Style Guide

These are the basic editorial guidelines for the Post Planner blog.

Writers who wish to contribute articles or ideas for consideration should send queries: support@postplanner.com

Guidelines for Guest Bloggers

Copy

General

• speak directly to the reader — as if you’re writing her an email
• engage her in a conversation
• remember she doesn’t know what you know — you have to teach her
• don’t make her work hard and don’t make her feel like a dunce
• offer concrete, crystal-clear examples for everything you recommend
• let your passion & personality shine through

Headline

• base around a keyword
• aim for both virality (social shares) and SEO (search results)
• use proven headline formulas (resources here, here, here, here)
• expect editors to change it :)

Intro

• begin with a 1-2 line sentence/paragraph
  • ask a question: example, example
  • make a declaration: example, example, example
• should be 5-8 paragraphs (of 1-3 lines each)
• include a quote or list, if possible (to break up left-margin monotony)
• final paragraph should be something in the spirit of:        
  • “In this post I will…” (example)
• final paragraph leads to first H2 subhead (where headline is repeated)

Subheads

• the first H2 subhead should always:
  • follow the intro
  • repeat article headline
• afterward, use as many subheads as possible (to increase scannability)
• H2, H3 and H4 should be enough for any post (H5 should not be used)
• format your subhead lists correctly:
  • use a simple period after numbers: “1.” not “1)”

Quotes & Lists

• use as many as possible (to break up monotony of left margin)
• you can often turn long sentences with strings of items into lists (ordered or unordered)
• make sure list items are parallel in grammatical structure (all beginning with verbs in same tense, for example) — example

Conclusion

• ALWAYS have one!
• begin with an H2 subhead
• subhead should be “Conclusion” or something clearly indicating an end to or summary of post
• end with a “What about you?” question to reader and a CTA to leave a comment

Style

• speak directly to the reader, like you’re writing her an email
  • use “You” and “I” as often as possible
• write short paragraphs
  • most common = 1-2 sentences
  • rarely longer than 3-5 lines
• use “in other words” a lot
  • then restate your idea another way, for clarity
• use “for example” a lot
  • then offer concrete examples, for clarity
• use lots of double dashes: “word word word — word word word”
  • replace commas with them, where appropriate
  • always replace semi-colons (NEVER use semi-colons!)
  • also use ellipses, but favor double dashes
• use lots of parentheses
• use contractions
  • they’re how we speak (and think)
• shorten words when possible
  • "info" not "information"
  • "ads" not "advertisements"
  • "Jan 1" not "January 1"
  • "9am" not "9 o’clock A.M."
• use numerals instead of words
  • "3" not "three"
• don’t use boldface or italics
  • use all-caps instead — to emphasize & anchor reader’s eye

Images

Content Images

• align right by default – never align left!
• align center for full-width images/screenshots — example
• images should be sized to 580 pixels before entering them
• images should be sharp and clear (no low quality images)
• images should be named with a 4-5 word jpeg name including keyword (separate words with dashes)
• remove image links
• add right-justified images to break up monotony of full-column text and create narrower columns for easy reading
• for screenshots referred to in text, place screenshot below reference – example