Lunch & Learn 2014 - Writing for the Web
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This document provides guidance on writing for the web. It discusses knowing your purpose and speaking to your audience. It recommends determining what to write by considering your audience's goals, challenges, and interests. It also provides tips on polishing your writing style through proper formatting, appropriate tonality, and concise presentation. The document emphasizes writing content that will motivate readers to take desired actions.
Lunch & Learn 2014 - Writing for the Web
- 1. P L E A S E D I A L I N : 1 . 2 1 3 . 2 2 6 . 1 0 6 6 C O N F E R E N C E I D : 8 3 7 - 2 4 1 - 2 2 5 Writing for the Web.
- 2. Writing for the Web.
- 3. K N O W Y O U R P U R P O S E S P E A K T O Y O U R A U D I E N C E W H A T T O W R I T E P O L I S H Y O U R S T Y L E P E R F E C T I N G Y O U R P R O C E S S Writing for the Web.
- 4. Meet Monica
- 5. Know your purpose. All marketing content is essentially composed to achieve the same goal: To get people to read it.
- 6. Know your purpose. Why do we want them to read? To educate To build rapport To build credibility To develop a relationship To SELL! Generate Revenue( )
- 7. Know your purpose. Back in the day… Sales was asymmetrical, sales person held all the info, the buyer had little. NOW Buyers hold the info, it flows freely online.
- 8. Know your purpose. Why do need to write? People are contacting sales 57% later in the buying process. 57% Of the sales process has already taken place before they contact you.
- 9. Your buyers are going to find information to form their buying decision from somewhere. Do you want them to hear it from you? OR From your competition?
- 10. Before you start: Get your head on straight. Don’t assume viewers will read what you’ve written simply because you wrote it Writing is selling, it is not meant to meet your emotional needs Forgive yourself Make an adequate timeline to achieve your process Know your support group Hold true to your process Know your purpose.
- 11. Before you start: Set goals. Know your purpose. What do you want your viewers to do or learn? Knowledge Action Your agenda Their agenda To educate businesses about the benefits of blogging Discover if blogging is a good marketing fit for their business HOW? Share information about how to get started blogging with statistics of how it helps drive traffic to a site A big link button leading to a page on the website with more info about the guide and a call to action to download EXAMPLE
- 13. Before you start: Set deadlines. When do you need to: send your email publish your post finalize your content Create a timeline working from end to beginning Know your purpose.
- 14. What will your timeline look like? Allow for wiggle room. Two days for revisions. How MayeCreate works as a group.
- 15. Before you start: Brainstorm keywords. What are keywords and why are they important? Search terms or phrases Resonate terms or phrases that evoke emotion and/or action What are key words or phrases you need to include for SEO or to relate to your audience? Make a list to use during brainstorming and editing to include in blog post and page: Content Titles Meta Tags Know your purpose.
- 16. What keywords do people use to search for your business online? What keywords resonate with your audience?
- 17. Speak to your audience. When trying to reach to everyone you end up touching to no one at all.
- 18. Speak to your audience. Interests Income Gender Education Level Communication Style Life Style Age Location Relationship Who are you speaking to? Will these factors impact effective delivery of your message?
- 19. What is your communication style?
