Read their work

Whether or not they’re currently working as a writer matters not; they should be writing.

If your potential writer is already working in the commercial field, take time to read a wide variety of their stuff.

If they’re not currently employed as a writer, read what they’ve written: blogs, stories, song lyrics, whatever.

Writers write. Many really good ones are pretty hopeless at talking about it. Many don’t have degrees in English or anything else.

Judge the words not the waffle.

Give a copy test

Ask them to write a short piece for you. 200 words about what they had for dinner; a Google ad for your firm; a web page about their favourite writer - the subject matters little.

Get them to submit the copy test before you shortlist for interview.

You’ll see quickly who writes most engagingly, and who bothers to invest the effort in doing so.

Check references

If they’re already working as a writer, make a couple of calls just to check that they actually wrote the samples they’re offering you.

If in doubt

Choose the person who’s interested in your business, who asks intelligent questions and who goes out of their way to comment on your existing copy.

Journalists are usually a pretty good bet. They know how to structure a story and they understand the rules covering ‘legal, decent, honest and true’.

They’re also used to being quick and to writing in an environment that’s both noisy and full of interruptions.

Writers who’ve spent time writing ads are often pretty good at being succinct and at summarising a point in an engaging way.

Writing Google ads and direct mail (electronic or paper) are good disciplines for writers. Both enable you to measure instantly just how appealing your words are.

Your spell check is not your best mate.

He is the bloke you met in a pub and you’re not sure that you can trust him. Better than nothing, yes, but not very bright.

Thanks to the wisdom of spell check we have enjoyed charming phrases such ‘piece of mind’ and ‘tow the line’.

Read it aloud

Embarrassing, yes (until you get used to it), but one of the best ways of testing the pace and rhythm of what you’ve written.

If you’ve got a friend who can’t run away too fast, read to them. Failing that, read to the cat or to yourself. And don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.

If only you’ve read it, it’s not good enough.

Even the best writers in the world need someone to check their work.

When you’ve written something and re-read it repeatedly (even aloud), you simply don’t notice mistakes.

Get someone else to read your writing.

Tell them they’re checking for spelling and sense, not being asked to comment on your style (however, if they can’t get further than the first paragraph, you might want to review that too).

The good news is that you can make them work for you.

Working with visual folk

If you’re fortunate, you will at some point work as part of a team with an art director or designer (the person who’s in charge of the look of what you’re working on).

Your writing will improve and you’ll have found a professional best friend to last you a lifetime.

You’ll also discover that designers and art directors can be great with words. They’re used to working with them, can come up with excellent ideas, and they’ll kick up the proverbial butt if you’re writing begins to look lazy. They’re often just what you need.

Make the pictures work for you

There’s no point in having a picture that communicates the same thing as the words underneath it. Visuals and words should enhance one another. The example’s below.

Cow

Mother

(Web Eloquence is grateful to Atli Harðarson for this beautiful photo.)

People don’t read on screen in the same way that they read a brochure, magazine, or watch television.

Comparatively, reading on screen is a pig, so we web writers need to make life as painless as possible for our readers.

Printed text just doesn’t translate, so we shouldn’t put brochure copy on screen.

Reading text on-screen is physically difficult

Reading text on a screen is 25% slower than reading text on paper.

Why?

• The resolution of a computer monitor, mobile device or TV screen is much lower than the printed page. Average PC screen resolution is around 96 dots per inch (dpi) compared with average print resolution of 600 dots per inch. Therefore printed text is sharper and easier to read.
• Light is emitted from a screen, whereas it is reflected from a page. Reflected light is less tiring than emitted light.
• It is easier to adjust the distance between the eye and the printed page than the eye and the screen (the only exception is mobile devices). With print media, readers can set the most comfortable focal length easily, adjusting it to changes in page layout and typeface size.

These simple style points, were written by George Orwell back in 1946 in his masterful essay ‘Politics and the English Language’. They remain acutely relevant today:

• Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
• Never use a long word where a short one will do.
• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
• Never use the passive where you can use the active.
• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an every day English equivalent.
• Break any of these rules rather than say anything outright barbarous.

As he adds, it is possible to follow all of these rules and still write bad English. But it’s a lot harder to do.

Think of your reader

‘The consumer is not an idiot, she’s your wife’ an adman once said. She’s your mother too, and she may well not understand technology in the same way that we do, but she’s not stupid.

Don’t waste your time trying to tell (or sell) her stuff that she’s not interested in. Don’t use language that she won’t understand, you’ll bore her.

