Sunday, April 18, 2010

Choosing a Writing Style

What style of writing best fits your writing task?

Do you need your material to be found by Googlers? Then you'll need to write a keyword-laden title and seed the first few sentences of your article with still more keywords.

If you want searchers to find your content and then actually read it, then you'll need write keyword-laden sentences that don't read like keyword-laden sentences.

Do you have a strict word limit? Then turn up your omit needless words dial to 11 and strip out everything that doesn't absolutely need to be there. Say what you need to say as tightly and economically as possible.

What if you have no limitations on the length of your piece? Then you can consider adding colorful and even tangential stories to illustrate your thoughts.

Are you writing for Gawker Media? Then I'm sorry for you, because all of your writing will have to be in snark mode.

This is just a fancy way of saying "write to your audience." Always think about the best way to say what you want to say while staying within your constraints and guidelines.