EditorEditors: Jess Zelhart & Ned Faulhaber
Google Docs link: LeadVenture SEO Content Writing Style Guide
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Sections
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT
VOICE
TONE
TECHNICAL TONES
MARKETING TONES
CASUAL TONES
LOCATIONS
POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
PHYSICAL LOCATIONS VS. TARGET LOCATIONS
APPROVED TERMINOLOGY
GRAMMAR & PUNCTUATION
SHARED AMERICAN & CANADIAN ENGLISH CONVENTIONS
AMERICAN-ONLY ENGLISH CONVENTIONS
CANADIAN-ONLY ENGLISH CONVENTIONS
FORMATTING
LEADVENTURE CONTENT FORMATS
META DESCRIPTIONS
BULLETED TEXT
TITLE CAPITALIZATIONS
FILE NAMES
TRADEMARK USAGE
APPENDIX
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT
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INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT
The LeadVenture content writing team is responsible for the creation of engaging, SEO-focused content for LeadVenture dealer websites across all verticals (RV, marine, powersports, motorcycles, agriculture, and so forth). Each dealer that is signed up to receive SEO content will receive one or more pieces each month, discussing topics relevant to that particular dealer’s inventory and geographic location.
Disclaimer: Defer to a dealer’s preferences if they express style choices that do not align with what is outlined here.
VOICE
Always keep in mind that the LeadVenture content teams write for individual clients, and content is published to the clients’ websites. All writers represent these clients in their writing.
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Do not include more than 4 locations in one comma-separated list.
Do not include more than 4 OEMs/brands in one comma-separated list.
If including more than OEMs/brands would be useful to the reader, use a bulleted list. An example would be a powersports service page with a specific list of OEMs whose vehicles that they provide service for.
TONE
The tone of any given LeadVenture piece will depend on factors such as format, subject matter, product, and audience.
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Use the following guides for more specific instances when tone will change to fit the situation.
TECHNICAL TONES
Some content will prioritize providing information over everything else. The reader is looking to answer a question or looking for a simple guide. It is ill-advised to focus too heavily on establishing a friendly connection with the reader.
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Short sentences
Active voice
Listicles
Straightforward explanations
Minimal contextualization
Thorough research
Limited use of unnecessary adjectives and adverbs
MARKETING TONES
Some content will promote a specific manufacturer or brand, and even, to a certain extent, a product. This content should positively describe the object, without putting down related products (unless specifically requested), and provide specific, detailed information about the product when possible.
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Detailed and engaging descriptions
Active voice
Casual, conversational tones
Enthusiasm that isn’t over-the-top
Hyper-focused topics
Engaging the reader with specs and facts
CASUAL TONES
Some content will sell the experience of using the product, rather than the product itself. A friendly and warm tone should be used for these pieces so that they sound like something a friend, neighbor, or family member might recommend.
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Witty and amusing content that engages the reader
Active voice
Listicles
Casual, conversational tones
Colloquial language (not prescriptive or authoritative language)
LOCATIONS
The use of locations in LeadVenture content is intended to target readers that live in and around the locations listed. The SEO rep should provide no more than three target locations and three physical locations for a given dealer’s content.
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Climate/weather (including common extreme conditions)
Duration of seasons
Local events
Tourist attractions
Topography (mountainous regions vs. lowlands, etc.)
Highways and interstates
Bodies of water
Regional nicknames
Local history
POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
This United States/Canadian Provinces & Territories spreadsheet breaks down all of the North American locations used in LeadVenture content. It includes capitals, postal abbreviations, and regions to assist the writer in correctly targeting their content.
Canada is apportioned into ten provinces and three territories. See this chart of provinces and territories of Canada on Wikipedia.
The United States is split into 50 states.
There are also five populated territories under U.S. jurisdiction: American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A few LeadVenture dealers target these territories, so it’s important to recognize the differences.
States and provinces have their own laws which are not universally applicable to the entire country, although there are certain federal laws that apply across the country. For example, CDL requirements differ from state to state and province to province.
PHYSICAL LOCATIONS VS. TARGET LOCATIONS
When writing LeadVenture content, the writer should endeavor to integrate the target locations as organically as possible, rather than shoehorning the locations into the content.
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If a target location is the same as the physical location, said location only needs to be stated once.
APPROVED TERMINOLOGY
LeadVenture content uses accurate terminology for each vertical. There are several key terms that we use in our content that would not be found in a layperson’s writing.
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Commercial Truck: Any large truck used for commercial purposes, usually in the medium-duty or heavy-duty classes.
