writing

Refer to older posts…

SMS shorthand

Published 12 January, 2008 | By TashWord

Like pretty much anyone else, if I am sending a SMS message I may use short forms and abbreviated words – it’s quicker and easier on a small screen and keyboard. Although it is becoming less necessary with smart phones.

However, as a professional writer, I cringe every time I see shortened words in other contexts.

There is no need to use SMS shortcuts on a website, in a newsletter or blog, or in any other business or professional document. Personally, I don’t think there’s much need to use it in personal emails or letters, either, but I’ll leave that alone!

Reading information about a business, we want to know if we can trust the business and that they will provide a professional service*. If the business can’t even be bothered writing out full words, they do not inspire trust that they will provide much for customers.

Examples…

1. Only days ago a friend forwarded me an email she had received. The subject of the email was “Here’s to a gr8 ’08!” and she forwarded it to me with the comment that she hadn’t even bothered reading it because the subject “really put me off!”

With something like an email subject, you only have one chance to entice people to read it, so don’t lose that chance by not using full words.

2. A while ago I was asked to review someone’s website for a service based business where she really needed people to trust her. The entire homepage was full of U (instead of you), lower case letters and other SMS-type words. Had I not been reviewing it, I would not have even read the page – again, you only have a short time to grab a visitor’s interest on a website so make first impressions good.

So, go back to basics – use good grammar, spelling and expression to present a clear message even if you think your audience understands or relates to SMS texting language. Understanding it is not the same as respecting it away from mobile phones.

* By professional service, I mean service that is appropriate, courteous and business -like so it includes customer service in a retail setting as well as services from a service provider such as an accountant, lawyer or writer.

Posted in bad writing examples, grammar & details, web content, writing | Tagged context, professionality, shorthand, SMS | 7 Comments

Online magazine or newsletter?

Published 8 January, 2008 | By TashWord

I’ve had a client swap from online newsletters to paper ones recently and it got me to thinking about the relative benefits of a paper newsletter/magazine over an online version.

So, following on from yesterday’s discussion on blogs vs newsletters, today’s post is about online vs print for newlsetter

What are the benefits of a hard copy newsletter/magazine?

it’s easy to read – on screen reading is slower and harder, printing it yourself requires a printer and costs!
not everyone is online so a hard copy may expand your readership base, which is particularly important if you want to influence a wider range of people
many people find it exciting to get something in the mail, especially something that isn’t a bill!
it’s easy to mark your place if you can’t finish reading it in one sitting
it’s easy to make notes in the margins or underline specific points of interest
it can be stored for later use or handed to friends and colleagues
articles tend to be longer and more detailed in a magazine or printed newsletter which is great if you are after information

And how is an online version better?

it is very cheap to produce and distribute, and is therefore more likely to be available for free
it can be finished just before a publication deadline – hard copies need more planning – so can be more up-to-date
it can link to relevant resources, expanded information and the publisher’s website
it can be kept very short by just having article excerpts and linking to the main article online
the link/pdf/email can be passed onto friends

As a general rule, businesses will pay more to advertise in your magazine than in an online or email newsletter because it is the more conservative and better-known option, and it is more permanent.

Email newsletters become popular very fast because they were cheap to produce and could be sent straight to people’s computers. However, there are now so many email newsletters available that people become overwhelmed and don’t read all the emails they get. Additionally, there is so much spam flying around that legitimate newsletters and the like are often caught by spam filters and are not read.

So when contemplating what to do for your business, consider your budget, the purpose of your publication, what your market may like and how important it is for your newsletters to be read promptly. Remember, you can always do both or stop one if it truly isn’t working for you and your clients.

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

Be careful with satire

Published 16 December, 2007 | By TashWord

Writing satire can be difficult but can produce some very funny work. However, you need to match the satire to an appropriate audience.

Some time ago, I wrote a satirical piece about being a year 12 student – I referred to the wonderful social life (visiting a newsagent, a library, seeing movies of books under study, etc) and the joy of always having something to do (hmm, now I think of it, it is pretty similar to running your own business!)

