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Writing for Humans and Robots: The New Rules of Content Style
Connect with your reader faster while reducing edits forever into the future.
Who could’ve imagined how much communication would change over the past decade? Founder and CEO of The Blogsmith content agency, Maddy Osman wrote Writing for Humans and Robots as a modern-day homage to The Elements of Style.
Are you having a hard time producing content with a consistent approach to style and formatting? Whether you’re a seasoned writer, new to the craft, or trying to get a content team in alignment—this book can serve as the foundation for building a consistent, on-brand reader experience. By setting thoughtful and repeatable standards, you’ll improve the strength of your message and professional reputation to help achieve business goals.
Writing for a global, Internet audience presents many challenges. Notably, balancing the needs of human readers and search engine spider robots. Appealing to both involves a thoughtful approach that doesn’t compromise for one of these users at the expense of the other.
In this book, you’ll learn how to approach:
- Intentionally choosing words
- Formatting and readability for lists, links, images, and numbers
- Writing compelling titles and descriptive subheadings
- How to tell stories in content
- How to customize a brand style guide
…and much more, with 22 chapters total.
Read praise for "Writing for Humans and Robots: The New Rules of Content Style":
“So much web content ends up in the ever-growing landfill of content that we call the internet. How do you end up standing above the noise? Maddy’s “Writing for Humans and Robots: The New Rules of Content Style” prescribes a no-frills approach to web content writing that’s very needed to anyone who works in the digital world.”
- Bernard Huang, Co-founder of Clearscope
“Writing content is an integral part of Search Engine Optimization. For too long, search marketers have undervalued the importance of creating content of staunch quality but with changes to Google's algorithm ignoring this skill is no longer an option. Maddy walks you through what it actually means to write well. By using concrete examples of how you should and should not construct your online content Maddy gives you a clear path toward being a better writer. All of this positions you to be able to bring in more organic traffic and more revenue.”
- Mordy Oberstein, Head of SEO Branding at Wix, Advisor at Semrush, and Host of #SEOChat
“Writing for the web is becoming more complex. We're often overwhelmed by the nuances involved in writing for algorithms and the people who read our content.
Writing for Humans and Robots: The New Rules of Content Style helps you strike the balance between creating content that connects with readers and satisfies search engines. It provides a clear path through the messy process of content creation, from developing a style guide to telling stories and measuring results. Throughout, Maddy takes you through each step of her process while referencing real-world situations encountered during her time running The Blogsmith.
Maddy's writing style is energizing, and the content is straightforward with practical advice you can apply immediately. Writing for Humans and Robots should be required reading for any content marketing professional.”
- Michael Keenan, Co-founder of Peak Freelance
“This book is making me a better writer! I've been blogging since before blogging was a word, but I've ALWAYS struggled with consistency in my formatting and writing style. Now, as a course creator, consistency is really important throughout my programs. Writing for Humans and Robots is helping me put together my own content style guide so that my content is consistent from blog post to blog post and program to program. Whether you're creating content alone or with a team, you need to grab your copy of Writing for Humans and Robots!”
- Erin Flynn, Founder of Out of Office Entrepreneur
Who could’ve imagined how much communication would change over the past decade? Founder and CEO of The Blogsmith content agency, Maddy Osman wrote Writing for Humans and Robots as a modern-day homage to The Elements of Style.
Are you having a hard time producing content with a consistent approach to style and formatting? Whether you’re a seasoned writer, new to the craft, or trying to get a content team in alignment—this book can serve as the foundation for building a consistent, on-brand reader experience. By setting thoughtful and repeatable standards, you’ll improve the strength of your message and professional reputation to help achieve business goals.
Writing for a global, Internet audience presents many challenges. Notably, balancing the needs of human readers and search engine spider robots. Appealing to both involves a thoughtful approach that doesn’t compromise for one of these users at the expense of the other.
In this book, you’ll learn how to approach:
- Intentionally choosing words
- Formatting and readability for lists, links, images, and numbers
- Writing compelling titles and descriptive subheadings
- How to tell stories in content
- How to customize a brand style guide
…and much more, with 22 chapters total.
Read praise for "Writing for Humans and Robots: The New Rules of Content Style":
“So much web content ends up in the ever-growing landfill of content that we call the internet. How do you end up standing above the noise? Maddy’s “Writing for Humans and Robots: The New Rules of Content Style” prescribes a no-frills approach to web content writing that’s very needed to anyone who works in the digital world.”
- Bernard Huang, Co-founder of Clearscope
“Writing content is an integral part of Search Engine Optimization. For too long, search marketers have undervalued the importance of creating content of staunch quality but with changes to Google's algorithm ignoring this skill is no longer an option. Maddy walks you through what it actually means to write well. By using concrete examples of how you should and should not construct your online content Maddy gives you a clear path toward being a better writer. All of this positions you to be able to bring in more organic traffic and more revenue.”
- Mordy Oberstein, Head of SEO Branding at Wix, Advisor at Semrush, and Host of #SEOChat
“Writing for the web is becoming more complex. We're often overwhelmed by the nuances involved in writing for algorithms and the people who read our content.
Writing for Humans and Robots: The New Rules of Content Style helps you strike the balance between creating content that connects with readers and satisfies search engines. It provides a clear path through the messy process of content creation, from developing a style guide to telling stories and measuring results. Throughout, Maddy takes you through each step of her process while referencing real-world situations encountered during her time running The Blogsmith.