Equipment: May variously refer to heavy equipment, agricultural equipment or construction equipment; machines and their accompanying attachments that are used for heavy-duty work.
Personal Watercraft: Abbreviated as “PWC,” this is the correct generic term for marine-based motorized crafts that are ridden similarly to a motorcycle. Do not refer to them as “jet skis,” as this is a Kawasaki brand.
Powersports: The umbrella term for land-based motorized vehicles that are designed primarily (but not exclusively) for off-road riding purposes. This includes utility terrain vehicles (UTVs), all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), motorcycles and dirt bikes (off-road motorcycles).
RV: An abbreviation for “recreational vehicle;” refers to any self-contained mobile dwelling designed for camping and general travel usage. Options are either towable trailers or motorhomes, which contain their own engine and drivetrain.
Trailer: A broad term encompassing towable vehicles for hauling cargo, broken down into numerous subcategories. Also colloquially used to refer to towable RVs.
GRAMMAR & PUNCTUATION
LeadVenture content should adhere to standard American grammatical and spelling conventions, except in the case of Canadian dealers, where Canadian spelling and grammatical conventions should be applied.
This guide to North American English has more information; American English differs most significantly from British English and this list of comparisons will help a writer who is accustomed to writing in British English to write for Americans.
SHARED AMERICAN & CANADIAN ENGLISH CONVENTIONS
Use “double” quotation marks when needed, rather than ‘single’ quotation marks.
Punctuation goes within the quotation marks in most cases.
When using a parenthetical aside, place punctuation marks outside of the final parenthesis symbol. Example: “Keep your eyes on the road (and not on your cell phone).”
Instead of using gendered pronouns, use singular “they.” Example: “If you get in touch with a mechanic, they can help you with maintenance issues.”
Refer to companies as “it” or “they” or “the company” after using their names.
Use the Oxford comma in serial lists. Example: “Check out our selection of travel trailers, fifth wheels, and pop-up campers.”
When listing multiple cities in the same state, do not list the state more than once. Example: “We have locations in Seattle, Redmond, and Tacoma, WA.”When listing multiple cities in different states, use semicolons after the state names/abbreviations
Use the Oxford comma in serial lists. Example: “Visit our dealership in Omaha, NE, which proudly serves the locations of Lincoln, NE; Council Bluffs, IA; and Kansas City, MO.”
AMERICAN-ONLY ENGLISH CONVENTIONS
Most LeadVenture clients are physically located in and do business within the United States, which means that their content should follow American English conventions. American English has many unique elements to it, particularly because the United States is extremely vast and has several different regions, each of which has its own dialects and terminology. Here are some of the more universal conventions applicable to American English:
American English does not utilize the “U” spellings of other variants of English. Words like “color,” “favorite,” and “humor” will all be spelled with an “-or” component, rather than “-our.”
In terms of measurements, American English uses a variant of the 1824 British “imperial” system, which is referred to as United States Customary Units. Lengths are typically measured in inches (5” or 5 inches or 5 in.), feet (10’ or 10 feet or 10 ft.), yards (yd), and miles (mi), rather than centimeters, meters, and kilometers. Americans also describe their own heights in feet and inches (5’2” or 5 foot, 2 inches) rather than in centimeters.
1 inch is 2.54 centimeters
12 inches (1 foot) is roughly equivalent to 30 centimeters
1 yard is 3 feet (and slightly longer than 1 meter)
1 mile is 1.6 kilometers
Volume is measured using the avoirdupois system, rather than the metric system.
Wet/fluid volumes are measured in fluid ounces, cups, pints, quarts, and gallons, instead of liters.
Dry volumes are measured in grains, drams, ounces, pounds, and tons.
When writing about temperatures for American clients, always use the Fahrenheit (°F) scale, as opposed to the Celsius (°C) scale used in most of the rest of the world.
32°F (the freezing point of water) is equivalent to 0°C
212°F (the boiling point of water) is equivalent to 100°C
This Fahrenheit-to-Celsius conversion tool will help you to apply the correct temperatures for discussing typical winter and summer averages.
Standard conjunctions in American English don’t include “here’re,” “who’re,” “you’ll not” or “you’ve to.” Avoid “shan’t” as it’s both archaic and more British.
American English uses “Z” instead of “S” spellings (“realize”), except in a few cases (“advertise”).
CANADIAN-ONLY ENGLISH CONVENTIONS
LeadVenture has many dealers based in Canada, so it’s important to tailor our content specifically to Canadian readers by endeavoring to make use of Canadian English conventions wherever possible.