I know it worked as various friends and teachers at my writing course read it and laughed. Yet I gave it to another person once and she took it very seriously. Her comment was along the lines of “That’s an interesting piece, but I’m not sure how many other year 12 students would agree with you about the highlight of the year”

Personally, I found her response funnier than the original story! However, it does prove a point – if you are writing in a style that is not mainstream or is perhaps different to the norm in a particular context, then take care that your piece will not be misinterpreted in a way that it becomes meaningless.

Learn about your target audience and preferably test your work on a couple of them. You don’t want to waste your best writing on an unappreciative audience!

Posted in bit off track, writing | Tagged appropriate, satire, target audience | 4 Comments

Answering negative comments

Published 15 December, 2007 | By TashWord

Someone has posted something negative on your blog. You’ve decided to keep their comment live on the blog, so now you need to answer the comment with one of your own.

You could:

be negative or even abusive back
ignore the negative aspects of their comment
be upset and cry ‘unfair’
be extremely humble and apologetic
agree to disagree
agree with them in parts
agree with them and indicate how you will deal with the issue

So which is the best option?

Well, attacking back isn’t a good idea – it may help you feel better immediately, but it is unprofessional and will be remembered more than the original comment. It also doesn’t solve anything.

Ignoring the negative bits. If the comment is mostly ok and just has some negative bit, you may be able to just answer the main part of the comment and get away with it. But ignoring the negative part looks like you are avoiding it, doesn’t make the commenter feel heard, doesn’t help your business grow and doesn’t stop people believing the negative comment.

You may well feel upset by something in a comment, but posting in that way doesn’t look professional or constructive.

Humble is good and an apology where warranted is a must, but don’t go overboard with it. Being too apologetic and humble removes your credibility and is unlikely to earn you more clients. A simple “I’m sorry you feel that way,” “Sorry – I made a mistake” or “I think I mucked that up – let me try again” is usually enough.

If the comment is just negative because they disagree with you – that’s great! It is an opportunity for discussion (and isn’t that what a blog is for?) and for you to learn. You may never agree with the comment, but reading it and considering it may give you a new perspective.

A response that acknowledges the others person’s opinion shows respect and an open mind – it doesn’t mean you have to lie and agree with everything they write, just be polite and find a positive aspect to their opinion. You can respond with comments such as

“I can see where you are coming from but I still like my logo”
“That’s an interesting idea. Personally, I don’t like pumpkin but it would add great colour to the dish”
“I prefer brand X but it’s good to hear how it has worked for other people”
“You are probably right about the rules, but I still think this is safer”
“Mary thinks long domain names are great, I prefer short ones – what do you think?”
“I agree that Christmas preparations can start in July but I don’t like decorations in shops in October”
“I had never thought about it like that before.”
“I think you’re right – that article is too long. But it would be incomplete if I cut out the examples”

If the negative comment is actually constructive feedback, the best thing you can do is act on it. You may give an initial response in your blog thanking them for their feedback and noting that you are looking into the issue – and don’t forget to come back and post about the fix once it is in place. This is a powerful process. You will show you are listening to your readers/clients, you respect their opinions and you will admit mistakes in order to improve your service/products. The person making the comment will appreciate being heard and may turn into a supporter; other readers will admire and remember your willingness to change.

So the best option to respond to a negative comment partially depends on the nature of the comment. But always respond with respect in a polite way and acknowledge their point of view. Agree, disagree or make amends as the situation calls for.

Consider negative comments as a way of showing your professionalism and building true relationships with your blog readers and clients, and the comments won’t seem so difficult or painful anymore.

Posted in blogging, writing | Tagged Abusive, blog, comment, negative, response | 2 Comments

Always double-check your writing

Published 14 December, 2007 | By TashWord

Writing well is more than just getting words onto the page – you also need to check the correct words and spelling are there to be read.

I was looking at a website the other day and I’m sure they didn’t proof read it – maybe they didn’t actually read it at all once it was written. On their contact page it states:

Submit your answers and reply or call at no time.

