POLL: Writing for Publicity, Writing for Pay

[DebGallardo]

I'm running a poll for one month to see what your questions are about writing. This won't be a typical poll, because the script only allows for multiple choice responses.

So here's what I need you to do:

Reply to this post with your top question/s about writing content for your sites, ezines, directories, social media sites. We'll tackle them together, one by one.

These can be about any type of writing except copywriting and sales letters, which are covered in another topic on the forum by some seriously experienced copywriters.

Any other kind of writing is fair game here.

Looking forward to getting your feedback.

Deb Gallardo

[angienewton]

I need all the help I can get. Nothing specific although the help I need most is with adding content to my website pages AND guidance on writing a report.

Also how do you best organize your ideas that you come up with for your websites, reports, etc. I have 2 pages of notes for this report but it looks all scrambled and frustrates me.

That's all that I can think of right now. But content is my biggest stumbling block so it's something I just have to do without thinking much and know that I can always fix it in the future.

[DebGallardo]

Angie,

This is excellent "meat" for this topic! (Oh, maybe that's a bad term for someone in the weight loss niche. )

Anyway, we'll take it one piece at a time (like candy). By tomorrow, or this weekend at the latest, I hope to have my first response for you.

Thanks for offering yourself as guinea pig -- err, I just can't win today. Umm, just thanks. That way maybe I won't get myself in trouble again.

Deb

[Mel]

Along the same lines as Angie, I struggle with writing reports. In particular, making them long enough without being 'fluffed'. For example, I'm working on a report now that is required to have 10-12 pages. I've barely been able to squeak out 7 pages and feel that I've covered all the topics/subtopics pretty well.

Now if this was simply writing for myself, I'd stop at 7 pages, but since it's for someone else, it must be at least 10 pages.

So how should I go about getting 3 more pages without adding filler?

I'm sooooo not a writer. Would love to be, but it takes me forever to write for this very reason.

[DebGallardo]

Melody,

Make sure you are not just writing in generalities. For each point, you should have concrete examples that illustrate your points.

Offer opinions, yours or someone else's. Show both sides, especially if there is disagreement on a subject.

Use relevant quotations, but make them brief enough to comply with the copyright law's "fair use" clause. (The longer the work, the longer the quote can be. For a full-length book, you could quote a couple of good-sized paragraphs. For an article, a sentence or two, maybe three.) Be sure to cite all bibliographical details for this quote, including page number.

List other resources on each topic. These could be links, book titles, magazine articles, etc.

Note that each of these ideas adds genuine content and not fluff.

My last suggestion is a way to expand the number of pages without adding content, assuming the page count is not based on a certain number of words per page. I'm curious about how a page is defined in the requirements you're writing to. If it's so many words per line and so many lines per page, or a total word count per page, then this method won't help you much.

This is a formatting method, more than anything. I'm not suggesting using big margins or large fonts (your requirements probably specify these anyway). But here's a way to make your report look organized and professional while adding extra lines.

Put subheadings, in bold, for each point, and sub-sub-headings in bold italics, with a blank line separating it from the text below.

Here's an example:

TOPIC TITLE

Xxxxxxxxxxx(These are your introductory paragraphs)xxxxxxxx
xx. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Sub Topic

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Sub-sub Topic
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

1.
2.
3.

Sub-sub Topic

"Quotation One"

"Quotation Two"

Sub Topic

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

I think you get the idea. Let me know if any of this helps. You might already have done all these things.

Deb Gallardo

[DebGallardo]

Angie,

Again, this is such a good topic!

I am the world's worst organized person. I can say that without risk of invoking any negative Karma, because it's the truth. But I'm learning ways to be organized in my own way!

Try taking your jumbled notes and putting them into an Excel doc. If you're not much into Excel, a Word doc will do. The ideal thing about Excel is that you've got automatic columns for headings and these can help you brainstorm.

Here's what I'd start with for headings:

Date, Title/Topic, Publication Date, Notes

You can adjust the size of the cells as needed and if you go to Format>Cells and then click the Alignment tab, mark the checkbox for Wrap Text under TEXT CONTROL. This way if you have long titles, they won't stretch out of sight to the right.

Is this of any help?

Deb

[angienewton]

WOW Deb you really know your stuff. Yes, it makes sense but I don't know how to use Excel. Hubby wishes I would learn it LOL

I'm thinking at this time I would prefer to brainstorm my lists with actual paper and pen so I can spend some time off the computer.

I just bought Write That Report, the report that Lynn mentioned and I'm looking forward to reading through that this week to see what tips it has too.

Thanks for your help!