SECTION C – Critical Training For All Writing Projects

WARNING

I am not saying every write-up for every client will be as casual as the links I am about to share. However, in 80%+ situations, a casual and tongue-in-cheek humor approach works best.

Of course, based on your style and the project in question, you will need to find the right balance. But. Nevertheless, these links show you how to write proper copy (aka content) in a conversational and talkative manner.

Basically, you can’t write in a manner that the reader feels that he is reading a textbook. You have to engage your reader and talk to him, personally, with the copy you write.

Please proceed!

1. This guy Jason writes really well. It is crisp and engaging. Conversational and casual. He knows how to hold your interest and play with you. Go through his personal website and the book he has written. You don’t need to read everything word for word. Just read the stuff in bits and pieces. Go wider rather than deeper. You’ll get an idea of how proper copy is written.Go through the titles, headings, FAQs, descriptions, everything. In bits and pieces. No need to read cover to cover. http://schiit.com  http://www.head-fi.org/t/701900/schiit-happened-the-story-of-the-worlds-most-improbable-start-up WARNING Of course, you can’t use words like ‘shit’ or ‘fuck’ that way. But you’ll still get an idea of how to write proper copy. And then you can create your own style.Basically, you can’t be boring. You can’t write so that it feels like somebody is reading from a textbook.Once you go through those two links in detail, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

2. You need to focus on AIDA principles and talk to your reader, the YOU.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/08/05/how-to-use-the-aida-formula-to-boost-your-content-marketing-strategy/#4966430743b5

You need to address the reader in second person, as YOU. And you need to talk far more about YOU (the reader), than about yourself (I/me). Perry’s link will tell you the ratio for your content. Ideally, You:Me should be like 2:1 or so or greater!

Perrymarshall.com/grade

Once you get used to writing this way, the demand for your copy will be a lot more. And all of us will be able to get more $$$ per word, including YOU!

All the best!

3. Use wit, humour, satire, sarcasm and flowery language in your content.

Be witty and clever.

Be funny.

Use good vocabulary where applicable.

Write for an intelligent and mature, well-educated audience. Don’t be cheap. Be mature but casual. And informal. Don’t talk the way teenagers do. Talk the way young adults do. Who are well-off.

Be funky and jazzy. Write in a talkative manner. Like you’re writing a video script. But in a grammatically correct manner. Be conversational rather than boring. Try to bring the content to life.

God Bless

Aakshey

Founder & CEO

Weaving Thoughts

SECTION B – Critical Training For All Writing Projects

1. Only use Font size 12 Arial Black color throughout. Including for headings, the title etc.

2. Don’t write long sentences.

Write short and crisp sentences. And try to keep the use of commas to a bare minimum.

A short sentence should be 1 to 4 words. A long sentence can be 15-20 words. Try to write good copy (copy means a copywriting piece or high-grade content) like you find in novels written by Eric Segal or Chetan Bhagat. The average sentence should be no longer than 8-15 words or so.

You got the point. Right?

3. Write short paragraphs.

An average paragraph should just be 1 or 2 sentences (not lines, sentences, read above).

A long paragraph should NEVER exceed 3 sentences.

Single word paragraphs like ‘But.’ are just fine as well.

By paragraphs I mean text, before and after which there is a line gap. I don’t imply a separate sub-heading for every paragraph.

4. A 500 words article should ideally have 15 to 25+ paragraphs divided among 5 to 8+ sub-headings.

On an average, one paragraph should be about 1.5-2 sentences. Many would be just a single sentence. But quite a few may have two sentences as well 🙂

Just look at the way this piece is written. 😀

5. Sub-headings must always be bold, with the first letter of each word capitalized.

Ideally, a 500 words article should have, say, 5-8+ sub headings or so.

Some of those sub-headings may have just 1 or 2 paragraphs. While others may have 3-4 paragraphs.

Try not to exceed 3-5 paragraphs per sub-heading.

The sub-headings have to be long, catchy and descriptive. And they need to seduce the reader to read the next bit of the article.

6. The title should ideally be long, descriptive and catchy.

Ideally, it should be between 30 to 60 characters (not words). (Even a blank space is counted as a character.)

The title must be centre aligned with the first letter of each word capitalised. It also needs to be bold.

It should be thought provoking and must seduce the reader to read the article.

7. Every single write-up needs to have 1-2 sections of bullet points.

Each section of bullet points must have between 4 to 6 bullets, no more, no less.

