#enough tag talking I should focus on another post but first i need to brainstorm
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@gecko-in-a-can THIS ABSOLUTELY
Resentment is such a big part of Benny’s motives towards House, feeling he’s underserving to rule and shouldn’t have the right to keep the title of Vegas just because he claimed it first long ago. Say what you will, Benny puts the effort in, through honest and dishonest work albeit, but he puts in the effort. Not saying House didn’t but House had the luxury of having a lot of that effort done before the war and subordinates to do so after. House is untouchable, something everyone wants in the Mojave, if not for the power, but because of the security. House takes that for granted seeing how easy he thinks it is to buy people. Benny, a Mojave native, has to be irate about that seeing how he has seen the heights and slums of both lives.
Also with the AIs it’s so telling because in a lot of ways, Yes Man has more autonomy than House’s major personality securitrons. Yeah, Yes Man has to be helpful but he’s aware and able to be snarky and coy. Benny has an issue with not being listened to but that’s the only perimeter Yes Man needs to act on. He can’t condescend but lord you can tell when he wants to. House’s AIs serves specific and highly detailed functions but are confined to act in accordance. They are subservient to a T and are extensions of House while Yes Man really is a creation that adapts further, hence his desire for the assertive upgrade. Benny made something, or at least was okay with a helper, that can progress for itself. House made things that replicate or facilitate an era of the past and don’t hold the power to contest it.
#for all the focus on Vegas Vegas itself in the game is not discussed enough#like I want to know more about the families relationships with each other#how Tommy and swank really feel#a meeting with all the heads of the casinos must be a major cat fight let’s talk about how like fiends are just right outside????#but let’s talk about the favoritism house has to the tops and how the other families must resent that only for the chairmen to be like#these high strung former warrior nomads cause they got big brother right on their asses cause boss man is his special boy#like no one but swank and the chairmen really complain about house in the strip so the chairmen have to have a unique perspective#but back to Benny and house it’s like a weird you owe me thing where house 100 believe Benny and the chairmen are beyond grateful and are#down to do whatever he says cause it’s like he controls your basic needs now and the culture of the boot riders is one of pride and honor#and by extension helping your own and houses capitalist ideology is alien and isolating to them socially#that it would be an insult because their relationship is already mutually beneficial and now your taking so much more that they are now#getting less than what house is giving#enough tag talking I should focus on another post but first i need to brainstorm#fallout new vegas#fallout#benny gecko#robert edwin house#mr house fnv#Benny fnv#rebloggin#gecko-in-a-can
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Drastic Measures- Part 8
@daminette-december2019-2020
~Wind~
It’s just a nice day in Gotham, like always.
Ao3
First< Previous > Next
--------------
“You know what?” Ladybug says to Chat as they both take shelter from the wind, “I really hate Gothams weather,”
“It’s fine Ladybug,” Chat jokes, daring to look around the building only to hide again with severely windswept hair, "Just don't go into hibernation,”
“I might just watch me,”
“You there!” they both look over to see an officer pointing a gun at them, “Leave! Let the pros handle this!”
“Excuse me! We are the pros!” Ladybug snaps despite their cowering behind a building from wind.
“But if you want to try take over your welcome to it!” Chat Noir yells, grabbing Ladybug and leaving their shelter before they got shot. They get thrown back into the wind, blown back a few steps. They hold onto each other working together to reach the Akuma hiding in a self-made tornado.
“Do you think someone was just as mad at the weather as I am!?” Ladybug yells over the wind, trying to throw her yo-yo only for it to get blown back in her face.
“Well, I have to say this is kind of a step-down!” Chat shouts, trying to poke his staff through the tornado getting jerked to the side, only saved by Ladybug catching him, “Stormy Weather could control all sorts of weather,”
“Yeah and almost started several global catastrophes!”Ladybug pulls him back down to the ground, both crouching down.
“Well, maybe we need some luck before there's another!”
“You got it,” Ladybug nods, gearing up to throw her yoyo, “Lucky charm!”
The lucky charm is immediately blown away.
“... Maybe we should have done that further away,” Chat muses.
“You think so?” Ladybug sighs, “Maybe the city road maintenance could use some bad luck?”
“Oh I get what you're putting down,” Chat grins, “Cata-”
“Help!” The look towards the cry, a couple of officers and their car getting pulled up to the sky.
“Looks like they took you up on your offer,” Ladybug deadpans, running over to them with a tailwind.
“I was trying to make a joke!” Chat Noir jumps up catching the two and getting carried off by the wind.
“Trying,” Ladybug throws her yoyo out wrapping it around Chat and pulling him and the officers down.
“Well how about we try making a new manhole?” Chat Noir places the officers on the ground, they duck down getting pressed to the road by the winds.
“That's all you Kitty!” Ladybug shelters the police long enough they can grab onto a lamp post.
“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir hits the ground, lowering the level of destruction to a smaller radius. He keeps it activated until the hole is big enough for them to drop down into. Ladybug sticks close to him as they tunnel under the tornado.
“Do we know where the Akuma is?”
“Why don’t you brainstorm?” Chat says with slight irritation, “Kinda trying to focus,”
“Sorry,�� Ladybug cringes, keeping quiet for him.
“Here should be good,” Chat Noir says, turning to point his hand up and make their way back to the surface. They pop up in the eye of the tornado everything calm but wind gushing around them. Marinette throws out her yo-yo unimpeded catching the floating Akuma's legs and pulling them to the ground.
“YoU!” The Akuma lashes out at her with a fan, a slight flick, and Ladybug is blown back into the tornado.
“Chat! The fan!” Ladybug tries to pull herself back into the calm but the winds are too strong, she only prevents not being blown away by her yoyo still wrapped around the Akuma's legs.
“On it! Cataclysm repeat!” He calls on it again grabbing the fan and turning it to dust. The storm calms and Ladybug lands on her feet getting the leverage she needs to grab the butterfly and purify it.
“Bye bye little butterfly,”
“No to be the bearer of bad news,” Chat Noir half whispers to her, “But we're out of the pot and into the fire,”
Ladybug looks around to see the police starting to form a shaky barricade around them, it's easy enough to evade if the batclan wasn't blocking every viable exit.
“So police or Batman?”
“I honestly can’t deal with his high and mighty routine right now,” Ladybug sighs still chilled to the bone from the wind, “Police,”
She walks over with purpose to the man she had researched was the commissioner; Gordon. On her way she finds a spotted item lying on the side of the road. So that's where her lucky charm went. A fan, cute.
“Miraculous ladybug!” Ladybug stands before commissioner Gordon, whom she knew had to have dealings with Batman, he marvels at the repairing ladybugs until she gets his attention, “You want to talk sir?”
“You finally want to talk to me?” He asks instead, almost good naturally if tired like he was used to it. Definitely had dealings with Batman.
“If I wanted to hear get out of my city and leave this to me I would just record him,” Ladybug gets Chat to chuckle, not the commissioner but she can tell he wants to, “What did you want to talk about?”
“Your a hero unaffiliated with the Justice League or any government,” The commissioners lays out, “In other words, you're a vigilante and I don’t know if you can be trusted with Gotham's safety, Batmans been around for years he’s a vigilante but he does protect the city, so why are you here?”
“I understand your concerns sir, but unfortunately this isn’t a matter of borders or what city each hero protects, the villain hawkmoth can only be stopped by us or other miraculous users, so even if you dont approve we will continue to operate even if we have to fight the police along the way,” Ladybug says with all the confidence, hoping to also portray that she really dosent want to, “As for trust we operated in Paris for years, we have the trust to the citizens and officials, if you want a reference call the chief of police or the Mayor we have worked under the approval of both,”
“I will, thank you Ladybug,”
“No problem,” Her earring beeps, “Now if you’ll excuse us, bug out,”
They jump up, using their skills to reach the rooftops.
“Oh man I forgot about this guy,” Chat complains as Batman is right there when they land.
“Ladybug-”
“Yes leave the city, yes I’m not needed here, thank you I’ve heard it before,” Ladybug tries to just walk past him but Robin lands in her way, “You know we have to stop meeting like this, wouldn't you prefer a nice dinner date?”
Robin makes a choking sound which must be offended. Chat laughs, coming to lean on her shoulder.
“We’ve traded places bug-a-boo,”
“Heh,” She smirks at the old nickname, “bird-a-boo,”
Robin completely freezes, giving them the chance to run by, he doesn't even react, until she calls.
“Later bird-a-boo~”
It’s an interesting reaction.
---
“You seem distracted,” Marinette tells Damian, both working separately together in their study.
“I’M NOT!”
“Oh forgive me, clearly you are completely relaxed,” Marinette rolls her eyes, pinning a new design to the wall.
“Heh there must be a pretty girl in his life,” Adrien smirks from the seat he stole from her earlier.
“Why are you even here?!” Damian snaps, taking the papers Adrien was shifting through.
“You didn’t deny it~”
“Oh is there someone?” Marinette ignores the sick feeling for plastered cheerfulness, “Tell us about her,”
“It’s none of your business!” Damina snatches some more papers from the desk and storms out, blushing all the while.
“Don’t be embarrassed!” Marinette calls after him letting go of her gratefulness she didn’t have to hear about her, she says quieter, “I bet she’s super cool,”
“I’m noticing a pattern with you Marinette,” Adrien hums, her sketchbook now taking up his attention.
“Adrien I was madly in love with you for like a year and you didn’t realize so I highly doubt you can notice a thing,” Marinette takes her book from him, whacking him lightly with it.
“Right back at you bug,” Adrien tries to snatch it back from her only to get pushed back.
“Flirting doesn't count,” Marinette rolls her eyes, putting her book safely on the shelf, “No one can tell if you’re serious,”
“Is that so~” Adrien hums, “What about Robin?”
