Conversational Writing Online Your English Teacher Would Hate

So what is conversational writing, you ask. I'll give you the simple answer. Write like you're talking to a friend. Tell your friend what you want to put into a post or article. But, tell that friend via written word instead of spoken word.

Simple Conversational Writing Starts with Practice

Yes, that sounds simple. But, doing it is amazingly hard for many people. How in world will you accomplish this? Another simple answer. Practice.

• Start writing. 
• Start telling your friend something. 
• Tell her or him in your mind. 
• Write it down on your paper or computer. 
• Keep imagining your conversation. 
• Keep writing it down.

Push Your English Teacher Out of Your Mind

If you keep thinking about what is proper English and what you learned in high school, you'll have a

hard time getting to conversational writing. So stick your English teacher on a top shelf. You want to talk to a friend, not get a good grade on a term paper.

Think in shorter sentences. Impact sentences. Think in casual terms. This means things like: it's okay to end a sentence with preposition. "I don't know where it came from." instead of "It came from I know not where." Conversational instead of formal.

Notice one of the things I have done often so far. Incomplete sentences. You don't talk to your friend in full blown sentences all the time. You use short, incomplete sentences, probably more often than you realize.

The Anonymity of the Internet

The vast majority of your online readers have no idea who you are. They've never met you. Why should they trust you and what you say? They'll trust you because you sound like a friend.

While they read, if they feel like a friend is telling them something, they will trust it more. You trust your friend to be straight forward with you. Online readers will also.

Test this out for yourself. Go find a bunch of random articles and posts on the Internet. Read them and pay attention to how you feel as you do. When you hit one that sounds like a term paper for an English teacher's good grade, how do you feel? When you hit one that sounds like the writer is talking directly to you, how do you feel?

Now, start writing to your own online audience as though they were all great friends. Have a conversation with them. Just do it in writing. That is conversational writing online. By the way, don't show this to your English teacher.

Get to the Point in Your Online Writing

Writing online is different. The structure of your article/content is important and can turn "scanners" into "readers".

Your title is your hook, your content is the line you use to reel them into becoming a reader. So, what type of structure do you need when writing online?

Getting to the Point Early is Key

Writing online is not like a book where you have to set a scene with descriptive words. Get. To. The. Point. Quickly. Or, you risk losing the hook or advantage you gained from creating a great title.

Online writing, the format is a combination of the two well known formulas (see below). Try to follow this rough outline when you write content for the web:

• Intro -- Outline questions, problems, information you will be writing about in your article. This needs to have a bit more flair to make it interesting to online scanners and readers since it may very well be the only part of your article they actually read.
  
  Build credibility and authority here by mentioning your experience but this is not the place for long stories -- short, to the point sentences. Be sure to include targeted keywords.

• Body -- Start your paragraphs with the important information scanners and readers are looking for, then finish the paragraph with supporting info, short stories or experience.
  
  Pepper CTA's (calls to action) with well placed relevant products as images or other relevant images within your body. Use styling tools so there is lots of white space. 

• Conclusion -- Close with reminders of answers to questions or problems, more CTA's and even by pointing readers where to go for further information (whether it's your website or another.) 

Journalism Style

In journalism, writers are taught to layout the important facts of a story up front. They know newspaper readers often scan stories too. By putting the important info in the first paragraph (or first few) they hope to entice them to read the rest of the story.

The middle is used for a more detailed account of the story, interview quotes and other supporting facts. The end of the article is reserved for the least important or minor information. Things like contact or background information.

Journalism writing is like starting your article with what English class would call the conclusion or an "Inverted Pyramid" style of relaying information. (see diagram)

English Class Style

In writing theme papers for English class, visually it would look more like a regular triangle. It's a seemingly more logical way to write but not the most interesting -- at least from a scanner or reader point of view. The format means you will have to hunt for the information that really interests you.

The style works more like this: In the introduction you introduce your topic, angle and what you will write about in the body. In the body of the article, you follow through with your promise from the intro (and the title) and deliver the important information.

The conclusion is where you summarize everything you have written about in the body -- reiterating main or key points.