Bear in mind that some typically British English phrases and terms are used in Canadian English, but it is not consistent across the board. This is because Canadian English borrows heavily from both American and British English. This guide to Canadian English can assist you in creating more tailored content for our neighbors to the north. Here are a few key things to keep in mind when writing for Canadian clients:
When adding “-ed” or “-er” to a word, Canadian English doubles the consonant: “travel” becomes “travelled” or “traveller.”
Canada uses “U” spellings for words like “colour” and “favourite.”
The metric system is predominantly used in Canada for most measurements, with some exceptions: the Wikipedia article on metrication in Canada has more information.
Words ending in “-er” are spelled “-re” in Canadian English: kilometre, theatre, etc.
FORMATTING
LEADVENTURE CONTENT FORMATS
LeadVenture provides content in multiple formats to suit dealers’ needs. The following content formats are provided to Dealer Spike and ARI clients (details on 2022 SEO package content can be found on the Confluence page):
Articles:
450 words (ARI Silver client articles should be 200-300 words)
Posted to online blogs
H1s (#) and H2s (##)
Commonly uses tertiary topics (topics that are related to a product but not explicitly about the product, i.e. maintenance, lifestyle topics, travel tips, etc.)
Pagefooters:
250 words
Posted to inventory list pages
H2s (##) and H3s (###)
Primarily discusses the product
Intros (ARI Only):
150 words
Posted on Essentials pages
H1s (#)
Provides introductory information on product
Product Buckets (ARI Only):
2-3 sentences minimum
Posted on Essentials pages
H2s (##)
Provides brief description of product
H1s
All content must include an H1. Articles already require an H1, however pagefooters and custom content require an additional H1 be provided upon submission.
H1s are the page’s header, located at the top of the page.
The complete explanation of H1s best practices can be found in the On-Site Optimization Best Practices document. The most important details to keep in mind are:
Article H1s should concisely and enticingly convey the topic.
Pagefooter and content piece H1s should use the following template:
“Product For Sale in/near Primary Target Location”
Example: ATVs For Sale near Salt Lake City, UT
H1s must use title case.
Note: The “For” in “Product For Sale” must be capitalized.
H1s must include the primary keyword.
H1s should not exceed a single line of text upon publication.
This generally means that only one location can be used.
META DESCRIPTIONS
All Dealer Spike articles and ARI articles and Essentials content must include a meta description.
Meta descriptions are an HTML attribute that provide a brief description of the page, most commonly seen in the list of search results.
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“Check out our selection of travel trailers, fifth wheels, and pop-up campers.”
When listing multiple cities in the same state, do not list the state more than once. Example: “We have locations in Seattle, Redmond, and Tacoma, WA.”
When listing multiple cities in different states, use semicolons after the state names/abbreviations. Example: “Visit our dealership in Omaha, NE, which proudly serves the locations of Lincoln, NE; Council Bluffs, IA; and Kansas City, MO.”
AMERICAN-ONLY ENGLISH CONVENTIONS
Most LeadVenture clients are physically located in and do business within the United States, which means that their content should follow American English conventions. American English has many unique elements to it, particularly because the United States is extremely vast and has several different regions, each of which has its own dialects and terminology. Here are some of the more universal conventions applicable to American English:
American English does not utilize the “U” spellings of other variants of English. Words like “color,” “favorite,” and “humor” will all be spelled with an “-or” component, rather than “-our.”
In terms of measurements, American English uses a variant of the 1824 British “imperial” system, which is referred to as United States Customary Units. Lengths are typically measured in inches (5” or 5 inches or 5 in.), feet (10’ or 10 feet or 10 ft.), yards (yd), and miles (mi), rather than centimeters, meters, and kilometers. Americans also describe their own heights in feet and inches (5’2” or 5 foot, 2 inches) rather than in centimeters.
1 inch is 2.54 centimeters
12 inches (1 foot) is roughly equivalent to 30 centimeters
1 yard is 3 feet (and slightly longer than 1 meter)
1 mile is 1.6 kilometers
Volume is measured using the avoirdupois system, rather than the metric system.
Wet/fluid volumes are measured in fluid ounces, cups, pints, quarts, and gallons, instead of liters.
Dry volumes are measured in grains, drams, ounces, pounds, and tons.
When writing about temperatures for American clients, always use the Fahrenheit (°F) scale, as opposed to the Celsius (°C) scale used in most of the rest of the world.
