If you’re a writer, online publisher, or marketer, it’s likely that you know a thing or two about meta descriptions and titles.
Used to improve SEO and help web pages earn more prominent Google rankings, meta titles and descriptions are short blurbs that help readers and search engines decide what content is about. While meta content may not be as exciting as Google algorithm updates or copywriting secrets, there’s been some big news in the world of meta content recently.
Earlier this month, Google announced some major changes to their meta title and description standards, and these changes will influence how SEOs everywhere regard meta content.
Read on to learn more.
Google’s Changes to Meta Content Standards
Google seldom releases news like this through loudspeakers and blow horns, so it’s not surprising that change was spotted on Twitter by a guy named Ross Hudgens. We heard about it through The SEM Post and Search Engine Journal, who reported on it later.
Long title tags being tested again in the SERPs. Seeing 69 and 70 character results today. pic.twitter.com/esiKTctV96
As it stands right now, Google’s character limits for title tags had increased by about ten characters: from 50-60 characters to 70-71 characters, which allows for longer and more in-depth descriptions and the inclusion of additional keywords.
What’s more, meta descriptions have increased to 100 characters per line and now allow for three lines in a description. Keep in mind, however, that this change is on a per-line basis and Google is still cutting off anything that runs over 160 characters, so it’s smart to stick to that limit for now.
Title Tag Changes
Currently, Google is allowing title tag lengths to be 70 characters. While it’s possible to push that limit to 71 characters by using small letters like “i,” Google generally truncates anything that runs over the limit. The new 70-character cap represents an increase of between 10-15 characters, which is huge news for savvy SEOs everywhere since the extra space can be used to include additional keywords or make a title tag more longer or more descriptive. While the specific length of this increase will vary depending upon the words used, many SEOs are managing to include 2-4 extra words in their title tags.
While the desktop changes are big news, the mobile title tag increase is what’s causing most SEOs to do a happy dance. As you probably know, mobile search is exploding right now, and it’s clear that the mobile character limit increase is Google’s effort to make mobile search more relevant and detailed than ever.
According to The SEM Post, Google bumped its mobile tag lengths up to 78 characters, which is a whopping 8 characters more than even the desktop limit. This longer mobile tag allows marketers to input additional keywords and reap the click-through benefits that the extended tag has to offer. What’s more, longer title tags on both mobile and desktop allow a search engine result to take up a larger space in the all-important SERPs, which makes it more visible and attractive to Google users.
Meta Description Changes
While many SEOs are jumping up and down at the prospect of longer descriptions (about 16-20 characters longer, to be exact, to a cap of 100 characters per line), it’s wise to remember that Google is still truncating descriptions after about two lines or 160 characters.
Because of this, it’s wise to ensure that you’re sticking to the 16- character limit, at least until it becomes clear that these changes are here to stay.
Should You Get Excited?
Yes! This is big news for SEOs, copywriters, and marketers. Meta content has always been important, but it’s also always been tough to create. While we still aren’t entirely sure whether these changes are A/B testing that Google will reverse in the near-future or long-lasting improvements that are here to stay, the prospect of larger meta content character limits is exciting in a few different ways.
Here are some of the main reasons we’re excited about the character limit increase:
Meta content will be easier to write. Brevity is hard. Anyone who has ever tried to craft a super-insightful tweet knows that getting the point across in just over 100 characters is tough. While the character limit increases aren’t massive, they offer just enough room to provide additional value and meaning in meta content.
Additional keyword inclusion. Right now, most SEOs are managing to add 2-4 words to title tags. This increase allows for additional keyword inclusion and more SEO-focused content. Just remember, never stuff your keywords in; a natural meta description is far better than a stuffed one, since you need a conversational, well-written meta in order to get more click-throughs on your piece from Google results.
Increased visibility. Longer meta content means more targeted results and increased visibility for all online material. This is good for marketers, search engines, and Google users.
What To Do Now
Since nobody is quite sure whether or not the character limit is here to stay, SEO experts are recommending that marketers measure their click-through-rates (CTRs) beginning before May 4th (the day that the change to the meta lengths took place). While it’s risky to alter your SEO efforts to fit the increased character limits before we know that they’re permanent, searching for any recent positive or negative changes will give you an idea of how and if your site has been affected.
