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While on the phone with a fellow a while back, he mentionedhe wanted to start a business on the Web. When I asked what heplanned to do, he had a couple of good answers. But he qualifiedall by saying his writing skills were not sufficient. I hear this often. And it saddens me some way. This fellowhad demonstrated strong verbal skills. And that he is bright,with solid values and attitudes in place. When I suggested heneed only write as he was speaking to me, I dont think he boughtit. Another fellow recently made the same claim, and felt hewould have to hire all the writing on his site. After a firstglance at his email, one might be inclined to agree. But when I looked closer, there were only three formatting problems. Nocapitalization. No spaces between sentences. No returns at theend of a line, so the wrap made it look awful. But upon a closerlook, the only significant problem came from the haste with whichhe wrote.The Secret To Writing On The Web KISS! That is, keep it super simple. You are not trying towin the Pulitzer Prize. You are simply trying to explain a pointas to a friend or customer. The only difference is you aremaking the point with written, rather than spoken, words.About Those Rules The rules which govern proper use of English were importantwhen you were in school, trying to pass a course. In the worldof the Web, many do not matter much. Sure, your site needs to be sharp. And the content must bewell written. But what does "well written" mean? I always hesitate to say anything about how to write, for Ihave forgotten most of the rules. And I frequently break those I do remember. Above, for example, the sentence which begins with "And I.." is incorrect because it begins with a conjunction. But if I leave it out, the single sentence will be 26 words in length. Too long for easy reading. Besides, thats not the way I would make this point to afriend. What I might say is something like. "I dont like tosay things about writing. Therere too many rules I dontremember. And I break a lot of em."How Would You Put It? It doesnt matter how you choose to make the point. Justwrite as you would explain it to a friend or site visitor. Solong as it is acceptable English and the reader understands yourpoint, that is the end of it.Hail To The Purest! The above may bring comments. There are lots of people whoexpect English to be used correctly. They object when it is not. This point of view is valid. And the need for well writtencontent is overlooked or ignored on far too many websites. However, ...Only Your Target Matters To build a successful online business, all must be carefullydirected at your perfect customer. Every word on every pagemust be directed specifically to your target. If your target is serious students of psychology, yourwriting skills must be strong. And the rules of English matter. If your target is fly fisherman, there is a bit of a dilemmain that they likely cover the spectrum in terms of careers,social status, and so forth. Their definition of what writinglevel is sufficient will vary enormously. Yet when you speak to them, you will be talking about flyfishing. Regardless of other interests, they will be interestedin the topic or they will not be on your site. They want to knowwhich is the best fly rod, and why. Where the fish are hiding. And more about ways to hook one of these elusive creatures. What matters is presenting the information your target wantsin a way in which they can easily grasp it. Against this need,the rules of proper English matter hardly at all.Ways To Make It Happen A good point at which to begin the task of improving writingskills is to study the way in which newspaper articles arewritten. Give it some time, and youll see all is writtensimply. You may even discover that the reading level is about8th grade. Why? Not because people are poor readers. Editors wantpeople to find it easy to read their content. This improves thechance that they will. Both of these characteristics of newscopy are perfect for your website. Targeted, simple, easy toread page content should be the goal on every site. Search on "writing tutorials" and youll find a bunch. Andyou may find some quite helpful. But forget trying to rememberall the rules. Focus on ideas that will improve your writing. On my site, click on Topics in the navigation bar to the left. Then on Writing Skills. There are some good ideas and referenceshere for approaching this task.How To Make It Happen In the end, though, there is no better way to improve yourwriting skills than to write. Edit, rewrite, and smooth aspossible. Then write something else. If you consistently seekto do a better job with your next writing task, you will findimprovement almost immediately. One good starting point is your email. Write each replycarefully. Always reread and edit. Then seek to make your nextreply stronger. While practice will not bring perfection, itwill bring continuing improvement.What Does "I Cant Write" Mean? You may be fearful of putting your thoughts in front ofothers. You may not want to accept the corresponding risk ofcriticism. You may somehow feel you are not "good enough." That what you have to offer is of little importance. If you have concerns such as these, attempting to start abusiness online or offline is a bad idea. They will severelylimit your success, far more than your writing skills level. Often, however, such a statement means only that you areuncomfortable putting your thoughts into words on paper. Notmany enjoyed their English classes in school. Or the predictableassignment: "How I Spent My Summer Vacation." If your resistanceto writing amounts to things of this sort, a bit of practice isall you need. It is not a giant leap from speaking effectivelyto your target to writing to them. The two examples mentioned above of people who felt theirwriting skills were not sufficient are representative of many. In very short order, either of these two men could be writingeffectively. Not a novel, mind you. But content directed at a specific target such as fisherman. You can do the same.

About the Author

Bob McElwain Want to build a winning site? Improve one you already have? Fix one thats busted? Get ANSWERS. Subscribe to "STAT News" now! mailto:join-stat@lists.dundee.net Web marketing and consulting since 1993 Site: Phone: 209-742-6349