32°F (the freezing point of water) is equivalent to 0°C
212°F (the boiling point of water) is equivalent to 100°C
This Fahrenheit-to-Celsius conversion tool will help you to apply the correct temperatures for discussing typical winter and summer averages.
Standard conjunctions in American English don’t include “here’re,” “who’re,” “you’ll not” or “you’ve to.” Avoid “shan’t” as it’s both archaic and more British.
American English uses “Z” instead of “S” spellings (“realize”), except in a few cases (“advertise”).
CANADIAN-ONLY ENGLISH CONVENTIONS
LeadVenture has many dealers based in Canada, so it’s important to tailor our content specifically to Canadian readers by endeavoring to make use of Canadian English conventions wherever possible.
Bear in mind that some typically British English phrases and terms are used in Canadian English, but it is not consistent across the board. This is because Canadian English borrows heavily from both American and British English. This guide to Canadian English can assist you in creating more tailored content for our neighbors to the north. Here are a few key things to keep in mind when writing for Canadian clients:
When adding “-ed” or “-er” to a word, Canadian English doubles the consonant: “travel” becomes “travelled” or “traveller.”
Canada uses “U” spellings for words like “colour” and “favourite.”
The metric system is predominantly used in Canada for most measurements, with some exceptions: the Wikipedia article on metrication in Canada has more information.
Words ending in “-er” are spelled “-re” in Canadian English: kilometre, theatre, etc.
FORMATTING
CONTENT TYPES
Different client packages receive different content types as part of their deliverables each month. The complete list of content types can be found on Confluence.
HEADERS
All content pieces utilize headers. What type of header (H1, H2, H3) is given in the descriptions of the content types on Confluence.
The complete explanation of header best practices, plus templates and examples for every type of site page, can be found in the On-Site Optimization Best Practices document. The most important details to keep in mind are:
The meta description should summarize the piece in an exciting and concise way.
The meta description should be SEO-friendly and include both the keyword and a CTA (call-to-action) to open the link.
The meta description should not exceed 160 characters.
Use an online tool to evaluate your meta descriptions, such as Spotibo’s SERP Preview Tool.
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TITLE TAGS
All blog articles, local pages, and ARI Essentials/Custom page content must include a title tag.
Title tags appear as text in the browser tab of a webpage.
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The complete explanation of title tags best practices, plus templates and examples for any type of site page, can be found in the On-Site Optimization Best Practices document.
META DESCRIPTIONS
All Dealer Spike articles and all ARI articles and Essentials content must include a title tagmeta description.
Title tags appear as text in the browser tab of a webpage.
Meta descriptions are an HTML attribute that provide a brief description of the page, most commonly seen in the list of search results.
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The complete explanation of title tags meta description best practices, plus templates and examples for every type of site page, can be found in the On-Site Optimization Best Practices document. You can find guidelines for their length at the beginning of the document, and formats/examples of title tags for every type of page. Simply navigate using the side bar doc outline to find the one you need.
BULLETED TEXT
When writing bulleted text:
Capitalize the first letter of each bulleted word, phrase, or sentence (unless the first word is case-sensitive, like the RV brand “nuCamp”).
Use periods at the end of sentences, long phrases, or paragraphs.
Don’t use periods after one- to three-word phrases.
If some bullets are sentences and some are phrases or single words, rewrite them to be consistent.
TITLE CAPITALIZATIONS (TITLE CASE)
When formatting titles for any type of piece, it’s important to use standard English “title case” capitalization rules. This tool for title capitalization can help the writer to correctly format a given title. There are a few exceptions to this: one example would be the phrase “For Sale,” where both “for” and “sale” should be capitalized.
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Uppercase | Lowercase | ||
Are | That | a | in |
As | This | an | of |
Be | Up | and | on |
If | Who | at | or |
Is | Whom | but | the |
So | Your | by | to |
Than | Near | for | vs. |
from | with | ||
FILE NAMES
All LeadVenture content is organized in Google Drive. Each dealer has their own folder within alphabetized folders. The file names of each document are standardized in order to keep dealers’ content organized, starting with the dealer’s name in all cases. Check out this guide to creating file names to learn more about this system.
TRADEMARK USAGE
All LeadVenture writers are required to apply the appropriate trademark and copyright symbols to branded names. Review and reference the Trademark Guide for more information. Some common guidelines include:
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If you have feedback regarding the style guide, please fill out this survey for the Content Team to review.
APPENDIX
Documents and other resources linked throughout the style guide:
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