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I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential. Read, and enjoy!Tash

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TashWord

Tash is a professional writer who loves helping people communicate clearly and effectively.
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Blogging about FOOD…

Published 18 October, 2011 | By TashWord

I like to make a difference, to contribute to my community and the world. So I like to DO things when I can, and joining Blog Action Day each year is a small action that I aim for. I am proud to be taking part in Blog Action Day OCT 16 2011 www.blogactionday.org

Blog action day is about many people discussing a topic at the same time to get greater awareness – for example, posting about ‘green’ business practices in 2009 was part of making people think about climate change.

This year’s theme is food which doesn’t seem quite as relevant to a business and communications blog – but I see that as challenge rather than a reason to not blog! Yes, I am doing this two days late but I adding my voice to food blogging day.

What about you – could you find some relevant content to blog about food?

Home-grown food

The flavour and pleasure of fresh fruit and vegetables is always superior to store-bought equivalents – the apples off the tree in my yard last summer were delicious and I even enjoyed then stewed (I normally avoid cooked apples).

But there are more benefits than just yummier food when you grow fruit and vegetables at home:

  1. I know the food is free of additional chemicals
  2. the food is high in nutrients because it is fresh and grown with natural fertilisers
  3. it is lovely to look out my window and see the crops
  4. fruit trees shade my office windows in summer but let the winter sun through – making my office a comfortable temperature naturally
  5. the occasional care for the garden gets me outside in the fresh air, moving and getting in touch with nature – all of which is good for my mental and physical health
  6. home-grown is cheaper, and with prices sky rocketing this year, that is a growing benefit
  7. it reduces my family’s food miles which is excellent for the planet

Paul Hassing recently posted how changing food habits can also be good for business (namely it reduces his stress so he can work more effectively) and I would agree with that.

I also see another business lesson from home-grown food.

Home-grown food tastes great, is more interesting and has a number of advantages. So is original business material.

Do you prefer to read an article or web page that is the same (or practically the same) as 100 others or an original piece that gives you new information or a new perception?

Are you more attracted to a tailored website or one that is based on a template you’ve seen 20 times already today?

Letters and emails addressed to you by name and include something personal are much more effective than a standard letter addressed to “Dear sirs”.

A landscape designer who uses the same layout regardless of block shape and aspect won’t be as successful as one who designs a unique garden every time.

The chef staying to the same old recipes and copying other’s presentation will never be a master chef.

And so on. The point is to use home-grown ideas and skills rather than going for the mass-produced, lack-of-variety style – the results are more interesting, flavoursome and fulfilling.

What do you think – are home-grown food and home-grown business behaviours more appealing and rewarding?

Posted in blogging, business info & tools, marketing | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Is your website shallow?

Published 17 October, 2011 | By TashWord

What is the content like on your website?

A new term around at the moment refers to shallow website content, meaning content that meets any minimum expectation without any additional information or resources.
Consider the contact us page on most sites – there is very little content other than contact details. That is shallow content – although highly appropriate for a contact page!

Imagine that level of information on other pages of a site – for example, I followed a tweeted link today to a blog post that was purely a title and a link. It can be very frustrating for a person wanting to learn something if a page gives so little information, but shallow content has worked in the past for getting search engine results.

One of Google’s plans, apparently, is to make information-rich pages rank better than such shallow pages. I say bring it on!

So before Google makes that change, maybe now is the time to build up the content on your website. Even adding depth to one page a week or fortnight will improve the experience for your site visitors, so what have you got to lose?

So, is your website shallow? Are there obvious questions people would have that you are not answering?

scrabble letters 'writing blog posts'

Posted in web content, writing | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Care for your brand

Published 14 October, 2011 | By TashWord

Your brand is the sum of every interaction your business has with someone – it’s not just having a nice logo and a pretty website.

With social media, I think  many people forget this connection between brand and every interaction.

I just saw a tweet offering tips on building a ‘complete business empire’ which I would only trust from a professional with business experience and knowledge. However, the picture associated with that Twitter account was not part of a professional brand – the rear view of an almost naked woman is perhaps more suited to a different profession…

So is the tweeter not business savvy at all, and perhaps even a con selling nonsense, or is someone mixing their personal and business profiles online?

In general, I think separate personal and business social media profiles is the best way to keep your brand on track. Or be very careful that anything you put online works with your brand – for example, I have only one Twitter account so it is always appropriate for my business persona and I never tweet anything I wouldn’t say to a stranger or prospective client. In comparison, I use a personal page on Facebook for friends and a business page for connecting with clients and people interested in clear communications.

So what does your twitter or Facebook picture say about your business?

Do you agree that the choice of social media images has an impact on how your business is perceived? I don’t think it’s just me who doesn’t find a woman’s legs a symbol for business knowledge…

Posted in business info & tools, marketing, social media | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Answer the question when replying

Published 13 October, 2011 | By TashWord

One simple way to improve your business communications is to ensure that every email you send in reply to anyone (staff, suppliers, customers and even friends and family) actually serves you both well.

