Writing Good Content: WordCamp Milwaukee 2014

Writing Good Content with WordPress

Foundation Friday

Michael McCallister

Michael McCallister, WordCamp Milwaukee 2014

Who am I?

• Senior Document Architect, PKWARE

• Co-Author, WordPress in Depth, with Bud Smith (QUE, 2010-11)

• Notes from the Metaverse (metaverse.wordpress com)

• Past President, Wisconsin Society for Technical Communication (www.stc-wi.org)

© Michael McCallister WordCamp Milwaukee 2014


Coming in May 2014

Ask questions any time!

© Michael McCallister WordCamp Milwaukee 2014


•GRAMMAR

What We’re Covering

• Defining your audience

• Banning Jargon

• Banning Passive Voice

• WordPress Tools That Can Help


Defining Your Audience


Secret #1

Nobody connects with

everybody overnight.


Identifying Audience

• Basic Demographics• Age

• Gender

• Location

• Education Level

• Language(s)


Identifying Audience

• Other characteristics• Life Status:

Married/Single/Parent/Just graduated

• Profession/Job

• Favorite Author(s)

• Other interests

From Rochelle Melander, Write-a-Thon



Persona Resources

• A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences by Whitney Quesenbery

• http://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/personas.html

Exercise

Tell me about your audience


Secret #2: It’s always about meeting readers’ needs!

Quality content = relevant material, presented in a way I can understand


Quick Quiz


JargonEvil Scourge #1


Can you scan this quickly?



Passive VoiceEvil Scourge #2


To Be or Not To Be?

Is

Was

Has

Were

Been


WordPress to the Rescue!Some tools to help create quality content


5 Tools

• Editing Tools and Plugins• After the Deadline (WP.com

+ Jetpack

• Yoast WordPress SEO (plugin)

• FD Word Statistics (plugin)

• Human Help• WordPress Daily Post

• Request Feedback (WP.com)


After the Deadline

• Created by Automattic, 2011

• Default spell checker in WordPress.com

• Included with Jetpack

• Browser plugins: Firefox/Chrome



Yoast WordPress SEO

• Created and maintained by Joost deValk

• Plugin

• Readability statistics

• Many other goodies


FD Word Statistics

• Created by John Watson

• Plugin

• Readability statistics: Gunning-Fog, Flesch & Flesch-Kincaid

• Old, but functional


Request Feedback

• Help from humans you know

• WordPress.com only (form)

• Me


WordPress Blogging University

• Informal writing courses

• Daily prompts

• Inspiration


Secret #3Practice, Practice, Practice

Want Some Writing Help?

• I’ll be in the building the rest of the day, all day tomorrow

• Write me (or Request Feedback) at [email protected]

• Visit me at www.michaelmccallister.com


mailto:[email protected]

Free Webinar Wednesday

• Your Author Platform: Why You Need One and How to Get Started

• Wednesday, July 30 1-2PM Central Time

• Registration URL: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3447338748608137730Webinar ID: 124-619-819

In this 60-minute webinar, Carole Jelen shows you how to create the basic framework of your author platform as a starting point to growing it over time. Once your author platform is built, it takes on a life of its own. This seminar also explains the 12 underlying New Rules that are foundations for your writer platform.


https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3447338748608137730

Questions?Have a great WordCamp!


Internet

Writing Good Content: WordCamp Milwaukee 2014