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The Three R's for Writing for the Web

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By Duchess OBlunt



Shorter is better

For those who have written traditional novels, short stories and columns, the transition to writing content for the internet can be difficult to make.

Take Twitter – you have 140 characters – what can you say in 140 characters? Twitter must be a mine field for those who have a marketing background or a very short attention span. I cannot even think in 140 characters.

Facebook has followed this example and encourages short "how do you feel" blurbs.

Readers read the printed word, but scan the internet, so learning how to write for your internet audience can be tricky for those who love the write.

Elevator Speech

If you can hook them in three seconds you are in.

Writing, when all is said and done, is simply a form of communication and communication has come a long way.

Communication can be as simple as a handshake, a head shake or a “look”. We are fortunate today in that we can communicate through a learned and very extensive list of words that we have attached certain meanings to. We learn this from the cradle, so that task is not as daunting as it sounds when you take into consideration the number of words in any given language.

Remove Remember Revisit

Words are very powerful whether spoken, written or just thought.

Blogging has become one of the favorite forms of communication. Just think about the millions of potential readers of your thoughts. Here’s where it becomes vital that you take extra care with how you use your knowledge of that vast list of words you have learned.

The freedom to write what you want has never been easier. You can now communicate with people anonymously and sometimes this allows people to express themselves more freely with the mistake of thinking there will be no consequences.

Be careful with this powerful gift of communication. Continue to choose your words wisely and don’t write (or speak) when angry or upset. Try not to clutter the world with garbage. Use the 3 R’s :

Remove yourself.
Take yourself away from the writing and come back after some fresh air.

Remember your message
Don't clutter and don't confuse the reader 

Revisit your words
After you have cleaned out the cobwebs with some fresh air, and focused on the 3 second message you want to get across, come back and edit, edit, edit.


Twitter Talk

I love to read, and I love to write so this whole concept of short blurbs, words with no vowels, and incomplete sentence structure drives me bonkers. Texting my thoughts and limiting them to a one liner is like an ice cream cone without the ice cream. You see what I mean it’s a difficult transition.

I’m off now to sharpen my wit and see if I can come up with at least one or two poorly structured, misspelled one liners for Twitter. Find my Tweets.

I love that HubPages encourages writers to write.


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RSS for comments on this Hub

\Brenda Scully  says:
6 months ago

good luck.... good hub....nice to meet you...

Duchess OBlunt profile image

Duchess OBlunt  says:
6 months ago

Thank you Brenda (good name). Nice to meet you as well

James A Watkins profile image

James A Watkins  says:
5 months ago

Very good advice, to be sure. Thanks for the insights! And welcome to the Hub Pages Community.

Duchess OBlunt profile image

Duchess OBlunt  says:
5 months ago

Thanks for the welcome James!

JamaGenee profile image

JamaGenee  says:
5 months ago

It's not just Twitter that requires you to grab the reader's attention in 10 (real) words or less. It's the same on Facebook and other social bookmarking sites. Very sad that our attention span has become so short, but to drive traffic to my own blog, I've found schmoozing on the blogs of others is much more effective than any Tweet or "grab phrase" on FB.

Duchess OBlunt profile image

Duchess OBlunt  says:
5 months ago

Schmoozing is an art (a lost one?) that works in the face to face world, so I expect it will work well in cyberspace as well. Besides its much nicer, in my personal "right" opinion. LOL

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts JamaGenee

Kotti KaDotti profile image

Kotti KaDotti  says:
4 months ago

I am not a writer but I do love to read and write. I guest the three R's will be able to help me alot. Thanks for writing this!

Duchess OBlunt profile image

Duchess OBlunt  says:
4 months ago

Kotti, if you are here, it says maybe you have a desire to write

Go ahead, give it a try, there are lots of people here who can help you!

Sally's Trove profile image

Sally's Trove  says:
3 months ago

Duchess, yours is great advice for writing in any medium, and it is advice that is so easy to remember!

Duchess OBlunt profile image

Duchess OBlunt  says:
3 months ago

Thanks Sally, high praise coming from you. Thanks for stopping by!

anthonythorny profile image

anthonythorny  says:
3 months ago

Thanks, this is really a big help. Very good hub!

wannabwestern profile image

wannabwestern  says:
3 months ago

Duchess, I think what you have to say about not writing when you are angry is a golden kernel of wisdom for anyone. It takes only one angry vitriolic rant to turn people off. I'm glad for the reminder to play nice. The three "R's" are great advice.

Duchess OBlunt profile image

Duchess OBlunt  says:
3 months ago

Thank you Anthony and Wannab. I appreciate your stopping by and reading my advise.

agungssuleiman profile image

agungssuleiman  says:
5 weeks ago

Thanks for your kind advise and tips

Duchess OBlunt profile image

Duchess OBlunt  says:
5 weeks ago

My pleasure agungssuleiman, and thank you for taking the time to read and to comment. Much appreciated.

PegCole17 profile image

PegCole17  says:
10 hours ago

The three Rs have changed a bit from my youth when they were Reading, Writing and Arithmatic (talk to the tune of a hickory stick) Never made sense to me, then. But your hub does and it's sound advice for each of us. Remove, remember and revisit. Wrote hasty memos long ago that got me into trouble. Had I shelved them for a moment and revisited, things would have been much better for all involved. Good hub, good advice.

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