“I’m not flirting with him,” Marinette rolls her eyes, gathering up some fabric to start her next project.
“You so are ,” Adrien accuses, outraged.
“I am not!” She slams the fabric down on the desk and turns to him.
“So are,” Adrien smirks sinking back into the seat.
“I don’t even know him,” Marinette rolls her eyes again it's scary how much that's becoming second nature at this point.
“You could~”
“Adrien!”
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No tag list sorry, I’m horrible at keeping track of them :P
#miraculous#miraculous ladybug fic#miraculous ladybug#miraculous fanfic#MLB#ML#ml fic#Marinette#miraculous marinette#badass marinette#maribat#daminette
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five years
title: five years
pairing: bellamy blake x clarke griffin
setting: (current) clarke’s pov, somewhere between 6x10 and 6x11
prompt: time travel where the present bellarke comes across future bellarke and madness ensues
notes: ok so posted this and then it deleted itself when i went to add a tag which - first off all, rude - second, is hella annoying bc i didn’t actually save the doc i typed it in buttttt using my superior intellect (which is my nickname for google) i was able to recover the doc and i actually saved it this time but hopefully it doesn’t delete itself again.
anyway, here it is:
Clarke, frankly, finds it quite hard to believe. I mean, it’s insane right? Sure, they’ve been through hell and back, and they’ve seen some weird shit in their time but… time travel? That’s too far, even for her. And yet, there she is, future her.
“Wait,” Bellamy, who had been sitting on a rock with his head in his hands the whole time, finally stands, “so you’re… us… from the future?”
Future Bellamy and Clarke sigh frustratedly.
“Yes,” she replies, “I know it’s confusing and weird and completely impossible but honestly the quicker you wrap your head around this, the better.”
“Ok,” Clarke scoffs, “no need to get bitchy.”
“Yeah,” both Bellamys agree at once.
“On second thought,” Clarke looks between the two, “I might need another minute to get my head around this too.”
“Come on,” Future Clarke insists, “I don’t how much time we have!”
“She’s right,” Future Bellamy stands next to her and slides his hand into hers, “we need to figure this out. Now.”
Clarke turns to them, “ok, but if you don’t know how this happened, then how can you know that it’s really that dangerous.”
The two time travellers exchange a look. Finally, Future Clarke speaks up, “there are certain things we know that we can’t tell you. All you need to know is that this is a time-sensitive issue and we need to figure out how to get ourselves back home.”
“Ok,” Bellamy walks forward, beginning to pace in that familiar way that means he’s brainstorming, “first of all: where is home for you guys? Second: when is home? Third… I still don’t understand what the fuck is going on.”
They exchange glances again, “home is the Eligius ship, five years from now.”
Clarke coughs, “I’m sorry, did you say the Eligius ship? Again? Mind giving some clarification as to how the fuck we ended up back on there?”
Future Bellamy runs his fingers through his hair, “listen, it’s like Clarke said – Future Clarke, sorry – we don’t know how much time we have before things start… going wrong.”
“Going wrong?” Bellamy’s brows furrow in confusion. Just as he says this, both Clarkes double over in pain. Clarke’s hit with a sharp stabbing pain in her gut, she feels like she’s going to throw up, or spontaneously combust, or both.
“The baby,” Future Clarke whispers as both Bellamys reach for their respective Clarkes.
“Wait,” both Clarke and Bellamy pause, “did you just say baby?”
Future Clarke nods weakly as both Clarkes sit down. And she just can’t help it, Clarke blurts out, “whose baby?”
Future Clarke doesn’t answer, simply looking between the two Bellamys.
Clarke and Bellamy’s eyes widen with shock. She looks up at the same time he looks down at her and their gazes meet and she doesn’t know what to do with this information. In the future, she’s going to be pregnant with Bellamy’s baby?
“Not if we don’t sort this out,” Future Clarke answers her thought. Clarke stares in horror, can you hear me? She nods.
“Why can’t I hear you?” Clarke begins to ask but she’s distracted by the Bellamys apparently locked in a furious head conversation.
“You can if you try hard enough,” Future Clarke assures her, stealing back her attention. Clarke strains her head and manages to pick up the faintest whisper. Soon, the whisper turns into a clear voice. Her voice. But not quite her.
I know he’s ridiculously hot in that Sanctum jacket but can you please stop staring at Bellamy and focus up?
Clarke rolls her eyes.
Oh, fuck off!
“Just saying,” Future Clarke murmurs.
Clarke opens her mouth to retort but both are assaulted with another bout of agony. “Fuck!” both Clarkes groan simultaneously.
Future Clarke turns to her Bellamy, “we need to get home, I don’t know what’s happening but it’s not good for Helene.”
Before Bellamy or Clarke can ask anymore questions, Octavia comes striding into the tent. “Hey guys, Gabriel and I ar- What the fuck?” she drops off, looking up to see the two sets of doppelgangers.
Clarke is about to explain but she realises she doesn’t really have an explanation for what’s happening right now, so she ends up babbling something like, “Octavia, this is me and Bellamy from five years in the future and future me is pregnant and we need to get them home but we don’t know how and also Bellamy’s the father.”
Octavia takes a few moments to clock this and then gives a small nod. “Ok,” she says slowly, “future you and Bellamy. Baby. Get home. Bellamy’s the father.” She stalls, only just realising the last thing she’d said, “Bellamy’s the father?”
“That’s what you’re dwelling on?” Future Bellamy asks incredulously. Clarke’s Bellamy just looks between the three of them looking more lost than Clarke thinks she’s ever seen him look.
Octavia brightens, “what about the anomaly?”
“Yes!” both Clarkes cry.
“That’s brilliant, O,” Future Bellamy smiles. Clark looks to her Bellamy who’s focusing real hard on a little spot in the corner of the floor, still, she can see the guilt hiding behind his outwardly neutral expression.
She reaches out to stroke his arm reassuringly, “come on. The anomaly will work.”
He nods, taking a moment to shove back the emotion that she can see threatening to spill out. “Yeah, it will.”
Totally not thinking about him like that at all
Shut up
I’m just sayin-
Shut. Up.
“You’re grumpy,” Future Clarke whispers as she walks past them.
Clarke doesn’t even deign it with a response. Why was she such a nag in the future? she wondered grumpily.
Heard that
Don’t care
“You coming, Octavia?” Bellamy asks tentatively.
She smiles sympathetically, “I don’t really think this is a journey for me. Gabriel’s out the front, though, he’ll tell you where to go but once you get to a certain point, the anomaly will start to call you itself. Promise you won’t go in there, though, ok? Just your future self.”
Bellamy nods solemnly, “I’ll see you later, Octavia. I promise.”
Clarke knows how hard this is for him, finding a way to forgive his sister whilst also not falling back into toxic patterns. It’s so hard but he’s so strong.
“Let’s go,” she whispers, taking his hand and walking out of the tent. Up ahead, she sees their future selves talking to a very confused looking Gabriel. He points North and Future Clarke and Bellamy look back to check on them.
“Right behind you,” Clarke assures them.
“You sure you know what you’re doing?” Gabriel pulls her aside.
“Nope, but what have we got to lose? Just our future.”
Gabriel gives a small laugh at that, shaking his head, “well, good luck.”
After walking for about half an hour, the pain in Clarke’s gut is just getting progressively worse and she’s ready to just throw in the towel.
“Can we stop for just a minute?” she pants, bending over and bracing herself against a nearby tree. When she pulls her hand away, it comes back sticky and green. “What the hell is this stuff?”
“The anomaly,” Future Clarke whispers, “we must be close.”
Clarke nods, taking a deep inhale and standing up again, they have to keep moving. Bellamy reaches out to brush her arm.
“How you holding up?”
“Just fantastic,” she sighs. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t think babies are supposed to hurt this much unless you’re actually giving birth.”
“Gotta be honest,” he smiles softly, “I don’t know much about time travelling babies.”
She rolls her eyes, “neither. All I know is that they hurt like a bitch.”
He laughs and she grins up at him.
Kiss him
She shakes her head, averting her gaze and pressing forwards.
Butt out
Listen, I know the only reason you haven’t done it already is because you’re scared
You don’t know anything
She pressed on as if Clarke hadn’t said anything, but I can 100% tell you he wants to kiss you just as much as you want to kiss him – if not more, actually
You don’t know that for sure
Future Clarke rolls her eyes, wanna bet?
She turns to her Bellamy and tilts her head up, without even having to communicate, he leans down to meet her lips and leaves her with a soft but chaste kiss that looks it’s been done a thousand times before. Clarke and Bellamy shift uncomfortably.
“What’s up with them?” Future Bellamy whispers way too loudly.
His Clarke raises her eyebrows expectantly, waiting for him to bridge the gap by himself.
“Oh!” he gasps suddenly, “this is before… Oh! I understand now, this is why they’re being so weird.”
“We’re literally right here,” Clarke huffs.
“Kiss already!” her future self heckles. Clarke turns beet red, coughing. She’s so distracted by the crushing embarrassment she effectively thrust upon herself that she misplaces her foot and stumbles. Before she can hit the ground, two pairs of hands dart out to catch her. One pair quickly withdraws itself and she’s left standing in her Bellamy’s arms.
“Um,” she coughs again, making no attempt to move away from his grasp, “thanks.” She looks up again into those rich, brown eyes.
“No problem,” he whispers hoarsely. He opens his mouth to say something but is cut off by Future Bellamy whistling at them.
“Yoo hoo, lovebirds, we found it!”
Why is he calling us lovebirds? You two are literally the ones having a baby together, she grumbles.
