Writing Online 101: 5 Essential Tasks for Success

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Although I have read, and will reiterate some of, this advice, what you will find in this article is advice borne of research, evidence, and personal experience, mainly the latter at this stage. 

It may fly in the face of the currently perceived wisdom on occasion. It is for you to decide whether this online writing advice is sound and can be actioned by you.

As you will note from the title (101), it is an outline from which additional articles will be spawned, each covering, in more detail, an aspect of the whole subject, or that will point you to articles already written, often by others, that explain what I have found to be true for me.

I hope you gain benefit.

In order to be successful in anything you do, you must take a professional approach. It is no less so for online writing. In fact, because you will not be in a business office environment, scrutinized by a manager, or assisted by colleagues, it is even more necessary to be professional in your attitude, and get organized.

Organization is not just keeping your desk tidy, or setting aside a time of day to undertake the production of articles. An holistic approach must be implemented, that is if you want to make a success of what you are about to undertake.

The 5 essential tasks are in fact just the headings for that which you must implement. They are the cornerstones of any successful business. You are now in business, for yourself. They are:

1. Plan
2. Research
3. Create
4. Analyze and adjust
5. Rinse and repeat

Pretty straightforward really. No rocket science here. You pretty much do this already: in your head. The most important advice I can give you at this point is that you must formalize these tasks.

• Making a plan does not mean "I'll do that next", it means structuring your business to achieve success: not to stave off failure. 
   
• Doing research does not mean just read what others have written, and rehash it with different noise words. It means the production of evidence, investigation, questioning, reviewing, implementing that which is right and throwing away that which is wrong.
   
• Writing does not mean sitting down and typing without knowing what your intro, middle and conclusion will be. You must plan what it is you are to write. Organizing it so that it flows in a logical sequence. Optimize it so that it has the best chance of success.
   
• Analyzing and adjusting is not just being reactive to major external pressures, it is also the tweaking of content such that it performs better - you will never get it exactly right first time.
   
• Rinse and repeat does mean taking everything you have learned and implementing the best bits and removing the bits that did not work for you.

It is then that you sit down to write. With a sound plan to hand, and knowledge about your subject. You can now let your creative juices flow: create the masterpiece - even if it is only 400 words you are producing. For maximum success, the less you write, the more crafted, and succinct, it must be. No superfluous chit-chat or extraneous joining words. Straight to the point: Bang!

Your plan must include these 5 essential tasks:

• Plan your environment
  Your environment must be conducive to you being able to think constructively so that you can write proficiently, and with a 'voice' that is your own. Noisy, cluttered environments are not conducive to thoughtful writing, whether it be as informative, jocular, cutting-edge, political commentary and / or to affiliate sales.
   
• Plan your work schedule
  Your business will achieve greater things if you schedule your work load as if you were doing a 9 to 5 job. OK you may be doing this part-time, or you may be writing from dawn to dusk (and into the night, too), but allocating your time will focus your attention to do the tasks that need to be done, rather than putting them off until you can be bothered.
   
• Plan where you will obtain your sources of information and the analysis tools you will use.
  If you are an expert in your field you will still need to check that the subject matter has not been saturated. If it has then you are unlikely to get any help with free traffic and your readership will be low if you target the search engines. There are plenty of free tools that with a little extra effort, will support your needs.

• Plan your goals
  Plan for the long term. Although it is not universal, most online writers find that significant income arrives after much blood,sweat and tears. Do not assume that you will earn what you require, overnight. That said, if you take a professional, measured, analytical approach to writing online your rewards will arrive commensurate with the planning and analysis you have undertaken.
  The long term is one thing, you also need to plan the smaller steps that will get you to where you want to be. The long term objective will change with circumstance. Plan your medium term strategy and micromanage with short term strategies also. Each plan is made up of incremental steps, the short-term, that accrue into a stroll, the medium-term, which get you to your destination, the long-term. 
   
• Plan how you are going to measure your success
  You are aiming to fulfil the targets you set yourself, but these can be many and varied. Plan how you are going to know when you have met, exceeded, or failed to reach, a target. It may be that some targets are less important than others. By planning the measurement criteria, it will hone your skills in determining the factors that are relevant and those that are not.

Planning is all about controlling what you can control. There will be many things that will be outside your control, so limit the damage by planning to keep control of that in which you have a say. Remember you have started your own business.

• Evidence
  The follow on from questioning whether your research is valid, is that you will gain evidence to back up what you will be writing about. If it is a formal writing gig then that evidence is essential. By planning ahead and keeping a log for evidence you will not waste time finding it again.
   
• Review
  Plan to review what you have found. You will find that you probably have more information than is necessary for a single article, eBook or whatever. Plan to publish on a wider platform than just one site. Relevant articles placed on different sites lead to a good backlinking strategy (and a 'white hat' one at that).
   
