Top 10 Content Writing Mistakes that You can Avoid

Although content is considered king when it comes to attracting traffic on a website, most companies remain ignorant. They fail to estimate the power of good words, right punctuations and properly constructed sentences while posting their web content, Ezine article, blog post content or an Ehow guide. What to know what most miss while finalizing their content?

Spelling, grammar and punctuation: Basic but usually overlooked. When someone’s creating their web content, the easiest-to-avoid error can be their downfall.  Hard to believe but there are thousands of websites with the web content that has 30-40 run-on sentences.  You just don’t need to write the web content; you need to get it proofread as well to avoid this common content writing mistake.

Ever Changing voices: Some writers make such an amateur shift from first person to third that it becomes almost impossible to read the web content. “We” to “I”, “you” to “his” or “I” to “them” breaks the consistency of the web content leaving the readers to scratch their heads as to who you are referring to.

Excessive hype: Web content is written for a purpose, right?  Maybe you wish to promote your newest fashion line. If you could have it your way, you might probably want to write everything little detail about the product. Just how great it is going to be, how plus size women need not feel to be left out, the exclusivity of fabric and so on.  Caution: readers will at once shift from your web content if it is only promotional.  Give them something from what they scan.  There are millions of sales pitches lying out there and they don’t want to waste time reading one more.

Staying specific.  Your reader wants info. They land on your webcontent article because of the promise its title does to deliver. But if you start-off writing too broadly without any sense of direction, as a common error to do while compiling the web content, they’ll soon loose interest in reading and will shift to other resource.

Complicating the content: If you want to show your unusual talent of using ten different adjectives in one single sentence, write other things like novel, essays or case studies for that. Web content needs to be kept simple and straight.

Spelling conventions: Every website demands to be written in the local dialect. If you can’t distinguished between spellings such as ‘colour’ and “color”, “cheque” and “check” or “materialise” and “materialize”, then you ought to hire a professional web content writer.

Need of the content: Are your readers expected to take some action as soon as they hit on your page or your web content is just to give them weighty information? A news release is written differently than a promotional article which is unlike writing for kids. Unless you understand the precise requirement, you’ll not be able to write a good copy.

Weak headlines. Unique and creative headline have gathered more interest in past and they will continue doing so in future. Using a keyword in the headline ensures the web content gets picked up by search engines quickly.

Introductory paragraph. Make it dull and see your readers crossing your web content, or make it compelling enough to entice visitor go through your entire page – choice is yours. Ideally, the introductory lines should give a sneak peek of what’s in store for the reader in rest of the article. Making it witty, catchy or funny will get your content good response.

5 Tips Every Content Writer Should Know

Writing articles is a constant process of improving your content delivery style. Over the last 7 years of doing content writing article marketing, my content writing has improved tremendously as I've experimented and set my standards higher and higher.

I'd like to share the 5 content writing and article marketing tips that have helped my content writing improve the most:

1 - Create a word count limit for your web content or article. When you set a word count goal, it forces you to keep your focus. You'll find that your content is much more efficient.

2 - Say what you need to say as simply as possible. For those of us who like to elaborate and go off on tangents, this guideline can be a challenge, but definitely something to work towards!



3 - State the point of your content or article from the first sentence/paragraph. Your reader will look at your title and the first sentence to decide whether he wants to read your content or article. You greatly increase the likelihood that the reader will peruse reading content or article if you can rope him in right at the beginning. Resist the urge to write a lengthy and complicated introduction. Get to the point quickly.

4 - Teach your readers. Your main purpose in writing content and articles is to provide helpful information to your target readers. If your content fails to do this, it will not be successful on any other level. Focus on teaching in your articles - forget about promoting your business, getting backlinks, and hyping products. Think of common questions that your readers have, and then write your articles as solutions to those questions.

5 - Do not ignore the concluding paragraph of your content - experiment with different strategies that will subtly draw your reader from your article body into your resource box.

Here are a few ideas:

• Give your readers a homework assignment, something that they should do as a result of reading your article. Ideally, every article you write should bring about some sort of action from the reader. If the article is helpful, it will aid the reader in doing something that he needs to do.

• Ask the reader a question at the end of your article. This helps engage the reader; it is an invitation to further dialogue with you. If you do not create some sort of enticement to take another step towards you after reading your article, the reader may just read the article and move on to the next.

Your conclusion is a wrap-up of what you have said in your article, and it can also be a bridge between your article and your resource box. Asking a question at the end of your article is a very subtle way of saying to the reader, "Let's continue this conversation outside of this article." The next thing the reader sees is your resource box which offers a method of contacting you - your website.

These are the 5 things that I've learned over the years that have helped me write more effectively and more efficiently. If you are a beginner and are struggling to produce articles, it is encouraging to know that it gets easier the more you do it. You don't have to write for years and years before getting better. Just apply a few of the article marketing tips I've listed here, and you will immediately improve.

Your homework:

Pick one of these 5 tips to focus on in your next article. Which one will you start with?

