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June 14th, 2012
Finding your writing style is much like finding your writing voice. Excellent writing demands a distinctive style and voice and must reflect both the writer and the audience. It is your style which will ultimately connect you to your readers and keep them coming back for more. Even if your readers disagree with your opinion on a subject or even if the topic doesn’t necessarily appeal to them, they will respect the job you do as a writer, trusting you to deliver time and time again. Developing a writing style not only takes time, it takes a command of the craft of writing and a good dose of self-awareness.
Is Writer’s Instinct Enough?
While it’s true that many writers simply write from their gut, letting their instincts guide them—and some do quite well using instinct—most writers need more than instinct to create truly outstanding content. The craft of writing is the nitty-gritty nuts and bolts—not necessarily talent, because it can be learned, rather learning the tools and techniques which go into writing which truly excels. Think about how you get your words to convey what you want—the information, the tone, the emotion. Ultimately you want your readers to recognize your particular style and want more and more. Think of your writing as having a conversation with a friend or acquaintance. How would you approach your subject if you were hanging out in the park talking to another person? You will approach your writing in the same way, letting your unique style shine through.
How your Choice of Words Contributes to Your Writing Style
Every word you choose when writing a new piece of content speaks about you as the author. Think about that. Suppose you have a truly impressive vocabulary—do you use those big words with your closest friends or your family? The answer is likely “no” simply because you don’t want to come off as being pretentious or you don’t want to make people you care about feel bad that they don’t know all the words that are rolling off your tongue. Writing is exactly the same. Just because you know lots of important words doesn’t necessarily mean you must use them in your writing unless they truly add to the overall quality of your writing. Your writing style is almost like a fingerprint in that no two writers tackle a writing topic in exactly the same way. We all bring our backgrounds and beliefs to the table when we write, and those factors will find their way into your overall style.
How Do You Reveal Your Material?
Some writers reveal information in a witty manner, others in a straightforward manner, and still others implement some level of sarcasm as they impart their information. Some writers tend to favor in-depth examinations of a single point while others will go with a broad overview. Of course the material you are writing about will certainly bend your style; if you’ve developed a style that is funny with little bite to it that style could work well for a variety of subjects but would not work at all if you were writing about the increase in murders in a particular area. Obviously you have to adjust your writing style—once you find it—to the subject you are writing about.
However your writing style evolves remember to first know your audience then to always respect them. In other words, your writing style must be true to yourself, your readers and your subject—no easy task, but one that gets easier with time and words.
Tags: legal website content
Posted in Lawyer Website Content, Legal Blogging, Website Writing | Comments Off on Finding Your Writing Style When Writing for the Web
June 13th, 2012
Perhaps you have heard about “chunking” as a way of writing short, concise and to-the-point paragraphs which are conducive to allowing readers to scan quickly and determine whether the information they are seeking is here or whether they need to go elsewhere. The time any site has to hook the reader is ten seconds or less, and when readers quickly scan a page short, chunked paragraphs make it much simpler to decide whether or not they will remain on the page. Any time content is made up of short, meaty paragraphs, the reader is much more likely to stay put than when a site has long, rambling paragraphs. So, as a web writer, how do you write chunky paragraphs?
One Idea per Paragraph
Web writers should consider each paragraph a well-defined and clear-cut object, apart from the rest of the content with one primary purpose. You must know what that purpose is, because if you are uncertain, your readers will not know the purpose either. Highlight your primary purpose throughout your paragraph, and if you find you have moved into another idea, then create another paragraph chunk. These short, concise paragraphs don’t have room for irrelevant ideas, so weed out ruthlessly. Every single sentence will contain words which relate directly to the main paragraph topic, and rather than using a thesaurus, it’s acceptable to use the same word time and time again to ensure your point gets across. If you are describing something which has a distinct chronological order, use words such as first, next and finally.
In web writing you have such a limited amount of time to get your information out there, you will use the inverted paragraph style of writing which puts out your fresh ideas at the beginning of each paragraph. However, more than print content you must also work off what your readers already know in the beginning of the sentence—what is familiar to them—to the new ideas you are putting forth by the end of the sentence. You will create a kind of chain by starting with the known, and ending a sentence with the new. You will then start the next sentence with the new idea you ended up with in the last sentence and so on and so on. If you need context to make a sentence make sense to your reader, insert the context first before you state the overall idea.