Maybe you should ask your Bellamy, they are almost the same person after all
Clarke figures that’s the end of that conversation and rushes forwards to catch up to the other two, not needing to look back to know Bellamy is right behind her. They burst through a final row of trees into a clearing, ahead of them is a wall of Clarke can only describe as green light mist.
“This is it?” Clarke assumes it is because if it’s not the anomaly then what the fuck is it?
“This is it,” Future Bellamy confirms.
“Well, I guess this is goodbye then,” Clarke states with reluctance.
“I guess so,” the other her replies.
“It was really great to get to meet you – weird, but great,” Bellamy tells them, but he still sounds confused. Clarke doesn’t blame him, she feels the same way.
“I’m glad we got this opportunity,” Future Clarke concurs.
“Is it weird that I’m going to miss you guys?” Clarke asks.
“No, I feel the same.”
For some reason, Clarke feels herself holding back tears. Another sharp hit of pain in her gut cuts the goodbyes short, reminding them of the overwhelming time pressure.
She goes in to hug her other self, Future Clarke whispers in her ear, “remember what I said.” Clarke squeezes her back then pulls away, nodding.
Clarke stands back with Bellamy as the watch the couple who look so much like them, and yet so much different, walk hand-in-hand, disappearing amongst the green.
“How do we know if it worked?” Clarke whispers.
Bellamy grins and turns to face her, “we wait five years.”
Clarke laughs, “yeah. Five years.”
If Clarke has discovered anything from this experience, it’s that a lot can change in five years.
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🍋 🍌
Thank you for the ask 💕!!
🍋 Your descriptions are transportive
Wow... 😶☺️🥰 Thank you.
🍌I want to pick your brain about your creative process.
This will be a long post, FYI.
Chaos.
Haha, I’m joking.
Or am I?
Honestly, I’ve tried a lot of different things over the years, including outlining, and it never works for me bc my characters control the story. I really am just their interpreter, putting their lives and words onto virtual paper.
I’m a “character first” kind of writer (as opposed to a “plot first”), and that means I could probably tell you what any of the main cast of my stories ate for breakfast on the morning of their 8th birthday, but I couldn’t tell you what happens in the end, or sometimes even in the next chapter, bc I don’t know until I “get there.”
I’ve done my best to break my process down into 8 steps.
Step 1: The Idea
When I first get an idea, it usually comes to me in terms of a really vivid scene, like the chapter in Where Demons Hide called “Spark of Madness.” Usually that scene ends up in the beginning of the story but not normally the first chapter. Sometimes it’ll give me some story/plot to help me begin to flesh out the idea more, like in that example, where the main antagonist/conflict is introduced, though normally I have to work at it a bit more.
Step 2: Flesh Things Out
This is where I brainstorm, usually thinking about the main characters, who they are and what their flaws might be and what they might want to help me “find” the story. Sometimes I’ll make a character sheet (normally I don’t if I’m working alone bc I don’t have to). I do normally make a file for notes where I’ll jot down possible ideas about the characters and where the story might go.
I’ll be perfectly honest and say while this process does get me jump started, most of the notes I jot down I don’t end up using bc as the characters and story formulates, they both tend to change from my original ideas.
Step 3: Research
This can often be tied in with #2 and it’s not as if it just stops here. But as I often write about disabilities, mental and chronic illness, I like to make sure I can get as much info about the disease/condition I want to represent as possible so that I can:
represent it appropriately and accurately and
so I can find story/character details along the way.
For example, in my novel UnConventional, I was able to talk with a friend who is not only an orthotic user (and has been for years) but is an engineer of sorts so he understands very well *how* they work. By talking with him about various orthotics and his own struggles with them, I was able to find new plot and character details that help make the story more vivid and real and also allowed me to drive it in directions I may not have been able to otherwise.
Step 4: Write, Write, Write.
Two things you need to know about my writing process:
I usually do better when I write out of order.
I need to visualize the scene in my head to write it effectively. My “writers block” comes from not being able to see things in my head
My method isn’t the most efficient, but it’s how my brain works, and I’ve learned to go with it rather than fight it.
I brainstorm with myself (or a friend or my husband if possible) when necessary, or sometimes I’ll just close my eyes in a quiet place to allow myself to “see” the next series of scenes. Before I can forget the vivid movie I saw in my head, I do what I call a “scene sketch.”
I call it a “sketch,” bc just like a sketch is usually the foundation for a piece of art, mine are the basic structure for a completed scene. I do this also if I have a pretty solid idea but don’t have the time to write or I’m too tired or something like that, bc sketches allow me to simply sit down and flesh them out to create a completed scene.
They’re kind of like what an outline might be for other writers but less organized. Sketches are like a little treatment of a scene, including the basic setting, an idea of POV, and even dialog and body language, but jotted down really quickly without quotes or dialog tags. Sometimes there’ll be things like “maybe this happens” bc once I actually write the scene I’ll know if that idea feels right or not.
Here’s an example from a rejected chapter of WDH (I ended up going in a slightly different direction):
Seb answers when room service knocks. Bard is hovering, maybe bc he heard Seb’s scream. He sees the bad bite on Seb’s bare chest, sees he’s trembling and drowning more than ever, his eyes almost pleading for rescue. But when Bard asks if he’s OK he smiles and says yes, sir. Takes the food from the room service person and says he’s been ordered to wait on the guests personally. Shuts the door in Bard’s face.
Sometimes these sketches can be very detailed, other times it’s more of a general, quick jot of what happens or the scene I want to set. It depends on my brain and the scene.
I like to set goals based on scenes (or sometimes chapters), and do my best to complete a scene in its entirety if possible before I stop. If I can’t bc of time, then I’ll write a really brief sketch so I know what I need to do when I pick back up again so I won’t forget.
I’ve been writing and editing long enough that depending on the project I’m able to self-edit as I write. That doesn’t mean I don’t revise or edit later, but it saves some time overall as I am more aware of certain things than I used to be.
Because I write out of order, my process often entails being a puzzle master and piecing things together. Especially for something like Where Demons Hide, which has a lot of flashbacks, since I write those separately from the main story, I then have to figure out where they “belong.” I’d say 98% of the time for this fic I have already written the flashbacks before the chapter(s) they end up in.
My original serial fiction I write in a similar fashion, where I often will write scenes out of order and then assemble them into chapters later. So sometimes I’ll make a kind of “outline” of plot points that I need to cover. It’s not so much a fixed thing as a memory aid and place for me to put notes of ideas that might come to me that aren’t completely fleshed out.
Step 5: Rest
Once I’ve completed a chapter, I try to let it “rest” for at least a few days, if not longer. Especially if it was a long chapter or something that was difficult to write and took me awhile so I’ve been working on it for days or even weeks at a time.
I do this for three reasons:
“In process” brain lies often and says a scene/chapter sucks and I should just burn my computer/phone and take up accounting instead, and that the pacing is awful and it’s boring and lots of similar untruths.
Especially if the chapter took me a long time to finish because it’s lengthy or complicated or has difficult subject matter or whatever, it means there’s a good chance I’ve been working on it for days or even weeks and I’m SICK TO DEATH of it and never want to see it again, so taking a break from it is a welcome relief. It’s like taking a vacation after you’ve been working overtime for months. Sometimes I’ll do writing-adjacent things during this time, like reading, organizing/typing my notes, jotting down things I need to work on, reading/watching stuff that will energize and inspire me. Other times I work on another project or other scenes/chapters in the same project. Sometimes I’ll just take a break if I’m feeling burnt out or stressed.
I can come back to the project with fresh eyes, so that I can read it and see what things are actually good (suck it, in-process brain) or what things may still need work in a way I couldn’t do so soon after finishing.
Step 6: Revise
I revise in different ways depending on how much I feel something needs fixing. The first revision is my chance to see how the puzzle pieces knit together, work on scenes that I noticed aren’t pulling their weight or that need to be fleshed out. Sometimes this means I will completely, totally rewrite—and by that I mean “retype.” I open a fresh document, and referencing the original, start over. This allows me to streamline and better hone my language and ensure each scene is working hard.
This is something I do if I feel like a scene isn’t working as-is or I have a shit-ton of notes and comments on the first draft and it’s so chaotic I feel like I can’t focus anymore. This is especially helpful for dialog.
Other times the revisions are less drastic. Sometimes I means moving a scene around or deleting one that isn’t working. Sometimes it means finding all the times I’ve repeated the same word and fixing that, or fixing places where I’ve used the same sentence type too often.
Revision can be a very long process, depending on the quality of the first draft and what my goal is. If it’s just fan fic I’m doing for fun, then I don’t obsess too much: usually 1-2 read throughs and adjustments are OK. If it’s something I’m going to submit for publication, then that’s a different story bc the quality of the edit of your submitted draft makes a good impression (or a bad one).
Step 7: Beta Reader
If I have one, which I don’t always, then this is where I’ll send it to them. Usually what I want in a beta reader isn’t stuff like proof or copy editing, but rather “big picture” stuff. I want them to tell me: “this scene isn’t working” or “this feels contrived” or “I don’t like the main character.”
It can be frustrating and disheartening to get feedback that means I have to go back and do some major revising, but that’s why they’re there, bc often it’s either things I couldn’t see bc I’m too close to the story, or stuff I was in denial about (lol). Listening to my betas always leads to a better draft.
Step 8: Proofreading/Copyediting
The last step. I’ve done this professionally so I’m usually pretty good at finding typos and inconsistencies myself, but some people will hire someone like me to do that work bc they don’t have the skill or the time. Even if it’s “just for fun,” proofing is important bc it affects readability, and it’s embarrassing to me if I post something with glaring proof errors 😶.
~~~Anyway, that is roughly how my brain works. I don’t know if this is what you were expecting or wanting, but here it is!
