Writing is a form of preserved talk, talk that has been pinned down on paper so the words can be heard again. The basic principles of good writing, apart, from grammatical correctness, might be presented as follows: 1) written sentences should sound like natural speech; 2) the words we use must be exact, fresh, full of strength and vitality. Picture making words are better than vague, general words; 3) fresh point of view will give flavor to the style; 4) humor will lighten it. Though, it is true that written sentences should sound like natural speech, they fully present an image of the natural speech. The reasons for this are fairly obvious: natural speech is a great deal more than words; it is also tone of voice, facial expression, gestures, and even the speaker's appearance. The whole point of writing is to create something better than we really talk ? something more interesting, more thoughtful, and more effective in every way, for ?effectiveness is what matters, and if an expression is confusing, ambiguous or unintentionally vague, it can hardly be an effective use of the language.? (C.R.E.Parker). The only thing we must borrow from the natural speech to achieve an air of naturalness is the rhythm of speech. Now before we speak of sentence rhythm at more length, we shall consider one of the major qualities of writing ? sentence length. To begin with, fashions in sentence length constantly change. Past generation were more hospitable to the long sentences than we are, and prose writers sometimes created sentences 200-300 words long. They are often well-arranged sentences too; after all, the thought they convey is complex and can be hardly skimmed through. Indeed, some of them present the works of art. In the twentieth century, the tendency in writing has been toward shorter, easier-to-grasp-at-one glance sentences. - This tendency can be easily explained by the spread of the literacy among masses of people. - Consequently, the style of writing should be clear and comprehensive for everybody, and aimed at satisfying the demand in easy and interesting reading. - The increase in the tempo of living and absence of leisure-reading matter must be fitted to the needs of those who read only in the odd moments of their lives, between household chores and television programs, business meetings and social duties. Hence, what can be inferred from the length of the sentences the writer uses? Indeed, sentence length and grammatical complexity vary from writer to writer, from idea to idea, from sentence to sentence. There cannot be any general rules, which every person, who starts writing should strictly stick to. However, there are a handful of good ideas that can be applied by the writers. Sentence length depends greatly on the complexity of the idea to be expressed. In our time, the average length of sentences is somewhere between 20-30 words. Now the simplicity and naturalness of the written and spoken language is deemphasized. So, the usage of short sentences became the custom of the day. Short sentences can infuse a fresh spirit into the way you write and speak. Get to know why? * The writer, who wants to persuade the audience, should remember that he would succeed best when the argument is couched in brief, even staccato sentences. * In most readers? mind, the short sentence carries an unmistakable sense of wisdom, because down through the ages it has acted as the setting for all the familiar gems of ?truth?. * Since there is no room in a very short sentence for anything but one elaborated thought, it follows that an idea to set forth in such a sentence will receive a large degree of emphasis. * The short sentences can be used to express the feeling of suspense, excitement, or even horror. What would be a crime thriller be like without the terse, clipped sentences that portend a tense episode? The concentration upon a few bare facts adds a peculiar sense of horror or vice verse excitement to the narrative. * The very absence of elaboration gives a writer a great opportunity to deliver the message to the reader in a simple and comprehensive way. * The short sentences give unity to the expressed ideas, relieve monotony of too many clauses, and in general, make the expression more exact and accurate. Undoubtedly, every writer should pay special attention to the length of the sentences he uses. Thus, the primary concern in writing and speaking must always be that our sentences fit the thoughts they are communicating.
I was recently struck by the fact that the top-ranking web pages on Google are consistently much better written than the vast majority of what one reads on the web. Yet traditional SEO wisdom has little to say about good writing. Does Google, the world's wealthiest media company, really only display web pages that meet arcane technical criteria? Does Google, like so many website owners, really get so caught up in the process of the algorithm that it misses the whole point?
Apparently not. Most Common On-the-Page Website Content Success Factors Whatever the technical mechanism, Google is doing a pretty good job of identifying websites with good content and rewarding them with high rankings.
I looked at Google's top five pages for the five most searched-on keywords, as identified by WordTracker on June 27, 2005. Typically, the top five pages receive an overwhelming majority of the traffic delivered by Google. The web pages that contained written content (a small but significant portion were image galleries) all shared the following features:
Updating: frequent updating of content, at least once every few weeks, and more often, once a week or more.