In addition to monitoring your CTRs, you should also optimize your mobile and desktop title tags separately in order to ensure that they’re both adhering to their respective character limits. This helps ensure that your readers are getting the value they need from your content and that you’re getting the real estate you deserve in the SERPs.
The Future of the New Meta Title & Description Length
While there’s no telling whether or not Google will reverse the character limit increase, there’s also no doubt that this new change has the potential to help SEOs create more detailed and exciting meta content for readers and search engines alike. Because of this, the character limit increase has the potential to be a great revelation for the SEO community, and one that positively alters the way we think about meta content forever. To learn more about breaking SEO, copywriting, and content marketing news, join our new Twitter Chat.
My dream was to build a community of writers under one umbrella; a boutique firm that would be devoted to high quality content. My one aim was to hire writers who were excellent at their trade, who would further a mission of creating great content across the entire web. And, to never drop my content quality standards for any reason.
And I can’t believe how that dream has been fulfilled today! This week, Express Writers celebrates a five-year anniversary.It’s been a wonderful, crazy, enlightening journey. We’ve seen over 5,000clients walk through our doors, and have 70 copywriters, content strategists, social media managers, and editors by now (tested and hired out of thousands of applicants); and have written hundreds of thousands of pages to date, across press releases, blogs, web pages, product descriptions, social posts, and much more.
I won’t lie: it hasn’t been easy. To stay at the top in today’s fast-paced content creation industry, featuring smarter consumers than ever before, you have to a) work without stopping, b) learn every day and c) grow constantly. Evolving, adapting is the name of the game. And my team and I have stayed devoted, nonstop, to maintaining and growing our presence. I’ve written more entrance tests and training manuals solely for our team use than I can count, and I refine them every few months. We don’t want to just be a content creation agency: we want to be at the forefront and be the best provider there is for great content that will fuel today’s content marketing needs.
To celebrate our five-year mark, we’re showcasing some of our staff and why they like to work at Express Writers (see below). Without our talented team of managers, writers, content strategists, and experts, we wouldn’t be able to offer the high quality content deliverables we’re able to. Plus, a little gift for our clients: $25 off anything in the Content Shop! Use the code in the image below to redeem.
Use our code bday25off for an instant $25 off anything in the Content Shop, minimum $100!
Celebrating 5 Years at Express Writers: What Our Staff and Writers Say About Working Here
Writing isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s not a trade just anyone can be good at; without the inborn talent for writing, every word reads forced, and doesn’t flow. Our writers have been hand-picked out of hundreds, and have passed multiple entrance tests to enter our team. We’re grateful to every one of our talented team members: they make up the core of how we tick, and how we stay consistent in delivering quality in the human-centric, difficult product of writing. We’re proud to represent quality and stand behind our mission of delivering audience-friendly, real-value content across the web! (P.S: Keep reading from a brief story from me!)
Founder’s Perspective: Our Story
A little thought, fueled by passion, and a lot of elbow-grease hard work was at the root of Express Writers’ beginnings back in 2011.
I began life as a freelance writer at just 19 years old. It was an idea that hit me like a lightning bolt when I woke up one morning. I changed my lifestyle, direction and career path solely driven by discovering my passion. I wasn’t feeling fulfilled at all in nursing school. Within three months of self-teaching and learning the trade of online writing, fueled by the fact that I was jumping into something I absolutely loved, I was able to quit nursing school and McDonalds and jump full-time into running Express Writers, a little company I created at 20 years old, in May of 2011.
The best part? I was doing what I loved with my life: writing. And it was through a channel bigger than I’d dreamed of as a little kid, who loved to fill every last scrapbook page with words. I was writing content that would be distributed across the world wide web—and how useful, good, intelligent, and worthwhile my writing was translated to how people across the globe would further interact with it when they found it in Google. That was inspiring to me. What if I could make the web a better place by simply offering a solution for it’s fundamental key: the quality of great writing, for any type of business that needed to fuel their online marketing?