So if someone has taken the time to ask you a question, make sure you answer it, and answer it clearly, when you reply. Sounds obvious but as it often doesn’t happen, it is worth checking before you hit send…

  1. read their email again – did you miss a second question? Are you sure you understood the real question being asked?
  2. does your answer stand alone? That is, did you give a full answer that anyone could understand – there is nothing worse than an email “Dear Fred, the answer is yes. Regards, Barney”. “Dear Fred, Yes we do deliver to Devonport. Regards, Barney” is much more effective as Fred doesn’t have to remember or think about what his question was.
  3. is your answer as simple and clear as possible? “Yes we do deliver to Devonport” is much better than “Yes, we deliver to all major cities in Australia” (is Devonport considered a major city?) or “Our delivery areas are all listed on our website and we cover most parts of Tasmania and Queensland” (how is Queensland relevant? Why couldn’t you give a direct answer?)
  4. if you can’t answer the question, say so rather than be obscure or ignore the question. I know I would prefer to hear “I’m not sure but will find out for you” or “we haven’t done that before so I’ll have to ask my manager to call you back” rather than having to ask again or risk making a guess.
Not only are clear replies to questions a good communication strategy, they can save you (and those you email) time and frustration.

Posted in business info & tools, writing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Saving moderating time

Published 7 October, 2011 | By TashWord

Part of running a community-centric blog is moderating the comments. I mentioned that it is a time consuming task when I gave the reasons for moderating so today I’m sharing some ideas for saving time when moderating comments on your blog.

In no particular order, here are my tips:

  1. ensure you have a spam filter on your blog so the really obvious spam is off your list to moderate
  2. consider outsourcing the comment moderation. However, make sure you still look often so you can reply to any comments or have your support person tell you if there is a comment waiting for your reply
  3. set up some rules so certain people’s comments are automatically accepted – they see their comment instantly and you save a little time. You may do this for a select group or perhaps for everyone who has had a comment accepted in the past
  4. have a procedure that includes rules for your blog as this will save you time in deciding if a comment is acceptable. For example, they must have a real name not a tagline as their username, use a real URL not a shortened URL and can only include a link if genuinely adding to the conversation.
Do you have any other tips for saving time with your comments?

Posted in blogging | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The grammar of blog headings

Published 6 October, 2011 | By TashWord

It may seem like a strange blog heading, the grammar of blog headings, but I was asked the question so here is my answer!

Headings and gramamrThe heading or title of a blog post is usually the first thing someone will see and has a huge impact on whether anyone reads the actual content of the post, and therefore on the success of that blog post. Making it enticing is worth spending some time on, and you don’t want to undo those efforts by using inappropriate grammar and spelling.

So what is the correct format for a blog heading?

  1.  Do not write it all in capital letters – that is considered to be yelling and therefore arrogant, plus it is harder to read anyway
  2. Unless you have a formal and old-fashioned brand style, use sentence case rather than title case for the heading – that is, use as few capital letters as is necessary
  3. Use basic grammar and punctuation rules such as a capital letter for a noun, match plural/singular nouns and verbs, and put apostrophes in the correct places
  4. Check all words are spelt correctly
  5. Make sure the title makes sense. Titles can sometimes have fewer words than an equivalent sentence (e.g. ‘the grammar of blog headings’ is fine for a title but in the body of a post I need to add more such as ‘the grammar of a blog heading can impact on your credibility.’) but include enough words to convey the meaning (I couldn’t use ‘The grammar blog headings’ for instance)
Have you noticed bad grammar in any titles? How did that impact on you reading that blog post (or article)?

Posted in blogging, grammar & details, writing | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Building your integrity

Published 3 October, 2011 | By TashWord

Would you buy anything from a business you didn’t trust? Or a business that you’ve heard bad things about?

Most people wouldn’t so it is crucial to ensure your business is trustworthy and maintains that image. Honesty, integrity, straightforward, transparent and respect are all parts of that trustworthy image.

Here are some key activities to show your integrity and trustworthiness, gained from watching people do the opposite as well as showing integrity even when it’s hard.

  • pay your suppliers on time – or discuss it openly if you can’t do it as timely as expected. What’s more, do not hire new suppliers if you are in debt and know you can’t afford to pay them – doing so is one of the fastest ways of destroying your credibility and risking legal actions
  • take responsibility for yourself, your business and even your team. Blaming others and looking for excuses doesn’t put you in a good light and can worry protective clients and suppliers hat they will be blamed for future issues – not good for building trust!
  • be honest – don’t make grand claims on your website, own up to errors and tell clients what they need to hear (rather than what brings you a quick return)
  • be open – share bits of information about the people behind the business. That doesn’t mean tell us all your son’s achievements or what you had for breakfast, nor give out private details, but let people know the human voice of a business as well. For example what impression do I give when I occasionally mention I am a cub leader?
  • be transparent – put your pricing and/or policies in easy-to-understand terms in an accessible form (I hate websites that don’t show delivery prices until you finish the shopping, for instance) and let appropriate negative comments remain (although I suggest answering them as well!)
  • be professional and pay attention to small details so people can trust you will do a good job for them
  • be consistent so people learn that you always do things the same way and that they can rely on that
  • take care with where and how you promote your business – and ask for help. Being open about needing help is one thing but publicly asking for help on many aspects of your business  gives little reason to think you can provide the promised services. As my role is to prepare content, I can post online that I need help with preparing some graphics but a coach publicly asking for funding to set up anything is dubious
What other ways have businesses earned your trust?