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Break A Leg: Chapter 9
Masterlist
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not own, possess, or have any links to Chris Evans, nor do I profit off of this work. Any claims otherwise are grossly misleading. This work is not to be posted anywhere else without my explicit permission.
If you would like to be added to the tag list, reply here or send me an ask. I’d be happy to add you! Happy reading!
Word Count: ~1,500
Fear as a Concept
“Y/N! Are you up yet?!”
Ugh god, please make that pounding stop!
I slip into consciousness just enough to realize there’s banging at the front door of my cabin.
“Y/N, get your butt up! We have 15 minutes to get over to the rec hall!”
“Chris? 15 minutes? Oh SHIT!”
I get up and run around frantically
I throw on the nearest pair of pants I can find and open the door while pulling on my shirt.
“Thank you for waking me. I clearly overslept and was not at all prepared. I need to eat and...and..”
I start rambling in my disheveled state of mind. .
Chris grabs me by the shoulders. “Y/N, take a minute. You have some time. Take these.” he says as he hands me a cup of coffee and a muffin he set on my railing.
Chris comes in and we sit at my kitchenette bar.
“Why are you constantly taking care of my messes? You keep helping em out of jams.”
“Y/N, why wouldn’t I? You’re always looking out for me. You take so much care and attention in making sure that I’m good and now I return the favor. That’s what relationships are. Mutually beneficial.”
“You’re right. And our benefits are pretty good” I say as I raise the last bite of the muffin before eating it and getting up to rinse my cup.
“We could have some other benefits…” Chris says under his breath as the water runs from rinsing my cup.
“What was that?’ I ask as I shut off the water and turn to face him.
Chris looks down at his watch. “I said ‘we should get going’”.
I put on my shoes and we leave for the rec hall.
“Today, you will be completing a team building exercise. Let’s break you up into teams of ten so we have five groups.”
Sandra divides our members into groups and assigns a captain to each group.
“Captains, each of you has been given a set of clues. It is your task to manage your team as they navigate the clues and complete every activity. First group to come back here with proof of all completed tasks will win an advantage later in the week. You have full reign of the grounds for the next three hours. Time starts now!”
My group huddles up, and Adam, our designated captain begins to rile our spirits. We have a pretty good team to work with. Eric is on my team, naturally, as well as Jack and Rebecca, an older couple who met at the company ten years ago. We have a few others stragglers I have yet to meet but everyone seems to be up to the task, and I know active participation will be half the battle.
“Okay guys, Let’s read our first clue and get a move on! Each clue leads us to an activity so we need to be fast and work as a team if we are going to finish.”
We all read over the clue and begin to walk outside. This one is fairly straightforward, so we move on quick, and the next couple clues follow suit. We find that our chemistry as a team is on point and we work effectively and well together. Spirits are high until about two hours later when we get stumped on the last clue with 30 minutes left to complete the challenge.
“Come on guys! We are so close to finishing!” Adam tries his best to be a good captain but everyone has run out of ideas and steam at this point. He reads the clue out loud once more, as if hoping some brilliant idea will come.
“Blue is fair as a lady lays
A lamb in a meadow with which she plays
Beyond the physical, this lesson leads
Realize your fears and follow your confident needs.”
While everyone is discussing, and brainstorming solutions, I begin to think.
“Hey Adam, was there anything in the rules that said we couldn’t get help with the clues” I ask.
“Well, no, but everyone her is competing.”
“Not everyone. I have an idea. Trust me.” I lead everyone to the office off of the rec hall.
“Y/N, what are we doing here?”
“Just hold on. Give me the clue and wait here.”
I go inside the office, looking for a familiar face, only to find no one is in there. Almost defeated, I hear a familiar voice from behind me.
“Now why are you here looking for him, when really, you want to see me, Darlin’?”
I turn around and see Jessie’s father leaning against the door jam. “Craig! How are you?” We wrap each other in a tight embrace
“I’m doing well. What can I do for you today?”
“We are working on a team activity. We got these clues but we’re falling short on the last one. Maybe you could offer some guidance?” I hand him the clue and he reads it over.
“The first part is easy. It’s referring to a stained glass window in the interfaith chapel in the silo. Afraid I can’t help more than that.”
“It’s alright. That helps tons! Thank you!” I give him a kiss on the check, go out to my team, and rush past them. “Come on! We don’t have much time!”
We race to the silo, and find the chapel. In the middle of the room, we find a stand with cards on top of it with instructions for everyone to bring a card with them back to the rec hall. We each grab one and head over there.
Three other groups are already there and we wait for the last one to show up. Upon talking to members who arrived before us, Chris’s group was the first to finish. I look around the room, and see him sitting in a chair focused on his phone. I decide to have a little fun with him.
I find a video of a military bugle reveille on my phone and I sneak up behind him. I get close enough to him, I blast the video from behind him, and watch the magic happen.
He leaps out of his chair, and almost falls to the ground looking around. Finding me to be the culprit, laughing at him from behind, he gathers himself as best he can.
“Damn it, Y/N! You scared the hell out of me!”
Trying to manage my hysterics, and failing, Chris begins to join in on the laughter. After a minute or so, we begin to take in the fact that everyone is staring at us and we find it in ourselves to get it together. I take the seat next to him, and I tell him it’s payback for laughing like an ass at my perfectly fine dance moves a week ago.
“I’d say we’re even, but I’m feeling like that requires some retaliation. It’s on now, Y/N. You better watch out. I will get you when you least expect it.”
“Nothing I can’t handle. Bring it Evans!”
At this point, the last group finally arrives with two minutes to spare.
“Glad to see everyone made it here on time and completed the challenge. The first group here was Chris’s team. They will have an advantage later in the week. By now, I’m sure you all have had an opportunity to read the card you were instructed to bring back here. If you have not, please take a couple moments to read it over.”
I turn the card over in my hand, and it reads:
“Believe in yourself. Have courage and conviction in all that you do. Add a little patience and strength will come to you.”
I think about the power behind these words and begin to wonder where Sandra is taking this.
“Some of you seem to be taking this in and others seem to be a little lost...” Amidst the murmurs and laughter, she continues. “All of these, while great qualities in any one person, are also exceptional qualities in a team. One thing that isn’t covered though, is something that we will no doubt fail without. That is trust. Trust in one another to perform our parts individually to insure that we are successful as a whole. Trust that every night we go out there, we align each moment flawlessly before the next.”
I look around the room and see many nods of agreement.
“We, in our company, require complete and total trust in one another. It’s the secret to success in our trade. Now, all of this is fine and dandy but the ugly side of trust is that it also requires us to let go of our fears. That is what we want this next activity to focus on.”
As I begin to feel the anxiety rise in me, I look over to Chris and see nothing but panic.
Oh Shit!
Previous
A/N: If I was in this predicament, I’d be terrified so I get it guys. This was a hasty upload so any feedback would be appreciated. This one was rough for me and feels a little disconnected. I’ll work on tightening it up. I had a different plan for what came next, but sometimes it just writes itself.
As always, let me know if you would like to be added to the taglist. Read on!
Tags: @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan @beccaheartschrisevans @avenger-nerd-mom @mycapt-ohcapt-writes @mad-for-marvel @vanillabeanlattes @captain-ariel-barnes @emilyevanston @thewife101cevans @loricameback @plussizeappreciationfics @a-tale-of-two-comics @melodramaticfanatic @writingcreatingstorytelling @kirstie-lotr @mywritingsblog @disney-fire-fox @harrinoodles @lookwhatyoumademequeue @janeyboo @aglarelen @purelyfictionallife @shallowshawn @cevansgirl @mrs-captain-evans @randomcevans @nomadicpixel @elivanah @katiew1973 @symonlyjen5 @tchitchou26 @mackevanstanfan80 @unicornpurplelife
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RULES
DISCLAIMER:
> I do not own this character nor am I affiliated with the company/franchise this character comes from. This character belongs to SEGA and all properties of the canon lore also belongs to them.
> Some of my icons come from Olrassonicicons , Planetwiisp , and Holoska while the majority of them are created by me, along with graphics added to them. Please do not steal these icons, as I take my time out of the day to make dozens of them.
> However, anything of the matter of alternate realities/universes that I have created, headcanons I’ve made, and plots that I have brainstormed all belong to me; the creator of those things. I do not condone any of those to be stolen nor reblogged. The only person who reblogs them is me personally and probably a mutual of mine that’s in regards to our ship or interaction with our characters. Thank you.
ABOUT ME:
> Hello! This is the mun. I am known as Zaynah; female and uses she/her pronouns. However, you are free to refer to me as they/them if you don’t know me personally.
> My age is currently 21 years old. This isn’t a big deal or anything, but this is just me stating out that this is my actual age.
> I am introverted, shy, and reserved. It’s not to say I’m afraid of approaching new people or people I know/care about, but it’s just I’m not the kind of person to jump at the gun when it comes to things. My communication may come small at first, but if we get along really well and known each other for a while, I turn out to be very outspoken, excitable, and ready to talk to.
> I know that this is mentioned in my mun section of my blog, but my sexuality is all platonic (aroace in fact). My feelings towards something is just entirely that: Platonic. I don’t feel any romantic or sexual attraction towards people. When I say “I love you” it’s more familial in that regard.
> Here’s the biggest kicker in regards to me: I have terrible, terrible anxiety. I know that a lot of people have anxiety, but I need to point this out anyway because it’s important. The smallest of things can render me into a full blown panic and honestly, most of it isn’t personal and I don’t wish others to take it personally. I get triggered really easily when it comes to the triggers I have and it makes me prone to anxiety/panic attacks incredibly easily. I do have a list to blacklist these triggers, but I want you guys to be aware of this because this is something I cannot control.