The bit that jumped out at me was ‘call at no time’ – not exactly a welcoming message for a business! The mistake of ‘no’ instead of ‘any’ is simple to make but has a big impact on the final meaning of your words.

Of course, ‘submit your answers and reply’ doesn’t make sense either. Reading over their work (or getting someone else to read it for them) could have ended with webcopy that made sense.

So always read through and check your writing says what you wanted it to say, without missing words.

Posted in grammar & details, web content, writing | Tagged double check, grammar, spelling | 5 Comments

Dealing with negative comments

Published 13 December, 2007 | By TashWord

As soon as you put a blog online and open it up to comments, you face the risk of receiving negative comments on there. The only way to guarantee none of these is to not allow comments – or not have a blog!

Obviously, you can also get negative comments about you and/or your business in emails, by phone and via other online means, but dealing with those is very different to dealing with blog comments.

The first step is to control comments getting onto your blog. The best way to do this is make sure comments are moderated – that means that people can enter comments but they will only go live when you approve them. Not only does this control what goes live, it also means that you can reply as soon as the comment is live so the comment needs never be read by itself online.

So, you go to moderate a new comment and you don’t like it. What do you do?

Well, why don’t you like it? I see three main categories of comments you may not like a comment – rude and inappropriate, highly critical or disagreeing with you.

Your choices:

delete it – it is then gone from your blog forever and no one else needs ever know about it. This is the best choice for spam and highly inappropriate comments. Be careful of deleting comments that you just don’t like personally as the person involved may complain about your censorship*

modify it and approve it – you have the ability to edit any comments so that they are less unpleasant to you. An example of when this may be useful is when someone posts some constructive feedback but uses inappropriate language to do so – you could delete the swear words and approve the main message. However, note that some people will be offended and/or vocal if you change what they wrote – you may want to contact them personally and explain why you are making such changes and give them the option of an edited version being approved or all of it deleted.

approve it and do nothing – it is then live for all to see but you don’t respond to it in any way. To me, this is burying your head in the sand – the comment is there for anyone to read so it would be better to reply and possibly turn it into something of value. Readers may also perceive it as you ignoring problems or criticisms, so the blog will appear too one-sided and not worth returning to.

approve it and respond – allow the comment to go live and add your response as a new comment. Then you are giving your readers your reaction and are showing that you listen to your readers, which is important if you want your blog to be a community and readers to keep coming back.

Approve it, respond to it and act on it – while it isn’t always appropriate to act on a comment, read it carefully and consider things from the commenter’s point of view. Are they justified in saying your orders are always late or your emails too technical? Can you improve your business or blog by listening to those comments and making a change? If you do that, and add a follow-up comment once the change has been made, your business will be strengthened and your credibility increased. You may just turn that commentor into a supporter.

Remember to consider why you don’t like the comment and the potential impact the comment will have on your readers and your blog before you decide how to treat any negative comments.

Have you had any negative comments that have led to something positive?

* censorship – it is your blog so you do have the right to choose what is/isn’t included on it. However, if you say you want an interactive blog and a community, then too much censoring may seem contradictory and may raise more complaints.

Posted in blogging, writing | Tagged blog, censorship, moderate, Negative comments | 6 Comments

Spam writing

Published 8 December, 2007 | By TashWord

Writing spam? Don’t you just want to delete it rather than create more of it???

Occasionally, I read a piece of spam that gets into my inbox – mostly by accident and sometimes as research 🙂

I can see various spam emails being useful as examples of bad writing so I can show you how to improve your writing – or give you a giggle at bad writing anyway!

For instance, I got one yesterday that started with “Kind time of day of ladies and gentlemen” – why limit yourself to good morning or good afternoon when you can cover both at once! Obviously, a simple “Greetings”, “Hello” or “Dear friend” would be my suggestion.

Then, there was “Get $999 you download our casino.” Hmmm, a casino that will give me money to download them? I am very curious as to how I could possible download a casino – but not so curious I clicked on the link 🙂 A better way to say it would have been “Get $999 when you download our casino software” or “Join our casino and get $999”.