- 20. Communication Style: DISC Strong-Willed Competitive Demanding Independent Direct Self-Centered Decisive Tough Impatient Sociable Talkative Open Enthusiastic Energetic Persuasive Spontaneous Emotional Impulsive Steady Laid Back Modest Trustworthy Family Oriented Sincere Patient Careful Calm Precise Exact Analytical Systematic Follows Rules Quiet Careful Formal Disciplined Speak to your audience. D I S C
- 21. Speak to your audience. D I S C Doesn’t matter what style you are, everyone loves to see their own name! Communication Style: DISC Brief and to the point Results oriented Focus on the future Get to business Positive and conversational Quirky and friendly Ask for feedback Get personal Be excited! Take your time Do what you say you’ll do Remember the little things Human interest Go into details Keep it formal Explain why Reflect on the past (working results)
- 22. What communication style are your readers? It’s okay if they’re not the same. Get mentally prepared…
- 23. Buyer Personas What Are Buyer Personas? Buyer personas are fictional representations of your ideal customers. They are based on real data about customer demographics and online behavior, along with educated speculation about their personal histories, motivations, and concerns. ? Slide content courtesy of HubSpot Buyer Persona Template
- 24. Persona Name 1. BACKGROUND Basic details about persona’s role Key information about the persona’s company Relevant background info, like education or hobbies 2. DEMOGRAPHICS Gender Age Range HH Income (Consider a spouse’s income, if relevant) Urbanicity (Is your persona urban, suburban, or rural?) 3. IDENTIFIERS Buzz words Mannerisms Slide content courtesy of HubSpot Buyer Persona Template
- 25. Persona Name 4. GOALS Persona’s primary goal Persona’s secondary goal 5. CHALLENGES Primary challenge to persona’s success Secondary challenge to persona’s success 6. HOW WE HELP How you solve your persona’s challenges How you help your persona achieve goals Slide content courtesy of HubSpot Buyer Persona Template
- 26. Persona Name 7. REAL QUOTES Include a few real quotes – taken during your interviews – that represent your persona well. This will make it easier for employees to relate to and understand your persona. 8. COMMON OBJECTIONS Identify the most common objections your persona will raise during the sales process. Slide content courtesy of HubSpot Buyer Persona Template
- 27. Persona Name 9. MARKETING MESSAGING How should you describe your solution to your persona? 10. ELEVATOR PITCH Make describing your solution simple and consistent across everyone in your company. Slide content courtesy of HubSpot Buyer Persona Template
- 28. Who are you talking to?
- 29. Where do they consume online content?
- 30. Building a online bridge to your customers. Speak to your audience. Your Audience Closed Business Facebook Email Marketing Blog & Website Pinterest Other possible digital components of your marketing bridge: Twitter, LinkedIn, Houzz, Google+, YouTube, Google AdWords
- 31. Don’t just build a bridge, cast a net. Speak to your audience. Your Audience Closed Business WEBSITE Blog Email Marketing Facebook Pinterest
- 32. Sometimes in the process this is a good stopping point. Let your thoughts simmer and come back in a day or two to start writing. Now…What to write?
- 33. Goal: Get people to read it…but what to write? Subscribe to RSS feed of other popular blogs in your industry. Keep a list of FAQ from clients & prospects. Share photos, video, events and event summaries. Testimonials Check out your competition and those you admire. Summaries explaining current events or technological advances in your industry. Featured clients Industry specific controversy What to write. You don’t just have to write about what you do. You do have to write about topics that interest your audience.
- 35. Product/Service Audience Blog Business Owner Concerns Questions Not enough time How do I fit it in with everything else? No sure what to write about What should I write about? Not sure why they’d do it Why would I blog? What are the benefits of blogging? Not sure how much to write How often do I need to blog? How long does my article need to be? Not sure how to write it How do I write it? How do I make it pretty? What to write.
- 36. What to write. Social Media Rule of Thirds: A balanced approach to sharing content with the rule of thirds: Promotes a well rounded relationship Talking about you as a person or company Promoting your content or services Positioning you as an industry resource 33.3% Personal or Professional Interactions 33.3% Brand Promoting Posts 33.3% Industry Related Posts from an Outside Source
- 37. What to write. What information would they expect to find? Read competitor sites to see how much information they provide. Will you share pricing? (Does your competition?) What questions are you commonly asked in a first meetings or phone conversations? What will tip the scales in your favor? Example: What can you share that your competition does not to show you’re a great company who knows what they’re doing? ? ? When writing about a specific product or service place yourself in the shoes of your audience:
- 38. What to write. Are you promoting or conversing? Social media is about building a relationship, selling constantly and never bonding does not build relationships Are you contributing too little or over contributing? Everyone likes a chuckle or a helpful hit but steer clear of continually talking about mundane tasks Are you keeping true to company culture? If you’re formal everywhere else keep your conversation formal yet inviting in social media, don’t change your persona. Stay positive, no one likes a whiner. ? ? When writing for social media: ? !
