Write Articles for Your Readers instead of Your English Teacher 
by MaryJo Wagner, Ph.D.

Your English teacher was wrong. Nice, well-meaning, and smart but  wrong.  She didn’t write for the Web.

 We’ve got different rules for the Web, especially where making money is concerned. In a nut shell, web writing is more casual.

 Now you get to break the rules. Lots of rules. What fun. And it’s easy because it’s closer to how you and I talk anyway.

 How to Break Rule Number 1: Counting sentences

No more 5-7 sentence paragraphs. Paragraphs can even be just one sentence, especially if the sentence is a main point, startling, or asking the reader to take action. Example: The second paragraph above is one sentence because it’s the main point of this article.

 Short paragraphs and short sentences are easier to read. Your reader gets the information more quickly.  And short paragraphs look better on the Web and your readers’ computer screens with lots of white space between all the words.

 How to Break Rule Number 2: The dreaded incomplete sentence

 Nothing sent your teacher over the edge quicker than incomplete sentences. They’re fine on the Web, as long as your reader can understand them. An incomplete sentence often follow a complete sentence.  

 The third paragraph above is an example. “So now you get to break the rules” is a complete sentence. It’s followed by “Lots of rules,” an incomplete sentence that emphasizes the first sentence.

 How to Break Rule Number 3: Stay away. Don’t touch me.

Your English teacher told you never to be personal in your writing. The web rule is just the opposite. Now you want to be personal as often as possible. Throw those words “you” “you’re,” and “your” all over the place. You want your reader to constantly be pulled back into thinking the article is all about him.  Or all about her. It’s not some abstract idea.

 And while you’re at it, you can use “I” every so often. Just make sure you’ve got more “you’s” than you have “I’s”  Your article is all about helping them and giving them information, not about how brilliant you are.

 How to Break Rule Number 4: Persnickety punctuation

If you learned how to use a semi-colon, forget it. Please, no semi-colons for web writing. If you learned that book titles should be in italics, forget that one too. Italics are hard to read on computer screens. Use quotation marks instead.

Let’s face it. A lot of what your English teacher wrote and what you wrote for her was just plain boring. Folks don’t buy boring on the Web. Break these rules and you’ll be writing with Pizzazz. Pizzazz sells lots more teleseminars, ebooks, and ecourses than boring does.

More about how to write articles that your readers want to read in the FREE Article Marketing Quick Tips. Subscribe today at  http://www.articlemarketingwithpizzazz.com/quicktipssignup.htm

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