for
- writers
i editors
A CONTENT GUIDE ARTICULATE. RESEARCH. COPYWRITING. CREATIVE. FICTION. BUSINESS. SALES. TECHNOLOGY. FOOD. LIFESTYLE. WRITING. STAGE. HEALTH. ART. MARKETING. FASHION. ARTICLES. BLOGS. CATCHPHRASES. BRONZE. DEADLINES. EBOOKS. FUN? GLIB. HUMO(U)R. INK. JOURNALING. KEYWORDS. LINGUISTICS. TONALITY. MYSTERY. NOSTALGIA. EDITORIAL. GUIDELINES. OPINION. PRESS RELEASE. SEO. SME. TARGET. UNIQUE. VALUE. WEBSITES. WHITEPAPERS. PLATINUM. NARRATE. SITUATIONS. INSIGHTS. ANECDOTES. CITATIONS. JARGON. MONETARY. WORDS
WRITE. EDIT. PUBLISH.
WHAT IS IN IT FOR ME ?
PART 1 WE LIKE TO KEEP IT CLEAN AND CRISP. 1. HOLA! 2. WHY THIS? 3. COFFEE!
PART 2 ARE YOU A - ? I. GIFTED WORDSMITH? ARTICULATION IS AN ART. Research | Structure | Proofreading
II. GRAMMAR NAZI? BRINGING OUT THE BEST.
1.
WE LIKE TO KEEP IT CLEAN AND CRISP.
HOLA! NAMASTE! HOW HAVE YOU BEEN? IF YOU’RE HERE, YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT WHITE PANDA IS ALL ABOUT - CLEARING UP THE WORLD OF ONLINE CONTENT. THERE ARE WORDS EVERYWHERE - BUT HOW DO THEY FIT THE CONTEXT, PURPOSE AND THE VISION? DO THEY MAKE UP FOR A GOOD READ OR ARE THESE PLACES ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB FULL OF RHYTMLESS KEYWORDS ? AT WHITE PANDA WE BELIEVE IN CREATING CONTENT THAT ADDS VALUE, PASSION AND ENGAGEMENT FOR READERS AND WRITERS. LET’S TALK CRISP - CLEVERLY - CRAFTED CONTENT.
WHY THIS? THE WORLD OF CONTENT MAY DROWN WITHOUT THIS. THERE ARE A LOT OF THINKERS, EXPERTS AND KNOWLEDGEABLE CHAPS WHO COULD USE THE ART OF ARTICULATION TO GIVE EVEN A LITTLE BIT OF THEIR EXPERTISE TO THE WORLD. THEN, THERE’S THOSE WHO LOVE TO WEAVE WORDS IN POETRY, AND WOULDN’T MIND DOING SOME MORE OF IT FOR ENGAGING PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS BEYOND THE LITERATTI. NEXT PART IS FOR THOSE WHO ARE ALL ABOUT THE METICULOUS DETAILS IN EVERYTHING THEY SEE, READ, EXAMINE AND DISCOVER! ALSO, FOR THOSE MARKETING CHOPS WHO WANT TO FIND WAYS TO FIND CONTENT EVERYWHERE IN ANYTHING THEY SEE, READ, WATCH, DREAM OR EXPLORE!
GRAB SOME COFFEE! LET’S GET STARTED!
ARE
2. YOU A
GIFTED WORDSMITH?
ARTICULATION IS AN ART.
RESEARCH
STRUCTURE
PROOFREADING
RESEARCH
1 UNDERSTAND THE BROADER & SHORTER PURPOSE
Research starts with understanding the broader purpose of the enterprise you’re writing for, whether it is a technology based start - up, a healthcare service or a fortune 500 company. Analyse the depths of the organization by posing questions with 5Ws and 1H, for instance -
What is it that they do? Why is it necessary or unique? Where can it make an impact? Which target audience is the organization looking for? When does the service solve the pain points (events)? How is it solving a problem? Generate more questions based on the particular content peice that you’re creating and see if it fits well for the shorter purpose and the broad purpose. With this information that you have, it will be easier to articulate.
2
Once you’ve understood the purpose of the content peice and how it fits the bigger picture, analysed everything about the organization, now you need to get used to the industry jargon for this particular organization. Healthcare, technology, entrepreneurship, fashion, lifestyle, finance - all of these industries have a set jargon. And there are quite a few great resources to learn how people from a particular industry talk. Refering to content from these, can be of great help! Find some reliable sources that have lucid, top-notch industry preferred content, here are a few suggestions however, this will also depend on specific content type and organization.
INTERNALISE INDUSTRY JARGON
TECHNOLOGY -
Hackernoon MIT Tech review Mashable Hackernews David Walsh Daily JS Web Engage Buffer
HEALTHCARE - Web MD - US National Library (Medicine) - Smart Patients - Drugs.com - Mayo Clinic - Wharton (UPenn) - Vital Signs
ENTREPRENEURSHIP -
Harvard Business Review Forbes Paul Graham Startup Nation Wired Entrepreneur Mckinsey Quarterly Ivey Business Journal
MARKETING -
Seth Godin Gary Vaynerchuk Contently Hubspot Buffer Grow Content Marketing Institute
LIFESTYLE -
Refinery 29 Elle Cosmopolitan Conde’ Nast CNN Traveller Caravan Vogue The New Yorker
RESEARCH
3 DIVE RIGHT INTO THE NEED OF THE HOUR
Now that you’re comfortable with the jargon and have looked into the purpose of the content, dive right into the researching for the specific peice.