Posted in bit off track, business info & tools | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Moderating blog comments counts

Published 30 September, 2011 | By TashWord

Moderating comments* left on your blog is just another time-consuming task, right?

It one sense yes it is – if you get a lot of spam it can be very tedious to check comments regularly, and moderating does take time that you may want to spend doing income-producing tasks.

However, there are a number of benefits to moderating your comments rather than just accepting any your spam filter allows through. I was just reminded of this after reading a post on a high traffic blog and seeing an obvious spam comment in amongst a number of real comments – along with no replies to the commenters, the spam just made her look lazy and disinterested.

So my quick list of reasons to moderate blog comments is:

  1. it gives you the opportunity to immediately reply to genuine comments and build your community
  2. you look interested in the blog and its readers
  3. you protect your readers from potentially dangerous links (most spam comments are about getting more links to dubious sites)
  4. you will sometimes find fantastic comments accidentally treated as spam by filters
  5. you can maintain the brand and tone of your comments. For example, you can keep people from using vulgar or hateful language, stop people attacking each other and accept only realistic and appropriate negative comments. You may reject comments completely or edit specific comments to suit if they contain a worthwhile message

Moderating comments is an easy task that you can do at the end of the working day or when you need a mental break, or you could outsource it to save time (but be sure to review yourself to answer comments).

Do you moderate comments or just let them go live?

* Moderating comments simply means looking at each comment and deciding if will go live on your site, or not. There is usually a comments section in your administration area where it is easy to view pending comments and deal with them as you wish.

Posted in blogging, social media | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

who owns the copyright?

Published 29 September, 2011 | By TashWord

Although I am not a lawyer and copyright is a complex area of law, I get a number of questions about copyright. Recently, I was asked about the ownership of content when a contractor writes something for a business and which entity would be listed in a copyright notice.

copyright symbolGenerally, if you create something you own the copyright unless you assign it (in writing with a signature) to someone else. So if your agreement with a client doesn’t specify otherwise, you own the copyright in general terms.

You can assign a client the copyrights to use the material in certain ways – but perhaps limit them from owning other rights (e.g. international or movie rights) There does not have to be an exchange of money to exchange copyright – but it is something worth setting a price for commercially. Once you assign copyright to them, they own the copyright on the material under those stated conditions and thus only they would be on any copyright notice.

If you are an employee or a contractor under certain circumstances, the company owns copyright even if you are the creator. For contractors, this usually includes an agreement or expectation between you and the company, and may apply if they have initiated the work and paid you for all your time working on the project.

If a client owns the copyright, they don’t have to include your name in a copyright notice; if you own it, it is more likely that your notice would state ‘copyright owned by Justine and assigned to XYZ’ or equivalent.

Note that you will ALWAYS own the moral rights to the materials as these can not be bought or given away. This means that they can not represent the work in way that is negative towards you, deny it is written by you or adjust it and still call it yours.

When preparing a quote and agreement for companies, take copyright into consideration. Some of the things I write are useless to me anyway (e.g. a resume for someone else) so copyright isn’t worth fussing about, but if I write an article then copyright becomes a bigger issue and I charge more to give the other party full copyright over it.

Who owns copyright and how it is publicly presented depends upon the arrangement between you and a specific client. And not being a lawyer, I can’t give you a definitive answer but hopefully the above helps. Try www.copyright.org.au and get a copyright lawyer’s details from them if copyright becomes an issue for you.

 

Posted in business info & tools, writing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Writing contracts

Published 26 September, 2011 | By TashWord

I’ve been asked recently about grammar and proper English for ‘important documents’ such as a contract.

Writing a contract has so much mystique and importance associated with it that many people find the thought of a contract to be intimidating. And to be honest, contracts written in legalese help that perception.

However, a contract is simply an agreement between two (or more) parties.

And a well written contract is simply communicating the details of an agreement.

A contract will outline the details of the arrangement so some contracts are much longer than others and some need much more attention to finer details such as provided by a lawyer. But the bottom line is that it is a business document and needs to communicate a clear message.

Writing contracts

Writing a contract is like any other business writing in that

  1. spelling is important
  2. grammar is important
  3. punctuation is important to ensure the correct meaning is understood
  4. good writing basics are important – for example, a contract needs no more capital letters than any other document
  5. clarity and simplicity make it easier to understand and read
  6. knowing the purpose beforehand makes it easier to write
  7. proof reading – and a second opinion – is critical

Posted in business info & tools, writing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment
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