Web Content Writing Tips

OK, so you’ve designed everything else than web content for your website, you are ready to launch your business on web, and maybe have a fair idea of generating few leads from search engines. Or maybe you’ve reserved your domain name but you’re thinking, “What the heck do I want to say?!” Let’s take a look at some very useful web content writing tips on how to improve the website content and increase the number of people reading content on your website dramatically:



Web Content Writing Tip #1 - Start by asking yourself, “How am I different?”

It’s best to think of an inverted pyramid when you begin web content writing or website content writing. Ask, “why is my product or service different than others?” While writing the website content, do not use too many words. Get to the point straightway. Make the first paragraph a gist of what you want to say and then expand the web content further in the text.




Web Content Writing Tip #2 – Relevance!

Sure, it may seem appealing to write about the latest gizmo from Apple, but unless it directly relates to your page or your site, don’t include it. Web users want valid, relevant information about your product or service. So even though they may have already bought the gadget, they won’t care if it doesn’t relate to your message.



Web Content Writing Tip #3 – Limit 1 idea per paragraph

If you want a higher conversion rate, your web pages need to be concise and to-the-point. Users tend to scan websites, instead of reading them. Having short, meat-and-potatoes paragraphs is better than long rambling ones.



Web Content Writing Tip #4 – Action!

Your readers are on your page for one single reason: because you have something they want. Show them. Tell your readers what to do by avoiding the passive voice. Keep the flow of your pages moving so you don’t lose their attention!



Web Content Writing Tip #5 – Use lists instead of paragraphs

Remember: people don’t read your site; they scan it. And lists are easier to scan than paragraphs, especially if you keep them short and bulleted.

 

Web Content Writing Tip #6 – Keep your list items under 10

Studies have shown that people can only reliably remember 7-10 things at a time. By keeping your list items short, it helps your readers remember them.



Web Content Writing Tip #7 – Short and sweet sentences

Let your sentences be as concise as you can make them. Use only the words you need to get the essential information across.



Web Content Writing Tip #8 – Use sub-headings

Sub-headings will make the text more scannable. Your readers will move to the section of your site that they’re looking for, and internal cues make it easier for them to do this.







Web Content Writing Tip #9 – Call to Action!

People have come to your site looking for information. Don’t expect them to find it on their own. By giving them calls to action - click, sign up, buy now – you’re essentially ordering your readers to “do this!” And this is essential in order to convert them!

There you have it: 9 sure-fire ways to make your content more appealing! Be sure to implement some or all of the tips that work best for you.










_______________________________________________________ Author: Nitima, web content writer, Gurgaon (New Delhi, India) You can click here for her portfolio or Contact her at nitima@writingroutes.com

Car Rentals Cairns Airport Australia

Cairns is no doubt a tourist town. It has an infectious energy that usually makes people stay here a few days more than what they planned. With its lush topical setting, Cairns is known globally. On its beaches you’ll see professional photographers and tourists with 15 cm lens, ready to click every move of the tropical birds, local ladies performing aqua dance at every lagoon pool, local families sharing their picnics with the outsiders and a craze for fitness jogs. Overhead, aeroplanes take off with such an amazing frequency yet on the ground you’ll be able to hear the straw –sucking sound of gecko. As the gateway to Great Barrier Reef, Cairns gets thousands of visitors every year.

It also has the distinction of being the world’s most popular diving sites. You’ll also find tons of tour, cruise and dive operators cashing on this. When here, don’t forget to go for bungee jumping, take a tour to Port Douglas, Atherton Tablelands and hooking up with the fellow travellers for more fun and adventure.

The Cairns Airport is located 4 miles (7 kms) from the Cairns central business district. It lies between Trinity Bay to the east and Mount Whitfield to the west and has the circle of rich rainforest around it that make a nice place for a day’s picnic. Operated by the North Queensland Airports Group, it is conveniently located at the distance of 5 miles from the Cairns shopping centre. If there’s something you are planning to buy from this city, a quick stopover at the shopping centre while you are coming from the airport or going towards it can save you a lot of time.
The airport has two passenger terminals, both located on the eastern side of mangrove swamp. The terminals are at the distance of 220 meters from each other. The main runaway of the airport runs from north to south and is 3,196 meter long.

There are many car rental companies in Australia that offer vehicle of your choice and give you a head start in your journey from the Cairns Airport. By renting a car from a leading Australia Car Hire company, you not only get cheapest prices but also the freedom of moving anywhere without having to rely on public transportation. Other advantage of hiring from directly from the car rental website is that you get complimentary roadside assistance in case your vehicle develops some technical snag.

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Author: Nitima, Web Content Writer.

This SEO article was originally written for a SEO company that wanted bulk articles, but disappeared as soon as they got their work done without bothering to pay. Not sure if this is what we call business ethics. It is really shameful that such vendors get hired by companies which in turn fail to bother themselves with the source of original content.

I am posting this work here as my original. Any copyright violation would be counted as an offense.

Content writer's brush with a printing press

 This write-up is about my short but interesting brush with a UK printing firm that required a freelance content writer for their printing press. Most of the work that I had undertaken so far was related to business writing and so when they asked me to write



Of course writing web content is easy, but creating slogans for every page of their stationary, that too within few hours was challenging. 



_______________________________________________________ Author: Nitima, web content writer and acomplished business writer.
click here for her portfolio