Effetive Writing Techniques For Bogs, Press Releases, And Product Reviews

Source: Google.com

How to Write Online Non-Promotional Articles and Blogs?

Whether for SEO or not so long as it is written for online purpose, the following steps are important:

• Create an ‘igniting’ Title. In creating title, incorporate the main keyword you’ll be using. Title is the first one to ignite the interest of the readers. You title should grasp the spark it intends to have.

• Create your ‘outline.’ Your outline will serve as a guide and gauge of where you go along the way while writing. Your outline should contain bullets that will serve as your marking point down the line.

• Start writing with your own ideas to be supplemented by the ideas that emanate from researches. To ensure quality and originality, use your own words when writing. And make sure to adhere to the subsequent sub-steps.

First sub-step: Start your first paragraph like a ‘bomb.’ The first paragraph should contain the general idea of the entire article. It must answer the question: what should I read in this article? Put yourself in the position of a reader for you to understand this. This is the most crucial point. Ultimately, this paragraph should have at least 3 simple sentences.

Second sub-step: The second to the fourth paragraph, depending on the length of the articles, should contain larger pieces of ideas. The essence is that every online article should be written using the ‘inverted pyramid format’ where general arguments are presented first to expound the article.

Third sub-step: The succeeding paragraphs should have the smaller pieces of ideas. Narrowing down the larger ideas is important. In this context, the specifics of the arguments should apparently be done.

Fourth sub-step: End your article with a synthesized statement affirming the first paragraph. In ending your article, you should write at least 2 to 3 short paragraphs synthesizing and affirming the thought of your first statements in the first paragraph.

How to Write Press Releases?

Press releases should contain stories regarding certain phenomena with supporting substantial ideas and arguments. The following steps are significant to arrive at well-written and must-read press releases for online purpose (and even for print purpose):

• Create an ‘explosive’ Title or Headline. Your PR Title or Headline has a magnitude and intensity of 70%. The power of the press releases reigns in it. Your Title or Headline must not exceed 80 characters all in all. And every first letter of every word in the Title or Headline should be capitalized and avoid using ‘be form’ of verb and articles like ‘a’ and ‘the’ at the start of the title.

• Create your ‘powerful’ outline. Your outline is important as it guides you in writing. Write bullets when doing this. Again, this is just a guide so that you will not be lost when writing your press releases.  In your outline, don’t forget to have a portion where you can write your summary. Summary normally comes after the headline.

• Start writing after you have all the ideas to contain in your stories. Researching online and even through hard copies is also important. You can’t write if your mind is empty. So, there’s a need to be fully equipped when writing press releases.

• Start the first paragraph of your story (normally after the summary) with explosion. If your Title or Headline has a 70% magnitude and intensity, your first paragraph will supplement this 70%. This is where the situation of your story is first presented. The very first sentence should have the ‘situation.’ The second statement should possess the complication of the situation. And the third and last sentence must have the answer to a specific question where the general thought of your press release lies.

Important Tip: Conventionally, the first paragraph should answer the questions that start with who, what, where, why and how. You have to write three simple sentences in the first paragraph containing situation, complication and answer to the question. But there are news (to be found in Google and Yahoo for instance) where there are single sentences to be found in the entire PR story. Your first sentence could have ‘statistical figures’ to set up the situation that will absolutely ignite people’s interest.

• The next paragraphs after the first one should have the general presentation of thoughts. Again, an inverted pyramid format should be followed in writing PR. After the first paragraph, the succeeding ideas should possess the general viewpoints and arguments of the PR story.

• The succeeding paragraphs till its outset must have the specific arguments. Piece by piece, the ideas should be fragmented for people to digest well what is being fed. This is to narrow down the broad concepts in the preliminary statements and paragraphs.

• Avoid using first or second person when you’re the one stating. In writing your press releases, it is a general rule to write them using ‘third person.’

• Use quotes from reliable sources to substantiate your story. This is the backbone of your story- the quotes from people whose statements have something to do with your story presented. This is where your story lies- they talk relevantly, your sources talk relevantly.

• Each paragraph should have at least 2 to 3 sentences. So many sentences in every paragraph do not work. They will simply ruin the readers’ good mood in reading. Thus, it’s better to simplify each paragraph to become concise yet precise by writing at least 2 to 3 sentences.

How to Write Reviews?

