Any online content creator^[1] knows: Writing for the web is no easy feat. In fact, one of the most frustrating challenges we face is due to the fact that new, web-related words are being coined all the time. As a result, we often run into questions like, “Do I capitalize this? Is this one word or two? Should I hyphenate it?”

And while there are a number of different established style guides out there to help answer your writing style-related questions, the problem is, none of them have really done a good job of addressing all those commonly troublesome words marketing publishers and other content creators struggle with regularly, many of which have sprouted up in our writing very recently because of the fast-paced world of the internet.

Well, pull your hair out no longer — we’ve got you covered! We’ve published a brand new Internet Marketing Written Style Guide^[2], meant for helping the modern-day marketer and online content creator figure out just how to write for the web. And yes, the style guide even includes a full section devoted to all those troublesome words we find content creators tripping over all the time, which we’ll highlight in this very blog post. And if you’re interested in learning more about writing for the web, go ahead and download the complete Internet Marketing Written Style Guide^[3], adapted from HubSpot’s own house style guide and covering everything from punctuation, to capitalization, to attribution, and how you can go about creating a house style guide of your very own. 

Now let’s clear the air …

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app: Short form of application. Plural: apps. Do not use if there’s any room for confusion.

A/B test: Also called split testing; at HubSpot, we use A/B testing and write it with the slash.

B2B:
BA: Abbreviation for bachelor of arts. No periods.

best-seller (n.), best-selling (adj.): Note hyphen.

beta: Capitalize beta if it is part of an official product name. Otherwise, lowercase it. (Examples: Sign up for the new Yahoo! Messenger beta. Try the beta version of Yahoo! Messenger.)