And the entire section of bullet points (with the sub-heading, intro, 4 points and conclusion) must be within 100 words or less.

You can’t start a write-up with a section of bullet points. Nor can you conclude a write-up with a section of bullet points.

You always need a suitable introduction and a suitable conclusion. Of course, you can’t label them as Introduction/Conclusion though!

8. Always include a line gap between paras, sub-headings, the title and the text etc.

9. Between the body and the title, comes in the excerpt.

The excerpt should ideally be around 10 to 30 words for a 500 words write-up. It should be in italics. (And for SEO articles this is where the primary keyword comes in, and is in bold.)

The excerpt is counted in the article word count we order. But. The title isn’t.

10. To check things like:

Words per sentence (average has to be 8 to 15 words tops)

You:Me ratio (ideally 1.5:1 or better)

Use this link:

https://www.perrymarshall.com/grade

11. Stick to the brand/product/service in question.

If the client has ordered content about their product/brand/service, and if it is not a review meant for comparison, please stick to the client.

Do NOT mention competitors or competing products/brands/services etc. That might work in a review, but not otherwise. Stick to information about the client. I am not asking you to hard sell or to be salesy, but you can’t be promoting/harassing other companies either.

12. Don’t hard sell!

Be genuine. Neutral and natural. Like an authority like Forbes.com or About.com.

Write in a genuine and believable manner with a very subtle and slight positive approach to show the merits of the client in question.

Don’t try to sell. Explain the merits. Genuine ones. Be positive but don’t over do it.

You are NOT a sleazy salesman or saleswoman!

Don’t write much negative about a product either. Be natural. And try to persuade in a genuine manner.

Like authority websites like GSMArena.com to know what I mean.

Thank You so much, God Bless!

Aakshey

WeavingThoughts

SECTION A – Critical Training For All Writing Projects

1. File naming:

Order.No-keyword/Title-NameOfManager-NameOfWriter
Eg: 5MY16.P4-royal dating guide-Moses-Shreya
5 stands for 2015
MY stands for May
16th = 16th of May
P4 = 4th project for the day

Order nos will only be generated by Aakshey. Not by managers/writers.

Moses = First name of Manager, M capital
Shreya = First name of Writer, S capital
royal dating guide = Primary keyword (for SEO articles) – all small letters OR
Article Title for non-SEO articles (all caps in that case)

2. Write correct English, meaningful sentences and accurate facts.

The quality of the content is the single most important thing.

Your grammar must be your very best.

And sentences must be well structured and easily understood by a 5th grader. That is good copy.

3. Only write original and unique content.

Copy pasting between your own articles and/or from the internet isn’t allowed.

Copy pasting quotes isn’t allowed either.

4. George client = UK audience = UK English
Non-George client = US audience/US English unless specified otherwise

5. http://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker/

Always use the above.

One article at a time.

Ensure 100% uniqueness and then submit.

We can’t share a Copyscape account with you, although it is more accurate.

6. Sign up for a free Grammarly account.

And always pass every article through it and ensure the best possible score and minimum possible errors, before you send the article to your manager.

7. Always use Microsoft’s built-in grammar checker etc to ensure the work has no grammatical or spelling errors as far as that piece of software is concerned.

Thank You so much, God Bless!

Aakshey

Founder CEO

WeavingThoughts.com

If a client specifies contradictory guidelines, then:

Contradictory parts of the client’s guidelines will be followed. Not Weaving Thoughts’s guidelines.

Both sets of guidelines will be followed where the client’s guidelines don’t contradict Weaving Thoughts’s guidelines.

DISCLAIMER

The intention of this training is to ensure writers write content that is high quality, factual, engaging and most of all natural.

The most important thing is that you have to be natural and write like the reader is talking to you.

The below is a means to achieve that.

Every single writer needs to be trained to follow these guidelines to ensure the maximum possible readability of their content, focusing on their readers while balancing optimization for search engines as well.

You may find them difficult at first. But after the first 5 or so articles, they will be embedded in your DNA and you will come out as a far better and capable writer. 🙂

The aim is to create content that is:

Conversational and Engaging (often casual, with a tongue in cheek type humor)

Factual and detailed

Not fluff

Natural

Grammatically correct

Light and easy to read

Optimized for readers (not for search engines)

Worth publishing on a respected brand’s website 🙂

Thank You so much, Best of Luck!

Aakshey Talwar

Founder,  WeavingThoughts.com