Try Writing a Chunky Paragraph
If you are still uncertain on how to write chunky paragraphs, try this with a topic of your choice. First, write your topic sentence then write some concrete details about this topic sentence. All specific facts related to the topic will be included such as definitions or evidence. Next, write what you think about those details—your commentary. You will be offering your own opinions and ideas during this part. Alternate commentary and details until you have written the entire article then write a concluding sentence which wraps up the entire paragraph.
Websites which offer content that is difficult to process and understand are not taking advantage of paragraph chunking which means your readers must work harder than they should in order to grasp the meaning of your words. Think about reading a book without chapters or paragraphs, just one long expanse of words. Most readers would read less than one page before giving up. In the same way, your content must be extremely scannable or your readers will be gone as quickly as they can press the back button.
Tags: Website Writing
Posted in Website Writing | Comments Off on Writing Chunky Paragraphs
June 12th, 2012
You’ve probably heard it time and time again—the title of your article is critical to the success it gains on the web. Ignoring the importance of that title can be very detrimental to your writing—after all the majority of readers determine whether or not they will read your article based on the title, and the search engines will not be able to accurately identify your site’s subject matter, hindering the flow of traffic. Those who work at larger newspapers are well aware that titles of the newspaper articles are considered so extremely important that there is often a title editor on the job.
This person’s sole function is to constantly come up with compelling, interesting and enticing headlines for the stories run by the newspaper. As readers have less and less actual time to read an article which catches their eye, they turn to skimming to determine whether the information they need or want is contained within a specific article. If you are a newspaper reader, you likely look at the front page, skimming the headlines to determine what you want to read, then continue through the paper from page to page, skimming headlines and stopping occasionally to actually read through an article.
Words That Draw Your Reader’s Attention
There are specific words which will naturally draw the eye of your reader—the most common, of course, being “sex.” Obviously unless you are actually writing about sex you can’t just throw the word in randomly in order to get readers. There are other words considered “high engagement” words however it’s important not to overuse them. Readers will quickly recognize they are being manipulated rather than being able to clearly see what the ensuing article is really about. If you are writing for a specific genre, such as the art world, including words such as gallery and exhibit can draw your reader’s eyes quickly to your article, giving them a hint of something they want to read about. Keywords should be used in your titles, but only in a natural manner, not in an obviously contrived way.
Titles Geared Toward Search Engines
In addition to having a good idea of what words human beings will look for when writing your titles you will also need to know the words search engines rely on. For instance if humans typically type in “backache” rather than “back ache,” then you will want to use the former in your titles to ensure they can be found by the search engines. Additionally, the search engines rely heavily on article titles in order to determine what the content is about, so the title is indeed, crucial. Every page in your site should have a unique title which clearly describes the content on the page rather than the overall site.
Title Tags
So you understand the process for writing a title for each page, now think about your title tags. In terms of search optimization, the single most important sentence you will write for your website will be the title tag for your primary website page. The title tag tells the search engine what the page is all about, and, in the case of your primary page, what your website is about. Your primary keywords or keyword phrases should appear in the title tag with the most important words appearing near the beginning of the sentence. Most guidelines state that you should limit the characters in your title tag to 70, and although only the first 70 characters will show in the top bar of the browser, search engine robots can read the remainder and there is no penalty for going over that number of characters. Think of your titles and title tags as the gateway to your compelling content—if neither humans nor search engines want to open that gate, then the rest of your content will never be seen.
Tags: website content, Website Writing
Posted in Lawyer Website Content, Website Writing | Comments Off on Why Titles are Crucial in the Success of Your Web Writing
June 11th, 2012
In most cases of web content, the person’s gender is not relevant to the story you are telling. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. If you happen to be writing for a women’s website on the subject of menopause, then gender is certainly relevant. Should you not be writing for a website which is specifically geared to one gender or another, then focusing on one gender or the other can seem very sexist. Unfortunately, many of the descriptive words we use have gender bias built right in, such as “fireman,” or “actress.” Even a decade or so ago writers were instructed to implement the generic masculine terms, but in today’s world these words can seem dated or biased. There are ways to incorporate gender-neutral words into your content without using the clumsy “he or she.”