- 39. Tonality: What personality do you want to portray? Conservative Clinical Traditional Professional Resonate Powerful Distinct Brave Courageous Heavy Steady Polish your style.
- 40. Tonality: What personality do you want to portray? Agreeable Fair Friendly Pleasant Helpful Tender Kind Quaint Innocent Warm Calm Easy going Gentle Laid back Neutral Polish your style.
- 41. Tonality: What personality do you want to portray? Lively Light Charming Curious Thoughtful Cheerful Witty Comfortable Open Encouraging Energetic Enthusiastic Polish your style.
- 42. Tonality: What personality do you want to portray? Trendy Youthful Clever Alive Outrageous Bold Unusual Wild Funny Different Noisy Polish your style.
- 43. Tonality: What personality do you want to portray? When we do website design for others we make sure they don’t stray too far from the yellow brick road. Now we need your help to keep us from being attacked by those darn flying monkeys. When we do website design for others we keep them on track ensuring they reach their goals. Now we need your help to make sure we don’t stray from our original objectives. Polish your style. -VS-
- 44. What tonality will you use?
- 45. Format for success: Textbook meets inverted pyramid. A textbook organizes information with a table of contents, easily identifiable chapters, sub-titles and captions on images. Polish your style. website navigation page titles
- 46. Format for success: Textbook meets inverted pyramid. Vocal story telling Build interest This is so funny That reminds me of this one time when… You won’t believe this Supporting details Bang! Inverted pyramid Bang! If you don’t get past this statement it’s OK, the reader still got the information they needed. Supporting details Less important information Polish your style. You only have 3-5 seconds to hook your reader.
- 47. Speaking vs. Writing: Free flow then edit. When you talk you add all kinds of unnecessary words into each sentence to get your point across. I know my brain clips along faster when I’m speaking than when I’m writing. When communicating with your audience they probably don’t want to read all the fluffy stuff in between, they want to get right to the point. When speaking you add extra words into each sentence unnecessarily. My brain clips along faster when I’m speaking than writing. Your audience doesn’t want to read all the fluff, so get to the point. Polish your style.
- 48. Format for success: Textbook meets inverted pyramid. Create visual hierarchy with text sizing and colors Bold key information Break apart information into bulleted lists Place captions with graphics to emphasize key elements Use meaningful original graphics instead of clip art or stock photos whenever possible Polish your style.
- 49. How long is too long? Blog Posts Keep entries around 250-300 words, less than 500 300 words not enough? Breakdown your article into logical parts and make a series of entries. Keep paragraphs short, 3-5 sentences Break up every few paragraphs with a sub heading to help viewers skim for content Remove all content that is not needed Polish your style.
- 50. How long is too long? Twitter Max is 140 characters This includes links names and all! So shoot for 124. Facebook Ideal length is 100 to 119 characters Max 63,206 Email Newsletter Take the very best content Put that in your newsletter Link to everything else on your website Try for 500 characters or less Polish your style.
- 51. E-Newsletter Styles Magazine-style Short copy Your newsletter is primarily used as a portal to content on your website. Polish your style. Hybrid Medium-length copy Both inform readers and promote a product or service — one large excerpt with link to site for more. Single-Topic Long copy Include all the information readers want into the email itself. No links necessary unless needed.
- 52. How often is too often? Facebook 1-2 times per day, be consistent Twitter As many times as you want say the message in different ways each time Blog At least 1 time every two weeks (depending upon desired results) Email Marketing 1 or more per month is effective, readership drops until 5 then holds steady Polish your style.