Our Growth: Crazy Big Strides, Short Amounts of Time
Over the past five years, Express Writers has grown from a baby company where I was the manager, editor, and salesperson, with a team of five writers, to a global agency with over 70 writers (hand-picked out of thousands), a staff of nearly a dozen people, and a 98% success rate in content deliverables, a feat considering the difficult human process involved in what we do everyday (from matching individual client styles to picking the best writers, managing deadlines, and so much more).
We’ve seen a lot of growth across the years; from launching our online Content Shop developed by Josh in early 2015, to our latest internal growth spurt just this May. Interestingly enough, this month’s growth was fueled by the termination of our two head managers. We discovered that they were dropping our quality, pushing our writers to extreme deadlines, and overall going down a road counter-intuitive to the process and creation of quality content. In the following seven days after they were let go, I reinvented our content quality process, replacing editors with a more targeted, trained role of content reviewers; came up with a content turnaround expectations chart, that is now included in our policy page, and allows for the time our human writers need to create quality content; and trained three new staff members. We’ve already seen a 10% increase in the overall morale and production of our writing team, exhibited in clientele project approval and praise across the board, since we’ve lessened the urgency of their deadlines. I have no doubts that as we progress to training more reviewers and as our new Content Manager Katria works through her third week here full-time managing the assignments and refining which writer is best matched with a project, this production quality increase will only grow.
Plus, we’re discovering what we’re good at, and refining that process: and droppingfrom our product list what eats up our time and doesn’t make sense for our content experts to focus on.
As We Celebrate 5 Years: What’s Going on in the Content Marketing Industry?
To wrap up this story, a note about the industry we’re in. At the beginning, it was hard. In 2011, a mindset existed online: freelance writing should be cheap, and it should come in volumes. Over the past five years in this industry, I’ve seen a major transition from this mindset. I’d sum up the change in one word: value.
Content marketers—really, any good online marketer—have realized that they have to provide value if they want to publish winning content. True, authentic value, exhibited in the kind of content that would change someone’s life because you showed them how to do something that would increase their earnings nine-fold, or you gave them the best possible resource in existence that answered every question they had on the topic. Neil Patel has been one of the leaders in this regard. Every single post he publishes exhibits this value. Jon Morrow is right on his heels. And Brian Dean is right on the money when he says we don’t visit the 8th tallest building when we tour a new city; we visit the tallest.
At Express Writers, we take inspiration from these leaders, and this year we’ve devoted ourselves to writing and distributing the best content we’ve ever put together, at our own Write Blog and in our new podcast. This is one way we show that we have knowledge in the very product we’re selling: writing and producing truly valuable, life-changing content.
And what’s ahead for us this year? We’re planning a major relaunch in a couple of months we we’re releasing a custom developed team room and brand new, more intuitive online Content Shop. Led by Josh and a team of developers, this has been a system that’s taken than a year to create from scratch. I’ve also been busy in the background across the last few months, writing the training for new content products that I believe will seriously offer a new look into content marketing and a way for any brand or business to discover, find and publish their true brand story. I want more businesses to discover their authentic message of value, and share content in a story form that will actually attract real people, retain interest, and bring real ROI. Look out, we’re on the move!
To get your next batch of awesome content, go to our Content Shop.
You’ve read all the how-to blogs when it comes to writing compelling content, but you know that time is precious and you aren’t sure you can dedicate the necessary time to your content.
You’re smart.
You know that an epic content strategy is vital when you want to grow and maintain your audience.
Just what can you do to really get somewhere in the foundational key of all good content: the written content itself?
Hire a copywriter—and not just anyone. Here’s the golden tip: hire an expert copywriter in your industry.
Let’s take a look at why an expert copywriter is essential to your content strategy and just how they can help bring in new readers and customers.
An Expert Copywriter Brings Knowledge to Your Blogging
And that sums up the following: your key that unlocks the door of great content, and why you need an expert copywriter. An expert or professional will know your industry, helping you create excellent content pieces that you can share with all of your clients. And, according to Google’s massive search quality standards, an expert author voice is now what they look for online.
Everyone who’s serious should be getting that expert voice to write all their content.
This isn’t just in the form of blogs, but can be done in ways such as ebooks, sales copy, and social media copy.
