Writer's Cramp? Go To Writer's Camp!

byTxProWriter

107 followers

Updated 9 years ago

I began my writing journey on ODesk, at that time the world's largest online workforce. The pay was pretty terrible but, I fought my way through THAT challenge and came out the other side. I am now a professional freelance writer, with my own company, Live Wire Writing. My work has been pretty dry because it is HARD to get gigs writing online. NO one wants to pay you but they do want the content!

A year or 2 ago, I wrote for an affiliate marketer, writing knife sharpener reviews. Pretty dull writing (get it?) but, I learned a LOT about affiliate marketing and was "groomed" for a future stab at that.

My mentor turned me onto Wealthy Affiliate. I finally joined, activated my premium subscription, and am ready to "hit one out of the ballpark for the Gipper!"

I would like to share a few tips about writing, especially for SEO and keywords. But first, perhaps a little refresher on the finer points of writing in general.

If you took a writing course in college, you might remember the key things to remember about writing. Your audience and the situation (do you want to write on a university level to a high school audience?) Tone. Organization. Proper grammar and punctuation. You know what I mean, even if you didn't go to college, it's basic stuff....

BUT, writing for SEO and keyword is a bit different and can be tricky. You must remember all of the above BUT, you also need to do some things differently. For example, structurally, you are not indenting and you use a new paragraph often, as I am doing in this post. Use bullet points whenever you can to break things up, like so -

1. Use a new paragraph

2. Use bullet points, or numbers, like I am here

3. Use statistics. Using CITED statistics and other, legitimate (NOT Wikipedia) online resources makes you look more professional and the site more "well-rounded"

4. Do NOT overdo it! Did you know that 32% of consumers will ABANDON a slow website in 1-5 seconds? What do you think reading does to a consumer?

The point is, keep it short and sweet and KNOW thy product!

You might hear from different folks to "write to the consumer" and not the search engine, however; you KNOW, in the back of your mind, that you ARE writing for the search engine. So, how do you get around this mess?

* KEYWORDS should come naturally and flow with the sentence. NEVER try to force them in because it will not only sound off but Google might serve you up with a Penguin or a Zombie or some other weird slap o the hand to penalize you for your "bad behavior". Better yet, come up with a niche where the subject/keywords naturally come up ALL of the time (my niche is healthcare related, in a specific area, so, it WILL be used often and naturally).

* INTERESTING. Everything you write, down to your Meta title tags, should be interesting, upbeat, and actionable. For example, instead of writing "Texas freelance writer" you could writer "best Texas freelance writer". See how nice that sounds?

*BE SPECIFIC AND RELEVANT. Are you selling doggie diapers? Then TELL us what you are selling! "I own a boutique shop in Tennessee that specializes in monogrammed doggie diapers..." (OK, silly example, but, it proves my point).

*TELL A STORY, MAKE IT PERSONAL. People love personalized accounts and stories. It makes them feel closer to the product, to you, the website. Draw them in, have a sense of humor, and have FUN with it! Writing shouldn't be like a Bataan Death March. If you think it is, then, it will come out in the writing.

I hope that you enjoyed my FIRST POST!! If this goes off well, I might include a part 2, since the material I covered barely scratches the surface. But, this should help you get off to a start with writing for your website. Writing is a craft, it can be difficult but you CAN do it (BUT, if you need help, I am only an email away....)

I hope that it was of some use to you and I'll see you around WA!

- Cheers,

Debbe (TxProWriter)