Tweaking for Online Content

If you are a blogger or webmaster, internet marketer or have a website for your real world business, "how" you write online is key. You want your content read or it's a waste of time. Avoiding the 5 most common mistakes and knowing how searchers read online gives us the opportunity to format our writing in a way that searchers will become scanners and scanners will become readers.

The 5 Worst Mistakes for Online Writing

You've been writing online for awhile and still your only reader is your mother. Are you guilty of making the 5 worst mistakes in your online writing? Sounds like it to me. Let's look at each mistake. Let's see what you can improve with your writing for the Web.

Worst Mistake #1: Unclear, Unfulfilled Title

What does your title say about your article or post? Does it tell readers immediately what your page is about? Look at the title of this article. You know immediately what this article is about, and you expect me to give you all 5 mistakes. You might have even skimmed down the page to make sure there are 5.

A Dream About Betty Crocker. It's an interesting title, but what in the world would I find if I read that? Would I find information about better cooking? How to write a cookbook? How to create a huge business? Sounds like a great title for a mystery novel to me. But, not a good title for an online article.

Worst Mistake #2: Fluffy, Useless Intro

So, my friend and I were chatting yesterday and we talked about doing some fun craft projects and she thought I should write an article about how to make my felt flower bouquets. Then we kept talking and I realized...zzzzzzz. Time to hit the back button.

Let's get real here. I don't care what you and your friend were talking about. I care about what the article is supposed to be about. How it came about that you wrote this article or post is not of value to your readers. Get to the purpose of your article right away. Right in your intro.

Worst Mistake #3: Fluffy, Useless Content 

You might have heard that 300 words is the minimum your article should be. But, you've written your information in 200 words. If you start adding in a bunch of fluff just to get your word count up, you are guilty of Worst Mistake #3.

Instead of adding fluffy, useless content, find more information that can help your readers. Suggest ways they can use this info in their own lives. Offer tips for making this info more helpful. Give your readers more value. Skip the fluff to get the word count up.

Worst Mistake #4: Bulky Blocks of Text

Online readers are actually skimmers. They will scroll down your page letting their eyes be grabbed by:

• sub-titles
• images
• lists
• short paragraphs

The first thing they will scroll right on past are large blocks of text. Test it out for yourself. How often do you stop to read 15 lines of text all bunched together?

Keep your information grouped into short paragraphs. A few lines per paragraph are great for online readers.

Worst Mistake #5: Formal, Stiff Writing

Let your high school English teacher cringe. You don't want formal writing online. You want comfortable writing. This means short sentences, familiar words and talking to your reader. You are not writing a term paper for a grade. You are giving information to a person. Another human.

Comfortable writing does not mean bad writing. Watch your spelling. Use the right contractions. Remember, "your" means it belongs to you, while "you're" means you are. Online writing is not the time to mix those up.

Review Your Own Writing for the Web

Take a look at your own articles and posts for the Web. Are you guilty of making even one of the 5 worst mistakes? If you are guilty of all 5, then you have an article or post that only a mother could love.

Writing Killer Titles for Articles and Posts

Titles -- Your 1st Impression for Readers

Let's think about this logically... an internet user opens a browser and types (on average) 2 to 5 words in the search bar. The words are a summary of what they are searching for.

A search engine returns results with the title and 160 or so characters of your introduction. Most all searchers will read the title and base their decision to click through on that. Some will read a bit, if not all, of the 160 character intro and then decide whether or not to click through to the entire article.

The title is the "bait" that you "hook" your searcher/reader with almost exclusively. It's your first impression and it better be good.

Titles Need To...

In order to gain traffic to your article or post, your one title needs to accomplish a few different tasks. Consider that a title should:

• Summarize or convey the content of your article/post
• Be easy to understand 
• Draw in your prospective readers through curiosity or information
• Include keywords toward the beginning for humans and search engines

Title Style Examples that Work

The list title is an old advertising trick that has been around for years and years. Using the trigger words of "top", "best" and/or attaching a number to the title is a proven way to lure in readers. 

However, remember that you are also making a promise of providing a list to your readers. Follow through or you will lose credibility. 

Asking a question as your title is another good title style. Keep in mind that a question title infers that you will answer that question within the content of your article or post. Make sure you do or you will lose credibility with readers. 