Creating great content isn’t as overwhelming as it may seem. You may not have time to dedicate to content, but copywriting experts can help.
What Industries Can Benefit from an Industry Expert Copywriter?
I know what you’re thinking; you’re wondering if a copywriter can actually help with your business. It might look like a copywriter can only write on broad topics, missing your incredibly niche industry. However, when you work with industry copywriters, you will be able to have professionals who not only know the writing world but also understand your industry.
No matter what your business is, a copywriter can and will be able to write amazing content.
Are you a legal business that needs someone that understands legal jargon?
An industry copywriter can help with that.
What about a tech industry that requires people to know the specs of the latest device or advancement? Again, an industry copywriter can help. No matter your industry, you will definitely benefit from hiring copywriting professionals.
11 Awesome Ways a Copywriting Expert Can Grow Your Audience
Let’s take a look at some of the awesome ways an industry copywriter will benefit your business, helping you grow your audience.
1. Niche expert copywriters know what you’re selling
Finding niche copywriters also means that you will have an expert writer who knows what you’re selling and knows how to write excellent copy for it.
And that, my friends, is how you write vertical-friendly copy that will convert down the road.
No matter how niche your industry is, finding the trained copywriter that just doesn’t know writing, but knows your industry and niche, is the key to creating online content that converts and brings in new readers.
2.Your blog voice will be refined
Having a strong online voice is vital to bringing in and maintaining clients and readers. As Ralph Grayden from Antelope Media says, a copywriter can help you find that voice, as well as maintain it across all content. This will provide amazing consistency and give your brand a great, individual personality.
Provide cohesiveness across all aspects of your content to bring in new readers, and convince them to become customers. In fact, having a consistent, distinct blog voice can also help you stand out from your competition.
3. Your message is clarified
When writing compelling content, you want to make sure it is always simple and to the point–to maintain the clarity of what you’re trying to say. This is extremely hard to maintain, for a non-writer. But, this is a key of how to help your clients read through your content, gleaning lots of information while knowing exactly what you are saying. Hiring a copywriter can help with this significantly, giving you great, simple, and concise content that generates clicks and encourages new readers to stick around.
4. Compelling, on-point content
According to Gail Goodman from Entrepreneur, one of the copywriting commandments is the necessity for compelling headlines. Compelling content is also an important aspect, which makes hiring a copywriter vital for your content.
They will be able to write expert content that engages readers, as well as creating headlines to all pieces of content that convinces people to click the link and read the article. When you hire a copywriter, your fears of writing excellent headlines can just fly out of the window, giving you the freedom to relax and think about your business.
5. An expert copywriter can create ALL your content types
Having a wide range of content types, as well as different content lengths can really help grow your audience. This will give people different mediums in which to consume your content. A professional copywriter can help with this, providing unique content in multiple formats to provide readers with content they want in the type they want to consume.
You can have a copywriter write a long content piece or ebook and then have them create different content types from it. This means that you can have a long piece that you cut into small sections, turn into a blog series, or turn it into an infographic.
6. You get audience-friendly content
Staying in tune with your content is absolutely important when you are seeking to grow your audience. You don’t need to focus all your energy into knowing the current trends because when you hire a copywriting professional, he or she will know all of the latest trends. This will help the person create great copy that will bring people in, growing your audience, and keeping them on your site.
7. Expert writers have grammar and online writing skills
It’s a simple point: but it’s worth saying.
Fathi Arfaoui from Grammarly says that grammar and proper spelling are vital to SEO, which is pretty much common sense for any copywriter. A professional copywriter will always use proper grammar, which will help you rank higher, and can lead to your audience growing when people search Google. If you aren’t the best at grammar, then hiring a copywriter is a great idea to help keep your site successful. And, as you know, writing for the Internet takes knowledge and know-how, which can be overwhelming to learn when you have a company to run. When you hire a copywriting professional, you will be able to have a writer who not only knows your industry but also understands and knows how to write Internet copy.
8. An expert copywriter keeps your content original
You want to stand out from your competitors, right? Of course you do! One of the best ways to do that is to write truly original content. Copywriting professionals are great at creating original content, helping you get new readers, and maybe even convincing readers of your competitor’s blog to switch to you.
