FOCUS ON WRITING

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Turn Casual Visitors into Raving Fans

with Killer Headlines and Powerful Personal Stories

CINDY REED Writer | Blogger | Speaker | Teacher

cindyreed.me

www.reedsterspeaks.com

Twitter: @ Reedster2

Email: cindy@cindyreed.me

Hook ‘em with a headline.

Keep ‘em with a story.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

If your headline sucks, your blog is invisible.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Infographic credit:

Neil Patel, “The Formula for a Perfect Headline” (July 3, 2014)

http://www.quicksprout.com/2014/07/03/the-formula-for-a-perfect-headline/

The Headline Formula

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Number or Trigger Word (how, why, etc.)

+ Interesting Adjective

+ SEO Keywords

+ Promise

= KILLER HEADLINE

Plug in the words…

© 2014 Cindy Reed

100

CRAZY

SNACKS YOU CAN DEEP-FRY

IN YOUR MICROWAVE

TONIGHT.

= HEADLINE

Another take…

© 2014 Cindy Reed

10

PAIN-FREE WAYS

TO VISIT DISNEY WITH YOUR TODDLER

THIS CHRISTMAS.

= HEADLINE

Clickable headlines get ‘em to your site.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

© 2014 Cindy Reed Image credit:

http://aboutmodafinil.com/

Compelling stories keep ‘em there.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Spin a good yarn and your readers will:

Linger.

Dig through your archives.

Share your stuff.

Come back for more.

Story engages.

“The brain of the person telling a story and the

person listening to it can synchronize.”

~ Leo Widrich

“The Science of Storytelling: Why Telling a Story is the Most Powerful Way to Activate Our Brains” (December 5, 2012 Lifehacker)

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Story persuades.

“Facts tell, but stories sell.”

~ Bryan Eisenberg

“Content Marketing: Superheroes Teach the Art of Storytelling” (ClickZ)

© 2014 Cindy Reed

WHAT IS STORY?

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Story is more than an emotion or an idea.

“This happened and I was sad

or angry or elated” is NOT a story.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Story is more than a sales pitch.

“Use this product because of

these five bullet points” is NOT a story.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Story is more than a list of facts.

Chronologies, instructions, and itineraries

are NOT stories.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

STORY REQUIRES STRUCTURE.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

“Not every word that comes out of our

mouths is a story.

Story is narrative.”

~ Christina Baldwin, Storycatcher:

Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story

(New World Library 2007)

© 2014 Cindy Reed

In the beginning.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

© 2014 Cindy Reed

WORDY

“I was flying from Asheville to

Las Vegas, connecting through

Atlanta, on my way to speak at

a conference that is literally

called BACON.”

PUNCHY

“I dropped into the window

seat, on the wing.

The exit row.”

Stuck in the middle.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

~ Mark Twain

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Show, don’t tell.

Example: Crowded Taekwondo

Telling Showing

“It was crowded at my

daughter’s taekwondo

class.”

“The backside of a

backpacked dad poked

into me, uncomfortably

adjacent to my face.”

~ Cindy Reed

“The Layered Look Only Works if You Wear Layers”

(The Reedster Speaks, Jan. 16, 2014)

© 2014 Cindy Reed

… and in the end.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

KNOW WHEN TO STOP.

No Neat Bows

© 2014 Cindy Reed

No Navel Gazing

No Summing Up

Follow the Coco Chanel rule.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Find your voice.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

DON’T write like you talk.

Write like you ARE.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Discovering your Voice.

What’s your personality?

How do you speak?

How does your mind work?

What do you think about?

© 2014 Cindy Reed

HOW DO WE TELL STORIES ON OUR BLOGS?

IN A FLASH = 500 WORDS (OR SO)

© 2014 Cindy Reed

© 2014 Cindy Reed

© 2014 Cindy Reed

RUTHLESSLY EDIT.

The takeaway.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

© 2014 Cindy Reed

What’s Your Story?

CINDY REED

Writer | Blogger | Speaker | Teacher

http://cindyreed.me

www.reedsterspeaks.com

cindy@cindyreed.me © 2014 Cindy Reed

Resources for writers.

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Resources | Headlines

“How to Write Magnetic Headlines”

(free e-book from Copyblogger.com)

Neil Patel, “The Formula for a

Perfect Headline” (7/3/14 Quicksprout)

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Resources | Writing

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius within You by Ray Bradbury

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

The Situation and The Story: The Art of Personal Narrative by Vivian Gornick

Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussion on Story Writing by Ursula LeGuin

Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction by Jon Franklin

On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser

© 2014 Cindy Reed

Resources | Grammar

The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed

by Karen Elizabeth Gordon

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss

Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner

The Elements of Style by Strunk & White

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl

© 2014 Cindy Reed