> I don’t like speaking personally about this, but there’s a piece of it that needs to be addressed when it comes to threads: I am born with a condition that makes my emotions go haywire on me and causes me to overstimulate very easily. I usually have to tend at things at my own pace or I immediately freak out and have mental breakdowns. I cannot be rushed. I do apologize if responding to threads is a slow progress when it comes to me, but this is how I can make this hobby fun rather than mentally taxing. Again, don’t take this personally.
ABOUT THE BLOG:
> I am a multi-verse and multi-ship kind of blog. Interactions and ships are their own separate reality unless discussed with the muns in question. I don’t mind any ships that are love triangles or unrequited, but again, they are usually their own universe unless it’s discussed.
> It’s primarily SFW, but I won’t hesitate to darker themes as long as there isn’t grotesque details of gore of any kind. I will accept subtle details of it to an extent, however. This also means I don’t do any smut. With that in mind, I don’t mind at all that you guys do NSFW on your blog, as long as it’s tagged.
> My blog is independent yet selective. I would say private as I interact with mostly mutuals, but most of the time, I’m very lenient to just following a blog whether it’s from interest or if they’re willing to interact.
> Reblog Karma: Listen, I don’t mind if you reblog a meme from me. I get that for the meme, not every meme is going to apply to your muse. That’s understandable. The thing is; I don’t want it to be excessive. I’ll really appreciate memes being sent to me. If you spam reblog memes from me without sending anything in, that bothers me. I don’t like to used as a meme archive. Please don’t use roleplay blogs as meme archives. It’s disrespectful.
> I am lover of crossovers and AUs, so I am fine with all that in my book.
> I also welcome in OCs, whether they’re fandomless or not.
DRAMA:
> This is probably the longest section of the batch but this is severely important to me: If there’s any user out there who is being toxic/manipulative/etc. To a close friend of mine and stirring up drama for whatever reason, I won’t hesitate to block them and even report them if it gets far worse. I like to get healthy relationships with others and I know that not everyone I meet is gonna be a ray of sunshine, but this is something to keep in mind. Drama isn’t good for my health and it’s not good for anyone’s health. It’s something I don’t tolerate and it can spike up my anxiety very badly.
> That said: I don’t get involved into drama unless it’s something in the matter of my friends. I won’t get involved if I’m told not to get involved. If it doesn’t concern me and if the mun doesn’t want me to get involved, then I’ll respect their wishes. I will defend a friend though if necessary.
> Furthermore, do not follow nor interact with me if you’re the type of person that loves to stir drama. It’s fine if you’re calling out someone who’s dangerous to the roleplay community, but if it’s just out of spite and not warning people? Then you’re blocked.
I do not point fingers, but I also don’t like to stand around when people are being harmed by one toxic individual. I know people out there are anti-drama and that’s okay if you want to focus on your mental health; that’s perfectly fine. But if you’re someone who sees drama as one big hullabaloo then, I’m sorry, but there are people out there who cause harm to others and sometimes, they need to be called out.
> However, there are people who are harmful to others in a way that needs to be called out upon. And by that, I mean, please don’t follow nor interact with me if you associate with or follow user Grusel-high. She has been proven to show ableist, homophobic, and transphobic behaviors in such a disgusting way that feels unreal. Here is the callout post here that explains what she has done and is backed up by good evidence. If you see her around, stay safe folks.
> There is also another person (who interacts with the person above still) known as ..astra-hero../.battle.fcrgcd. who’s been causing great anxiety to one of my dearest, closest friends, and I can’t help but get anxiety at the sight of this person’s urls. There is a post here that explains mostly of what he did and why it bothers so many of my friends here. So, please, don’t interact with me if you support this user or any of his supporters; thank you.
> And finally, don’t follow me if you interact with With.out-Worr.ies. They were banned off of Tumblr for a reason. He is disgusting and doesn’t respect people’s boundaries. Here are posts here and here explaining what he’s done.
THE BARE BASICS:
> No god-modding or info-modding involved. God-modding is a form of controlling another person’s muse in a certain shape or form that makes it hard for that person to control their own muse. Info-modding is when someone’s muse knows about another’s muse, but they aren’t supposed to. For example, Spid.er Man shouldn’t know about Bat.man’s secret or of what happened to his parents unless pre-established by the muns in question. I hope this explains it well enough.
> That said in regards to muses in general, mun doesn’t equal muse. I do not condone the terrible actions my muse can do, and the muse will not be glorified or romanticized for that manner. If there’s anything I’ve written that is uncomfortable to you, please don’t keep me in the dark and let me know.
> Personal blogs: I don’t mind your presence here. I don’t mind it at all. However: Please don’t reblog my threads or spam my likes. I don’t want roleplayers spamming my likes either. It’s not only a hassle, but it clogs up my activity and makes it hard to see any notifications for, well, anything really.
> Guilt-tripping? Is a severe no-no from me. I’ve been a victim of guilt-tripping, and I know people out there who are also victims of that. Guilt-tripping is something I don’t condone and I do not tolerate. Using the victim card? Also a no-no. If you’ve done something wrong, you shouldn’t twist the words to make it seem like you’re the victim. You must take responsibility for your actions.
> All I really ask from followers is to please respect me. I know it shouldn’t be a thing labeled on here, but to me, it’s important that people are respectful to me and those I befriend.
> Even though I don’t do smut, here’s something on the matter of smutting; don’t lie about your age to me. I don’t care if you’re a minor, it’s not right to do. Doing underaged smut is illegal and can get people in jail. So, please, don’t follow me if you’re someone who does that or someone who follows someone who does that.
> We must plot or have chemistry first with our characters before our ship can sail.
> I like to be asked if an ask can be turned into a thread. Most of the time I say yes, so don’t be shy!
> Roleplayers do not have to have icons in their posts, but it’s more preferred in my case.
> Please cut your posts; I beg of you.
> No politics unless it’s something major.
> This should be obvious but: Don’t harass anybody because of their race/sexuality/culture/ etc. We are just people who just want to play our favorite characters. Let’s leave it at that.
TRIGGERS (that need to be tagged):
> Gore
> Incest
> Pedophilia
> Anything that has to do with needles
> Jumpscares
> Child porn
> Spiders
> Epilepsy
> Bright lights/neon colors
ABOUT SONIC:
> This Sonic is Modern Sonic/3D era of Sonic and follows the lore of him throughout Sonic Adventure 1 all the way to Sonic Forces and so on. Sonic Boom, and Sonic Mania/Classic Sonic are all different alternatives universe according to my blog.
> My AUs are most likely lore-heavy with the backstories but with plotting, threads can be worked out.
> While this blog sticks to the canon of the games, there are some hints of canon-divergence due to my headcanons.
> Every now and then I will post drabbles that explain the world of Sonics AUs or where I’m going with Sonic in his canon verse. That includes IC (in-character) updates.
> You have reached the end of my rules! Usually I don’t have any keyword to this, but please, either let me know via IM or inbox. Although, if you like to send a keyword for it to be much easier, put in “Never gonna fear the fall.” I’m sorry if this is incredibly long but it needed to be done. Thanks to those who have read this! <3
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The Ultimate On-Page SEO Guide For Every Page on Your Website
The Ultimate On-Page SEO Guide For Every Page on Your Website
Too many so-called “SEO gurus” try to make search engine optimization out to be an incredibly complicated process. Usually, this is because they want to sell you their course or scare you into being so afraid of messing things up that you just hire them to do it instead.
Well, in this guide, Dripfeed Nation is going to simplify the on-page SEO process.
It doesn’t have to be a nightmare. You don’t have to invest hundreds of dollars in every piece of content you produce.
In this post, we’ll look at the top factors that our experiences have shown us to be the most important aspects of getting your sites ranking for real.
What is On-Page SEO and Why Does it Matter?
First, let’s talk about on-page SEO versus off-page, just to clear things up.
On-page SEO is the stuff that you do on your website—the stuff you have direct control over. It’s the content you publish, the headings you use, the images you add, etc.
All these little things add up to help Google better understand what your website is all about.
Off-page SEO is the stuff that happens outside of your website. It’s the backlinks you earn, the social signals you rack up, or the citations you build.
These factors help search engines determine whether your site is trustworthy enough to rank.
So why does on-page SEO matter?
Basically, it’s like the foundation of your website. As we mentioned above, your on-page factors help the search engines determine what each page or post is trying to say.
When a user searches for “Chicago plumber”, Googlebot will crawl the internet and use each competing site’s on-page factors to determine if they are at all relevant. If you haven’t set up your on-page SEO right, the search engines won’t see you as worth ranking.
In other words, without proper on-page SEO, all the backlinks and social signals in the world aren’t going to help you rank.
Primary On-Page SEO Factors
When it comes to on-page ranking factors, there are some that are more important than others. First, we’ll take a look at the biggest factors. The ones you absolutely don’t want to miss out on.
If you are looking for a means to make this process a little bit easier, we highly recommend PageOptimizer Pro. This tool will highlight some of the most important on-page ranking factors of any page you want it to. Even better, it will make recommendations for specific actions you should take based on what your competitors are doing.
Domain
Despite what some people say, your domain name is still one of the BIGGEST on-page ranking factors.
Google still loves exact match domains (or EMDs). Sometimes!
If you aren’t aware, an EMD is when your domain name is exactly the same as the keyword you want to rank for. So, a roofing lead gen site built on nashvilleroofers.com, for example, is an EMD for the keyword “Nashville roofers”.
Now let’s talk about that big bold “sometimes”.
Basically, you have to analyze the competition. See what other sites are ranking for your terms. Sometimes, Google prefers to rank authority sites, particularly for a lot of affiliate marketing terms like “best organic hand soap”.
Oftentimes, EMDs are best left for local websites because they communicate high geographical relevance.