In addition to making your readers happy, original content is a great way to make the search engines happy, helping you rank higher, and giving you the edge you need to bring in new readers.
9. A professional copywriter will be on top of all the Google content trends
Google makes a lot of changes throughout the year. As marketers, we all know that, and it can be pretty hard to keep up with all of the latest changes while you are also keeping up with your business. Trained, expert copywriters need to stay up-to-date with the latest Google changes to do their jobs well, which is great news for you. You don’t need to keep as close of an eye on the changes, letting your writer handle it and create excellent content that Google and readers will simply love.
10. An expert copywriter can make your topic, however boring, interesting
You love your business and industry, but it might be a relatively boring one. This can be overwhelming when you aim to create amazing, compelling content, which can leave you stuck in a content rut. However, a copywriting expert who knows your industry can help immensely when writing on a yawn-inducing topic, making it exciting for readers.
We’ve seen this happen among our expert copywriters; they’ll turn a topic in IT into an interesting, readable article, and even weave some humor into it. It’s magic–and our clientele’s audience love the results!
11. A copywriter can work in the features that make share-worthy content
Social media is a great tool to use to share your content, and you need someone who can create great shareable content for it. Expert copywriters will know how to write shareable content, creating items that your audience will enjoy and be willing to share with their social media followers. This will help immensely when you want to grow your audience, as word of mouth marketing can be very powerful.
Hire an Expert Copywriter: Watch Your Readers Grow
As you can see, a copywriting professional can really help your business out, so what are you waiting for?
Get out there and find an excellent writer or writing service to help you with your content.
Express Writers is here to help you with every aspect of your content–including your industry expert copywriting needs. Take a look at our writing services to see how our team can help your business grow your readership and overall client base!
While you’re composing work emails, cruising social media, and tapping out blog posts, you’re also sipping coffee, listening to podcasts, and reading the news.
But here’s the thing: Since you’re trying to do it all at once, you’re probably accomplishing the most basic versions of these tasks. Because of this, your grammar is suffering.
Worse than that, it seems we’re throwing grammar to the wind. Our emails and texts have no punctuation, no upper cases – everything seems to flow in one run-on sentence peppered with acronyms such as SML, LOL, and OMG.
Social networking and digital communication lack grammar, but they’re not the only culprits. Many popular blogs and websites also throw grammar out the window.
However, just because poor grammar is used more frequently doesn’t mean it’s right.
In fact, bad grammar can negatively affect the performance of your content:
Failing to take the time to create great – grammatically great – content shows you’re not bothered about quality.
If you don’t care whether your website’s grammar is spotless, visitors may assume you take the same lackluster approach to your product or service.
Poorly used grammar hinders a website visitor’s ability to understand what you’re trying to say or sell.
The result: Visitors can’t decipher your message, which leaves them confused and annoyed.
What happens next?
Those readers will cut their losses and head off to a website that makes more sense.
That’s not good for you – or your brand.
In other words, grammar matters. That’s why this 12-step online grammar guide is here for you.
Your 12-Step, Quick and Dirty Internet Grammar Guide
If your content looks like it was written by your hamster scurrying across the keyboard, you’re going to struggle to get real traction. Here are 12 hard and fast rules to web content writing, punctuation, and grammar that will help tighten up your skills.
[bctt tweet=”Bad grammar can negatively affect the performance of your content, leaving your audience confused and annoyed. Get it out of the way ASAP with @JuliaEMcCoy’s 12-step internet grammar guide. ?” username=”ExpWriters”]
Let’s get right into internet grammar nitty-gritty!
1. Semicolons
According to author Kurt Vonnegut, the first rule in creative writing is to not use semicolons. They ‘represent nothing,’ he says.
That’s a pretty strong opinion. However, blogs just don’t need them. They alienate readers and make you, the writer, look pretentious. (Why didn’t you just write two sentences, or use “and”?)
[bctt tweet=”According to author Kurt Vonnegut, the first rule in creative writing is to not use semicolons. They ‘represent nothing,’ Blogs don’t need them. Instead of using it, just write two sentences or use ‘and.’ @JuliaEMcCoy on #internetgrammar” username=”ExpWriters”]
2. Exclamation Points
Overuse of exclamation points makes writers look cheesy. Stay away from them.