Spelling and grammar: few or no errors. No page had more than three misspelled words or four grammatical errors. Note: spelling and grammar errors were identified by using Microsoft Word's check feature, and then ruling out words marked as misspellings that are either proper names or new words that are simply not in the dictionary. Does Google use SpellCheck? I can already hear the scoffing on the other side of this computer screen. Before you dismiss the idea completely, keep in mind that no one really does know what the 100 factors in Google's algorithm are. But whether the mechanism is SpellCheck or a better shot at link popularity thanks to great credibility, or something else entirely, the results remain the same.
Paragraphs: primarily brief (1-4 sentences). Few or no long blocks of text.
Lists: both bulleted and numbered, form a large part of the text.
Sentence length: mostly brief (10 words or fewer). Medium-length and long sentences are sprinkled throughout the text rather than clumped together.
Contextual relevance: text contains numerous terms related to the keyword, as well as stem variations of the keyword. The page may contain the keyword
itself few times or not at all.
SEO "Do's" and "Don'ts"
A hard look at the results slaughters a number of SEO bugbears and sacred cows.
PageRank. The median PageRank was 4. One page had a PageRank of 0. Of course, this might simply be yet another demonstration that the little PageRank number you get in your browser window is not what Google's algo is using. But if you're one of those people who attaches an overriding value to that little number, this is food for thought.
Frames. The top two web pages listed for the most searched-on keyword employ frames. Frames may still be a bad web design idea from a usability standpoint, and they may ruin your search engine rankings if your site's linking system depends on them. But there are worse ways you could shoot yourself in the foot.
JavaScript-formatted internal links. Most of the websites use JavaScript for their internal page links. Again, that's not the best web design practice, but there are worse things you could do.
Keyword optimization. Except for two pages, keyword optimization was conspicuous by its absence. In more than half the web pages, the keyword did not appear more than three times, meaning a very low density. Many of the pages did not contain the keyword at all. That may just demonstrate the power of anchor text in inbound links. It also may demonstrate that Google takes a site's entire content into account when categorizing it and deciding what page to display.
Sub-headings. On most pages, sub-headings were either absent or in the form of images rather than text. That's a very bad design practice, and particularly cruel to blind users. But again, Google is more forgiving.
Links: Most of the web pages contained ten or more links; many contain over 30, in defiance of the SEO bugbears about "link popularity bleeding." Moreover, nearly all the pages contained a significant number of non-relevant links. On many pages, non-relevant links outnumbered relevant ones. Of course, it's not clear what benefit the website owners hope to get from placing irrelevant links on pages. It has been a proven way of lowering conversion rates and losing visitors. But Google doesn't seem to care if your website makes money.
Originality: a significant number of pages contained content copied from other websites. In all cases, the content was professionally written content apparently distributed on a free-reprint basis. Note: the reprint content did not consist of content feeds. However, no website consisted solely of free-reprint content. There was always at least a significant portion of original content, usually the majority of the page.
Recommendations
Make sure a professional writer, or at least someone who can tell good writing from bad, is creating your site's content, particularly in the case of a search-engine optimization campaign. If you are an SEO, make sure you get a pro to do the content. A shocking number of SEOs write incredibly badly. I've even had clients whose websites got fewer conversions or page views after their SEOs got through with them, even when they got a sharp uptick in unique visitors. Most visitors simply hit the "back" button when confronted with the unpalatable text, so the increased traffic is just wasted bandwidth.
If you write your own content, make sure that it passes through the hands of a skilled copyeditor or writer before going online.
Update your content often. It's important both to add new pages and update existing pages. If you can't afford original content, use free-reprint content.
Distribute your content to other websites on a free-reprint basis. This will help your website get links in exchange for the right to publish the content. It will also help spread your message and enhance your visibility. Fears of a "duplicate content penalty" for free-reprint content (as opposed to duplication of content within a single website) are unjustified.
In short, if you have a mature website that is already indexed and getting traffic, you should consider making sure the bulk of your investment in your website is devoted to its content, rather than graphic design, old-school search-engine optimization, or linking campaigns.
Both Kashish Mittal & Joel Walsh are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Kashish Mittal has sinced written about articles on various topics from Acne Treatment, Personal Desktop and Strategic Planning. Did you find this article useful? For more useful tips, hints, points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques, and insights pertaining to guides on creative-writing, do please browse for more information at our websites.. Kashish Mittal's top article generates over 3600 views. to your Favourites.
Joel Walsh has sinced written about articles on various topics from Site Promotion, Home Management and Finances. Joel Walsh is the owner, founder and head-writer of UpMarket Content. To read more about website content best practices, get a consultation with Mr. Walsh, or get a sample page for your site at no charge, go to the SEO website content page:. Joel Walsh's top article generates over 49500 views. to your Favourites.