Thursday, July 2, 2009
You don't need to mess around with complicated optimization and keyword research-that's what great Search Engine Optimization does for you. But you do need content on your site. That's right: precise, good writing is very important online.
Whether you need to explain your product, write a catchy "About Your Company" page, or talk about a new offering you're rolling out, your Search Engine Optimization will always be better when your website contains fresh, interesting information.
Not Everyone is a Writer:
And therein lies the problem. Not everyone can write. It's just not possible for everyone to be great.
We all write emails every day, and probably do some level of reading, but when it comes to writing in a clear, precise way, many of us are at a loss. It simply takes too much work, too much editing, too much knowledge of those obscure rules of grammar and style to churn out good, readable prose.
Writing is a Skill, Like Many Others:
So if we aren't farming the writing out to wordier relatives, or hiring overpriced ad agencies to write about our products, what are we doing? Trying to write the stuff ourselves, that's what.
Writing really is a skill that can be developed and improved, no matter how subtle and frustrating it may seem. There is a wealth of knowledge on how to write well, a lot of it contradictory. Writers are famous for making definitive-sounding declarations on what 'good' writing is, only to have another critic come and disagree immediately.
Why Do Authors From Hundreds of Years Ago Have the Best Advice on Good Writing?
So I've found some advice for you, narrowing our focus down to four writers-all of whom died before the year 1900. Why go back so far? It's simple, really:
These pieces of advice were expressly designed to simplify a very complicated beast. Have you ever tried to read literature from 200-300 years ago? Direct, clear, pared-down style did not exist.
Remember, Hemingway and Orwell were centuries away, words were longer, more obscure, and the culture was simply very different. Reading was undertaken with long, sustained concentration, and writing was dense and difficult.
So the writers desperately urging precision and clarity were doing so because these qualities were in very short supply. Their advice is relevant and to the point, no matter how old it is.
-Matthew Arnold
Murder your darlings.
-Arthur Quiller-Couch
-Richard Brinsley Sheridan
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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