And “same problems. somewhere in the world.” could probably have been better written as “The same problems occur throughout the world” or “Someone in the world has the same problem as you.”

I could go on and on, but thought I’d finish with mentioning a blog entry that shows you how to write better spam – enjoy!

Posted in bit off track, grammar & details, writing | Tagged bad wording, emails, spam | Leave a comment

example etcetera…

Published 5 December, 2007 | By TashWord

ABCs Writing a complete list can be tedious, so we tend to write out part of a list as a sample instead. Implying it is a sample even when we think we have written out the entire list, can also be useful – it protects you from giving an absolute.

So how do we imply it is part of a list? We start the list with something like ‘for example’, ‘such as’, ‘including’ or ‘something like’ OR we end the list with ‘etcetera’, ‘and so on’, ‘and more’, ‘or another…’ or ‘and similar.’

The key word is or – we start or end the sentence to indicate it is an incomplete list, not both.

“For example, we offer red, blue, orange, pink, etcetera” is unnecessary.

In fact, example means here is a subset of the whole while etcetera means there is more or the rest is to come. So the above sentence means “The subset is red, blue, orange, pink, and the rest”

“For example, we offer red, blue, orange and pink” or “We offer red, blue, orange, pink and other colours” makes more sense, is shorter and is correct!

So please don’t write example and etcetera in the same sentence!

Posted in writing | Tagged ect, examples, use | Leave a comment

Trusting suppliers

Published 2 December, 2007 | By TashWord

Outsourcing is a valuable activity in business – you gain expert assistance, time and completed projects.

Yet many business owners choose to not trust their suppliers. Now obviously you need to maintain control and ensure suppliers are providing you with what you’re paying for, but you are also paying for their expertise.

I recently did some webcopy for a client. Amongst other things, I rewrote their about us page – both adjusting the content (as requested by the client) and improving the flow and grammar of the page.

The feedback from the client was ‘that’s good thanks, but we made a few changes to the about us text’. That’s great – they should take ownership and make changes so it is accurate and they are comfortable with the final copy.

However, when I looked at their changes I saw that they had replaced a lot of my text with their grammatically incorrect text again. By grammatically incorrect, I’m talking about sentences like ‘we started our business because my son needed…’ without indicating who ‘me’ actually is. It ended up not making much sense and looking very amateurish, unfortunately.

The point is that if you’re going to pay a professional writer, then take their advice on grammar, flow and style, even if you want to change the tone or content of the work.

I’ve heard graphic designers, accountants, web designers and database programmers express this frustration, too. In all instances, the professional has done what the client wanted but is disappointed in the result as they are aware of the errors. The professional is also unlikely to add that project to their portfolio so you won’t get any free advertising that way, either.

Question a professional by all means, make a suggestion even, but listen to what they tell you before you assume your way is best.

If you are not ready to take professional advice and direction, then maybe you aren’t ready to give up any control of your business and outsourcing won’t help you.

Outsourcing will help you and save you time, but only if you are ready to accept that help.

Posted in business info & tools, grammar & details, web content, writing | Tagged grammar, trust, writing | 1 Comment

Blogging skills

Published 30 November, 2007 | By TashWord

I found a post about developing your skills at blogging which I thought worth mentioning. It is also relevant on the whole for newsletter writing.

It doesn’t mention ‘be yourself’ directly, but I think that is the only major point I would add to the list.

In summary, Chris Garrett gives 10 points that lead to successful blogging:

blog by example
blog with passion
be organised (well, I can’t always get 10 out of 10!)
delegate
take ownership & responsibility
communicate effectively (hopefully, that’s where my tips come in handy!)
be brave & honest
listen
know your readers
be a reader

I found number 7 interesting – I am always honest in my blog but don’t feel I am particularly brave as communications isn’t usually very controversial 🙂 But then I read Chris’ comments about this to find him saying pretty much the same thing and suggesting there is bravery in choosing and presenting topics.

Which of the above points do you find most challenging in your blog writing?

Posted in blogging, newsletter content, writing | Tagged Blogging, brave, challenging, honest, skills | 6 Comments

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