Writing Tips at GarySpeer.com

Certainly the first “writers” were storytellers who “spoke” their stories. From there, written language developed, and practically since the very birth of writing we have had ad copy writers around, haven’t we? That’s probably an exaggeration. I don’t honestly know when the first recorded ad copy was created, but I know from studying history that every civilization from which we have any sort of written records has left behind ad copy.

That alone should convince you that written words have power. They can produce everything from invention to emotion. Written words inform us and persuade us. They help us share our thoughts, hopes, and dreams with others. We can use them to manipulate the thoughts, hopes, and dreams of others. Written words, combined with carefully spoken words, can sell Fenphedra diet pills and they can elect presidents. Ancient kingdoms and modern pharmaceutical companies alike have risen and have fallen based on written words.

Think carefully, as a writer, about words and the power of written words. Use that power for good and not for evil. Or, if you choose to use it for evil, hey, at least sharpen your basic grammar skills and do it right!

Technorati Tags: advice for new writers, power of written words, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I’ve mentioned some time back that I spent about three years at a job that involved transcribing about 30-50 dictated letters a day. It was for an insurance company. It was fun learning to listen, type, and edit lightly all at the same time, while combining that with a required minimum keyboarding speed of 50 correct words per minute. (The real “downer” about the job is that most of the letters were denying clients’ home and car insurance claims. Depressing.) I went into the job with a very naive, almost arrogant ignorance: “Hey, it’s just typing. Who in the world couldn’t do a job like this?” It was a real learning experience for me and a real eyeopener.

Which brings me to the topic of this post: Specialized forms of writing take special sets of skills, learning, and experience. I was watching CNN a couple of days ago when Shirley and I were eating at a Chinese food buffet, and I noticed that the restaurant owners had closed captioning turned on for their big screen wall mounted TVs. As I sat their munching on my General Chicken chunks, it occurred to me that someone was far, far, far better than I at live transcription. Closed captioning people gained my immediate respect.

I would think that doing closed captioning would demand incredible multitasking abilities, wouldn’t it? You have to hear what’s being said, keyboard at breakneck speed, and do a certain amount of editing and rewriting all at the same time. That seems amazing to me.

SO — any of you reading this work at closed captioning? Any of you done closed captioning in the past? Tell us about it, please. I would love to learn how it’s done. It would be good for us all.

Technorati Tags: special writing skills, closed captioning, writing as a business, writing tips at garyspeer.com

What can you do to benefit from keywords if you already have a website and want to add a blog? You already have a name for your website, you already have a domain name, so how can you use keywords in the new blog in ways that will draw traffic?

You can set up a subdomain or simply a subdirectory on your website to put the blog in — and make the name of that subdomain or subdirectory some relevant keywords, instead of just “blog.”

You’ve seen websites with blogs I’m sure, and almost always the website navigation simply had a sidebar link or navigation menu link that says “blog.” Why not say something like, “Product News and Reviews” instead of “blog”? Chances are, if you are adding a blog to a website, you are going to use it for information or news related to the main blog. As a personal example, I have two or three affiliate marketing websites that display various merchants’ products and try to “entice” or encourage people to click product links on my website, go to the merchant’s website, and buy that product.

Since blogs are a good way to draw search engine “bots” to your website, I have set up blogs on some of my affiliate marketing sites. In one case, I named the blog “Newest Merchandise,” and I use it to post product reviews and links on individual merchandise I add regularly to the site. In another case, I named the blog “News & Reviews” and I do something similar there.

Of course, the full name of the blog isn’t just “News & Reviews” it’s “News & Reviews About xxxx,” but the link to the subdirectory I have the blog in shows on the main site as “News & Reviews.”

No, this stuff isn’t rocket science. (My son is a bona fide “rocket scientist” with an aerospace engineering degree, and he assures me it isn’t rocket science.) There are no rules that you must follow to set up a blog or a website. There are no guarantees that anyone will ever come to your blog or your website.

But if your writing life involves blogging and/or website content, you might want to consider some of these ideas and modify them to fit your particular interests and skills set. You’ll probably find ways to do far more and do it better than I if you just work at it.

Technorati Tags: Internet writing, blogging, keyword blog titles, writing tips at garyspeer.com