Be Specific
Generally speaking, if you are talking about men or boys, then use “he, his and him,” and likewise use “she, her and hers” when talking about females. However if you are writing a sentence such as “Each lawyer must take his bar exam,” this is a case of using a masculine pronoun in a generic manner. While you could write that sentence as “Each lawyer must take his or her bar exam,” this feels awkward. You could also use the vague their as in “Each lawyer must take their bar exam,” but this is somewhat controversial from a grammatical standpoint. In order to avoid making these choices regarding pronouns which tie to one gender or another, try using the authoritative style of the verb instead. Use the second person you or your rather than the third person gender-specific pronouns he, his, she and her. In this case the sentence becomes “In order to become a lawyer you must take your bar exam,” and completely eliminates gender-specific wording.
Other Strategies for Keeping Your Content Gender-Neutral
The next tip for gender-neutral content is to change your nouns and pronouns to the plural form. Rather than writing “Each intern should mail his or her resume’ to the human resource department,” or “Each intern should mail their resume’ to the human resource department,” why not try it this way: Interns should mail their resume’s to human resources.” You have said the same thing, but in a much more concise and gender-neutral manner. Another way of keeping your content gender-neutral consists of repeating the noun, particularly if it will clarify the meaning of your sentence or eliminate the pronoun altogether.
Why Should You Care About Keeping Content Gender-Neutral?
Your goal is to convey information to your readers in a form they can both understand and use, avoiding anything which hinders clear communication. Should any part of your targeted audience find themselves insulted, offended or confused by the manner in which you express yourself through your writing then the understanding of your message could be derailed. While the process of using gender-neutral writing may feel like a relatively low-priority issue, ensuring your content is complete and correct is not a low-priority issue. Whenever possible, bypass the entire gender issue, and when it is not possible use masculine pronouns only for men and boys and feminine pronouns only for women and girls. A little practice in keeping your content gender-neutral will allow you to use these tips without thinking twice about it.
Tags: website content
Posted in Law Firm Website Conversion, Website Writing | Comments Off on Is Your Web Content Gender-Neutral?
June 8th, 2012
Because of the overwhelming level of information on the Internet we have turned into a nation of content skimmers. We are in a hurry and want our information served up fast-food style, so rather than battle this trend, writers of web content might as well make adjustments for this skimming style. For those who have implemented blogs as a part of their website, it is imperative that web readers be able to quickly skim the content and figure out what treasures of information the page holds. First and foremost, an engaging lead—which includes your title, opening sentence and lead paragraph—is absolutely essential to give your reader an overall idea of what will have been gained should they decide to read the content through to the very end. In order to create an engaging lead, ask yourself what value your reader will gain from reading your content then allude to that value in the lead.
One Idea Per Paragraph with Compelling Subheads
Once you are past your lead, you must determine exactly what you want to express within each paragraph. Although we tend to think of outlines as something our high school English teacher forced us to do an outline can be very helpful in streamlining your writing process and ensuring it flows as it should. If your paragraphs seem overly complicated, you could be trying to implement more than one idea, so keep the primary topic to one per paragraph. Sub-headlines give the reader a good idea about the content topic within each paragraph and also offer a convenience for readers who want to skip right to the part of the blog post that pertains to their particular issue or problem. Readers want to spend their precious time reading what is applicable to their lives, or what will answer their specific question.
Multimedia is Also Content
Content is not just your text, rather it encompasses all the various forms of multimedia you insert into a blog posting. You can break up a page of words with photographs which nicely illustrate a point you’ve made as well as bring a bit of color to the page. In some cases an image or a video can be just as descriptive as the written word, so when writing blog posts, mix up the forms of content you include in order to provide the information your readers want as well as giving their eyes a visual break. Bulleted or numbered lists also give the reader a visual break in the text while condensing the information they are looking for into a succinct block. Lists can be visually powerful and are much simpler to skim through than a paragraph, and while you can’t use them in all cases, many times they fit nicely into the content.
Make it Easy on the Eyes
The colors in your blog must never become an obstacle for your readers to overcome simply in order to get to the story. Too many bright colors can overwhelm readers so in general stick with cool, calming colors that don’t distract from your words. Try to stick with fonts such as Arial, Georgia or Sans Serif, simply because they are much easier to read, particularly in chunks of text. Make your headings, subheads and links easily distinguishable from the remainder of your content through the use of highlighting or bold letters. Once you’ve created a pleasing design for your blog and increased the readability, an increase in your visitors will reflect those changes.
Tags: Website Blogging
Posted in Law Firm Blogging, Legal Blogging | Comments Off on Increasing the Readability of Your Blog Posts
June 7th, 2012
In order to identify your audience your target audience think of what you would do if you sat down to make a sketch of a person. You would add one element of the face at a time—eyes, nose, hair, then refine those elements even more by adding the color of the eyes, the style of hair. Eventually you would have an entire face before your eyes and you would have identified a specific person. In order to identify your web readers, don’t attempt to get a complete picture all at once. Start with a piece of paper or your word processing screen in front of you, and ask yourself specific questions which you can definitively answer. After you have a basic outline, do your homework and fill in the missing information.
