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Any writing that is considered good must have these four cardinal factors; otherwise, the deed will fail regardless of its purpose. Remember that the intent of your writing should be to inform, instruct, entertain, solve a problem, or show how to achieve a goal or objective. Always write for your target audience and not for the internet or search engines. When you connect with your audience, the rewards come back to you. The four factors are: expression, content, organization and mechanical precision.
Expression: This is how you project your writing for the world to see, read and evaluate. Good writing is a trade. That is why writers are called word formers. An image can be more than a thousand words, but it also takes words to create images in the mind of the reader. This is the first factor that draws an audience to your writing, just like bees are drawn to nectar. You may have heard that you must write to express and not to impress. Don’t write for ego; Write for your audience clearly and simply, so everyone can understand your perspective and topic. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Expression is an art form. You must use your words to connect and create vivid images in the mind of your reader. People only apply what they understand. It all comes down to word choice, style, personality, and general thought process. You must use powerful words and emotional triggers. Eliminate boring adverbs and hanging modifiers as much as you can. Use active verbs instead of auxiliary verbs or adjectives. Active verbs make your writing more lively and dynamic. Realize that movement generates pleasure. Use active voice instead of passive voice. Therefore, the expression is not only what you say, but how you say it. However, what you say is also important.
Content: This is the factor that separates the mediocre from the masters. “Either you write something that is worth reading or you do something that is worth writing,” said Benjamin Franklin. Content is the substance and essence of your writing. In short, content is the heart of any great writing. It is the value it brought to the market. People are buyers of value and quality. They want the best for the least amount of money. You’ve heard it said that content is king on the Internet. The story is the same everywhere. Content is the quality of the material you post. This has to do with the key benefits readers will get from your writing in solving their problems or achieving their goals. As a writer, you should always ask yourself: “How can my writing solve problems or change lives?” Good writing that sells itself is writing with great content. Search engines love content. So, put out good content that people love and seek. Then the search engines will naturally locate you and people will search for your offers. Let your content be fresh and original instead of recycled materials that flood the internet. Content is what search (and research) is all about. That said, you should also know how to organize and organize your content so that the information is readable and digestible.
Organization: One of the hardest things about writing is how to organize and organize your thoughts. “Most of the writing is some good thoughts floating in a sea of words,” said Jamie Buckingham. Organization is the product of coherence and consistency. How do your thoughts flow logically like in a flower? One idea must lead and link to the next. To be consistent, you need a style guide as a guide. So, try to plan your writing. Summarize the key points or basic essentials you may want to develop before putting the meat on the go. Let each paragraph contain a theme or main idea. The meat can be the description, examples or anecdotes to shore up your points. Organization is a process. It comes with writing practice, experience, and intuition. Improvements as you keep writing. Formatting is a very important part of your organization. Organize the information into chunks.
This is how the human brain processes information. That is why it is called bites and bytes. The formatting is all about headings, paragraphs, bullets, lists, typography, lines, and spaces to create visual appeal for your readers. You don’t have to be a graphic artist to develop a good sense of organization. Did you notice that most HTML tags are formatting tags? Any good content and expression can fail without good formatting – it’s a key part of your organization. The best way to learn this art is to draw from other good writing. After trial and success, it comes along with practice. Either you keep writing or you become an amortized person. My keyword is: “Persistent practice avoids poor performance.” The more you write, the better you will grow as a writer. Practice doesn’t make perfect; practice makes improvements and improvements perfect.
Mechanical (Technical) Accuracy – This is a fancy way of saying that your writing should be error-free. Mechanical precision is the Achilles tendon of most writers. They worry too much about the difference between the analysis of paralysis that causes the colon and the semicolon. This is the key reason why many people fear writing. Mechanical precision has to do with your typos, spelling, punctuation, and syntax. That is why you must have your writing tools: spell checkers, dictionary, encyclopedia, and other reference materials. Remember that no writing is legible until it is free of errors. It is also a good idea to hand over your writing to someone else for review and editing due to human factors. In general, most good writers are made by rewriting. The key is in the principle of the 3Rs: revise, revise and rewrite.
Your writing process is like preparing a good meal. All four ingredients must be present in your recipe before creating a food for thought.
