4 tips to be a better writer — right now!
Writing comes naturally to some. To others, it is a completely unnatural and uncomfortable process. The majority of business professionals out there fall somewhere in between. They consider themselves decent writers but find it a challenge to continually locate the right words and tone for their releases, newsletters, white papers and so on.
Here are 4 tips that can help experienced and novice writers alike build their skills and their confidence:
1. Scrutinize everything you write. It doesn’t matter if it’s an email or a birthday card, take your time with what you’re writing, and reread what you’ve created at least twice. Get a sense of what works and what doesn’t, and think about ways to improve. Should the content be more descriptive? Less wordy? Do you need a refresher course in some grammatical rules? Are you taking up several sentences to say the same thing, just in different ways? But don’t make it all negative. Focus on what’s good about your writing, too. Do you turn a nice phrase? Is your tone professional yet approachable? Do you feel that others will get a crystal-clear image of what your trying to say? The more you analyze your writing, the more aware you’ll be of your writing strengths and weaknesses. Then, you can capitalize on the former while minimizing the latter.
2. Read the content of others. Look at your competitors’ website and blog; reread emails sent to you by colleagues; dig out that industry newsletter from last month. Note words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs and whole articles that are well written and make an impact. Does your writing have that same power? It’s not that you want to copy someone else’s writing style; instead, you want to recognize good solid business writing and find ways to enhance your own
3. Read your writing out loud. This is a really good tool that even accomplished writers use. When you read aloud, you get a better feel for the tone of the piece. You’re also likely to catch errors like this: She is is a good friend.
4. Trust yourself. As a skilled professional, you are an authority in your field. Write with authority (but don’t be preachy), and others will admire and respect your prose.
NOTE: For more information on writing and editing for small business owners and entrepreneurs, please visit
Tips for Editing Your Own Writing
I was honored to lead a workshop at the 18th Annual Western Reserve Spring Writers Conference at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, Ohio. Joining me were some fantastic writers of both books and articles.
My topic was “Editing Your Own Writing.” I had a lot of fun sharing ideas about how to make your work more powerful and more enjoyable for your readers. To view the PowerPoint presentation, please visit file://localhost/Users/dianedipierorodio/Documents/editingyourownwork.htm.
Lakeland holds spring (half-day) and fall (full-day) writers conferences each year. For more information, click here http://www.lakelandcc.edu/communitylearning.
Ultimate Website Content Part Two: What’s Your Story
I had a fiction writing teacher in college who used to talk about an old song with the verse, “Don’t tell me you love me, show me you love me.” This was his way of explaining to the class that it was far more effective to vividly describe scenes in a story rather than just talk about them in a matter-of-fact way.
What does this have to do with content for a company website? It’s not like you’re going to create a fictional story about someone who offers great service at a great price. But you can be descriptive about what it is your company does and what sets it apart from the rest.
Take, for example, the two paragraphs below. Which one paints a clearer picture of the company?
1.) Acme Lighting is a well respected industry leader with more than 20 years of experience. We serve seven counties, and our customers rely on us for quality, timeliness and fair prices.
2.) We’ve got bright ideas at Acme Lighting. That’s why folks from as nearby as Cleveland and as far away as Medina have been illuminated by our products and services for more than 20 years. Whether it’s a temporary light display for a sold-out concert at a community park or a lighting design solution for an exciting new company, Acme Lighting has bright ideas at a reasonable price.
The second paragraph gives you visual images of the areas that Acme Lighting serves and the types of projects the company might handle.
It’s not just about fun adjectives or catchy phrases. Telling your company’s story means providing information to readers that helps them see, feel, hear what you do and to clearly understand why you’re the one they should contact for their next project.
Ultimate Website Content–Part One: Case Studies
Are words really all that important when it comes to websites? Isn’t the look what matters? Certainly, that’s a big part of the whole package. But words do have meaning on websites, because people want to know what it is you do (or offer) and why they should come to you as opposed to another small business owner.
Website content must be engaging, sharp and convincing. The next several posts on this blog will offer sound advice on creating the best possible content on your business website.
PART ONE: BEGIN TO MAKE YOUR CASE WITH CASE STUDIES
The natural inclination would be to start the content for your site with your company’s home page. Before you do a lick of writing, though, you should ask yourself a few very basic but very important questions:
1.) What should people know about this business?