Think of your client

You wouldn’t spend a lot of money just for the pleasure of having your own words rearranged and presented back to you.

Don’t regurgitate briefing documents in proposals unless you’re adding something, or quoting the source in order to make a point. Tell the client something new - it’s what they’re paying for.

Keep one eye on Pseud’s Corner*

In the online and IT world, it’s common to use language that has a different meaning in the real world.
The danger is, it is not understood and can make us look very pretentious, think what ’stretch’, ‘ownership’ and ‘platform’ mean to your mum.

*If you’re not familiar with Private Eye, you should be.

If you’re not sure what a word means, don’t use it.

If you mean motivate, write ‘motivate’ not ‘incentivise’, if you mean ‘function’, don’t say ‘functionality’.

Your reader may well be better educated then you are, don’t try to impress with your vocabulary, you can end up like a damn fool (and no one will want to pay you).

You scan through a page looking for relevant information.

The job of the web writer is to make it easy for readers to find what they’re looking for.

Use short paragraphs

• Write one idea per paragraph (some web gurus will tell you to make each sentence its own paragraph - they have a point).
• Give the first line of each paragraph impact, it needs to “sell” the rest of the paragraph to the reader.

Vary sentence length

• Long, complex sentences are difficult to follow and tiring to read if there are too many of them. Use short sentences too. Vary the rhythm of what you write.

Use logical headings

• Think of headings as the map by which the user can work out the structure of what you write. Write as if the user will read the headings only and none of the body text.
• Beware of being too clever with the words you use as headings: be entertaining but informative. The user should know from your headings what to expect from the text.

Use bullet points

• Bullet points help break up the flow of text.
• List anything you can.
• Put your lists in order of priority.

What matters is the quality of what you produce, not what you call yourself.

It’s possible to earn an extremely good living and have a load of fun working as a writer in the commercial field. What you need is a start.

Becoming a professional writer

There are two things you must do, and you must do them every day.

Read and write.

Read, read, read and read

Read anything that you can get your hands on - newspapers, magazines, books, brochures, letters from the electricity company, websites, blogs, emails.

Read critically and identify the aspects that, for you, make a piece of writing engaging, compelling, hilarious or downright boring.

Read and learn about use of language, differences in style, vocabulary. Look up and learn words that are new to you.

Write, every single day

If you’re a writer, you probably do this already. If not, ask yourself why.

Lewis Hamilton didn’t hone his driving skills with his feet up on the sofa. You won’t become a professional writer by daydreaming about it.

It doesn’t matter much what you write - only that you do it. Write a journal or blog, letters to distant chums, song lyrics, stories, poetry, reports about your local car boot sale - just write, and often.

It’s the one thing that will make you better at it.

Submit your stuff

It’s a shame, but no one’s going to knock on your door on the off-chance that you might have the writing skills they’re looking for.Get together a collection of the things that you’ve written (a portfolio) and submit it to local web, design, advertising and marketing agencies.

Choose work that’s relevant to them - websites, emails, persuasive writing.

You’ll need to call up and ask for the name of the creative director. Find out if you can have half an hour of his or her time. Let them read your words and ask for feedback.

Once they’ve given you their opinion, ask if you can get in touch again when you’ve prepared more work, ask if they ever recruit for writers.

Contact your local newspaper to see if they have a trainee scheme and what it takes to be part of it.

Be creative. If you’re looking at a website and the copy stinks, re-write a sample of it and send it to the company concerned. Make a polite offer to help them make it more effective.

Don’t just sit there and think you could do it better - do it better.

We are all overwhelmed with information. We don’t want more of it; we want it to be better quality.

Be engaging

• Keep it relevant.
• Keep it interesting.
• Keep it quick (apart from anything, it’s got more chance of being read).

Before you start

Think about what you want to communicate.

• Note down the key points.
• Put them in the most logical, engaging order.
• Decide your beginning, middle and end.
• How much space (or how many words) do you have?
• Consider your medium - what size screen will your reader be using? Are they likely to print your words?
• Identify your reader - get a clear picture of her in your head (and if necessary, write it down, give her a name, it’s easier if you can imagine you’re writing for someone you know).

Halve the word count

Reading is around 25% slower on screen and users are impatient.

Halve the number of words you would normally use.

Where something in print would be two hundred words, make it one hundred on screen.

This demands careful editing: you do not want to dumb down the text by stripping away too much of the meaning.

Rigorous editing often improves a piece and the discipline of writing for digital media will force you to think clearly about the message you want to convey.