Page URL
While you can’t always get an exact match domain—or they just won’t be a good fit for your niche—you can always put your keyword in the page URL.
This is basically a must-have. It’s one of the most obvious signs to Google about what your page is all about.
Title and H1 Tags
Let’s move beyond domains and URLs to talk about the two most important tags in your content: your title tag and your H1.
Basically, if your URL is the street address of your web page, these two tags are like the number hanging on the mailbox. In other words, they are another MAJOR signal to Google to indicate what your page is all about.
Here are the rules to follow:
Use each of these tags only once per page.
For the title tag, include your exact keyword or a close match.
For the H1 tag, include a close match to your keyword.
Here’s what we mean when we say “close match”. Imagine that you are trying to rank for “New York City painter”. Some close match keywords would be “painter New York City”, “painter in New York”, or “NYC painter”.
Meta Title
Your meta title is the title that appears on the search results page if you’ve done your work right and actually end up ranking.
Not only does it contribute to whether or not users actually click on your result, but it is also a major on-page ranking signal. If you’ve got a plugin like Yoast installed, you can very easily create your meta titles.
Here are some rules for these:
Keep it between 50–60 characters, as this is the usual max that most search engines will display.
Use your exact keyword in the meta title.
Make it interesting, click-worthy, and clearly relevant to what users are searching for.
Secondary On-Page SEO Factors
Beyond the primary on-page factors, there are several other things you need to be aware of. While these might not be as powerful in moving the needle in the SERPs, they can often be the difference between Google ranking one site over the next.
Other Heading Tags
We mentioned the importance of the H1 tag. Don’t neglect your H2s, especially. But even H3s and 4s can help you communicate the relevance of your post.
For the most part, you are just going to sprinkle keywords here and there in your headings. They are particularly a good place to put the secondary keywords that you want to rank for.
Content
A lot of SEOs get really tied up on finding the perfect keyword density. Here’s a hint: it really doesn’t matter that much!
Rather than focus on achieving the perfect 0.7895% density that your competitors have, just write naturally. Then, go through and mix in some LSI keywords here and there where they make sense.
If you need help, LSIgraph can be a good place to go for brainstorming these keywords and it’s free!
If you want better and more in-depth results, then I would say to go with the tool I use which is Mangools KWFinder. It’s a paid one but it comes with that tool and many others for all your SEO needs.
Now, let’s get back to the secondary On-Page factors.
Image SEO
Images are another good place to up your SEO game. Again, this isn’t rocket science, and if you are spending more than 60 seconds optimizing your images, you are probably doing too much. Here is a very simple method to employ for each image:
Save the file as one of your keywords.
Make the alt text the same keyword as the filename.
Bold and Italics
When it comes to bold and italics for SEO, use them in a way that helps enhance the readability of your content.
One ranking factor is dwell time. If users have an easier time digesting your page, they are more likely to dwell on the page longer, and thus Google is more likely to view your page as worth ranking.
Page Structure
Like using bold and italics, you want to structure your content in a way that is user-friendly.
Take this post as an example…
Notice how it is broken into small digestible chunks?
Notice how the headings make it clear what to expect?
Notice how most of the paragraphs are about 1–3 sentences long?
Structure your content for busy internet readers and they’ll be less likely to get overwhelmed and bounce away.
Final Thoughts About On-Page SEO: Keep It Simple!
As you can see, there is a LOT that goes into optimizing your on-page factors. But it is just a lot of little steps. All-in-all, you can likely take care of most of these in about 15 minutes total for most of your pages.
Use this guide as a checklist.
Apply the steps one-by-one.
And build yourself a strong foundation for those big, powerful link building campaigns you’ve got in the works.
Psst – Want to know a secret? Caleb (Dripfeed Nation’s owner) didn’t write this post, he just gave me a topic to write on and the main points of the content. A super, awesome freelance writer named Ish did…
I should know, I’m him! And I’m just gonna leave this little link here in case you like what you read and want to check out my services on Legiit.
Shhh… Don’t tell Caleb!
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Squad is the new screensharing chat app everyone will copy
Squad could be the next teen sensation because it makes it easy to do nothing… together. Spending time with friends in the modern age often means just being on your phones next to each other, occasionally showing off something funny you found. Squad lets you do this even while apart, and that way of punctuating video chat might make it the teen girl “third place” like Fortnite is for adolescent boys.
With Squad, you fire up a video chat with up to six people, but at any time you can screenshare what you’re seeing on your phone instead of showing your face. You can browse memes together, trash talk about DMs or private profiles, brainstorm a status update, co-work on a project or get consensus on your Tinder swipe. It’s deceptively simple, but remarkably alluring. And it couldn’t have happened until now.
How Squad screensharing looks
Squad takes advantage of Apple’s ReplayKit for screensharing. While it was announced in 2015, it wasn’t until June 2018’s iOS 12 that ReplayKit became stable and easy enough to be built into a consumer app for teens. Meanwhile, plus-size screens and speedy LTE and upcoming 5G networks make screensharing watchable. And with Instagram aging and Snapchat shrinking, there’s demand for a more intimately connected social network.
Squad only launched its app last week, but droves of Facebook and Snap employees have signed up to spy on and likely copy the startup, co-founder and CEO Esther Crawford tells me. Screensharing would fit well in group video chat startup Houseparty too. To fuel its head start, Squad has the $2.2 million it raised before it pivoted away from Molly, the team’s previous App where people can make FAQs about themselves. That cash came from betaworks, Y Combinator, #BUILTBYGIRLS, Basis Set Ventures, Jesse Draper, Gary Vaynerchuk, Niv Dror, and [Disclosure: former TechCrunch editor] Alexia Bonatsos. Next, Squad wants to let people tune in to screenshares via URL to unlock a new era of Live broadcasting, and equip other apps with the capability through a Squad SDK.
“People under 24 do video chat way different than people 25 and above” says Crawford. Adding screensharing is “an excuse for hanging out.”
Serious ideas are preludes to toys
Screensharing has long been common in enterprise communication apps like Webex, Zoom and Slack. I even called a collaborative browsing and desktop screensharing app my favorite project from Facebook’s 2011 college hackathon. But we don’t just use our screens for work any more. Teens and young adults live on the digital plane, navigating complex webs of friendships, entertainment and academia through their phones. Squad makes those experiences social — including the “social” networks we often scroll through in isolation. Charles and Ray Eames said “Toys are preludes to serious ideas,” but this time, it is happening in reverse.
Squad co-founders from left: Ethan Sutin, Esther Crawford
“The idea came from a combination of things — a pain we were experiencing as a team,” Crawford recalls. My development team is constantly sending each other screenshots and screen recordings. It seemed ridiculous that I can’t just show you what’s on my screen. It was a business use case internally.” But then came the wisdom of a 13-year-old. “My daughter over the summer was bugging me. ‘Why can’t I just show what’s on my screen with my friends?’ I said I think it’s not technically possible.” That’s when Crawford discovered advances in ReplayKit meant it suddenly was possible.
Crawford had already seen this cycle of tool to toy before, as she was an early YouTuber. Back in the mid-2000s, people thought of YouTube as a place to host videos about eBay listings, professional presentations or dating profile supplements. “They couldn’t imagine that if you let people just reliably and easily upload video content, there’d be all these creative enterprises.”
Use cases for Squad
After stints in product marketing at Coach.com and Stride Labs, she built Estherbot — a chatbot version of herself that let people learn about her. Indeed, 50,000 people ended up trying it, convincing her people needed new ways to reveal themselves to friends. She met Ethan Sutin through the project and together they co-founded FAQ app Molly before it fizzled out and was shut down. “Molly wasn’t working; it had high initial engagement sessions, but then they would drop off. Maybe it’s not the right time for the augmented version of you,” noted Crawford.
Crawford and Sutin pivoted Molly into Squad to keep exploring new formats for vulnerability. “What excited Ethan and I was this mission to help people feel less lonely.”
Alone, together
Squad recommends apps to screenshare
Squad worked, thanks to a slick way to activate screensharing. The app launches to the selfie camera similar to Snapchat, but with a + button for inviting friends to a video call. Tap the screenshare button at the bottom, select Squad and start the broadcast. To guide users toward the best screensharing experiences, a menu of apps emerges encouraging users to open Instagram, TikTok, Bumble, their camera roll and others.
People can bounce back and forth between screensharing and video chat, and tap a friend’s window to view it full-screen. And when they want another friend to see what they’re seeing, Squad goes viral. One concern is that Squad breaks privacy controls. You could have friends show you someone’s Instagram profile you’re blocked by or aren’t allowed to see. But the same goes for hanging out in person, and this is one reason Squad doesn’t let you download videos of your chats and is considering screenshot warnings.
What’s so special about Squad is that it lacks the intensity of traditional video chat, where you constantly feel pressured to perform. You can fire up a chat room, and then go back to phoning as you please with your screen displayed instead of your blank face (though the Android version in beta offers picture-in-picture so you can show your mug and the screen).
“There’s no picture-in-picture on iOS, but younger users don’t even really care. I can point it at the bed and you can tell me when there’s something to look at,” Crawford tells me. A few people, alone in their houses, video chatting without looking at each other, still feel a sense of togetherness.
The future of Squad could grant that feeling to a massive audience of a celebrity or influencer. The startup is working on shareable URLs that creators could post on other social networks like Twitter or Facebook that their fans could click to watch. Tagging along as Kylie Jenner or Ninja play around on their phone could bring people closer to their heroes while serving as a massive growth opportunity for Squad. Similarly, colonizing other apps with an SDK for screensharing could allow Squad to recruit their users.