Maddy's writing style is energizing, and the content is straightforward with practical advice you can apply immediately. Writing for Humans and Robots should be required reading for any content marketing professional.”
- Michael Keenan, Co-founder of Peak Freelance
“This book is making me a better writer! I've been blogging since before blogging was a word, but I've ALWAYS struggled with consistency in my formatting and writing style. Now, as a course creator, consistency is really important throughout my programs. Writing for Humans and Robots is helping me put together my own content style guide so that my content is consistent from blog post to blog post and program to program. Whether you're creating content alone or with a team, you need to grab your copy of Writing for Humans and Robots!”
- Erin Flynn, Founder of Out of Office Entrepreneur
355 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 18, 2022
26 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Maddy Osman
1 book9 followersMaddy Osman is a digital native with a decade-long devotion to creating engaging, accessible, and relevant content. After teaching herself web design at age 11, she found her true passion in content creation—learning the intricacies while transitioning from technical to creative SEO marketer. Maddy's journey from freelance writer to founder and CEO of The Blogsmith yielded numerous insights to share about content creation for enterprise B2B technology brands. She believes in finding win-win situations for brands, readers, and robots—translated into actionable guidance throughout this book.
In Writing for Humans and Robots, Maddy gives a nod to editors and style mentors she’s worked with at brands like Automattic, HubSpot, Adobe, Wix, and Trello. After benefitting from their thoughtful feedback, she has assembled this comprehensive guide to writing for the web in an attempt to pay it forward and create better quality content that’s inclusive and accessible to readers.
Maddy has been recognized as one of BuzzSumo’s Top 100 Content Marketers and The Write Life’s 100 Best Websites for Writers. She has spoken for audiences at WordCamp US, SearchCon, and Denver Startup Week. When taking breaks from the digital world, Maddy enjoys cooking, reading, and exploring the world, but she is most content at home in Denver, Colorado, with her husband, Dan, and their pooch, Lola.
In Writing for Humans and Robots, Maddy gives a nod to editors and style mentors she’s worked with at brands like Automattic, HubSpot, Adobe, Wix, and Trello. After benefitting from their thoughtful feedback, she has assembled this comprehensive guide to writing for the web in an attempt to pay it forward and create better quality content that’s inclusive and accessible to readers.
Maddy has been recognized as one of BuzzSumo’s Top 100 Content Marketers and The Write Life’s 100 Best Websites for Writers. She has spoken for audiences at WordCamp US, SearchCon, and Denver Startup Week. When taking breaks from the digital world, Maddy enjoys cooking, reading, and exploring the world, but she is most content at home in Denver, Colorado, with her husband, Dan, and their pooch, Lola.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 18, 2022
A great writing style guide to help you write the best content for the digital world. Utilize this book as your web style guide as you create content for your webpage, social posts and other digital platforms.
February 13, 2023
TL;DR version: I loved it. It's a valuable reference book for web content writers.
As an ESL writer, Elements of style serves as a great foundation. You can read Dreyer's English to fill the gaps and strengthen your writing prose. Afterward, you can spice it up in style by reading Steven Pinker's The Sense of Style.
That's typically enough to get you started as a writer, given you have a decent grasp of the basics of English.
However, your learning process shouldn't end. Depending on the goals, you can always benefit from relevant reference material.
For instance, if you're a fiction writer, Stephen King's On Writing may be of tremendous help.
Unfortunately, when I started writing, I couldn't find a similar reference book (I love reading books to develop my skills) for web content. I had to learn by experience — and sometimes via bad feedback from clients.
Maddy Osman's Writing for humans and robots seems to fill that gap. While there's some guidance to help new writers, the book primarily focuses on practical advice for intermediate and expert writers looking to hone their craft. In particular, Maddy's insights might help you transition from a mere writer to a writer who knows how to balance the needs of humans and robots.
As an ESL writer, Elements of style serves as a great foundation. You can read Dreyer's English to fill the gaps and strengthen your writing prose. Afterward, you can spice it up in style by reading Steven Pinker's The Sense of Style.
That's typically enough to get you started as a writer, given you have a decent grasp of the basics of English.
However, your learning process shouldn't end. Depending on the goals, you can always benefit from relevant reference material.
For instance, if you're a fiction writer, Stephen King's On Writing may be of tremendous help.
Unfortunately, when I started writing, I couldn't find a similar reference book (I love reading books to develop my skills) for web content. I had to learn by experience — and sometimes via bad feedback from clients.
Maddy Osman's Writing for humans and robots seems to fill that gap. While there's some guidance to help new writers, the book primarily focuses on practical advice for intermediate and expert writers looking to hone their craft. In particular, Maddy's insights might help you transition from a mere writer to a writer who knows how to balance the needs of humans and robots.
February 13, 2023
One of the most challenging aspects of content writing today is balancing the needs of both humans and search engines. Maddy's book captures this balance brilliantly and provides a clear path to achieve it.
If you're looking to create content that engages your audience while also optimizing for search engines, this book is a must-read!
If you're looking to create content that engages your audience while also optimizing for search engines, this book is a must-read!
February 16, 2023
This book is a pure gem. I refer to it whenever I write content for my clients or blog. It's a fantastic writing style guide to help you craft content that appeals to humans and Google bots. I highly recommend this book to every SEO writer.
February 8, 2023
An excellent guide to writing content that engages the mind while also ranking well for today's search engines.
10/10 would recommend!
10/10 would recommend!
February 12, 2023
A must-read if you're writing for the digital space!
September 10, 2022
Great resource for improving SEO and creating professional content for the online space.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews