6 Things Your Content Might be Saying behind Your Back

You may reflect fondly upon your relationship with your web content. The quality time you spent developing ideas, crafting content, and sharing posts with social media friends might make you feel all warm and fuzzy about your solid friendship with your online companion.

But don’t think for one second that just because you love your web content, the feeling is mutual. If you made any mistakes while crafting your web content there is a big chance that your web content is talking trash behind your back.

Pumpkin carving? Bah. Costumes? Meh. For me, the real thrill of Halloween is spending late nights with a stack of creepy books and horror movies. Give me a bowl of popcorn and a homicidal maniac and I’m a happy girl. Swarms of zombies? Alien invaders? Creepy kids who see dead people? I’ll take all three.

But the horror genre’s gotten a bad rap over the years, thanks to bad writing, bad lighting, and a string of six movies starring homicidal leprechauns. What these horror-snubbing snobs are missing, however, is that there’s a reason why there’s so much bad horror on the market: good horror is extremely hard to do.

I’ll admit it: I was a know-it-all in grade school. I’d raise my hand for everything: why, yes, I could conjugate that verb, Señora. Yes, I know what the albatross signifies in Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Sure, I can recite the preamble to the Constitution– heck, I can do it backwards.

Students hated me. Teachers hated me. After reading that first paragraph, you probably hate me too.

Even as a (hopefully) reformed know-it-all, I don’t blame you. There’s a reason we all hate know-it-alls– in fact, there are three reasons: they’re smug, they’re boring, and they make us feel bad.

One of the biggest mistakes a writer can make when writing an article for the web is to treat that article like it belongs in a magazine, a newspaper or a book. Have you ever fallen into this trap?

Whether you realize it or not, the difference between online content and offline content is actually pretty huge. Fretting over the quality of the writing is one thing you might be worried about, but the overall “look” of your content can make it or break it for a reader who may be trying decide whether or not it’s worth reading.

It’s Columbus Day, which means your RSS feeds will soon be flooded with anything and everything featuring the Italian explorer and navigator. I’m all in favor of celebrations, but some of it does seem like a stretch– I mean, does the world really need a recipe for Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria-shaped cupcakes?

You hear it all the time: Know your target audience. Write for your target audience. Market to your target audience.

But what if your target audience can’t read? What if they can’t write? In fact, what if your target audience’s favorite pastimes include chasing cars and barking at the mailman?

Nestlé’s Purina makes food for dogs. Theoretically, their target audience would be, well, dogs. So what does Nestlé do?

Taking time away from work for play is always important. This is especially true for writers in a creative, idea-driven industry.

And while most people understand that play is an important element in idea generation, many don’t realize all the ways that play can help a writer developcontent.

Legions of Arrested Development fans rejoiced Sunday when series creator Mitch Hurwitz announced at the New Yorker Festival that the long-beloved show could soon be returning with brand-new material.