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Watch Your Punctuation: A Guide for Content Writers

Basic SEO Glossary

Producing content is not just about writing a bunch of words and keywords to generate traffic. An important part of being a content writer relies on using proper punctuation at all times. Having a good punctuation guide has never come at a better time.

Punctuation Rules for Content Writing

Writing for the Web is not the same as writing a book or writing for a newspaper, but one thing remains true: proper punctuation never goes out of style.

Capitalization

It’s simple:

  • Insignificant words in titles (for, and, to, etc.) are not supposed to be capitalized unless they are the first word
  • Don’t capitalize your keywords

Numbers

Numbers above nine should be written out in actual numbers (10, 98, 500), and below 10 should be written out in letters.

Proper punctuation in content writingCommas

Commas are underrated. It’s OK to use them as needed. You need places to catch your breath while reading.

Exclamation Marks

Limit your usage of exclamation marks to two per page. Using them often will rob your credibility as a writer.

Semicolons

Honestly, semicolons don’t really add anything valuable to your text. They just make the writer look pretentious, so you might as well skip them.

Quotation Marks

Make sure you put your punctuation inside your quotation marks.

“Leaving them outside of the quotation marks like this”, she continued, “is never appropriate.” Plus, they make people who know better roll their eyes (and wouldn’t you rather have them focused on what you’re trying to say?).

Source: The Content Factory

Hyphenation

There are several rules on this topic. Ideally, put your learning hat on and do some research about when to use hyphenation, or if you’re writing and are unsure about using it, Google it really quickly.

Poor punctuation is bound to distract the reader, so make sure you’re using it properly. After all, wouldn’t you rather that attention to be focused on the message you’re trying to get across? If you feel like your writing skills are not where they need to be, sit back, relax, and let professional content writers take care of it for you. They can also handle your social media so that your content is consistent all across the board.