their copy...
But not checking your articles for spelling errors, grammatical howlers and factual accuracy BEFORE you publish is akin to going out on the town with a crumpled shirt.
You won’t look good.
Yes, the mechanics of proofreading might be as exciting as ironing a pair of pants. But it’s a necessary part of the web content writing and publishing process. And there’s more to it than running a spellcheck.
There is ordinary web content writing and there is good web content writing. Just as there are ordinary muffins and there are cream-filled muffins.
Sure, this super-muffin (see photo, right) is just a normal muffin with the top cut off and a squirt of whipped cream.
But it’s a muffin with a twist that stands apart from everyday muffinry. It’s a muffin that gives you more than you expected. And is it tastier than a normal muffin? Quite frankly, yes. It is. I had two.
My point? You can apply the cream-filled muffin idea to web content writing. You just need to work out what your cream is going to be (or how you’re going to make your writing different).
There are several powerful techniques that you can use to think up new article ideas or clever blog posts.
Let’s kick off with how you can use the good ol’ Google Keyword Tool to do this…
When you want to smash your way through writer’s block, keyword research is a handy sledgehammer that you can use to make an instant breakthrough and spark your creativity.
Why the picture of wine bottles? Let me explain…
If the aim of good content writing is to attract new visitors and (hopefully) convert them into satisfied readers, subscribers or buyers, then the process starts with delivering VALUE.
It’s all very well having a ton of articles on your website. But if you haven’t got anything of real value to offer your visitors, they have no reason to stick around.
So where does our cheery Spanish ‘hello’ come in? Quite simply, the time that somebody spends on your content is directly affected by a sequence that includes your Headline, the Opening line of your article, your article Layout and the call to Action.
Or ‘HOLA’ for short.
