BEST OF THE WEB: WINNING RESOURCES FOR SEED CONTRIBUTORS

Best SEO Practices for Writers
Tips for Writers
Grammar and Style
Style Guides
Source/Query Resources
NEW Writer References/Resources


Best SEO Practices for Writers

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a vital skill in today's search-driven world of Internet writing. Content is king, and consciously shaping that content to help readers find you takes some basic knowledge. The following are some excellent starting points for building your writer's SEO arsenal:

Writing to Exhale, Best SEO practices for creative writers

Daily Writing Tips, A freelance writer's guide to SEO

CopyBlogger, Copywriting 101

CopyBlogger, SEO Copywriting

Top Rank Blog

Google Adwords Keyword Tool
This tool identifies the popularity of your keyword, as well as other terms people search for related to your keyword. Scan list to see if there are more effective search terms than the one you’ve chosen.

Google Insights for Search
Need more ideas to identify killer keywords and keyphrases? Then, you’ve got to bookmark this tool – that’s how cool it is. Just type in a keyphrase and you’ll soon see a list of trending topics. Pay special attention to topics that are ‘rising searches.’ These are keywords or keyphrases that are gaining in popularity in a recent span of time. You can also filter your search by category, country, date range, etc.

Rank Checker
Want to know where your website ranks in the search results? Firefox’s Rank Checker extension allows you to easily monitor your website rankings in Google (US and international), Yahoo, Bing/Microsoft Live search.


Tips for Writers

Honing your skills as a writer is a constant process, and keeping prose fresh is vital to the craft. We've gathered a few great sources of tips for you to get started, and we'd love to hear what you find to be useful for inspiration, exploration and growth as a writer!

Freelance Writing Gigs, Article writing tips

Skelliewag

Grammar Girl

Write to Done

Ontext writer's blog

Steven Pressfield, Writing Wednesdays


Grammar and Style

Even the most seasoned writer needs to check a style guide now and then, and there's always plenty to study and learn. We've scoured the web for some references and resources you'll want to be sure to bookmark:

CopyBlogger

Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue U

Guide to Grammar and Writing at Capital Community College

Writing Guides at Colorado State U

HyperGrammar at University of Ottowa

Common Errors in English Usage at Washington State U


Style Guides (a comprehensive list)

DMOZ.org's list of style guides

Principles of Composition by Strunk and White

Associated Press Styleguide (PDF)

Chicago Manual of Style

Correspondence Style Guide at University of Mary Washington


Source / Query Resources

HARO - Help A Reporter Out
This very handy service allows you to send a query, specify a deadline or region, and -- shazam -- the query is blasted out to 50,000 PR people, marketing folks and business people. They will even blast a query out via Twitter if the deadline is ASAP.
ProfNet
They require a formal approval and sign-up process. But ProfNet is better tied into universities and think tanks, so the two can be used in tandem.

Aardvark
Ask this online answer service a question via IM, and it will glean the key concepts you are trying to learn about and automatically send the query to other Aardvark users who might be experts in that topic.

LinkedIn
This popular professional networking site is a tremendous way to locate people with industry expertise since LinkedIn users specifically list their job titles and employers.


NEW Writer References/Resources

Are you just getting started with writing and looking for resources to help you dive in? Maybe you're just toying with the idea, and want to see what you're in for. We've searched high and low for great resources geared toward folks in your position. Of course, many veteran writers could learn a thing or two from these as well, so take advantage of them and get a jump on everyone!

Top 10 tips for new writers

Daily Grammar Lessons

Clear Thinking, Clear Writing (New York Times)

Writing World, Getting started

Writer's Community, How to write for the web

After the Deadline, grammar-checking plugin