You will first ask yourself questions which involve the overall demographics of your targeted audience. Solid, measurable data gives you a good foundation for understanding your audience. What age or gender group are you targeting? What social or economic group? Are your visitors members of a specific profession? Are you targeting a specific type of person who is looking for a specific product or service? (In almost all cases, the answer to that will be yes!) What is the primary language of your readers, and what is the average education level? Would your readers be likely to have disabilities which would affect how they view your site? All of these pieces of the puzzle can help define your audience, and, assuming you determined that the majority of those reading your content were young, self-employed and at least fifty percent Spanish speaking, would that alter the manner in which you wrote that content?
Qualitative Data
Who is that person and what tasks are they performing on the website you are writing for? Qualitative information tells you why people will visit the website and read your content, as well as what they want to read, what they need and what they expect. Analytics programs are a good place to get the qualitative information you need such as which pages receive the most traffic and which links are clicked the most. Such a program will also let you see how much time people spend on the site, and whether or not they hang around and interact. Once you know why people visit your site and understand if the majority of them leave satisfied with their experience, your writing will change to reflect that information.
It can be really easy to get caught up in the writing process and neglect the person you expect to actually read your content, yet if you write without identifying your audience you may end up getting fewer readers than you will if you have a good understanding of them. You must also avoid thinking that your fellow writers who leave comments regarding your content are in any way your target audience. If you operate under that assumption then your viewpoint—and your writing will be extremely limited. Stretch your thinking and look at the big picture, then craft your content in such a way that it will not only appeal to your target audience but to the largest portion of readers possible.
Tags: website content
Posted in Website Writing | Comments Off on Identifying Your Audience When Writing for the Web
June 6th, 2012
As a web writer you may feel you are largely anonymous in the sea of content on the Internet at any given time, however whether you are a web content writer or a blogger, every article or blog posting you write is putting your voice out there. The problem for many beginning writers is that figuring out their writing voice is far from easy. Many new writers simply write in the voice they think they should be using, but this can result in writing which sounds stiff or simply generic.
Most all writers have struggled with finding their writing voice and are uncertain about how they want to sound therefore they try on many different voices throughout their writing career—and especially in the beginning—to see which one fits them the best. This can be confusing for readers of a specific blog, since most people who follow blogs expect to “hear” approximately the same voice from post to post. Yet many blog writers read something they wrote only a week or so ago and feel it sounds totally different from the one they wrote today.
Understanding Your Writing Voice
Before you can find your writing voice you have to understand what a writing voice is. We all understand that our “real” voices have a certain pitch and tone, and that different people speak with different accents or in different manners. Writing also has a tone and a style, and indelibly marks your writing with a certain “feel.” When humans read they unconsciously whisper the words in their mind, making it easier to grasp the meaning and commit the message to memory. Most writers are afraid they won’t be funny enough, friendly enough, sound smart enough or professional enough, so we look to the writers we love to read and attempt to mimic their voice. While this might work in the short term, it is unlikely to be a long-term solution.
What is Your Writing Goal?
Do you know what the goal of each page of content you write really is? What do you want people to know when they finish reading your content? How do you want them to feel about what they just read? Do you care about what you are writing? If you don’t, it is unlikely anyone else will either. Are you passionate about your subject even if it is one you either don’t know that much about or have never been particularly interested in? Any subject can be interesting, you just have to delve into it enough to understand what makes it interesting then convey that to your readers.
And through all this, you must still write in a way that sounds completely natural and genuine. The best way to achieve this is by being true to who you are in your real life which in turn makes your voice comfortable, natural and familiar. This is not to say you have only one voice—after all you as a person are actually made up of many people. You are an employee, a boss, a parent, a child, a friend, a lover, a jogger, a gardener, a solar installer, or…a writer. Every facet of your personality is a part of you, and each one possesses a specific writing voice.
Work at Finding Your Voice
Define who you are, with all your multiple facets, to yourself. What adjectives would you use to describe yourself? Once you have a list, write a few hundred words, attempting to infuse those qualities into the words. If your writing voice was a drink, a food, color, which ones would it be? Try writing like you talk—you might want to read your content aloud and ask yourself if it really sounds like you when you are talking to your friends, family or co-workers. In the end write for yourself even if you write for others and your voice will find its way onto the page.
