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Wetzel's Word Solutions
© 2008 - 2010
All rights reserved
last updated 01/28/10
Welcome to Wetzel's Word Solutions, I
provide freelance writing solutions for all types of writing
projects. Please view my list on the right of this screen.
Please visit my freelance
writing portfolio below to see a variety of articles, newsletter, web
content, buying guides, and other examples of freelance writing work I
recently completed for customers.
Word Solutions can meet any requirement that you would like
expressed in a project. I provide free estimates and I am capable of
meeting project timelines.
Thank you for visiting and come back again.
David R. Wetzel
Wetzel's Word Solutions, 4439 Champlain Ave, Mobile, AL
(570) 441-2548 (1 - 8 PM EST)
Hire Wetzel's Word Solutions for Report Writing/Editing, Copywriting/Editing, and Newsletters Writing/Editing
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Landing Pages take Advantage of Online Readers' Habits
Writers should never use their websites for attracting jobs. The best
approach is through the
use of landing pages.
Landing pages try to persuade visitors to complete a form, with the
goal being the immediate or eventual conversion to obtaining your
service to complete a
writing project.
Landing page formats should follow the F-pattern eye-tracking
principle. People who read information on the Internet follow a basic
F-pattern. Jakob Nielsen’s Eyetracking research provides a graphical
representation of F-pattern
reading.
Use Bullets for Important Points
All important information should be above the fold and the remainder
can follow on the
landing page.
* Make your landing page easy to use and read. If a visitor has to
hunt for information – they
will not.
* No clip art because it looks amateurish.
* Use one main image for the visitor’s attention.
* If you have a sign up form, make it simple to fill out and require
only name and e-mail.
* Use an autoresponder message to acknowledge and verify the
e-mail address.
* Use autoresponder messages to send frequently asked information
and rates.
* Use sign up form to develop an opt-in e-mail list for your
e-newsletter to send to current and potential clients
* No fillers and avoid too much information.
by David R. Wetzel
Avoiding Common Writing Errors
Fed Up: The word "up" pops up everywhere. Join up with others who are fed up with messed up directional prepositions. Up is unnecessary in the sentence "She was promoted up to executive secretary". Up indicates a direction and is used correctly in the sentence "Turn up the volume so people in the back can hear."
Poor Choice of Adverbs: Actually, totally, absolutely, completely, continually, constantly, continuously, literally, really, unfortunately, ironically, incredibly, hopefully, and finally- these and other adverbs promise emphasis, but provide no meaning in a sentence. Delete these adverbs and insert concrete and objective words. "The church was really full," is meatier as "Every church pew was full and latecomers had to stand in the aisles."
Boring: "Make" is a generic verb that tries to stand in for a stronger, more specific verb. "Make a donation to the fund," becomes "Please, donate to the fund." Other generic verbs include "do" and "go."
To be or Not to Be: Avoiding forms of the verb "to be" (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been). Writing without "to be" verbs encourages writers to pay attention to what they mean and explain otherwise unsupported labels, judgments and opinions and resulting in more powerful writing.
Delete It: "It's raining outside." What exactly is "it"? Determine the true subject of the sentence or phrase and replace "it" with that specific noun. Compare these. Original sentence - It was mid-morning when Allied Forces became entangled with a large truck convoy moving south through the city. Rewrite - Around mid-morning the Allied Forces became entangled with a ...etc.
Draw a Picture, Don't Tell Me What to See: If you say, “she was stunning and powerful,” you’re telling me. But if you say, “I was stunned by her elegant carriage as she strode past the jury - shoulders erect, elbows back, her eyes wide and watchful,” you’re showing me. Handsome, attractive, momentous, embarrassing, fabulous, powerful, hilarious, stupid, fascinating are all words that tell me in an arbitrary way what to think. These words do not describe in specifics what is unique to the person or event described.
Adapted from Holt Uncensored - Ten Mistakes
by David R. Wetzel
English is Easy?
"Get the lead out so that you can lead," the Captain told the Lieutenant.
