Want Site; Can't
Write!
By Bob McElwain While good writing skills help
build and sustain a web site, there are
ways to work around any lack you may
have. Right up top, let's wipe out one
myth that simply does not apply.
If you are serious
about putting together a web site, you
have visited many. If you have less than
great writing skills, you may have found
yourself saying, "Heck, I can't
write like that!" So forget it? Not
really.
There is a vast array
of tasks to be accomplished in putting
together a web site. While writing skills
are very helpful, other skills you have
may far outweigh any weakness in your
writing.
There are two main
areas in which writing is needed:
Creation of web page content and
responding to email. Let's start with the
pages on your site.
The content of a web
page is far more important than the
writing skills required to put it
together. Think of sites you have seen
that you liked. Excepting those providing
information, there may not be much text
on any page. You can often get by with as
few as 400 words. The point here is you
do not need to write a book. You only
need to provide what is needed to sell
your product or service.
The key is to write as
you would speak to a visitor to your shop
or office. Avoid cute and clever and
avoid formal. Write as you speak. Make
your pitch as clearly and briefly as
possible. Then show your work to a friend
and ask for suggestions. Rewrite as
necessary, and seek further criticism.
You can buy this sort of service, but
costs can add up. If you need lots of
help, you may be able to barter for
someone's writing and editing skills.
Email will prove to be
the greatest challenge, for it needs to
be answered promptly and completely. Most
of your new business relationships will
begin with email. And they will end
there, unless you handle it well. Yet the
friend who helped in building your web
pages is not likely to be standing at
your shoulder as you reply. So what to
do.
Boilerplate will solve
most of your problems. By boilerplate, I
mean content you write prior to receiving
any messages at all. You know a lot about
your product. Sit down and figure what
questions people are likely to ask. Then
write good answers for each one, take
them to your friend, and rework them as
necessary. If you load them into a text
file, you can use something as simple as
Notepad to load the file, then copy what
you need and paste it into your reply.
While some editing will be necessary to
make your pre-written answer fit the way
the question was asked, you can manage
this. And it gets easier as you go along.
But what about a
question you did not anticipate? If you
do not feel up to answering it from
scratch, write what you feel is a good
answer, share it with your friend, add it
to your list of boilerplate, and then
reply.
As suggested, Notepad
or Wordpad work fine, as does any text
editor. I prefer ClipMate:
http://www.thornsoft.com It's twenty
bucks, but I find it invaluable. You can
copy as many items of text into it as you
please, assign whatever descriptive title
seems best, then select any item by its
title, and paste the content into your
message. A great time saver, for you do
not have to search through a text file.
There is a lot of work
in this approach. You will find yourself
spending much more time with your writing
than most webmasters do. But regardless
of your present skills level, you will be
surprised at how quickly they improve.
Not right at first, for getting started
is tough. But once you get the hang of
it, you will find it easier every day. In
time, your file of boilerplate will end
up being simplified to addresses, obscure
references, and such, that you
occasionally want to share with your
customers, for you will be writing as you
would speak to them face to face.
Brought
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source of FREEWare Content online.
Bob
helps webmasters grow their sites by
showing them how to work smarter for more
fun and profit with less effort. He has
been marketing on the Web since 1993.
Visit his newest site: http://SiteTipsAndTricks.Com. Subcribe to
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