One thing I've heard over and over again is that people believe they, first of all, cannot write and, second, cannot write for a website.

Writing

There truly isn't anything magical or mystical about writing. Most of us do it every day, whether at work, a “letter home”, in school, or even to write a grocery list. These all require writing. I’m not trying to be simplistic or downplay the importance of good writing with quality material. Far from it. But the point is, most of us write…now!

Let’s take the most far-fetched idea from the list above – a grocery list. How can this be deemed writing? Easy. You need to list the things you need to buy and sometimes will even list them in the order that you know you will find them in the store. That is a framework for a story. What if the store was having a contest to see who could get their shopping done first? You would organize your list to run the most efficient route so you could be as efficient as possible. That’s a story! Play it through in your mind and then write it. And the excitement of a good story is already built in.

While writing is about structure and “spinning a good yarn”, when you realize that you need to write like you talk then it’s really not that difficult. Here’s an insight, as I’m writing this I am actually “talking” to you, writing it as I go. Oh sure, I have an outline and know my beginning, middle, and end but truly, beyond that, I’m writing as if I’m talking to you.

Writing for a Website

A lot of people think that you need to be some “techno-nerd” or a best-selling author to be able to write for the web. Not so, and do you know why I know that? Because I am neither one of those nor likely will be. But yet I know that I can write an article or a post for a website because I know that I can write good content by putting logical sentences together.

To do that, you will need to do your research and write engaging content on a website for a few reasons:

• You want to be seen as an authority in your field

• You want to be accurate and make sense in your post

• You want people to read what you write…and come back to read your next post

It’s very important that your website is written for your readers and is not a dissertation to make you sound smart and all-knowing. This will turn your visitors off and ensure that they don’t come back again.

Internet surfers, your potential readers, are looking for information and/or products. They're online for a reason and are usually fairly intelligent when it comes to knowing how to search for what they want. Make sure you give them what they are looking for in an easy, straight-forward manner that satisfies…and makes them bookmark your site!

One last word about writing…stop reading now and go write something…invisible ink cannot be read!