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A writer’s style is what sets one’s writing apart, is unique and intriguing. Such style is the way writing is dressed up (or down) to fit the specific context, purpose and target audience. Word choice, sentence fluency, and the writer’s voice — all contribute to one’s style of writing. How a writer chooses words and structures sentences to achieve a certain effect is also a facet of the own writers style and flare for words. I lean more towards funny, edgy and witty humor writing which is often noted and enjoyed by my readership.
Do you know what your writing style is? Here’s a short-list of the most commonly used writing styles in media and on the web.
Style #1 – Persuasive Writing is a critical skill for marketing that can be a slightly intimidating to a novice. Looking at a service or product, it is imperative to convince your audience that they want it and need it. This is where the “why” of the 5 W’s come into play. A great starting point is to jot down the main points of what would be a verbal persuasive argument. From establishing your oral argument, you can translate that into persuasive writing to craft an effective, persuasive marketing pieces. Check out 9 Simple Tips for Writing Persuasive Web Content.
Style #2 – Informative Writing does exactly what is says-it informs your audience beyond their current knowledge base. In other words, a fact-based writing style. Here is not the place for overly embellished sentences but moreover researched facts & true precedents. This writing style is most frequently u
sed in news reporting, medical media and outlets that use less “fluffy words” and more punch line information. you need to follow some simple guidelines that will ensure that your words are memorable, informative, and concise So remember Top 5 Informative Writing Tips for Bloggers
Style #3 -Anecdotal Writing is most often found in the blogging forum where anecdotal free form writing is not only common, but very much welcomed. “People love stories—tales about real people doing real things. We can’t resist them”, PR Daily. People love great lead-ins with a short story that ties directly into the main point of the article. It is often witty, even playful and is the antithesis of informative writing. For several great tips on writing anecdotal leads, see this excellent article from PR Daily.E
Great Articles & Infographics on Writing Styles
3 Style and the Stylebook
10 Elements of Writing Style Infographic
Hot & Cold Writing Styles In Advertising
Using the Inverted Pyramid Style of Writing for Ad Agency New Business
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Our last 4 prospective client requests for websites all had questions about blogs. I personally was pleased because there seems to be a growing conscientious to how effective blogging is to not only your site’s SEO but to your business’s brand. There’s a few things I want to talk about like transparency, effectiveness, analytics, and search engine optimization. Now I know there are many blog platforms out there, but for me a self hosted WordPress site offers so many options and features and the learning curve is fantastic to pick up and go.
The Reach: Taking some time out each week to write a post or two can really help drive some numbers to your website. Mainly because WordPress and search engines get along really well, but also because blogging creates fresh new content on your website where a traditional website may only see new content once a quarter. Even what could be seen as a low-interest website like stamp collecting could achieve visits by the thousands each week based on what they talk about and how. Never limit your business products or services to just what you think may be a small target audience. This is the internet we’re talking about here, millions of people are on throughout the day and night. There’s bound to be hundreds of thousands who share your views and can appreciate your opinions and opposition to a subject matter.
Engage, Engage, Engage: Consider other blogger’s and sites that talk about what you do and comment on their posts. Not so much to try to drive away readers, but to bring up valid points that may have been missed, or a little bit of controversy. We all like drama, and some of the hottest posts aren’t in the original article but in the comments where readers go back and forth trying to one up each other or drive home a point. You’d also be surprised at all the places you post, and who may want to view your blog entries to see if you know what you yourself are talking about.
Crowd-sourcing and Feedback: Without full-out asking for it, blogging can be a way to get great customer feedback. Consider a competitor of yours recently launched a new product. At first it seems like a great idea and may be a great product to those that need it. But what if it has a major flaw or is missing something vital that one of your products has and your clients appreciate much more than your competitors? Well after writing a post about it comparing the two products, you can see how your visitor weigh in with their comments. Of course your post won’t be written in a way to seem like your bashing. We’re not trying to be e-thugs, but a tasteful comparison could lead to better R&D for your brand, even when there isn’t competition.
Search Engines: I wonder when we’ll stop calling them search engines and just refer to Google instead. Google’s algorithms are still quite unknown, but what is known is how well an unknown website can pop-up as a number 1 or 3 organic result for a subject matter. Regardless of what the site looks like, and more so on how relevant the content is to the string of keywords used in a user’s search. With a static HTML site, you’d have to embed keywords, a page description, and some meta-tags to your page’s code. Not to mention the on-page keyword usage and image ALT tags you’d have to remember to include. With WordPress all of that is mostly taken into consideration. When adding an image to a post you easily have the options to put captions and alternate text messages for your images and graphics. You have a categories and tags box to check off and type in your keywords and associated post categories. It all really makes for an effortless optimization.
Overall Effectiveness: If you’re a small business who thinks that no one out there is interested in reading about what you have to say, let me tell you that you’re wrong. Even for the stamp collector, there is plenty to say that people are looking for. Imagine if you were the only blog out there talking about the history of some stamps, or hidden facts about some designs for stamps, or maybe even ways to save money on postage that most people wouldn’t know. I’m not a stamp collector but show me how to save money on postage and I’ll be all over it, and share it with my friends who may share it with their friends. One because its easy to read and share both on computers and mobile devices, and Two because it offers an audience I normally wouldn’t be able to reach on my own through traditional marketing. When I first started blogging late last year, I posted once a month (maybe) and I had traffic to my blog at about 25-50 people a month. Now I have a team of 2 other (3 soon) bloggers and we each post a different subject article once a week. In the past 30 days we’ve had almost 1500 visits (Google Analytics).
I hope that this clears some uncertainty on why you should get blogging NOW! For those of you that already do, add your pointers in the comments below. We can all learn something to be more effective!
A writer’s style is what sets one’s writing apart, is unique and intriguing. Such style is the way writing is dressed up (or down) to fit the specific context, purpose and target audience. Word choice, sentence fluency, and the writer’s voice — all contribute to one’s style of writing. How a writer chooses words and structures sentences to achieve a certain effect is also a facet of the own writers style and flare for words. I lean more towards funny, edgy and witty humor writing which is often noted and enjoyed by my readership.
sed in news reporting, medical media and outlets that use less “fluffy words” and more punch line information. you need to follow some simple guidelines that will ensure that your words are memorable, informative, and concise So remember Top 5 Informative Writing Tips for Bloggers