"How to..." is a standard and much used form for a title as well. When someone searches for instructions or directions in a search box, 9 times out of 10 they will start the query with "how to" or "how do I". If your title starts with "how", the search engines are more likely to send searches your way. 

Of course, the rest of your title has to be relevant to the article and the searcher. 

 The Nitty-Gritty with Titles

The most important thing to remember with titles is actually 3 parts: 

• If you make a promise in your title; deliver it in your content
• If you ask a question in your title; answer it in your content
• If you bring up a curiosity or challenge in your title, follow through with the information in your content. 

Titles are powerful. Use them to gain readership of your target audience. I usually wait and title my articles and posts after they are written. This gives me the ability to follow my train of thought in my writing and then deliver a title that is most appropriate. 

Title No-Nos

Misleading searchers and readers as to the content of your article will hurt you in the long run. This was the way of spammers years ago. They keyword stuffed titles with words that had nothing to do with the actual content (and vise-versa). Search engines caught on and now will penalize webmasters and writers for doing this, and rightfully so. 

Further, you can permanently damage your reputation with readers and search engines. As writers, we are always trying to build authority and trust in our chosen niches. One wrong or black-hat move like mis-titling an article can ruin your personal branding. 

Using Visuals in your Online Writing

Visuals are a very important part of writing online. Unlike reading a book, searching online is very much about "looking" as much as it is about reading. However, you need to be sure to use visuals that support or continue the main ideas and are relevant to your article -- otherwise, they are just fluff.

There's enough "fluff" on the internet these days, you want to add valuable, useful information to the billions of pages available out there, including your visuals.

What's the Deal with Visuals? 

Users are hunting for specific information when they type into a search engine. Everything on your webpage, post or article should convey that information to the user. It's been proven over and over again that internet users first "look" at a webpage for something to catch their eye.

It could be bold or italicized fonts, highlighted links, videos, graphics or images. You have just a couple of seconds time to capture their attention so they will decide to stay and scan or read your content. You need to "hook" them.

Videos, graphics and images are a great way to capture that attention. However, to include any old image or one without relevance to your topic can backfire on you.

Your credibility is always on the line. Don't try to "trick" the user into staying. Visuals need to support the information/content you are delivering.

Ideas for Visuals

As with the visual above, you can make your own. Pull a quote from your article to highlight an important piece if information or make a statistic stand out.

Photos are great visual content as well. Be choosy. Don't use a photo simply because you like it. I should relate to or be the subject of your topic. Be careful when choosing photos. Copyright infringement is rampant on the internet. It's stealing. Don't do it.

Best practice is to take your own photos or make your own graphics. Even if you are reviewing a product you own, take a photo of it as it sits in your home instead of using the manufacturers photo.

The bottom line is, online users want information quickly and efficiently. They won't remember all the text in your article but they will remember visuals that carry an important message.

Interesting Stats About Using Images

Infographic by MDG Advertising

How Internet Users Read Online

It's a fact -- people online don't read the same way they do print. That's not to say they don't read at all, as some people profess, just differently.

There have been a number of studies conducted to find out how we all read and interact with content on the internet. Knowing their findings can actually make us better writers.

If you know the "how" of readers online, you can make sure your articles and posts are formatted for the best chance of reading success. Let's take a look at some of the statistics.

Internet Behavior Statistics

• In a study by Missouri University of Science and Technology, it was concluded that readers spend 2.6 seconds scanning a webpage prior to settling on a particular section (or hitting the back button). First impressions are very important.  
• In a usability test the Neilson Norman Group tried different styles of writing. When 3 styles were combined (scannable, concise and objectionable) the users tested found the content 124% more usable.
• Relevance -- Most experts agree that relevance of the content is most important to turn a scanner into a reader. Angie Schottmuller (Inbound Marketing Advisor) has even come up with the "Triangle of Relevance" formula to help give searchers what they want in our writing. 
• According to another Neilson Norman Group Study, people actually read content when it meets 2 goals: Information Architecture and Good Page Layout. 