Tags: website seo
Posted in Law Firm Blogging, Law Firm Marketing | Comments Off on How to Find Your Voice in Your Web Writing
June 5th, 2012
If you know why you are writing each piece of content you publish, then it is likely that your writing reflects that passion. Whether you are writing for yourself about issues which center around your work, your hobbies, your family or your feelings, or you are writing for a paycheck, you must always write for a reason. People across the globe are literally fascinated by details; if you can write in a way that shows why the subject matters to you, it is likely it will also matter to your readers. Many websites are not learner-friendly; they may have a lovely design, be very accessible, have usable interfaces yet can lack the learner’s goals or needs. This is assuming that the writer is even aware of what the learner’s needs are.
If you take a look at the entire industry of the web, you will see that as writers we may not have worked hard enough to create content-rich websites which allow exploration and learning. In other words, even though we all know the importance of keywords, compelling headlines and short, snappy sentences and paragraphs, this is not enough. Our readers are also learners who want an interactive, discoverable environment. Does your writing provide that environment, or is this an area of your content which might benefit from a little tweaking? First, take a look at your narrative then build on that for learner-friendly content.
How Storytelling Benefits Your Content
Narrative—also known as storytelling—is crucial to learning. A huge portion of the communication we as humans have with one another revolves around telling a story. We use this technique to provide information as well as to make an emotional connection. We use storytelling to align what we know about our world with what our readers know. When people enter into an exchange of a story, trust is built as readers work their own narrative into the content you’ve provided. Storytelling allows readers to easily move from one portion of your content to another, and helps bits and pieces of information turn into actual knowledge.
Interact With Your Readers
Once your narrative has created a bond with your readers, the next step is to interact with your reader in a way that changes them or prompts them to act. Learners jump into content-rich sites in the hopes of being changed in some way. They hope that what they find in your words will change their outlook on a specific subject, shift their view of the world, or give them something they did not have prior to reading your content. Learners need context in their reading to allow them to integrate what they already know with what they are now reading. The greater amount of context you provide, the more your readers will learn from your content.
How Your Readers Will Discover When Reading Your Content
As you are probably aware, different people learn in different ways. While some learners require exceptionally organized blocks of information others will take a more random path of exploration and investigation. Some readers will want to satisfy their curiosity rather than following a prescribed path, and discoverability which is built into your content can allow them to do just that. In short, content which is discoverable allows readers to choose their own path, build their own adventure. Sites such as Wikipedia are highly discoverable in that readers can move from one block of content to another as their interests take them. Ideally, every piece of web content will be a piece of the huge puzzle which, together, creates a rich landscape of exploration for all readers. So long as writers write for a reason and know why they write, learner-friendly content will be the result.
Tags: website content
Posted in Law Firm Internet Marketing, Lawyer Website Content | Comments Off on Creating Learner-Friendly Content
June 4th, 2012
As a web writer your goal is to reach as broad an audience as humanly possible, and to this end it is likely that you follow all the best practices for writing web content. You keep your sentences short and snappy, spend lots of time ensuring your titles and headings are brilliant and compelling, and you write with a target audience in mind. The question is—do you really know who that audience consists of or do you only have a very fuzzy idea? It is almost a certainty that your audience will vary widely in age, race, gender, culture, nationality and so on. What this means for the web content writer is that when you unconsciously use biased language, you risk alienating a certain percentage of your readers. In some cases, using biased language or writing with a clear bias can even damage your overall credibility.
Ways to Avoid Bias
First, make the determination as to whether a group-specific reference is relevant—in other words if a person’s age, race or gender is not relevant, then avoid mentioning it. If your story is about a local bank president who has won a prestigious award, then mentioning gender is probably not required. However, if that bank president is the first woman to ever win the award then gender is relevant and must be mentioned. Next, be precise in your language—don’t use the word “girl” to refer to adult women, or the word “retiree,” when your content calls for the specificity of “people 65 and older.” Use the precise words which are favored by whatever group you are writing about.
Avoid Stereotypes and Generalizations
If you are writing a story about bad drivers and you find your own bias showing through—if your article seems to imply that all women are bad drivers—then take a step back and re-think your words. Using the words “everyone,” and “normal,” are also primary ways to tick off at least some of your readers. After all, what constitutes “normal?” And when using the word “everyone,” you may lead your readers to wonder if “everyone,” is everyone except them. Use specific words to describe a person or group, and guard against letting your personal feelings or biases about those people or groups come through in your writing.