READ from relevant, trusted resources on the topic. NOTE down everything important (use google keep) [facts | statistics | graphs | anecdotes | quotes]
ANALYSE pain points of the target audience and
read on social media, comments, reviews, websites from the potential target - what is it that they need!
ADD VALUE & STRUCTURE with 5Ws and 1 H - questions are about the content peice directly and ideate your writing by answering these For instance, What do the consumers want to read ? Why would they read this ? How can we add vale & leave impact? Which other resources do they read ? Who is their potential role model ? Where will they read this information ?
WRITE STRIKING TITLES
1 In the jungle of digital clutter, why would someone want to read exactly the peice you’ve written, what value does it bring to them and why should they spend time on this - these questions need to be answered with the title of your peice. It’s simple. Have you seen how well stand-up comedy shows are titled - they exactly know their target audience, and it hits the right chord! That’s what you’ve got to do. Titles are the cover to your book, and however offbeat your piece is, it will always be judged by the metaphorical cover, the title!
WRITE STRIKING TITLES
CRAFT MORE THAN FIVE TITLES! YOU’LL WRITE RIGHT!
| STRUCTURE
1
HIT THE RIGHT CHORD
2
CREATE VALUE ANTICIPATION
3
START WITH A QUESTION OR A CATCHPHRASE
You know the pain points, you know the concerns, craft something that directly addresses the main issue, the pressing need.
The value you are creating with the content is what matters the most, articulate that in a crisp copy tag that becomes the title for your piece
The title can have a number or a question which intrigues the target reader and creates anticipation. It’s also a great way for the content introduction.
INTEREST INTRIGUE INFORM WHEN YOU INTRODUCE
2 After you have researched about what it is that you want to talk about you need to provide it a structure, an outline, a map if you may, to let the most vital, important and valuable information hit at the right time for the reader. Generally, there are three parts to any writeup- whether it is a blog post, an article, a press release, a whitepaper, an ebook like this or even a web page - there are certain creative liberties you can take with relevance to the content type and creation, however let’s first looking into all these three parts of written content peices. Introductions need to intrigue, inform and interest the reader by addressing pain points and adding value to hook the target audience and make them read further!
INTEREST INTRIGUE INFORM WHEN YOU INTRODUCE
ADDRESS PAIN POINTS When you begin the piece by addressing the pain points, you speak directly to the audience. You give them a reason to stay and read how whatever it is that you’re writing about solves their problem - or creates a need in the first place
USE STATISTICS WISELY Facts and figures are nothing unless we put them into perspective, by really showing how it affects someone reading. For instance, rather than saying 33% of the poplation suffers from X, we can articulate it as 1 in 3 people amongst us suffers from X.
| STRUCTURE
USE ENGAGING ANECDOTES Writing, marketing, blogging - it is all about compelling story telling. Define a situation, something that happened to you, something you read about in the research, someone you met or from the brand/organization’s social media stories, comments, feedback or customer testimonials.
ADD CREDIBILITY Credibility comes with the right kind of resources, references and citations that provide information. When you add quotes, research statements, ideas, peices from major players / role models in the industry for potential readers,the reader is intrigued and you’ve sparked an interest! Like, quoting Gary Vee for social media marketing.
THE CRUX NEEDS TO ADD VALUE HIGHLIGHT VALUABLE PARTS
3 Introduced well, intrigued enough, informed about what comes next, now you need to give the reader what you promised in the first place. Don’t overpromise and under-deliver. This is the main read, and needs to add some value to the reader, whether it’s a blog talking about why a certain JavaScript framework is better than another one or a product description of an organic beauty product trying to differentiate itself from the pool of other cosmetics. Microsoft’s popular research talks about shrinking attention spans, from 12 seconds in the 2000s to 8 seconds in the current times. It is important that as writers, marketers, content creaters at large, we need to be personal and to the point, for instance twitter has a cap of 140 characters, less is more.
THE CRUX NEEDS TO ADD VALUE AND HIGHLIGHT VALUABLE PARTS
| STRUCTURE
Finding the crux Be clear about what is the specific information
that you want the reader to know about and why.
COME TO THE POINT QUICK!
List pointers by articulating the gist of each part in small phrases or a keyword - your own reckoner. Elaborate on these pointers whether it is a
narrative, a story, a bulleted blog post, a series of ideas, short phrases with description or even a listicle - depending on who your audience is and how they would tend to read. Millenials have shorter attention spans than the baby boomers so keep that in mind.
Highlight value additions like vernacular language with italicization, statistics and research findings with backlinks or typeface variation / size. Make it skimmable so that anyone who
lands on this digital peice is able to get the most out of it by skimming through. Make a short 140 character description of what this article talks about - like a log line of sorts.
