How to Write? Some Tips on Effective Writing (2024.05.13, online)

https://olivian.ro/effective-writing/

In May 2024, I recorded a presentation on "How to Write? Some Tips on Effective Writing".

Below are the slides + video recording.

https://olivian.ro/effective-writing/

1. Some Tips on Effective Writing How to write ? Online 2024.05.13 Olivian Breda

2. INTRO: Why this presentation ? To become a better writer .

3. Tips 01 Tips 02 Tips 03 Tips 04

4. 01 Tips

5. Answer the questions visitors have when reading your articles.

6. Checkspelling - Platforms: Google Docs Suite and Microsoft Word. Websites, apps, and browser plugins: Grammarly (for English) and Language Tool (for English and other languages).

7. Start with the assumption that people will not read an article but do skimming. Say the most important things at the top of the article. Use headings, images, bold and italics, and bulleted and numbered lists.

8. The inverted pyramid: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/journalism_and_journalistic_writing/the_inverted_pyramid.html

9. Study the market. https://www.reddit.com/ and https://www.google.com/search?q=keyword1+keyword2+site%3Areddit.com

10. How to get topic ideas: 1. research forums. 2. write down ideas.

11. How to be a good writer? Be a good reader and pay attention to what surrounds you.

12. Your article should focus on a single topic. e.g., One flower .

13. For SEO keyword research: https://trends.google.com/trends/ and https://answerthepublic.com/

14. Use ChatGPT to do research.

15. Contradict the common knowledge - that's fine.

16. Write something new – not alread y on the market .

17. Article's title - very important, spend time on it.

18. Write using bold and italics . Avoid underline .

19. If you have a text block, break it into sections with sub-titles.

20. For SEO: use H1 (H1 = Heading 1) and H2 for sub-titles (sub-headings). H3/H4/H5 – if needed .

21. 02 Tips

22. For large documents: add a table of contents at the beginning. Example : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_library

23. Numbers sell (not to all audiences , though).

24. Don't try to please everyone.

25. Know the brand's voice if you are writing for an external party.

26. Keep the tone of voice constant.

27. Figures, tables, graphics, and embedded media (videos, podcasts, presentations, documents) can help.

28. Quotes on WordPress.

29. Keep things simple - Say things in a few words.

30. Aim to write in a few sentences and paragraphs.

31. Try not to repeat things.

32. Write as you speak.

33. Should you ask questions within a text?

34. Some writers like to use exclamations a lot! Others use a lot of ellipses...

35. Avoid complicated words.

36. Use the words people use - if your audience prefers a term, use it.

37. Try to be understood well.

38. 03 Tips

39. Avoid ambiguity.

40. Give examples.

41. If necessary, create a context.

42. Irrelevant: keyword density for SEO.

43. Try not to be wrong.

44. An article can do multiple things - answer questions, inspire people, solve fears, and make people laugh.

45. When trying to convince your audience that a phone is nice: Specifications (product size, colors, materials, components, durability, etc.) vs. Specifications translate into benefits and emotions. You could take this one step further and try to talk about the emotions of using a phone for two more years.

46. Try to prove things when selling something. So, if you say, "You will be able to use this phone so much that you'll forget when you bought it," it is different than, "You can safely use this phone for at least seven years due to software updates." "Plenty of memory" vs. "32 GB of memory, which means 5,000 high-quality photos or 2 hours of 4k video".

47. One of the best ways to learn a topic? Write about it - teach others.

48. Avoid passive voice ("The presentation was done well" vs. "I like the way you've done the presentation.")

49. Emoticons / emojis - there are pros/cons.

50. Link to related articles on your website/other websites.

51. Don't do things just for Google. Make your visitors like the article.

52. Skimming: Naming : About Us vs. "Who We Are" , "What Defines Us" , "Our Team," etc.

53. Skimming: Metaphors make skimming harder.

54. Add calls to action when appropriate (e.g., visit X website, go to the event page, subscribe to the Newsletter).

55. 4 Tips

56. Not all articles need a conclusion, but most need an introduction.

57. Show vulnerability.

58. Try to tell a story (if it's an appropriate article).

59. Re-read your texts.

60. Consider re-reading your texts with a loud voice.

61. Ask for feedback. Even 1-4 external opinions should suffice.

62. For a great text - rewrite an article.

63. Basic SEO tips - use a meta title, meta description, ALT - Alternative - texts and filenames for images, H1 for the article title, H2-H5 for sub-headings, links and backlinks from other pages and websites to your article, short and easy-to-understand URL, presence in the Sitemap.xml file of the website, good page load speed, Schema.org, sharing buttons.

64. UX tips - consider using font sizes and colors that are easy to read on all devices, have around 50-70 characters per line.

65. Have some vertical spaces - 50% spacing between lines and 200% spacing between paragraphs.

66. You could use Drop Caps for better UX. https://twitter.com/VeryGoodCopy/status/1656660932406435842

67. Make your article beautiful to see - images, headings, tables, and things in bold.

68. Sign your articles - consider adding an author box.

69. Practice makes perfect - you'll improve as time goes by.

70. Should you read comments on an article? It depends.

71. After you've written an article - brag a bit about it.

72. Thank you ! The end of the game! You can go outside and play now !

73. DESIGN ELEMENTS COLORS You can find these fonts online too. This presentation template uses the following free fonts: Titles : Public Sans Headers : Asap Body Copy : Asap FONTS #F4D94C #2DAE6B #1B3D9B Use these design resources in your Canva Presentation. RESOURCE PAGE

74. CREDITS This presentation template is free for everyone to use thanks to the following: for the presentation template for the photos PEXELS, PIXABAY