Avoiding Clichéd Contents
Avoid using the pronouns “us, them and we,” in a way that implies you have a personal connection with your reader. By saying “We all want a good bargain when we go shopping,” you are implying “people like us,” rather than maintaining a connection with all your readers. Certain figures of speech or slang words can make your writing sound very biased without your intending it to. Suppose you write something like “This is not your Grandma’s beef stew.” Your implication is that older people are not welcome to read your article. Cliché’s can end up being very offensive to a specific group of people and can also mean that your writing is dated.
Is Bias Normal?
Bias is a natural slice of human conduct, and actually allows us to stay alive in an odd kind of way by allowing us to make choices which can rescue us from peril or defend our loved ones or livelihoods. It can also inhibit our ability to be open-minded to all those who come to our content. Much of our biases exist in our subconscious, and are absorbed through our culture or our family. We tend to assume our specific beliefs are normal and that others share our viewpoint. When writing for the web, however, let go of those biases to the extent possible, then proofread your writing with an eye toward spotting any biases you missed.
Tags: website content
Posted in Advertising Rules, Car Accident Articles | Comments Off on Banishing Bias When Writing for the Web
May 25th, 2012
The Internet currently exerts a massive amount of influence over our culture and with the dearth of information out there changing daily it can be quite challenging for web writers to consistently turn out original, fresh content. Unfortunately, the majority of web writers have little wiggle room in determining what subject they will write about—they receive assigned topics with mapped out keywords and must attempt to create something new and different.
With most web topics there’s a good chance that it’s been written about every way from Sunday. To add to the difficulty in creating an original piece of work, over and over, every article must also be carefully crafted for maximum search engine optimization. So how do you set yourself apart as a web writer, keep your competition on their toes and keep your readers coming back for more? How do you stand out when you are asked to target the same old tired keywords and talk endlessly about the same topics?
What are the Benefits of Originality?
While most writers strive for originality, it can be difficult to come by in the Internet world. Your goals for every piece of content you publish are varied; you want to ensure your writing is noticeable among your readers and your peers. You also want to consistently offer your readers something of value. Whether you are writing for your own site or blog or for others, you want to ensure it is easy for readers to find your content while building a network of followers.
If your content strikes a chord with your readers they will be likely to link back to your writing, use you as a resource or share your content on social networks. From an SEO standpoint you want to ensure search engines consistently have something unique in your published words to index the site with, and finally you want to establish your own writing credibility as being an authority in your particular niche. Yes, these things are more difficult to accomplish when you are writing for someone else, but you should nonetheless keep them in mind and try to apply the same passion you would use in your own blog to the website you are writing for.
Try a few of these ideas to keep your writing fresh, interesting and creative:
- Work a different angle. While you may have written so many articles about Alzheimer’s that you are absolutely sure there is nothing more to be said, think about it from a different viewpoint. How about writing an article based on an interview with a grandchild who has lost their beloved grandparent to the fog of this dreaded disease? Or write about the practical aspects of keeping a loved one with Alzheimer’s safe in their own home. No matter how tired your subject seems, look at it from other angles and you might be surprised at the ideas you come up with.
- Check out the most common opinions about your subject—then write from the opposite viewpoint. Suppose you are writing for a health website and consistently write about the benefits of various supplements. Try looking at the subject from another angle and write about vitamins that certain people should never take or those which could potentially cause harm. There are always opposing ideas, so try to look at the less-popular viewpoint and write about that—whether you personally agree with the idea or not. High school debate teams are required to argue sides they don’t agree with in an attempt to make them think and keep them fresh and you can use this technique to your advantage.
- Research, but not to the point that you lose your own voice. Of course you have to research your subject, particularly if it is one you know little about. Do your research, but try to stick with unbiased information rather than those pieces with definite ideas about your subject. If you read too many other articles with a certain point of view you can find that attitude seeping into your own writing without you even being aware of it.
Finally, remember that while in the past some websites received good rankings despite fluff writing and borderline plagiarism, those days are over thanks to Google’s latest algorithms. Websites are now rewarded for original content which is informative, useful, well-researched and fresh. Keep your content exciting and the rewards will be both immediate and consistent.
Tags: Lawyer Website Content
Posted in Social Media SEO | Comments Off on Content Originality for Maximum SEO
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