Today is Thursday, so this post is on communication skills.
Writing is an important communication skill. I subscribe to an e zine written by Nick Usborne. In the current issue, he has an article about hitting your confident writing zone.
In this article, Mr. Usborne explains how to become a confident web writer. However, I think he makes some very good points about how to become a confident writer in general...
Watch for the Moment When You Hit Your Confident Writing Zone – Nick Usborne
Perhaps the headline doesn’t make complete sense right now...but it will in a while, I hope. Let’s say you have chosen a topic for your site, and that it’s going to be a content-rich site with maybe a hundred pages or more. Eventually.
And we’ll assume that your topic is something you have some knowledge of, and are interested in. Well, you have to start writing at some point, and like many people, you’ll probably start with the home page, and then start writing some second level pages with strong keywords.
Switching now to my personal experience with my own Site Build It Site, CoffeeDetective.com...
I knew a fair amount about coffee before I started. And the topic interests me enough to keep me enthusiastic about learning more and writing more. But, like everyone, I had to start somewhere. I started with the home page and quickly added some second level pages, just to get something “up there”.
From there I was writing a new page once every other day or so. And I kept a steady pace until I hit the twenty-page mark. Or something like that.
Like many other people, I was anxious to get pages uploaded and indexed by the major search engines. But I didn’t hit a mature and confident voice for quite a while...
As you write your site, you’ll find that you are learning more and more about your topic as you go along. The more pages you write, the more you learn. And the more you learn, the more confident you become in your knowledge.
As a result, you’ll find yourself settling into a much more confident writing style. Or, put another way, your voice will become more confident. This maturing of your writing style and voice, and the confidence it communicates, is an essential ingredient of any good content site.
Your readers will hear that tone of confidence, and they will feel more comfortable as a result. And with comfort comes a growing level of trust. They’ll view you as an authority, because you sound like an authority.
OK, so how about those first 20 pages?
Good question. Writing my coffee site, I know I didn’t hit that “confident writing zone” for quite a while. So I went back over the earlier pages. I didn’t rewrite them all. But I did edit most of them.
Maybe doing that confused Google for a little while. But I felt it important that every page on the site carry the same voice and the same level of confidence. After the rewrites, my early pages not only sounded a lot better, but they also matched every other page on the site in terms of tone, voice and feel.
There’s nothing weird here. Taking time to hit your pace is a familiar event for most professional writers. It happens when you’re writing an article too. You might be two thirds of the way through an article before the light bulb goes on, and you suddenly discover what it is you should have been saying, and how you should have been sounding, right from the start.
If you’re writing a seven hundred word article, this is no big deal. You simply start over. It happens to me all the time.
But a web site requires a lot more writing than an article. And because you are learning so much as you go, and you’re becoming more finely attuned to the market you are in and the people you are writing to, this “aha” moment may take quite a while to arrive.
But be sure you are aware that the moment will arrive. Listen out for it. When you have written a few pages that came out easily, and are all in the same confident, relaxed tone, that’s the time to sit back and see what you have done.
Re-read those pages. Become intimately familiar with the tone and style you have adopted. And then -- at least this is what I did -- go back and edit your earlier pages, particularly those which no longer seem to ring true, or feel quite right.
As I said, Google may get a little confused for a while. But your readers won’t. They’ll love your confidence and trust your content.
I really like what Mr. Usborne has to say about the importance of finding your voice, and being willing to edit previously written material to fit with it. Finding your voice will make you a more confident writer. A more confident writer is a better communicator. And, as we all know, communication skills are one of the hallmarks of career and life stars.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense. Check out my other blog: www.CommonSenseGuy.com for common sense advice on leading people and running a small business.
I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
Bud
PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open. Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.
Comment Preview