Squad makes starting a screenshare easy
The startup will face stiff technical challenges. Lag or low video quality destroy the feeling of delight it delivers, Crawford admits, so the team is focused on making sure the app works well even in rural areas like middle America where many early users live. But the real test will be whether it can build a new social graph upon the screensharing idea if already popular apps build competing features. Gaming tools like Discord and Twitch already offer web screensharing, and I suggested Facebook should bring the feature to Messenger when in late-2017 it launched in its Workplace office collaboration app.
Helping a friend choose when to swipe right on Tinder via Squad
In June I wrote that Instagram and Snapchat would try to steal the voice-activated visual effects at the center of an app called Panda. Snapchat started testing those just two months later. Instagram’s whole Stories feature was cloned from Snapchat, and it also cribbed Q&A Stories from Polly. Overshadowed, Panda and Polly have faded from the spotlight. With Facebook and Snap already sniffing around Squad, it’s quite possible they’ll try to copy it. Squad will have to hope first-mover advantage and focus can defeat a screensharing feature bolted on to apps with hundreds of millions or even billions of users.
But regardless of who delivers this next phase of sharing, it’s coming. “Everyone knows that the content flooding our feeds is a filtered version of reality. The real and interesting stuff goes down in DMs because people are more authentic when they’re 1:1 or in small group conversations,” Crawford wrote.
Perhaps there’s no better antidote to the poison of social media success theater that revealing that beyond the Instagram highlights, we’re often just playing around on our phones. Squad might not be glamorous, but it’s authentic and a lot more fun.
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via IFTTT
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Squad is the new screensharing chat app everyone will copy
Squad could be the next teen sensation because it makes it easy to do nothing… together. Spending time with friends in the modern age often means just being on your phones next to each other, occasionally showing off something funny you found. Squad lets you do this even while apart, and that way of punctuating video chat might make it the teen girl “third place” like Fortnite is for adolescent boys.
With Squad, you fire up a video chat with up to six people, but at any time you can screenshare what you’re seeing on your phone instead of showing your face. You can browse memes together, trash talk about DMs or private profiles, brainstorm a status update, co-work on a project or get consensus on your Tinder swipe. It’s deceptively simple, but remarkably alluring. And it couldn’t have happened until now.
How Squad screensharing looks
Squad takes advantage of Apple’s ReplayKit for screensharing. While it was announced in 2015, it wasn’t until June 2018’s iOS 12 that ReplayKit became stable and easy enough to be built into a consumer app for teens. Meanwhile, plus-size screens and speedy LTE and upcoming 5G networks make screensharing watchable. And with Instagram aging and Snapchat shrinking, there’s demand for a more intimately connected social network.
Squad only launched its app last week, but droves of Facebook and Snap employees have signed up to spy on and likely copy the startup, co-founder and CEO Esther Crawford tells me. Screensharing would fit well in group video chat startup Houseparty too. To fuel its head start, Squad has the $2.2 million it raised before it pivoted away from Molly, the team’s previous App where people can make FAQs about themselves. That cash came from betaworks, Y Combinator, #BUILTBYGIRLS, Basis Set Ventures, Jesse Draper, Gary Vaynerchuk, Niv Dror, and [Disclosure: former TechCrunch editor] Alexia Bonatsos. Next, Squad wants to let people tune in to screenshares via URL to unlock a new era of Live broadcasting, and equip other apps with the capability through a Squad SDK.
“People under 24 do video chat way different than people 25 and above” says Crawford. Adding screensharing is “an excuse for hanging out.”
Serious ideas are preludes to toys
Screensharing has long been common in enterprise communication apps like Webex, Zoom and Slack. I even called a collaborative browsing and desktop screensharing app my favorite project from Facebook’s 2011 college hackathon. But we don’t just use our screens for work any more. Teens and young adults live on the digital plane, navigating complex webs of friendships, entertainment and academia through their phones. Squad makes those experiences social — including the “social” networks we often scroll through in isolation. Charles and Ray Eames said “Toys are preludes to serious ideas,” but this time, it is happening in reverse.
Squad co-founders from left: Ethan Sutin, Esther Crawford
“The idea came from a combination of things — a pain we were experiencing as a team,” Crawford recalls. My development team is constantly sending each other screenshots and screen recordings. It seemed ridiculous that I can’t just show you what’s on my screen. It was a business use case internally.” But then came the wisdom of a 13-year-old. “My daughter over the summer was bugging me. ‘Why can’t I just show what’s on my screen with my friends?’ I said I think it’s not technically possible.” That’s when Crawford discovered advances in ReplayKit meant it suddenly was possible.
Crawford had already seen this cycle of tool to toy before, as she was an early YouTuber. Back in the mid-2000s, people thought of YouTube as a place to host videos about eBay listings, professional presentations or dating profile supplements. “They couldn’t imagine that if you let people just reliably and easily upload video content, there’d be all these creative enterprises.”
Use cases for Squad
After stints in product marketing at Coach.com and Stride Labs, she built Estherbot — a chatbot version of herself that let people learn about her. Indeed, 50,000 people ended up trying it, convincing her people needed new ways to reveal themselves to friends. She met Ethan Sutin through the project and together they co-founded FAQ app Molly before it fizzled out and was shut down. “Molly wasn’t working; it had high initial engagement sessions, but then they would drop off. Maybe it’s not the right time for the augmented version of you,” noted Crawford.
Crawford and Sutin pivoted Molly into Squad to keep exploring new formats for vulnerability. “What excited Ethan and I was this mission to help people feel less lonely.”
Alone, together
Squad recommends apps to screenshare
Squad worked, thanks to a slick way to activate screensharing. The app launches to the selfie camera similar to Snapchat, but with a + button for inviting friends to a video call. Tap the screenshare button at the bottom, select Squad and start the broadcast. To guide users toward the best screensharing experiences, a menu of apps emerges encouraging users to open Instagram, TikTok, Bumble, their camera roll and others.
People can bounce back and forth between screensharing and video chat, and tap a friend’s window to view it full-screen. And when they want another friend to see what they’re seeing, Squad goes viral. One concern is that Squad breaks privacy controls. You could have friends show you someone’s Instagram profile you’re blocked by or aren’t allowed to see. But the same goes for hanging out in person, and this is one reason Squad doesn’t let you download videos of your chats and is considering screenshot warnings.
What’s so special about Squad is that it lacks the intensity of traditional video chat, where you constantly feel pressured to perform. You can fire up a chat room, and then go back to phoning as you please with your screen displayed instead of your blank face (though the Android version in beta offers picture-in-picture so you can show your mug and the screen).
“There’s no picture-in-picture on iOS, but younger users don’t even really care. I can point it at the bed and you can tell me when there’s something to look at,” Crawford tells me. A few people, alone in their houses, video chatting without looking at each other, still feel a sense of togetherness.
The future of Squad could grant that feeling to a massive audience of a celebrity or influencer. The startup is working on shareable URLs that creators could post on other social networks like Twitter or Facebook that their fans could click to watch. Tagging along as Kylie Jenner or Ninja play around on their phone could bring people closer to their heroes while serving as a massive growth opportunity for Squad. Similarly, colonizing other apps with an SDK for screensharing could allow Squad to recruit their users.
Squad makes starting a screenshare easy
The startup will face stiff technical challenges. Lag or low video quality destroy the feeling of delight it delivers, Crawford admits, so the team is focused on making sure the app works well even in rural areas like middle America where many early users live. But the real test will be whether it can build a new social graph upon the screensharing idea if already popular apps build competing features. Gaming tools like Discord and Twitch already offer web screensharing, and I suggested Facebook should bring the feature to Messenger when in late-2017 it launched in its Workplace office collaboration app.
Helping a friend choose when to swipe right on Tinder via Squad
In June I wrote that Instagram and Snapchat would try to steal the voice-activated visual effects at the center of an app called Panda. Snapchat started testing those just two months later. Instagram’s whole Stories feature was cloned from Snapchat, and it also cribbed Q&A Stories from Polly. Overshadowed, Panda and Polly have faded from the spotlight. With Facebook and Snap already sniffing around Squad, it’s quite possible they’ll try to copy it. Squad will have to hope first-mover advantage and focus can defeat a screensharing feature bolted on to apps with hundreds of millions or even billions of users.
But regardless of who delivers this next phase of sharing, it’s coming. “Everyone knows that the content flooding our feeds is a filtered version of reality. The real and interesting stuff goes down in DMs because people are more authentic when they’re 1:1 or in small group conversations,” Crawford wrote.
Perhaps there’s no better antidote to the poison of social media success theater that revealing that beyond the Instagram highlights, we’re often just playing around on our phones. Squad might not be glamorous, but it’s authentic and a lot more fun.
Via Josh Constine https://techcrunch.com
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How to Write Product Descriptions That Sell
At one point or another, your company will need to craft product listings – whether it’s for a menu, merchandise items or services. Since these product descriptions will be featured on your website, your app, Yelp, Google, and/or Facebook, they should be as persuasive as possible.
You might be wondering, what’s so complicated about product listings. You simply write a product description that describes your product, right? Wrong. It’s actually a lot harder, because product descriptions need to sell your products. While it’s often considered the last resort for conversions, if properly written, the product description can be a powerful persuasion tool for boosting sales. Does your product copy entice readers to click “add to cart”?
1. Focus on Your Ideal Customer
Don’t try to please everyone with your product description. If you write it with a huge audience in mind, your descriptions will end up addressing no one at all. Every single product listing should be tailored to your ideal customer. Consider how you can make this person’s life easier, richer, or more pleasurable. Then use the product description to answer questions that this ideal buyer would ask, use words that they would use, and address them directly.
This product listing for a Malucchi dog collar is written specifically for the fun, stylish, quirky and British dog mom:
2. Showcase What’s In It For Them
Potential customers don’t want to read a giant list of product features. They don’t want to know what your product is, they want to know what’s in it for them. What problems will it solve? And how will it make their lives better?
