Writing for the web is an easy skill to learn and can either promote your business or earn you immediate cash through selling your written work. Here's some tips I recently gave as part of a teleseminar on this very topic: 1. Go look at quality articles on eHow and Associated Content. You’ll know the good, the fair, and the ugly once you see them. Pick a topic you like or at least know something about, then publish it on your website or a site like Associated Content. Repeat this step. Then take your resume, credentials and writing samples and apply for paid work on content websites like Demand Media Studios or Bright Hub. It really is that simple. 2. Publish an article: any article, whether it is a short piece for EzineArticles, Associated Content, or a local newsletter. Four hundred words is generally an acceptable length, though some articles can be as short as 250 words or in excess of 500 words. Interview a local business owner; write a tip guide for someone looking to get a job in your industry. Really, the possibilities are endless. Online content providers and other potential clients want to see that you can write articles that a general audience can easily read and digest. It’s really far simpler than it used to be in the days during which major print newspapers like “The Washington Post†dominated the world and their readers demanded a very high level of expertise that only people with advanced journalism experience and education could meet. Publishing articles can also help promote your other business endeavors, whether you’re giving teleseminars or selling information products especially if you put those first articles up on EzineArticles. 3. Once you publish 1, 2, or 3 articles, start marketing yourself as a writer to your existing client base. You can also find tons of content sites and clients online by using sites such as Demand Media Studios and oDesk. Private clients as well as content sites are yearning for quality writing from native English speakers. Also, if you’re active on major message boards such as right here or Warrior Forum and even mention you’re a writer you will get lots of offers from potential clients. I don’t even market myself as a writer on these types of forums, but it is a known fact and I get e-mails and messages almost daily asking if I or someone I know can write content for blogs, websites, and online newsletters. 4. Write your introductions last. This is a big point that is crucial to success that took me 12 years of trial and error to fully learn. Your introduction for an online article should not be a summary of the article. It should give some important facts not otherwise mentioned in the article. If you try to write the introductions first it is far easier to get stuck and falsely assume online writing just is not for you. Special note: And yes, if you really just don't want to write and still want to promote your business, then go to oDesk or Guru or right here and hire someone to write them for you. Good luck! Stephanie
Get a personal blog and write about whatever interests you and talk, like you're talking to an audience. I see a lot of writing for articles that sounds so mechanical that you'd think a robot wrote it (probably did) and there's no feeling at all behind it. I find that the best writers are ones with their own unique personality. My personality is a bit harsh, honest, and to the point. I don't mind putting in how I personally feel about a particular topic I am writing about. I find it makes whatever the hell I am talking about more interesting. I find it even more intriguing that I'm willing to even read over some of the stuff I have written a few times. More times than most, I'll make myself laugh at the things I write. I also agree with someone else here that said "read more" because that gives you an idea of what type of writing style you like or don't like. Ever read a good book? How did that person write? How did they make you feel? I think that a lot of people here have some good ideas. But please don't make your writing a mechanical tool to increase page rank and sell stuff. People are becoming adjusted to such boring and repetitious forms of writing. A web spider doesn't really care, having no human emotion, but people do. Write how you would like to read and read it again. Hope this helps
Read lots of books about things you like. Writing is kind of an art, to be a good write you have to be passionate about writing. It's easier to write about things which you love and things you have experienced. So assess your skills and get on with writing career.
Back up a second. Why are you writing? Are you writing because you want to express thoughts and you have a need to write? Good, then continue your pursuit to be a better writer. Or are you wanting to write because you are starting a blog or sales website? If you don't like writing and you need it to create sales copy - stop! Hire writers if you don't like to write. Your business cannot grow if you're doing the tasks you naturally don't like to do. If you try to do all the aspects of running a business by yourself, you'll burn yourself out on the tasks you don't like to do. Too many people try to create the product or service, create the website, create the graphics, create the content, do the marketing, do the accounting, do the order fulfillment, do the customer service, etc. - all by themselves. You can use sites, like this one, to get graphic, website setup, content written - anything you don't like to do but needs to be done. Henry Ford would have failed if he insisted on building all the cars himself and run every aspect of the company.
When you practice, practice, and get people to critque your writings - you improve - and one way to do that is by creating a personal blog, or using online communities - making threads - and chatting with people/improving yourself. Get a journal in real life - practice on writing, and improving your vocabulary, knowledge is powerful, just like writing.
To write better, you need to write more. Cliche but true: Practice makes perfect. Try writing an article at least once a day about any subject. Have a blog, or keep a diary to put your thoughts down to. But the key here is to write, write and write. Hope that helps. Have a good day!
Correct Knowledge of things that you are going to write or share with art of describing in-front of your readers with good vocabulary and grammar.
Organization in communication is key, yet often overlooked. Regardless of the tools and techniques used to to improve ones writing, learning how to organize thoughts will automatically improve your writing. This is the things learned early in education and lost throughout our careers. For instance, paragraphs should have opening sentences outlining a topic or thought, followed by supporting sentences with relevant details, concluded with a summary of the paragraph topic.
nice posts here guys, i like the one where if you read more you will write better, i firmly believe in this
There are certain tips about writing that really helped me - Writing articles is all about structure. Make sure each paragraph has one unique central idea. If you are writing for the web, then your paragraphs should not be more than 5 lines long (IMOP). Make sure the last line in a para connects to the first line in the next para. In other words have a segway, think of a TV show that ends with an unfinished proposition that makes you want to watch next weeks show. If you are bad with grammar, then you need to work on that first. Your grammar needs to be spot on. If you are a business man and not a writer, then simply hire someone to do it for you. You can't do everything yourself!
my use of grammar certainly holds me back. I code and design stuff (minus the odd spelling mistake) but grammar, no chance
Take a writing course online or go to Amazon and find some writing books that have 5 star reviews and purchase them.
It surely comes with practise, write as much as you can and read other people's stuff and you will get better.
Reading really helps, especially with grammar. Sentence patterns and diction are very important. Sometimes, the message is there but the execution fails, so you need to also focus on that. Because sentences/paragraphs full of grammatical errors are a turn-off.
Everybody here is pretty much saying the same thing, and i whole-heartedly agree with them. Practice, practice, practice! Writing, like everything else, can be mastered with practice.