Category: content

[Infographic] & [Useful Reminder] – How to Write & Create Content for Publication

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This is an infographic on tactics I already know, have known my entire writing life, but never have the time (or patience) to carry out –

Fear not the ugly rough draft, sleep on it and always have another pair of human eyes review your final copy. 

One piece of advice not previously articulated to me stood out, tip no. 5: “Write to one person.” This is an incredibly insightful manner to avoid the “idea clutter” that often builds up in a writer’s mind and creative processes. Identifying one person as the reader allows better focus on the main message you are trying to convey.

You can’t write content that’s valuable to everyone, so figure out one person/identity that embodies the audience your objective is to reach. Tell a story to that person catered to their tastes and designed to invoke your desired reaction.

If I had to select one person this post would be for… it’s someone just like me – New-ish to the game, trying to produce quality content that compels in a business environment.

That tip and the content in the below infographic come from the amazing Everybody Writes by Anne Handley, a great guide to writing “coherent, useful pieces of content that engage audiences.”

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What’s in a lead? A blog by any other intro would archive so quickly.

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I could spend hours, days, even weeks trying to think of what I’m typing at this very moment; It would be agonizing and unnecessary.

-Ahhh there it’s done, the first sentence out of my way-

My work persona is a perfectionist; real me does not have to nitpick. At work when I write a news release, or even ghostwrite for a client’s blog, 100% of the time it is the first sentence that takes

This graphic was created in hopes of repurposing original, plain text into a visual item that's more stimulating.

This graphic was created in hopes of repurposing original, plain text into a visual item that’s more stimulating.

90% of my time. While I can be the heroine who catches the “pubic vs. public relations” typo, being positive there is error where there is not can be devastating to my productivity. What if what I say doesn’t capture the audience? What if I could do it better? How do I convey that what I’m saying is essential to my audience?

–Chances are, no matter how spectacularly it reads, the client will want changes-

This is my personal blog. I’m doing it for fun – Not to raise a “klout score,” not to make money from advertisements, or receive free goods in exchange for endorsements. I work in the interesting crossroads of media communications and high-tech. These two industries directly affect one another. Like most bloggers, I have thoughts about the things I discover and trends I notice that I feel are worth sharing [to an empty WordPress].

-My expertise is in written communication, digital or otherwise, that is: 1) Engaging; 2) Concise and 3) Relevant-

That’s how I found myself in the tech world. Software developers can be fluent in multiple languages, all more complex than English (the single language I speak fluently) and yet they often have a difficult time conveying even their most basic principles to their customers and investors their those who can’t understand the code.

That’s where I come in. I act as a translator and articulate ideas that C-level audiences understand not only in a technical way, but that spotlights benefits particular to their business’ situations.
Let me tell you something about being do this while being neither software developer or C-Level: The words do not just flow, inspired from your fingertips. You have to work for it.

This is something I made for a social media campaign in the surprise/cheer category. The easiest content I encounter is for twitter because you can't get too deep in 140 characters- which can also hurt you.

This is something I made for a social media campaign in the surprise/cheer category. Easy when compared to writing actual material over brand new concepts.

Topics like Continuous Delivery, Agile methodologies, DevOps, and the ever-mysterious “Cloud” can hurt my brain but, I’m unwilling to do half-assed work for clients. I will stay with a project for as long as necessary to assure it is above and beyond expectations.

So, when it comes to this blog, which I hope you find resourceful nonetheless, I’m just going to relax, write and enjoy myself. Sure, I’ll run spellcheck before posting and fact check my statements, but I will not spend weeks, days, even hours stuck writing any single sentence on this blog.