If you absolutely feel the urge to use them (and please, please keep it to one at a time), never put an exclamation point at the end of one paragraph and then the beginning of another. In fact, here’s a new challenge: Limit yourself to no more than two per page.
[bctt tweet=”Overuse of exclamation points makes writers look cheesy. Stay away from them. If needed, try to limit yourself to no more than two per page. – @JuliaEMcCoy on #internetgrammar” username=”ExpWriters”]
3. Quotation Marks
“Always put punctuation inside quotation marks,” she said. That’s the rule of thumb in American English.
“Leaving punctuation outside quotation marks, like this”, is inappropriate in most cases. Exceptions exist in British English, but those only apply to your writing if you’re actually a Brit.
[bctt tweet=”Always put punctuations (periods and commas) inside quotation marks. That’s the rule of thumb in American English. – @JuliaEMcCoy shares her 12 #internetgrammar rules to start using.” username=”ExpWriters”]
4. Parentheses
If you’re writing a sentence and feel the need to use parentheses (usually to make a comment or aside), the punctuation goes on the outside of the closing parenthesis.
If your parentheses will end the sentence, the punctuation still goes on the outside (just like this). Don’t use too many parentheses, either.
[bctt tweet=”If you’re writing a sentence and feel the need to use parentheses, the punctuation goes on the outside of the closing parenthesis. The same rule applies when your parentheses will end the sentence. – @JuliaEMcCoy on the 12 #internetgrammar rules” username=”ExpWriters”]
5. Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks have nothing to do with grammar, but any discussion of internet grammar has to include them. If you write a blog and talk about a certain website, blog or business, hyperlink to them. Always, always hyperlink to your sources.
[bctt tweet=”Not really related to grammar but remember: Always, always hyperlink to your sources. – @JuliaEMcCoy on the 12 #internetgrammar rules.” username=”ExpWriters”]
6. Hyphenation
I touched on this earlier, but let me reiterate. If you’re not sure whether to hyphenate a word, take a second to Google it. You’ll usually get the answer pretty fast. Always do this fast double-check before you hyphenate – eventually, your Google-sourced knowledge will become second nature.
[bctt tweet=”Tip: If you’re not sure whether to hyphenate a word, take a second to Google it. You’ll usually get the answer pretty fast. – @JuliaEMcCoy on the 12 #internetgrammar rules.” username=”ExpWriters”]
7. Capitalization
Grr, this is a pet peeve of mine.
Do not capitalize insignificant words (and, of, the) in titles and subheadings unless they’re the first word in the phrase. While I’m on this point, there’s no need to capitalize the main keywords in your content, either. DON’T do it, people.
For instance, if you’re trying to use the target keyword “social media management,” you don’t need to capitalize it. It’s just awkward. Look at this sentence: “These ten Social Media Management tips can get your Internet campaign soaring.”
See how it draws attention to the fact you’re keyword stuffing? It’s totally unnecessary.
[bctt tweet=”Do not capitalize insignificant words (and, of, the) in titles and subheadings unless they’re the first word in the phrase. Don’t capitalize the main keywords, either! ⛔ @JuliaEMcCoy on #internetgrammar rules” username=”ExpWriters”]
8. Web and Internet
Whether “internet” is the first word in your content or the third, technically it’s a proper noun. Five years ago, every instance of “internet” was capitalized – today, not so much.
Similarly, “web” (as in “world wide web”) is not capitalized unless it’s the first word in a sentence (e.g. “World wide web”).
[bctt tweet=”‘Web’ and ‘internet’ are not capitalized (unless they’re the first word of your sentence). ?Know more about @JuliaEMcCoy’s 12 #internetgrammar rules.” username=”ExpWriters”]
9. Commas
People tend to either overuse or underuse commas. In my opinion, you should never, ever be afraid to use them. In truth, I probably delight in them a little too much. They add pauses to your writing that help the reader slow down and take in your meaning. (If you disagree, I’d love to know why in the comments.)