So don’t babble on about features and specs (unless your audience loves the tech talk), but instead translate them into benefits for the customer. Kissmetrics states that “a feature is a fact about your product, while a benefit is an explanation of what that feature does for your reader. A benefit can be phrased as a positive (e.g., improves productivity) or as a problem that’s avoided or reduced (e.g., decreases stress).” The more specific your statements the better!
Here are some great examples of product descriptions that show the potential buyer exactly what’s in it for them:
3. Define Your Tone of Voice
What makes your description of a product different from your competitor’s? Your tone of voice. This gives readers a strong impression of your company’s culture, personality and values. Let your personality shine through in your content and, if it works, add some humor too. For instance, check out how Think Geek describes their “ordinary” flashlight:
4. Use a Highly Visual Format
According to research, people read only 16% of the words on an average web page. To entice people to buy your product, they will most likely need to read your copy. So, how do you get people to absorb your content when they will only be skimming the product listing? It might seem obvious, but you need to use an easy-to-scan and easy-to-read format. The subheadings should be in a bigger font than the body text, and you should use bullet points where clarity is needed, like Innocent Drinks.
Text isn’t always the best way to describe your product, though. So give your customers who don’t like to read an alternative product description with pictures and videos. My biggest pet peeve when online shopping is a product listing that doesn’t have enough (or any) pictures of the product. Whether it’s food, clothes, or tech gadgets, I want to see exactly what it looks like, the more detailed the better. If you can, include video content of the product to demonstrate exactly what it does and how to use it in real life.
5. Avoid Superlatives and Yeah, Yeah Phrases
As a consumer, you’ve probably come across these a lot: “excellent product quality”, “best-in-class customer service”, “amazing results”, “Nr.1 in the industry”. When a potential buyer reads these phrases, he or she will automatically think yeah, yeah, of course; that’s what everyone says. Have you ever heard someone describe their product as average, only okay or even bad?
As a result, these bland and superlative words do not add anything to your description and will actually work against you. In order to avoid customers thinking yeah, yeah, be as specific as possible. Why is the product quality excellent? How can you prove it to your readers? Amazon does it the right way with their Kindle product description that proves why the Kindle Paperwhite delivers “the best reading experience”:
6. Seduce With Sensory Words
Now that you know what words not to use, how should you be describing your products? The answer lies in the magic of sensory words. According to Enchanting Marketing, “Sensory words are descriptive—they describe how we experience the world: how we smell, see, hear, feel or taste something. Words related to sight indicate colors, shape, or appearance.” Think: gloomy, fluffy, tingling, zesty, soaring etc.
Sensory words are not just for poets and creative spirits, it can be used effectively in business too. In fact, it’s been proven that sensory words increase sales, because they engage more brain processing power. They add personality and flavor to otherwise boring content. This example from chocolatier Green and Black shows how you can bring your product description to the next level with sensory adjectives. When reading the description, the customer can almost taste the chocolate simply from the copy.
7. Optimize For Search Engines
You want to make sure that your products are easily found by the people looking to buy it. Entrepreneur says that “when you write for your buyer persona and use the phrases he/she uses, you’re automatically optimizing your product descriptions for search engines, because these are the phrases he/she searches for on Google”.
So you’re probably on the right track, but make sure to take these tips into account:
Brainstorm about all the ways your ideal customer might want to find your product. For example, if you are selling a fluffy pink sweater, you want to make sure your customer can find it under words like, fluffy, pink, zipper, warm, fall, winter, soft, cozy, etc.
Make sure to incorporate these keywords into the headline, subheading, and body text.
Optimize your product images and videos by using the keywords in the file description and alt tag.
But do not use keyword stuffing, as this will instantly kill your persuasive copy.
Conclusion:
The secret to writing seductive product descriptions is to engage, persuade, and sell. Do your product descriptions entice readers to click buy or try? If not, then it’s time to go back to the drawing (or writing) board. And writing product listings doesn’t have to be a boring task. Get your team together for a day of writing product copy and allow your company’s personality to manifest itself.
Now let’s end this post with a great before and after product listing for vintage leather boots. The first showcases all the don’ts, while the second all the do’s of product copy:
BEFORE
AFTER
The post How to Write Product Descriptions That Sell appeared first on Bizness Apps.
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Text
How to Write Product Descriptions That Sell
At one point or another, your company will need to craft product listings – whether it’s for a menu, merchandise items or services. Since these product descriptions will be featured on your website, your app, Yelp, Google, and/or Facebook, they should be as persuasive as possible.
You might be wondering, what’s so complicated about product listings. You simply write a product description that describes your product, right? Wrong. It’s actually a lot harder, because product descriptions need to sell your products. While it’s often considered the last resort for conversions, if properly written, the product description can be a powerful persuasion tool for boosting sales. Does your product copy entice readers to click “add to cart”?
1. Focus on Your Ideal Customer
Don’t try to please everyone with your product description. If you write it with a huge audience in mind, your descriptions will end up addressing no one at all. Every single product listing should be tailored to your ideal customer. Consider how you can make this person’s life easier, richer, or more pleasurable. Then use the product description to answer questions that this ideal buyer would ask, use words that they would use, and address them directly.
This product listing for a Malucchi dog collar is written specifically for the fun, stylish, quirky and British dog mom:
2. Showcase What’s In It For Them
Potential customers don’t want to read a giant list of product features. They don’t want to know what your product is, they want to know what’s in it for them. What problems will it solve? And how will it make their lives better?
So don’t babble on about features and specs (unless your audience loves the tech talk), but instead translate them into benefits for the customer. Kissmetrics states that “a feature is a fact about your product, while a benefit is an explanation of what that feature does for your reader. A benefit can be phrased as a positive (e.g., improves productivity) or as a problem that’s avoided or reduced (e.g., decreases stress).” The more specific your statements the better!
Here are some great examples of product descriptions that show the potential buyer exactly what’s in it for them:
3. Define Your Tone of Voice
What makes your description of a product different from your competitor’s? Your tone of voice. This gives readers a strong impression of your company’s culture, personality and values. Let your personality shine through in your content and, if it works, add some humor too. For instance, check out how Think Geek describes their “ordinary” flashlight:
4. Use a Highly Visual Format
According to research, people read only 16% of the words on an average web page. To entice people to buy your product, they will most likely need to read your copy. So, how do you get people to absorb your content when they will only be skimming the product listing? It might seem obvious, but you need to use an easy-to-scan and easy-to-read format. The subheadings should be in a bigger font than the body text, and you should use bullet points where clarity is needed, like Innocent Drinks.
Text isn’t always the best way to describe your product, though. So give your customers who don’t like to read an alternative product description with pictures and videos. My biggest pet peeve when online shopping is a product listing that doesn’t have enough (or any) pictures of the product. Whether it’s food, clothes, or tech gadgets, I want to see exactly what it looks like, the more detailed the better. If you can, include video content of the product to demonstrate exactly what it does and how to use it in real life.
5. Avoid Superlatives and Yeah, Yeah Phrases
As a consumer, you’ve probably come across these a lot: “excellent product quality”, “best-in-class customer service”, “amazing results”, “Nr.1 in the industry”. When a potential buyer reads these phrases, he or she will automatically think yeah, yeah, of course; that’s what everyone says. Have you ever heard someone describe their product as average, only okay or even bad?
As a result, these bland and superlative words do not add anything to your description and will actually work against you. In order to avoid customers thinking yeah, yeah, be as specific as possible. Why is the product quality excellent? How can you prove it to your readers? Amazon does it the right way with their Kindle product description that proves why the Kindle Paperwhite delivers “the best reading experience”:
6. Seduce With Sensory Words
Now that you know what words not to use, how should you be describing your products? The answer lies in the magic of sensory words. According to Enchanting Marketing, “Sensory words are descriptive—they describe how we experience the world: how we smell, see, hear, feel or taste something. Words related to sight indicate colors, shape, or appearance.” Think: gloomy, fluffy, tingling, zesty, soaring etc.
Sensory words are not just for poets and creative spirits, it can be used effectively in business too. In fact, it’s been proven that sensory words increase sales, because they engage more brain processing power. They add personality and flavor to otherwise boring content. This example from chocolatier Green and Black shows how you can bring your product description to the next level with sensory adjectives. When reading the description, the customer can almost taste the chocolate simply from the copy.
7. Optimize For Search Engines
You want to make sure that your products are easily found by the people looking to buy it. Entrepreneur says that “when you write for your buyer persona and use the phrases he/she uses, you’re automatically optimizing your product descriptions for search engines, because these are the phrases he/she searches for on Google”.
So you’re probably on the right track, but make sure to take these tips into account:
Brainstorm about all the ways your ideal customer might want to find your product. For example, if you are selling a fluffy pink sweater, you want to make sure your customer can find it under words like, fluffy, pink, zipper, warm, fall, winter, soft, cozy, etc.
Make sure to incorporate these keywords into the headline, subheading, and body text.
Optimize your product images and videos by using the keywords in the file description and alt tag.
But do not use keyword stuffing, as this will instantly kill your persuasive copy.
Conclusion:
The secret to writing seductive product descriptions is to engage, persuade, and sell. Do your product descriptions entice readers to click buy or try? If not, then it’s time to go back to the drawing (or writing) board. And writing product listings doesn’t have to be a boring task. Get your team together for a day of writing product copy and allow your company’s personality to manifest itself.
Now let’s end this post with a great before and after product listing for vintage leather boots. The first showcases all the don’ts, while the second all the do’s of product copy:
BEFORE
AFTER
The post How to Write Product Descriptions That Sell appeared first on Bizness Apps.
0 notes
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