·:[ GreenEye Wire ]:·
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This is something I wrote about a year ago on a well known forum. I have put it here for your reading pleasure…enjoy.
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I have found I write more coherent stuff when I have been writing for 20-30 minutes. It is like I have to ’shift’ gears to hit a style. Also, I start writing with pen and paper. For some reason, this helps me to get into writing mode. Writing gets the chatter out of my mind. Typing tends to, but not always, puts me into editor mode.

I define writing as ‘writing without regard for sentence structure, spellling or punctuation.’ It is the pure act of getting the idea down. Editing is taking a something that has already been written and improving it. I have found that trying to edit while I write slows me down.

Write first. Edit later. If it is a new idea, I don’t edit the new idea as I am writing it. I don’t like to use any word processor that points out grammatical errors or spelling mistakes because it forces me to edit. I don’t necessarily want to edit, I want to write.

Then, I type.

When it is all in digital form, I look at the piece and see if the order is correct. Did I write about step 2 before step 1? If so, I re-order the paragraphs.

I absolutely don’t let the sentence structure get in the way. If I can’t figure out how to write a sentence, I write it as wordy as I need it to be to get the idea across for the ruthless editing phase later. As long as the ideas are what I want, it is fine.

Once the order is correct and all the ideas are down in some form, I take a break.

When I get back, I go into ruthless editing mode and correct sentence structure, wording, punctuation, spelling. When I think it is as good as it can get, I put it aside for a day. Or a few days.

It is only after this break I can really see where the problem areas are. Editing at this point is simple: usually, I am just removing redundancies and adding clarity. Then, I save what I have written as a master. I may use it as it is, or use it to write a web version.

This is what works for me.

When you write copy for the web, less really is more. People don’t read web sites,
they scan.

A few simple rules:

1. Omit Needless words.

E.B. White’s rule is even more important for the web. Take your website and remove half the words on the page. Then remove half of those. (Hey, they’re not gonna be read anyway…)

2. Remove marketing fluff. People don’t need to be welcomed to a web site or be assured their experience on the site will be a good one.

3. Be direct. If you sell software, call it software and describe exactly what it does. Fluff like “The enterprise management solution leading in value, implementation and functionality” tells the reader nothing. (BTW, I pulled that from a real site.)

4. Use bulletted phrases not sentences when describing a product:

Blue Widget
-round
-fluffy
-blue
-fits in a purse or pocket

5. Don’t make people scroll. Put it in one screen above the fold and use lots of white space around it. If you remove half of the text on the page, this should be easy.

6. Highlight important text.

7. Text hierarchy is important. Don’t put smaller text above larger text. People have become accustommed to to more important things being in larger text at the top. (Titles of articles, for example.)