Changing Our Style of Writing So It Will Be Read

Now that we have some statistics related to how internet users read, all we have to do is tailor our writing to them. Sounds simple, right? With a few stylistic changes, you will have a much better chance of being read -- word for word -- rather than scanned. Make sure you aren't making any of these mistakes in your online writing either...

Check out some of our other articles for specific ideas for titles, page layout, info architecture, using images and more! 

8 Design Styling Tools to Get Your Content Read

Check your style or formatting against this list. Is your article
easy to read? 

Combining the style of your writing with a design format that will draw in readers is not as hard as you might think. When writing for the web you need to remember it's about the presentation of your content as well as your content.

White space and visuals have been proven to keep users on a webpage longer. What are some more ways to turn scanners into readers?

Try to keep these 8 items in mind and your write your unique and useful content for the internet.

1. Visuals -- 

Use images, videos, charts, etc... to break up your text. The truth is, a relevant visual can convey your story and information quickly and efficiently. This can turn a scanner into a reader.

2. Bullets -- 

Use bullets for lists, facts or points and more! They look different from the rest of your text, are easy to scan and should contain information considered important to the topic.

3. Keep Paragraphs Short -- 

Though an English teacher may cringe -- keep your paragraphs short. They can be as short as one sentence though I find 2 or 3 work well for me. Large blocks of text look like walls and tend to be a turn off to users.

4. Keep Sentences Short -- 

Along the same lines as #3 above, keep your sentence short and sweet. This makes them easy to understand and more easily scannable.

5. Quotes -- 

Use quotes from your content as you would an image or indented so it stands out from the rest of the content. This captures readers who are scanning. It may even convince them to read the whole article.

6. Sub-Headings -- 

This is a must. It completely breaks up the article so a scanner can glance and see where the information they want is located. It also helps add more white space. Sub-headings should communicate key points you make in the following paragraph(s).

7. Font Emphasis -- 

Use bold, italics and caps to draw attention to key points within the article. Avoid using highlight or colored text too often in one article. It ends up looking amateurish and elementary. However, well placed font emphasis can ensure your point gets across to both readers and scanners.

8. Left, Left, Left... -- 

Align your text to the left. People are used to this and are sometimes put off when content text is aligned centered, right or justified. The easier it is to read, the more likely it will be read. Indention from the left is a great tool for quotes or to highlight important key points as well.

Sadly, this is one I seem to forget a lot. My "design eye" likes to change up where the photo/image/visual is located. However, studies show keeping the left margin for text is the best for readers. They are used to it and the eye expects it. This is one element I need to work on implementing in my articles.

How many of you read the 8 numbered ideas but not the content below it? Interesting where the eye is drawn, isn't it?

5 Differences Between Writing for Web and Writing for Print

Writing for print is different than writing for the web.

There is a huge difference between writing for the web and writing for printed articles. The sooner web writers figure this out, the better. Readers, their reasons for reading and what they read are very different online than they are in printed materials.

If you want to write for the web, you have to first forget ideas that were drilled into you about writing for print. The online reader is a different breed. They aren't ruled by proper grammar, sentence structure and flourishes of  descriptive writing or back story.

The key to being a successful writer online is to know what your target audience wants and give it to them. Check out the list of 5 differences below. You might have an "Aha" moment.

#5 -- Online Readers are actually "Online Scanners"

Rarely do they read word for word like a book or newspaper might be read. Accept this and embrace it in your writing by changing the style or format of your text on the page.

#4  -- Get to the point

While magazines and books can afford a flowery version, searchers online want to quickly verify your article or webpage has the information they are interested in.

#3  -- Use relevant images

This not only helps break up the text but a picture about your topic reinforces the idea the searcher is in the right place for information they seek.

#2  --  Make a promise...

with your title or headline and follow through in the body of the article or post. Trying to trick searchers will only hurt your credibility in the end.

#1 --  Use conversational writing whenever possible

The web is filled with people of different education levels and from different backgrounds. English composition writing takes time to read and write. Write like you are talking to a friend and everyone will understand the gist of your post or article.

Now, try an exercise. Pull up an article or post you've written. Check your writing against the differences listed. Rewrite the article (or parts of it) if necessary and re-publish it. See if your comments and/or traffic changes for the better...