WritingWriting: Writer for Hire
Why hire a professional freelance writer?
Most people can write, but you probably want more than sentences on a page. You want the first words to get readers' attention, you want the readers to keep reading, and you want the readers to understand the message and take the desired action. With web writing, the writer needs to know how to write for search engines as well as for human readers. Professional writers know how to use writing techniques, and they know what to avoid. The column at the right lists a few of these techniques.
You could learn how to use these writing techniques well. You could also learn the skills of a plumber or a mechanic or an interior decorator — if you had time. Most of us prefer to pay professionals to use their skills.
What I do
I write material for projects as small as a paragraph or as large as a complete website. I can create all the content, or edit or rewrite existing content to make it suitable for the intended audience. Contact me about:
- Website content
- Articles (online and print)
- Email and print newsletters
- Press releases
- Brochure content
- "How-to" writing
As a ghost writer, my name won't appear with the work. If the work is online, a link from my Portfolio page to your website is optional.
Writing overview
Non-fiction writing and teaching have this process in common: present the whole, break the information into digestible pieces, and then make sure that the presentation still works together as a whole.
What do readers want and need to know? How will readers want to look for this information, and how can I make the information easier for readers to find? What can I do to get and hold readers' attention?
I keep these questions in mind while I'm working with website and with print material. The techniques to achieve these goals are different for each form, but the principles are the same.
My writing focus
My goal is to present information with clarity. I aim for each part of the work — sentences, paragraphs, pages — to work together and make the information accessible, easy to understand, and interesting. Websites are my primary but not my only interest.
Contact me with your topic or project, and we can discuss it.
Related pages at this site
Writing Techniques
Sentence techniques
- Choose strong verbs
- Write in the active voice when possible
- Listen to the rhythm of the words
- Vary sentence length
Techniques for paragraphs and pages
- Start with an attention-getting lead
- Know what the readers want to know, and get to the point near the top of the page
- Use headings and bullets to make the page easy to skim and scan
- Create the appropriate tone for your readers
What to avoid when writing
- Unnecessary adjectives and adverbs
- Clichés
- Wordiness
- Vagueness
- Too-long sentences
- Grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors (see the Editing page)