[bctt tweet=”Don’t be ever afraid to use commas. They add pauses to your writing, helping the reader slow down and understand your message better. ? @JuliaEMcCoy on comma usage. Check out here the rest of #internetgrammar rules!” username=”ExpWriters”]
10. Numbers
The single-digit numbers, one through nine, should always be written out as words, but you can write double-digit numbers (10 and above) using numerals. You knew that, though, right?
[bctt tweet=”Tip: The single-digit numbers, one through nine, should always be written out as words, but you can write double-digit numbers (10 and above) using numerals. ? @JuliaEMcCoy on #internetgrammar rules” username=”ExpWriters”]
11. Spacing After Periods
Once upon a time, when people still exclusively used typewriters, a convention in writing was to double-space after the closing punctuation mark at the end of a sentence.
The double-space was needed because of monospace typesetting – each letter got the exact same amount of space, whether it was a wide “m” or a slim “i.” As a result, the end of some sentences could get lost without that extra tap on the space key afterward.
Since most people today are typing on computers, that rule is totally outdated and unnecessary. Instead, always single-space at the end of sentences after the closing punctuation.
[bctt tweet=”We’re not using typewriters anymore so remember: Always single-space at the end of sentences after the closing punctuation. ❗ @JuliaEMcCoy on spacing after periods #internetgrammar” username=”ExpWriters”]
Image: Cult of Pedagogy
12. Rephrasing Keywords for Grammar
Love them or hate them, keywords are essential for SEO. However, the keywords you’re presented with (from that list a keyword research tool probably spit out) are NOT set in stone.
That means you don’t have to use them as-is, especially when they’re grammatically incorrect.
Yes, you can play around with keyword grammar so it makes sense inside your sentences and paragraphs.
For example, “coffee shop Boston” doesn’t have to stay in that robotic style. You can add prepositions, conjunctions, or punctuation to help make it flow with correct English – like “an awesome coffee shop in Boston” or “If you want to visit a coffee shop, Boston has tons of great ones.” You can even switch up the word order, like “Visit this Boston coffee shop!”
[bctt tweet=”The keywords you’re presented with are NOT set in stone. You don’t have to use them as-is, especially when they’re grammatically incorrect. Play around with keyword grammar so they make sense in your sentences. ⚽@JuliaEMcCoy on #internetgrammar rules” username=”ExpWriters”]
Bonus: Examples of Common Internet Terms and How to Spell Them
Of course, not everyone is going to agree on internet terminology. However, it’s a good idea to find one correct usage for each common internet term and stick to it consistently.
1. Website
At first, the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook stipulated “web site” should be spelled as two separate words. However, over time, the two words merged into one, and now “website” is a slightly more common usage (though both are technically correct), according to Grammarist.
2. Online
Then there’s the word “online.” The AP Stylebook states there’s no hyphen in this word, but there are those who spell it “on-line” whether it is being used as an adverb or adjective. (I don’t recommend using this spelling – it’s pretty dated.)
3. Email (and Other E-words)
Surprisingly, the word email is written “e-mail,” with the hyphen, in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, but they include the spelling variant “email,” with no hyphen.
In 2011, the AP Stylebook dropped the hyphen altogether. That means the correct style is “email.” (Interestingly, the AP also dropped the space in “cell phone,” so today, you use a “cellphone.”)
In just about all cases where the “e” stands for “electronic,” you’ll see the usage of lower case “e” and a hyphen in most dictionaries. Some instances include e-learning, e-commerce, and e-business. However, you can drop the hyphen and the word will still be grammatically correct.
[bctt tweet=”Want to learn how to speak like a pro online? Check out @JuliaEMcCoy’s internet grammar guide plus some examples of common internet terms.” username=”ExpWriters”]
Is Good Grammar Going to Fade into Oblivion?
The short answer: absolutely not. While more people are using poor grammar online, it’s not going to make good grammar disappear.
Whether you’re writing a status update for your Facebook social media marketing or creating content for blogs in an effort to gain backlinks, the quality of your writing is important.
We still need good grammar in content writing, publishing, and online writing: white papers, books and ebooks, blog posts, press releases – these all require stellar sentence construction.
Most of all, using proper punctuation and grammar means high-level audiences are more likely to trust you and regard you as an expert in your field. On the other hand, if you neglect them, potential clients won’t take you seriously.
