Writing tip #1

#1. Keep it short. We all scan, and no on can scan text-dense columns and pages.

A stranger reading your profile for the first time doesn’t have the same level interest in you or your interests as you do. Your job is to interest, not overwhelm.

Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire owner of the largest newspaper empire in the world who just bought the Wall Street Journal for a fat $5 billion dollars, said its writers talk too much:

“I’m sometimes frustrated by the long stories,” he said, adding that he rarely gets around to finishing some articles. New York Times May 4, 2007

At the other extreme is the wildly popular Drudge Report, the number one highest traffic news site on the Internet. His winning format is a few lines and a link, a few lines and a link, with images sprinkled in between. Perfect for scanners looking for something of interest. Hint hint.

Tip for the ladies. Treat your online profile (or any introductory info) as if it were a first date. Did you strip down totally that first time? A little cleavage goes a long way to ensuring you have a second date, with just a link to the rest. 🙂

Remember the longest lasting concubine of the ancient king? ‘Twas the one who was never killed off because when she was with him, she never ever told him the end of the story.

Best way to overcome the urge to say a lot: use links that say “More here” a la Drudge above and place the information on another page. Let the reader choose to click or not.

In the “With whom would you sign up?” post one shared comments was:

“I’m not attracted to people who write screeds of information, especially when it’s primarily about themselves. I prefer a profile that gets to the point, while still giving me a sense of the person behind it.” See here.

And in the survey, the biggest reason for NOT being attracted to someone’s profile was “confusing profile.” See here.

That’s writing tip #1.

P.S. New profile writing course starts this week. Two nights. Tue and Thu. See here.