Because he was an invalid, his insurance policy was invalid.
The custodian told the tenant he could refuse to take out the refuse.
When John saw the tear in the new painting, he shed a tear.
The sewer watched as her needle and thread fell into the sewer.
The does avoid the trail of a skunk when he does spray.
by David R. Wetzel
Style Guide for Online Writing
How has technology impacted writing articles online? The answer to this question is readily available anytime you read popular articles in blogs, web pages, and other online sources. They are short articles, with short paragraphs, contain bullets, and have links.
With Online Writing Be Up Front
You need to set the hook right away by telling the reader what the article is about. No dropping crumbs along the way to the end. Online readers will read more to find the details if they like the up front material.
Short Articles
Anything beyond 500 - 550 words will probably lose the interest of the reader, unless it is jam packed with content and they are interested. Today’s online readers have online short attentions spans, they are looking for quick content packed sound bites of information.
Short Paragraphs When Writing Stories Online
When an online reader opens an article and sees long paragraphs, they will typically click off and go somewhere else. Long winded paragraphs are for physical books, were you want to spend time developing a story or explaining things in great detail. If you want to provide more details send them to another website or online source, if they are interested they will follow.
Use Bullets
The use of bullets highlights the important details or information in the article, such as:
* Key points or phrases
* Analytical data
* Important talking points
* Use bold paragraph headers
Use Links
Links are your friends, because they will provide supporting information about your article topic or guide readers where you want them to go to next, such as my Freelance Writing Blog. Notice how I did not write the URL, I wrote a 3 word anchor text which contains the link. Anchor text phrases should never be more than three words to avoid confusion.
by David R. Wetzel
Seven Principal Guidelines for Online
Writing
I was working with someone the other day and they were asking advice on to successfully write online articles and web content. After explaining what I knew, I decided to write this summary of the six principal areas which need to be focused when writing, these are:
1. Principal Guideline of Writing – learn to write and write well.
2. Setting the Hook – the first paragraph sets the hook by letting the reader know what is in the article, the remaining article sections supports the first paragraph.
3. Sections – the use of bold face subtitles defines the section for the writer and reader.
4. The Outline – highlights the main parts of a section to make it easy to fill in the blanks.
5. Specifics – used in place of abstract generalities and occupational buzz phrases and words.
6. Links – provide these to bring in additional arguments or support for the written work. These should not be used as fillers; they must provide substance to the article.
7. Clear Summaries – conclusions which bring the whole written work together at the end to remind the reader what he/she read.
Although, excellent writing requires a good bit more than covered above, a writer who follows this advice will be well on the road to a lifetime of effective writing success. Writers who communicate their thoughts well, are those who succeed over the long run.
by David R. Wetzel
Remember When?
Unlike many people today, I remember using typewriters to do all of my writing. This manual process was considered to be a great technological leap from pencil and paper. Try finding a typewriter today, good luck!
When I used a type writer my completed work rate was slow in coming, because of the way corrections needed to be made: back spacing uses a correction ribbon and/or using correction fluid. I imagine there are those that have no clue what I am talking about.
Today we use computer based word processors that allow us to complete written tasks quickly and efficiently. These word processors have spell checkers, grammar checkers, the ability to change fonts quickly, use bold techniques, italicize letters, and more.
Using typewriters there was no such thing as bold font, everything was the same. Until later technological advances in typewriters you could not change the font, they were the early version of WYSIWYG.
Of course with typewriters you did not have to worry about computer crashes. Typewriters never lost and misplaced a file like computers. Saving on a typewriter meant pulling the paper out of the typewriter. Typewriters never caught viruses, although you could catch a virus from the typewriter.
Technological advances allowed you to change the letter ball on the typewriter to get different letter styles - fonts. Now you just make different font selections from your key board and you can easily have a different font and style quickly.
You may think that I am wishing for the old days to return, you could not be more wrong. The only way I would go back is kicking and screaming all the way.
by David R. Wetzel