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