• Implementation
  Collecting batches of relevant data  and sorting them for interlinking series of articles is a good marketing ploy. If you know that you have further articles to come in a series, then you can preview them or run a little trailer, to get people interested in checking back to see if they have been published

The 5 essential tasks you should learn to master are:

• 'Voice'
  You must be you. It is no good being someone else. Communicate how you normally interact with others. For instance: my style is formal, logically structured, with a hint of sarcasm and humor. It is borne out of my writing style in corporate business and computer program design documentation. It may not be to every one's liking but it is me - the real me. I have found my voice. You should not copy me, or anyone else. You are an individual, and so is your writing style. Learn what it is and develop it for your situation. 
   
• Language
  Again, my language is formal. It is structured according to particular rules (which I break occasionally, intentionally or unintentionally). Your language could be txt, or tweet-style, or graphic, or verbal. Just pick a language that suits those you target, for it is they that hold your future in their grasp.
   
• Visual
  A picture is worth a thousand words. How true that is for online writing. A picture can convey so much more than words. A video even more. They stand as design features also. Making the page visually pleasing as well as informative. Use them wisely and they will pay dividends.

• Audio
  Video with sound is the norm to convey an audio message. But audio alone allows you to message those without sight. They are out there to market to also. They have a voice. They can purchase. They have spending power. Make your offerings as available as possible to as many demographics as you can - it will pay off. 
   
• Sharing
  Something there is too little of in the online writing world. We are in competition are we not? You might think so. I do not. Whatever I have researched comes with a price to pay. That price is acknowledgement. If I think that my argument will be enhanced, or my design beautified, then I link and tell those that benefit that I have done so. It is my payment for what they have taught me, or allowed me to utilize.

Writing online is a skill, an art and a science. Conjoin all three and the experience you generate is pleasing and will attract a loyal following. Exactly what you were planning to achieve from the outset.

Analysis of that you have written online does not stop until you have implemented the changes indicated that should happen. So, analysis and adjustment should go hand in hand. There is no point in doing the analysis unless you act on the conclusions:

The 5 essential tasks you should undertake to implement this strategy, are:

• Analyse the statistics
  There are many free tools for this process. You will have found out about them in the research stage of your plan. They are essential to understand how you are performing: how your work is performing. They give you information that, if interpreted correctly, will pay dividends for your conversion rate, audience participation, your 'call to action', and everything else that is relevant. Statistics tell lies. Check and double check them, but once known to be safe, act upon them.
   
• Analyse the content
  Small adjustments can make a huge difference at times. The adding or replacement of a word in a title can mean the difference between 10 hits and 1,000 hits. Your research should have given you an idea of the best structured title but time and the internet do not stand still. You are marketing for the present. Do not be afraid to bring content up-to-date. The search engines will thank you for it, as too will your audience.
   
• Analyse the format
  The positioning of certain modules may have an influence on customer actions. At Hubpages for example, a little judicious manipulation of the number of words in the first module could allow you to force the ad block into the most advantageous position according to 'heat map' analysis. At Wizzley, the floating right column takes care of this for you. But for affiliate marketing the adjustment of design could make a real difference to conversions. Time to experiment and analyze your findings.

• Analyse the inclusions
  Adding a small thing like a Wiki can have an effect on the SEO for your page, and add to the long-tail keywords for which you rank. Each has its merits in terms of income potential. Experiment with what you have to hand, analyse the results, and conclude one way or another, whether it makes a difference.
   
• Adjust to fit the new parameters
  Whatever the analysis throws up, it should be implemented if the interpretation shows a positive or negative effect. Remove the offenders if it is negative. Insert or adjust the inclusions if it is positive. Add the results to your notes and plan of action. Rinse and repeat.

What does that mean? It means that the cycle starts from the beginning again, and you go through a now improved iteration of the plan.

• You have created a plan of action for your:
  environment
  schedule
  sources of information
  goals
  measurement
   
• You have constructed your research plan for:
  investigation
  questioning
  evidence
  reviewing
  implementation 
   
• You have created a design for your offerings where each of the following interacts:
  voice
  language
  visual
  audio
  sharing 
   
• and, you have a plan of action for analysing your product and amending it, with and for: 
  statistics
  content
  format
  inclusions
  all parameters.

All you need do now is rinse and repeat.

You are now a professional writer of online content, ready for the big dipper ride that is your chosen new career path. You have the tools to hand, the environment ready, the schedule for production and the will to succeed. If this has not put you off, that is.

Welcome to the world of earning a living from home. It can be a lonely place if you do not implement a plan and a schedule. It can be a profitable place, if you approach it professionally. It can be your retirement income if you are nearing that time.

The way I set out on this path was with a long-term, 8-year plan (the time to my retirement date). I had worked, saved for my pension, and then got ill. I cashed my pensions. The plan was to create an income, whilst semi-retired, that matched my pension plans' income. I have managed to match that in 22 months instead of 8 years. I have adjusted my plan. I hope to over-achieve to the same degree this time around.

Good luck with your plan!