What is Writing "Well"?

byAJTrimble1

9.1K followers

5 years ago

Often new members to Wealthy Affiliate are surprised to see that writing is a requirement to the business model we teach.

And, yes, writing well was important in school, but it's also important in your new affiliate business. Here’s why…

Think about everything that is involved in what we do. Content. Digital marketing. SEO. Email marketing. Etc.

Beginning to see the picture?

If you can’t write well, then by default you can’t really do well at all of these things either. Make sense?

But what is writing "well"?

Before you panic, the good news is that most of what we will be discussing today has nothing to do with things like grammar or punctuation. Of course, these things are important.

But there are several things that are much more important…

The Wanderer

J. R. R. Tolkien famously said that, “Not all who wander are lost.”

Far be it from me to question the master, but when it comes to niche content, I humbly disagree.

Almost without exception, “wander” writing is generally not very good. It tends to be loose, meandering from point-to-point (or even topic to topic), without much to connect it together.

You’ve probably met people in life that speak like this. How was it listening to them drone on from one thing to another?

And if you were to do that in your writing, how long do you think the reader would stick around?

Instead, start with a plan. And what should that plan look like? That brings us to the second point...

The Big Two

There are two questions you should ask yourself before you ever begin writing a post:

1) Where do I want the piece to end?

In other words, what is the ultimate point or lesson you wish to convey to the reader? And…

2) Why do you want to end there?

In other words, why do you want to convey that particular point to the reader? What is your motivation?

This is important because...

ALL Writing is Sales

Anything you write, in the end, is trying to convince the reader of something.

Advertising is asking for the sale.

The email you sent to the boss is selling him or her on the idea of approving your vacation.

The letter you left on your spouse’s pillow is selling him or her on your love and why they should love you back.

Even fiction writing is selling the reader on a great story and why they should continue to read it.

Thus, should your affiliate articles be any less? As the saying goes, begin with the end in mind — what action you would like the reader to take — and then make every sentence move them in that direction.

And speaking of a direction...

The Hero's Journey

I strongly recommend that all of my students read Chris Vogler’s “The Writer’s Journey”. Vogler was a screenwriter and script “doctor” in Hollywood when he came across Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero With a Thousand Faces” which discussed the universal motifs of mythology. Vogler began to dig deeper and realized that stories and storytellers, from Socrates to Shakespeare to Star Wars, all followed a similar structure called the hero’s journey.

Now, like all things there are exceptions, of course; but for the most part every story follows a similar path. The “hero” starts out in an ordinary day, something happens to alter their course, they confront the bad guy, all hope is lost, they overcome the odds, and hero lives happily ever after.

Or something like that :-)

The Golden Rule of Writing

Why this is important is because when you are writing content for your site, always remember what I call the Golden Rule of Writing:

Facts Tell, Stories Sell.

Don’t just make your article some boring, intellectual exercise where you merely quote facts, figures, and stats about the product or service. Add stories to the article. Talk about the situation you were in when you began looking for a solution and this is what you found. Talk about how it helped you or someone you know. Talk about the amazing results you got.

This principle is also why testimonials are so powerful. Current users of a product or service get to tell in their own words — their “story” — of what the product or service did for them. I recently read where it is estimated that as many as 60% of consumers will not shop at a retailer or restaurant without checking the Google reviews of that establishment first. That's a form of story.

Plots Vary

I don’t mean that the plot of one story varies from another story. I mean that what is happening within the story varies. There are fast scenes, slow scenes, and everything in between.

Think about an action movie that is non-stop action from beginning to end. Did you like it? Most likely not, because it was too much. Without variety, pretty soon the impact of the scenes wears off. At that point, all the explosions or space battles in the world just gets boring. You actually walk out of the theater going, "Meh."

Your articles should be the same. Vary your sentence length.

Make some sentences, and even paragraphs, longer and some shorter. This keeps the reader from getting bored.

Mix up your language. Don’t repeat the same word over and over unless you are doing it for a very specific reason such as poetic effect. One good tip is to open an online thesaurus in one of your tabs and refer to it often.

Never, ever, give your reader all the information. I’m not talking about the facts; you, of course, want to give them what they need.

What I mean is leave some key story ideas open to the imagination. For example, consider the difference in these two sentences:

“Last night, I had to remove my purple-breasted, Colombian spring parrot from her gold encrusted, wrought iron cage and place her on the oak kitchen table stained with Mr. Seal sealant I purchased from Home Depot, aisle 9, when it was on sale for 70% off.”

Or...

“My parrot bit my finger and drew blood as I was removing her from her cage and placing her on the dining room table.”

See the difference?

When I include ALL the details, there is nothing for the reader to do and, thus, just like the all-action film, the reader gets bored easily.

But if I allude to certain facts without detailing them exactly, the reader gets to participate. Each reader will see a different bird, a different cage, and a different table inside their own head based on their experience and imagination. And that helps hold their attention.

Don’t Be Passive

Okay, I lied. Well, technically I did say "most" of what we talked about, but I basically promised we were not going to talk about grammar. And we’re not other than this one thing.

You should always try to write in an active voice.

What is the difference between active and passive voice in writing? Think of it like this…

Active voice is when the subject of the sentence is doing something; in other words, he or she is "acting". Passive voice is when the action is being done to something by someone; in other words, the thing is being "acted upon".

Here are a few examples:

John picked up the piece of paper from the ground. (Active)

The piece of paper on the ground was picked up by John. (Passive)

See how the active voice just feels stronger and more powerful? Stick to active voice as much as you can.

The Hottest Band in the World

Perhaps the best advice I ever got in terms of writing was KISS: keep it simple, silly.

(See what I did there? The hottest band in the world? It’s ‘cause when Gene and Paul would get ready to take the stage… ah, forget it.)

Most readers out there read at a middle school level, so don’t try and show off by writing like you have a Ph.D. (even if you do.) No one will understand you, and they certainly won’t be impressed. They’ll just leave.

Think about our friend Tolkien mentioned earlier. How many young children have read The Lord of the Rings and loved it? And, yet, that is perhaps some of the most “elegant” writing around. Good enough for me.

Please share any tips you might have or your thoughts on writing in general.