CONCLUDE WITH VALUE AND THE CALL TO ACTION
4 With everything about attention span, we can say that a majority of the target audience today cares about the bottom line. Some may be reading your peice from the introduction point and there it’s important to intrigue them, however, many would come in search of a solution. That’s where conclusions come in handy. The last part of the peice needs to leave the needed impact, give a sense of the value that the body has, yet in the most crisp, clear and concise manner. The end of the peice is also where you expect a response from the reader in form of a call to action - whether it is the purchase of a product, a subscription button or a link to the required landing page.
CONCLUDE WITH VALUE AND THE CALL TO ACTION
MAIN VALUE POINTS
1
The conclusion should be a good and informing response to the primary question that the peice is trying to answer. Like the inshorts app for news.
BROWNIE POINTS FOR HUMOUR
INTEREST INTRIGUE INVOLVE
| STRUCTURE
3
2
Even though we’re all virtually connected but it’s still people communicating with people. Leave your reader with an imprint of honesty and humour. They’ll always come back for more.
We’re all storytellers, and we’re lucky to be present in the times when you can involve readers and the audience in that story - the call to action, craft that in an irresistable way!
Grammatical errors can be eliminated by
using grammarly and spell check easily.
Sentence fragments can be rephrased,
LET CONTENT BREATHE HONESTY.
simplified, modified one by one if there are certain specific issues.
Structure revisions are quite frequent. Take them objectively. Think of the target reader, try to make suggested changes if you think it will enhance your writing. At the same time, you can justify your original structure if you have an objective reason. Segration suggestions are very common. These help the reader find it easy to skim everything - this optimizes your content and still keeps your original articulation intact.
Vocabulary dysfunction might happen often when what you want to convey doesn’t come out right with the choice of words. In that case, try thinking of other ways to write it, or collaborate with the editor to work on it.
PROOFREADING
PRO TIP :
TAKE THE FEEDBACK FROM CLIENTS AND EDITORS IN CONTEXT.
BEFORE YOU SEND HIT, FORMAT YOUR FILE RIGHT
PROOFREADING
Headings: 18 (Calibri | Roboto) - bold Subheadings: 12 (Calibri | Roboto) - bold Introduction, body and conclusion : 11 (Calibri | Roboto) Points (in numbers - 1,2,3,4.. or hyphens) - bold Sub points (in bullets) - bold Use of vernacular terms - italicized Alignment - Left alignment (Do not justify text) American English ‘z’ instead of ‘s’ (recognizable instead of recognisable) ‘or’ instead of ‘our’ (honor instead of honour) British English ‘s’ instead of ‘z’ (recognisable instead of recognizable) ‘our’ instead of ‘or’ (honour instead of honor) Citations & References : Back-linked | at the end of doc Images : In the sequence(with source at the bottom)
METICULOUS GRAMMAR NAZI?
BRINGING OUT THE BEST IN CONTENT As an editor, your task is to fine - tune and bring out the best from this draft. First drafts aren’t perfect. Your draft isn’t ready before you let at least 3 personas read and edit it. These personas also have checklists which help you guide for the changes that need to be taken care of
before they’re ready to publish. We leave you with three personas to begin with and a few guiding questions, you can add more such personas as you intuitively start using this process that makes editing intuitive, bringing out lucid, targeted, personalized and crisp pieces.
CHECKLIST.
1 2
While scrolling through social media channels, will I open the link based on the title? Does the introduction add value, interest and engagement for the typical reader to scroll down and read more?
3
Does the body enhance value, deliver promised anticipation and is readable over a skim?
4
Is the conclusion able to engage further and give a quick gist of the entire theme?
5
Overall, does the peice satisfy the quest he/she landed on the page for?
6
Is anything boring, irrelevant or too obvious for the target reader?
PERSONA 1 POTENTIAL TARGET READERS
1
Is this completely original content ? Run a plagiarism test on smallseotools, grammar check on grammarly.com.
PERSONA 2 EDITORIAL MANAGERS
2
Is the introduction too long - are individual sentences worded over 6 - 12 words?
3
Does every sentence of the piece make sense? Is the entire peice adding value?
CHECKLIST.
4
Are all the paragraphs and sentences connected seamlessly with good transitions?
5
Is the formatting alright - are all the bold / italic typefaces in place with bulleted points segregating data?
6
Is anything redundant or irrelevant or too obvious for the target audience?
1
Does the title sound like the enterprise?
2
Does the peice fit the broad vision of the company’s goals?
3
Does the peice satisfy the current requirements?
CHECKLIST.
4 5 6
PERSONA 3 CLIENT | BRAND | COMPANY
Will the right kind of target audience be interested, intrigued and informed by the piece?
Is the formatting alright - are all the bold / italic typefaces in place with bulleted points segregating data?
How credible are the sources used?
7
Is the Call to Action enforced rightly in the right place?
8
Is all information need to be covered relevantly placed, highlighted and added?
9
Does this sound perfect for the target audience and the company’s image?
WRITE, EDIT PUBLISH TEAM WHITEPANDA