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Write-ING WorkshopJust in time for National Tell a Story Day!

HI!

•Content Marketer for PenPath

•Video Producer

•Musician

•Writ-ER

Hello!

• Content Marketer for PenPath

• Former English Teacher

• Improviser

• Writ-ER

• Be Concise • Use Active Voice - NOT Passive • Find your voice • Make text scannable • Provide a Call to Action • Use images & design

Best Practices for Online Writing

Be Concise

•Avoid redundancies

•A bad crisis

•A small fraction

•A structured framework

•Zombie nouns!

•“is a representation of” —> “represents”

•“provide an analysis of” —> “analyze”

Be Concise•Use the shortest form of the word or phrase

•“utilize” —> “use”

•“On the other hand” —> “However”

•Stick to 1 idea / topic at a time

•Remove unnecessary words

Active vs. Passive Voice•Active Voice

•The dog caught the ball.

•Passive Voice

• The ball was caught by the dog.

•Reminder: Subject + Verb + Object

•Active voice reduces wordiness and sounds more professional (i.e. the way reporters write).

•It’s okay to have SOME sentences with passive voice

•Rule of thumb: 1 every 500 words.

Find Your Voice• Write 3 adjectives about yourself

• Write 3 adjectives about your business

• Find a balance of personal & business voice

• Use regular words

• Resist the temptation to sound smart. It backfires!

• Read it aloud- do people (or you) speak that way?

Make Text Scannable

• Main points MUST stand out

• Title

• Headlines

• Boldface terms

• Lists

Call to Action• What action do you want people to take after reading?

• Subscribe

• Comment

• Free trial

• Slide in CTA

• In-line CTA

Images & Design• Use images to emphasize main points

• Create vivid analogies —> Memory aid

• Tools

• Canva

• Fotor

• Pexels

• Pixabay

Identify the Message

1. What is it about?

2. What did I learn? 3. What idea stays with you?

4. What will you remember a year from now? 5. What did the author want you to think about?