Photography: conversation by Rebecca Key

Anecdotes can be both signature content and a powerful means to prove or illustrate a point. They’re also one of trickiest writing elements to do well, and an ill-suited, over-long or badly placed anecdote is probably the single greatest killer of otherwise solid content.

The tips in this post should help ensure your content is never again sabotaged by a weak and sickly anecdote.

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Photography: An artist’s signature by Slewrate

I have dim memories of the time I spent creating my signature, and looking back on it, I didn’t give the task the attention it deserved. Now the signature I’m stuck with is somewhat jagged and messy, and I’d go back and change it if I could.

Despite its short-comings, it does get one thing right: it’s unique, and like any good signature, can’t be copied.

This week, I want to discuss how signature content is created — content your readers won’t be able to get from anyone else.

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Photography: Busy by Daniel Morris.

‘Busy People’ includes most of us. We’re working or studying full-time, trying to maintain active social lives and pay attention to our families. Creating successful web content can seem incompatible with these things, but it’s not: as long as you focus on creating content that one busy person can manage.

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Photography: Se busca cantante metal by believekevin

Lists are great at making the popular pages of social bookmarking sites. They’ve also become hallmark content for many popular blogs and websites and have ruled magazine covers for years.

5 Powerful Reasons to… 80 Tricks to… 19 Ideas for… They’re everywhere - even this post! Here are 5 reasons why writers use them and readers love them.

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