- 53. Tasty title writing tips. Short and sweet is best, keep it 50 characters or less Pack a punch, make it interesting, the subject is the first thing viewers see and maybe the only thing if it’s not intriguing Capitalize Letters of Each Word for Easy Recognition. Consider starting emails with the business name so they know who the email is coming from AVOID: help, percent off and reminder, special, ALL CAPS, !!!!!!!, free Create urgency and the must read feeling (BUYER PERSONA) Polish your style.
- 54. Questions Titles How do I fit blogging in with everything else? Here's How I Wrote This 1,000-Word Blog Post in 10 Minutes How to Shave 20 Minutes Off Your Next Blog Post What should I write about? How to Think Up a Year's Worth of Blog Post Topics in an Hour How to Turn One Idea Into a Bottomless Backlog of Blog Posts How to Choose a Solid Topic for Your Next Blog Post How to Identify Content Topics That Hit Home With Your Readers Why would I blog? What are the benefits of blogging? The Benefits of Blogging: Why Businesses Do It, and You Should Too Why Blogging Is Like Running for Small Business Owners*** Why the Blog Post Is the New Ad Unit
- 58. Test your call to action. Close your eyes and open them, what do you see first? Put yourself in the shoes of a viewer, be objective Do you know where to click instinctively? Did you ask your viewers to take action? Is it front and center? Look for consistent punctuation and capitalization of bulleted lists and subtitles Don’t forget your contact information Polish your style.
- 59. The final edit. Plug in additional key words (web pages and blogs only) SPELL CHECK!!! Read it out loud Consider composing in Word to easily recognize spelling and grammar errors. Note: writing in Word doesn’t negate reading proofing your grammar and spelling upon completion! Send to the proofing authorities in your process Polish your style.
- 60. Put your new found knowledge to work! Perfecting Your Process.
- 61. GOAL: TIMELINE: Sooner the better, supplies are needed. No approval needed from superiors, I’m the boss of my own blog! AUDIENCE: Followers of the task force blog. Friends, family, fellow search and rescue professionals. Varied communication styles and backgrounds. KEYWORDS: Joplin, MO, Needs List, Search and Rescue, Task Force Knowledge Action Your agenda Their agenda To let readers know about the Joplin situation. Tell them how to donate supplies. HOW? Tell our story about Home Depot and share a picture. Highlight needs list and how to contact for pick up.
- 62. OUTLINE: • Explain the mission • Share the GPS story • Street sign not right • What Home Depot? • Share Nancy’s contact info • Needs list
- 63. Our experience in Joplin. Our taskforce was deployed to Joplin, MO to search for missing persons. We were assigned to search the Home Depot area. We piled in the car and drove toward the corner of Main and 20th Street. We drove in circles around the fallen 19th Street sign a few times in search of 20th Street, looking for Home Depot but didn’t see the store anywhere in sight. Finally we consulted our GPS navigation system and searched for the Home Depot. Turns out we were on the corner of Main and 20th Street all along! The street sign from 19th Street had been torn out of the ground by the tornado and thrown a full city block to the corner of Main and 20th were it lay impaled in the ground. All that was left of Home Depot was a bunch of shelves sticking out of a bunch of concrete that looked like a parking lot. The people of Joplin would greatly appreciate all supplies and donations you can provide. Much needed items are water, bandages, blankets and canned food. Please contact Nancy with the Red Cross at nancy@theredcross.org to coordinate supply pick up. Get it all out.
- 64. First impression? Be a critic! What information is the most important? What makes you think, “Wow I’m glad I read that?”
