Tool: LeadVenture Style Guide

Editors: Jess Zelhart & Ned Faulhaber

Google Docs link: LeadVenture SEO Content Writing Style Guide

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.

LeadVenture writers must adapt to a variety of clients, verticals, and topics, but these are the voice characteristics that can be applied to all content.

Be friendly and approachable

All readers should feel welcomed and seen when reading LeadVenture content. Avoid aggressive or exclusive language that may make some readers feel they do not belong in the demographic the content represents.

Be informative and accessible

Assume all readers have no more than a basic understanding of the topic being covered. Freely divulge information that seems obvious and use a level of technical language that is appropriate for the audience and topic.

Be inclusive

Assume that the audience comes from a diverse background. Avoid using offensive, patronizing, or discriminatory language. For more information, reference one of our inclusivity documents or the Conscious Style Guide.

Be casual and relaxed

Readers should feel they are in an appropriately calm environment that provides information and entertainment without expectation. Avoid conveying information in a way that may provoke more anxiety and stress in someone looking for clarity.

Be invitingly readable and skimmable

Readers and search engines should be able to easily parse content, both on a skimmable level and on a more detailed level. Use easy-flowing sentence structures that largely mimic spoken English, and employ organizational tactics that highlight the most important information (listicles, short paragraphs, bullet points, etc.). Avoid big block paragraphs; a paragraph should be no more than four or five lines whenever possible. Aim for an 8th grade reading level and never go higher than a 12th grade reading level.

Be a good writer first and an SEO writer second

Prioritize interesting and accurate content over SEO requests that may compromise this. Avoid phrases that disrupt flow, as well as topics that may not be interesting to a reader or advantageous to a client. Content should appeal to readers before it appeals to search engines. Poor SEO techniques, such as keyword stuffing and cannibalization, can hurt search results.

Some best practices to follow to make sure content is being written for humans, not search engines:

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.

When in doubt, focus on creating a tone that is conversational and informative. Readers should walk away from content feeling like they learned what they came to learn, without being deterred by the way the information was conveyed.

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.

Situations where this tone might be advantageous include:

How-to topics
Topics related to maintenance, parts, and servicing
Select buying guides
Topics geared toward DIY enthusiasts or more experienced product owners
Safety recommendations
Usage guidelines

Writing priorities to help guide this content can include:

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.

Situations where this tone might be advantageous include:

Web content about the product (pagefooters)
Requests on manufacturers
Requests on models
Buying guides
Product upgrades and aftermarket features

Writing priorities to help guide this content can include:

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.

Situations where this tone might be advantageous include:

Lifestyle pieces
Travel guides
Some ownership guides
Holiday celebrations
Activities to do
Event information
First-time or beginner user guides

Writing priorities to help guide this content can include:

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.

The use of region-specific references can help to further target readers in an area while also making the content sound as though it is written expressly for those readers.

Region-specific references can include:

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.

Always make sure to identify where the dealer is physically located separately from the primary, secondary, and tertiary locations that the dealer may want to target.

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.

Note on Dealer Terminology:

The content team largely relies on the best technical definitions available for each product. Dealers may define the products in their inventory based on their own parameters. Confirm the working definition of each product by reviewing the dealer’s inventory. If the dealer’s inventory does not match the technical definition, make adjustments as needed.

LeadVenture maintains a Glossary of terminology that is specific to each vertical, as well as their proper spelling. Below are a few broad definitions for some of these verticals:

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. 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.

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.

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 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.

The complete explanation of 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.

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.

When using title case, capitalize the first letter of:

All words except for articles (a, an, the), conjunctions (and, for, or), and prepositions of four or fewer letters (at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to, with).
- “For” is capitalized in titles when used in the phrase “For Sale.”
The first and last words of a heading.
Prepositions of five or more letters (about, above, across, around, beneath, between, etc.).
Both words in a hyphenated word.

Quick-View Capitalization Chart for Short Words in Headings:

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:

Trademarks should be used for brands when they are mentioned the first time in the body of the content, in all headers, and in the meta description.
Trademarked words should not be used in a plural or possessive form.
The trademark is used for the brand and not for the company name.
- Include a trademark for “Harley-Davidson® motorcycles.”
- Do not include a trademark for “Harley-Davidson was founded in 1903.”
The most common brands that require a trademark for every use (only as a brand, not as a company) include:
- Polaris
- Indian Motorcycle

Feedback Survey

If you have feedback regarding the style guide, please fill out this survey for the Content Team to review.