Power Writing 101: Tips and Tricks to Get You Taken Seriously!

Written by Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com


Continued from page 1

- boosts immunity

Notice that each bullet followsrepparttar same format: action verb, object of verb. To stray from this format is to do a disservice torepparttar 105154 bullet. Paralellism also works in a sequence separated by commas. “I like pie, I like cake, and I like pudding.” Another example: “She enjoys climbing, hiking, and fishing.” The incorrect version of this sentence: “She enjoys climbing, hiking, and to fish.”

Avoid wordiness. Eliminaterepparttar 105155 following words and phrases from your vocabulary, and feel better about yourself: very, unique, being that, utilize/utilization, a lot, needless to say, it goes without saying, in back of, without a doubt, at some point in time, as to whether, it seems to me, oddly enough. They’re just filler, and they’re inrepparttar 105156 same category as their credibility-stealing cousins redundancy,repparttar 105157 double negative, andrepparttar 105158 passive voice.

Go easy onrepparttar 105159 prepositional phrases. “The girl who was sitting onrepparttar 105160 porch ofrepparttar 105161 house that was up onrepparttar 105162 hill, feltrepparttar 105163 breeze as it was gently blowing through her hair.” Eegads, what a mouthful! Correct this problem by breaking up your ideas into separate sentences. "The house stood atoprepparttar 105164 hill, and asrepparttar 105165 girl sat onrepparttar 105166 porch she feltrepparttar 105167 breeze blowing through her hair."

Use adjectives sparingly. “What? But my English teacher taught me...” Forget about what your teacher said. You’re running withrepparttar 105168 big dogs now. Which is more interesting? “The boy skipped happily and grinned openly,” or “The boy skipped downrepparttar 105169 hill, a grin playing about his face.” Don’t repeat words. I repeat: don’t repeat words.

Avoid hyphenating words that shouldn’t be hyphenated. What is this new trend that’s sweepingrepparttar 105170 nation? “Put-on your coat.” “Please check-in before 9 pm.” Hyphens are used to join two words that, when used in conjunction, take on another word form. “Put on your coat” doesn’t require a hyphen because you can also say “Put your coat on.” ‘Check-in’ would require a hyphen ifrepparttar 105171 sentence read like this: “Check-in is at 9 pm.” This is because check and in work together here as a noun. Hyphenation is tricky, I admit; even as a grammarian I must consult my styleguide from time to time. I suggest you dorepparttar 105172 same.

Forrepparttar 105173 Love of God, SPELLCHECK! Enough said.

Don’t over-exclaim or use excess punctuation marks in formal writing or advertising. And for God’s sake please don’t slip emoticons in to help you convey a feeling. That’s whatrepparttar 105174 vast English vocabulary is for. When people see you dropping exclam-bombs everywhere, they’ll think you’re cheap, tawdry and lacking design capabilities. Remember, you can use big bold fonts to make certain buzzwords jump right offrepparttar 105175 page.

Dashes – and – ellipses... are not acceptable ways to finesse a poorly constructed paragraph. There’s nothing wrong with having two separate sentences instead of one that’s broken up into sections. Dashes and ellipses are a copywriting crutch. I’m tempted by them just as much asrepparttar 105176 next guy. It’s so easy to insert a little pause in my rambler of a run-on using those three cute little dots. The ellipse... I love it! But I must control myself. Make a simple statement, punctuate with finality, move on torepparttar 105177 next idea. Don’t underestimaterepparttar 105178 power ofrepparttar 105179 period. We all need a break now and then!

Don’t be afraid to use contractions. More and more I come across emails written by people who are either too lazy to use contractions, or they are simply fooled into thinking it is going to make them look smart. What’s wrong withrepparttar 105180 sentence I just wrote? Contractions such as it’s, I’m, we’re, you’re, they’re, couldn’t, wouldn’t didn’t, doesn’t, aren’t etc. are a way to sound conversational in writing. That’s how people talk. What if you were making a formal speech? If you eliminated allrepparttar 105181 contractions, you’d sound pretty robotlike, wouldn’t you?