Don’t drop the ball. Good grammar online does matter for your reputation, your brand, and your business.
This May, Express Writers has been through some serious stages of change and growth, in the realm of personnel and internal standards. Overall, it’s been a valuable time of discovering and implementing quality enhancements—which will improve and boost our content creation process long-term!
What Happened in May, and How We’ve Significantly Improved Our Process
I greatly appreciate each and every one of our clientele and writers who had patience with us during a difficult week of transition, May 5-10th, when we had to let our two staff managers go, and pick up the pieces behind them. We discovered on May 6th that they were not only embezzling company funds but also dropping the ball throughout our content quality, and writer treatment, and terminated them that day. I know there are no excuses: I’m absolutely holding myself accountable for wrong staffing decisions. I can tell you that I’ve learned my lesson! No more complacency.
I’m proud to say that even though it was one of the most difficult weeks of our lives, it was one of the most productive weeks in terms of growing Express Writers’ content delivery process. Over 70 hours of work that week was devoted from each of us in the management front: me in writing new training, staffing and hours of Skype training, up to 6 hours at a time, with new staff; auditing everything we do, our content process, and implementing how to make it better; Katria in managing our content assignments and learning how to fill the shoes as a content manager; Josh, CTO, for picking up new client inquiries; and Sarah, our content specialist, in handling every phone call and client inquiry via chat and email. It’s a week that will go down in history!
But, I’ve been genuinely delighted at the fruits of our hard labor. Within that week after we terminated our staff managers, we’ve implemented some serious changes to Express Writers’ content process, which means that better processes are starting to happen now in our team. Great customer service is our #1 priority, and we are working overtime still to ensure all of our orders stay fulfilled right now, and fix everything. We want to make Express Writers the most effective and efficient writing service in the industry—and I know we can!
Two Major Changes to Express Writers’ Internal Content Process Structure
Here’s a lowdown on what we’ve built and added inside the past week and a half.
Change #1: Content Turnaround Time Expectations Chart
You can’t have a good writing team without a good writing environment. We discovered that our former managers were pushing writers to the grounds with deadlines: a reason why writer retention was low!
In the past week, I’ve developed a Content Turnaround Time Expectations Chart, after rounds of meetings and planning with our content management and writers. Writers can now know what to expect in terms of turnarounds for everything; our content manager can direct the writers in a way that gives them time to produce talent; and our clients can know what to expect when they place orders!
Change #2: We’ve Developed a New Quality Review Role
We’ve implemented a new quality review checking system for our staff editors. After an audit of our staff roles, I found out that many times, our editors were inserting more errors than fixing errors from our writers. We hire really strong writers; the tests I’ve written in fact rule out 90% of our new applicants. So, with strong writers, editors can in fact be a case of too many cooks in the kitchen. To replace the disorganization of editing, I’ve created a focused role of reviewing and hired brand new Senior Editors, trained in my new review process.
Our new editors have been trained one-on-one by me to review the content for five-six main checks, including client specifications, correct wording, fact-checking, a Copyscape search for any duplicate hits, and more; and, vitally important, on how to grade our writers constructively to help them grow their skills.
We’ve hired two Senior Editors for this process: and we’ve already seen this system work!
I’m also continuing to refine the role and guidelines based on client feedback. I believe we’ll see a much higher success rate in this targeted quality check system as opposed to a very general, non-directed editing review.
We’ve also hired four new staff persons in the course of the past two weeks, all of which are highly qualified to handle both our clients and our content orders. We’re confident in their skills and dedication to helping our content deliverables stay within high quality standards, and professional, fast responses for our clientele and writer base.
A Message to Our Clients
If you see anything that’s wrong with your content, in terms of grammar, poor optimization, or lack of matching your specifications, we can’t improve unless we know! We would greatly appreciate you dropping us a line: send a note with your order ID along to our company content manager, Katria (email: [email protected]) and we’ll all put our heads together to ensure better quality success for you and further content deliverables.
We want to strive to make Express Writers THE best one-stop solution for every content need.
You can bet we’re working our hardest everyday to make that a continued reality.
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