Reviews are consumers’ or users’ subjective viewpoints on certain products or services. The challenge is how to write them in a non-promotional way though they may have to contain subjective viewpoints. The following steps are important to arrive at this goal- writing them in a non-promotional way without compromising the essence of subjectivity.

• Write a Title in an Informative Way. It might not be that difficult to write a title in an informative way. How to do it? Just think of writing a title that is educational in nature. Don’t forget to incorporate the keywords of the reviews.

• The first paragraph should have an overview of the products or services being reviewed. In a detailed way, write something about the products or services having 3 to 4 sentences. Avoid using first person in this paragraph.

• The second paragraph should have your personal viewpoints. This is where you put in your personal opinions based on your personal experience or usage. A brief storyline will work here containing 3 to 4 short sentences.

• The third paragraph should have another person’s opinion. This is to affirm your idea by using another person’s ideas. In this paragraph, you can cite one statement from somebody else who have also tried using the product or service being reviewed.

• The fourth paragraph should contain the advantages of the products or services. Bulleting will work on this. Under each bullet, 2 lines of explanation will work effectively. And 4 to 5 bullets will suffice this paragraph.

• The fifth paragraph should have the disadvantages of the products or services. Another bulleting technique will work in this paragraph. Try to explain briefly each bullet the range of disadvantages of the products. But, remember that you’re doing a review on products or services; thus, your inclination should be in the positive aspect. Use slight negation process.

• Revisit your review in the sixth paragraph. This will reaffirm your positive thoughts and viewpoints about the products or services. However, avoid being over-promotional. There should only be an indirect emphasis to come out when trying to present that ‘you should consume or use this or that since…’ Then, 2 to 3 sentences will work on this.

• Conclude your reviews with dynamism. Being positive is vital in this paragraph. This should answer your self-asked question: ‘why did I consume or use such product or service?’

General Rules to Apply in All Types of Articles

Writing online is a challenge. It is in this sense that not all people can write online articles. Further, writing for online audiences is coupled with difficulties. The question is how can you suffice your readers?

The following steps are known as ‘The General Rules in Online Writing,’ to wit:

• Apply One-Idea-Per-Paragraph Rule. Brilliance in writing is gauged first and foremost using this rule. The application of one-idea-per-paragraph rule resonates the understanding of the writers, like you, in relation to online writing. There should only be one idea in each paragraph in order to bring apparent transmission of thought and to avoid readers’ misconception.

• Connect the Points. What does it mean? Writers like you must connect the dots. Every paragraph’s end should have a connecting idea to the succeeding paragraph. This is to show relevance and coherence of thoughts or ideas.

• Use only Simple Sentences. Online writing is not like writing a hard-copied novel with intention of getting the readers’ positive impression out of complexities and intricacies. Online readers are best known as ‘skimmers.’ So, they don’t need complex sentences and longer statements. All they need is ‘simplicity.’

• Use Bullets. Using bullets is applicable in the context of writing more particularly ‘online writing.’ Bullets help the skimmers to understand better the ideas in a more efficient way. Explaining each bullet does not require longer statements. 1 or 2 lines will work for it.

• Keywords Usage. Keywords are important in online marketing, particularly to the so-called indexation process of the search engines. Firstly, main keywords should be included in the titles of the blogs, press releases or reviews. Secondly, for blogs purpose, repeating the keywords twice will work. But the placement would depend on the submission sites. And remember that there are submission sites, like Ezine, that don’t like keywords to be placed at the onset of the articles’ body.

Important Tip: In writing Press Releases, using of main keywords should be done only once to avoid punishment of being spammy. In writing Reviews, there are times that you’ll be repeating keywords based on density requirement. So, there’s a need to understand the process based on it. Eventually, the online writers should also have knowledge with respect to ‘main keywords’ and ‘long-tail keywords’ to be effectively used in online articles.

• Stay Being ‘Non-Promotional’ and Avoid Call-To-Action Texts. Call-to-action texts like ‘click here,’ ‘please refer to this,’ or ‘for more information, please refer to this link’ should be avoided. These texts are promotional in nature. Then, to stay being non-promotional, the essence of writing should be placed in a way that you, as a writer, are just educating your audiences with respect to what they should do when certain problems or dilemmas will arise. Online articles, using the non-promotional perspective should be written in an informative and detailed way. “Don’t teach them to eat burger when they’re hungry; instead, teach them what to do when they’re hungry.”

The challenge in online writing should tickle your mind as a writer. Taking this challenge is good with respect to your drive to become a well-rounded writer by which a vast opportunity for progress is anchored.