One space will do. Those who are behindrepparttar 105182 writing times still type two spaces after an end punctuation mark. Modern word processing programs have eliminatedrepparttar 105183 need for this, as they can senserepparttar 105184 need for a skoche more room after periods, question marks and exclams. So as much as I applaud you for being fastidious in your space insertion, you can stop it right now. Do your clients a favor! They’re not doubling up on spaces in their websites, so when you submit writing for them, don’t you do it either. This article is lengthy, but every single sentence holds weight. Read, and heed these words! Don’t be an advertising amateur; if you really want to wow ‘em with your wordsmithing wizardry, memorize and hold true torepparttar 105185 writing rules outlined here. Above all: practice, practice, practice! Master these tactics, and you’re sure to establish yourself as a writer with valuable insights, expert information and a powerful message torepparttar 105186 world. And a writer like that gets taken seriously.

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

Dina Giolitto is a New-Jersey based Copywriting Consultant with nine years' industry experience. Her current focus is web content and web marketing for a multitude of products and services although the bulk of her experience lies in retail for big-name companies like Toys"R"Us. Visit http://www.wordfeeder.com for rates and samples.


Keyword Article Writing: the Key to Your Success!

Written by Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com


Continued from page 1

5. Select keywords that are specific rather than general. Let's say I'm writing an article about negotiating fees with a freelance copywriter. My goal should be to include popular words related to that particular topic, and not justrepparttar general category of copywriting. "Freelance copywriting rates" is a much better keyword phrase to use because that's probably something a user would actually type in when searching for such information. "Freelance copywriting," onrepparttar 105152 other hand, is more general and therefore might bring up thousands of higher-ranked sites than yours. Burying your article is no way to be found... so, keep it specific if you can!

6. Scan your existing text for keywords. Your article draft is complete and your keywords have been selected. Now, just put them together. Scanrepparttar 105153 article copy forrepparttar 105154 first keyword. Did you find it? Great! If you know your stuff, you probably slippedrepparttar 105155 keyword into a few places without even realizing it.

7. "Find and Change." Suppose in your article about copywriting, you includedrepparttar 105156 word "writing" several times throughoutrepparttar 105157 piece. That's no serious problem by any means, but "copywriting" isrepparttar 105158 term of choice among marketers and advertisers. Consequently, it should be one of your keywords. Locate where you've usedrepparttar 105159 word "writing" or "writer", and replace with "copywriting" or "copywriter." Do this for each of your keywords and keyword phrases. You may have to reorder some ofrepparttar 105160 sentences, but this shouldn't be a big deal.

8. Proofread your article. Now that you've added keywords,repparttar 105161 article is probably somewhat different from its original form. Do a thorough read-through for mistakes, correcting as needed. Check for spelling errors, grammatical inconsistencies and repeated words. Hey, did she say repeated words?? Yes, even in keyword articles, a good writer should try to vary his vocabulary. Your article should be keyword-rich, not dull and repetitive!

9. Write a keyword-rich headline. Why did I wait untilrepparttar 105162 end of this article to mentionrepparttar 105163 headline? Becauserepparttar 105164 best headlines usually come torepparttar 105165 writer atrepparttar 105166 end ofrepparttar 105167 writing and researching process. With all this talk of keywords, you should be primed to write hard-hitting headlines!

Keyword article headlines waste no time. Get right torepparttar 105168 point with a headline that uses your three or four most popular keywords atrepparttar 105169 beginning, not atrepparttar 105170 end. Allow me to critique an article from my own collection. The headline: How to Negotiate Rates with a Freelance Copywriting Expert. I confess, this headline could have been better. Why? "Negotiate rates" is not a keyword term that someone might type into a search engine. "Freelance Copywriting," however, is. The better version of this headline: "Freelance Copywriting: How to Negotiate Rates." If I had simply reorderedrepparttar 105171 words, this headline would have been that much more powerful and achieved a higher web search ranking. Live and learn!

Feeling a little more comfortable about keyword article-writing? Great! Now get out there and start making money writing keyword-rich content forrepparttar 105172 world!

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

Dina Giolitto is a New-Jersey based Copywriting Consultant with nine years' industry experience. Her current focus is web content and web marketing for a multitude of products and services although the bulk of her experience lies in retail for big-name companies like Toys"R"Us. Visit http://www.wordfeeder.com for rates and samples.


    <Back to Page 1
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use