- 65. Our experience in Joplin. Our taskforce was deployed to Joplin, MO to search for missing persons. We were assigned to search the Home Depot area. We piled in the car and drove toward the corner of Main and 20th Street. We drove in circles around the fallen 19th Street sign a few times in search of 20th Street, looking for Home Depot but didn’t see the store anywhere in sight. Finally we consulted our GPS navigation system and searched for the Home Depot. Turns out we were on the corner of Main and 20th Street all along! The street sign from 19th Street had been torn out of the ground by the tornado and thrown a full city block to the corner of Main and 20th were it lay impaled in the ground. All that was left of Home Depot was a bunch of shelves sticking out of a bunch of concrete that looked like a parking lot. The people of Joplin would greatly appreciate all supplies and donations you can provide. Much needed items are water, bandages, blankets and canned food. Please contact Nancy with the Red Cross at nancy@theredcross.org to coordinate supply pick up. Get it all out.
- 66. Our experience in Joplin. Our taskforce was deployed to Joplin, MO to search for missing persons. We were assigned to search the Home Depot area. We piled in the car and drove toward the corner of Main and 20th Street. We drove in circles around the fallen 19th Street sign a few times in search of 20th Street, looking for Home Depot but didn’t see the store anywhere in sight. Finally we consulted our GPS navigation system and searched for the Home Depot. Turns out we were on the corner of Main and 20th Street all along! The street sign from 19th Street had been torn out of the ground by the tornado and thrown a full city block to the corner of Main and 20th were it lay impaled in the ground. All that was left of Home Depot was a bunch of shelves sticking out of a bunch of concrete that looked like a parking lot. The people of Joplin would greatly appreciate all supplies and donations you can provide. Much needed items are water, bandages, blankets and canned food. Please contact Nancy with the Red Cross at nancy@theredcross.org to coordinate supply pick up. What else can be done to improve this piece? Revise for style.
- 67. Our experience in Joplin. Our mission was to locate missing persons but first had to locate the missing Home Depot store formerly located on the corner of Main and 20th Street. The landscape in Joplin was so unrecognizable we needed a GPS to find our task force location, the Home Depot My task force circled the impaled 19th Street sign near Main Street for 15 min before we thought to use our GPS. We then discovered we’d already reached our destination; the street sign had flown a full city block to reach its new location. What was once Home Depot is now shelving standing in a parking lot. Help this city in need. Email Nancy with the Red Cross at nancy@theredcorss.org to coordinate supply pickups. Items needed include: Bottled water Bandages Blankets Canned Food Revise for style.
- 68. Joplin: Shelving , Street Signs & Needed Supplies. Our mission was to locate missing persons but first had to locate the missing Home Depot store formerly located on the corner of Main and 20th Street. The landscape in Joplin was so unrecognizable we needed a GPS to find our task force location, the Home Depot. My task force circled the impaled 19th Street sign near Main Street for 15 min before we thought to use our GPS. We then discovered we’d already reached our destination; the street sign had flown a full city block to reach its new location. What was once Home Depot is now shelving standing in a parking lot. Help this city in need. Email Nancy with the Red Cross at nancy@theredcorss.org to coordinate supply pickups. Items needed include: Bottled water Bandages Blankets Canned Food Revise for style. Write title. Test call to action. I find I tend to write the most important information last in my paragraphs. I often move the last sentence to the beginning.
- 69. Joplin: Shelving , Street Signs & Needed Supplies. The landscape in Joplin was so unrecognizable we needed a GPS to find our task force location, the Home Depot. Our mission was to locate missing persons but first had to locate the missing Home Depot store formerly located on the corner of Main and 20th Street. What was once Home Depot is now shelving standing in a parking lot. My task force circled the impaled 19th Street sign near Main Street for 15 min before we thought to use our GPS. We then discovered we’d already reached our destination; the street sign had flown a full city block to reach its new location. Help this city in need. Email Nancy with the Red Cross at nancy@theredcorss.org to coordinate supply pickups. Items needed include: • Bottled water • Bandages • Blankets • Canned Food Joplin, MO Home Depot wreckage.
- 70. K N O W Y O U R P U R P O S E S P E A K T O Y O U R A U D I E N C E W H A T T O W R I T E P O L I S H Y O U R S T Y L E P E R F E C T I N G Y O U R P R O C E S S Writing for the Web.