2.) What makes it special?
3.) How can I show them (not just tell them) that it’s special?
You know what you do and why you do it so well. But potential customers want to hear the experiences of existing customers to understand exactly how you have helped others. For this reason, case studies are quite possibly the most important element of your website content. That’s why you should consider writing case studies first, before anything else.
Case studies not only help potential customers, they also are invaluable to the small business owner. Seeing your work through your customers–how they perceive your capabilities, your actions and your interactions–allows you to understand what you mean to them and what you can mean to others.
ONE PROFESSIONAL’S PRAISE FOR CASE STUDIES
Andy Birol, owner of Birol Growth Consulting, is a big believer in case studies. “Case studies serve three wonderful purposes. First, they represent your work through the voice of the client,” he says. They can also lead to media interest or industry-related articles. Finally, Birol says, case studies illustrate “what you do and how you do it.”
A well-written case study, Birol adds, can be beneficial to your business, your clients and your prospects.
Birol frequently adds new case studies to his website, www.andybirol.com. In this way, he highlights a variety of individual client needs as well as his company’s customized solutions. Prospective clients can see that Birol’s approach to each project is tailored to specific company interests.
Case studies are different from testimonials, which are brief quotes from clients offering praise for a company’s assistance. Case studies are much more involved, because they describe the particular client, the client’s need, the solution offered by the company and the (positive) results. While a case study may start out with a problem, it always offers a resolution, which results in a “happy ending.”
CREATING CASE STUDIES
How can you get started with case studies for your site? Contact previous or existing customers and ask if they’d be willing to talk about how working with you solved a particular need. You or a professional writer can then interview the client. Be sure to ask these questions:
1.) What specific need was your company seeking to address?
2.) Why did you enlist the help of a professional in this area?
3.) Why did you choose this particular company?
4.) How did you and the company work toward creating solutions?
5.) What were the end results of the project?
More questions will certainly come up as you delve into the story, but these are the basics. Based on the information you receive, you can create an article of 500-600 words that is both enjoyable and informative. For a good example of a case study, go to www.andybirol.com/DisplayContent.aspx?MenuID=738.
Even if you only have one or two existing clients, case studies can be an effective tool in building your client base.
Once you see your business through a client’s eyes, you can then have a clearer idea of what you bring to the table. And that will help you to build the rest of the content on your website.
NEXT TIME: “About Us” Do’s and Don’ts
Susan Mikolic Offers “Stepping Stones” to Mental Health
Please visit the link below to see my small business profile about Susan Mikolic on coolcleveland.com:
http://coolcleveland.com/index.php?n=Main.CleBizGuardianAngel
Newsletters That Make You Go “Hmm…”
Business e-newsletters seem to be popping up all over the place. Companies have found e-newsletters an economical and effective way to reach customers, potential customers and industry people. What a great opportunity to present industry news and illustrate what makes your product or service great.
If your company publishes an e-newsletter or is thinking of creating one, you might also consider a subtler approach to content, one that when properly executed, can be extremely satisfying for yourself and your target audience. We’ll call this approach “Newsletters That Make You Go ‘Hmm…’”
With this type of newsletter, the focus is actually not on your company but on ideas, books, articles or human interest stories that engage the reader. There is no sales pitch in this type of newsletter, nor is there a call to action. Instead, the content reveals the thought-provoking side of your team. It’s as if you are having lunch with a client or prospective client and saying, “Hey, look at this article I read! Tell me what you think.”
Giraffe, Inc., a talented Cleveland creative design firm, does an excellent job of producing “Newsletters That Make You Go ‘Hmm.’” The company weaves intelligent and fun stories about everything from overused marketing catch phrases to unconventional businesses or business practices. As you read through these stories, you may see a sentence or two about Giraffe’s work with a specific company, but the focus stays on the intended subject and not on Giraffe.
You can see one of Giraffe’s clever newsletters by clicking on this link:
http://idisk.mac.com/giraffesite-Public/Giraffe-NL.pdf
This type of newsletter works on two levels. First, it encourages the reader to think about the subject matter. “Hmm, I’ve never thought about marketing that way,” for example. Second, it subtly entices the reader to want to learn more about Giraffe. “Hmm, this Giraffe seems like an interesting company, and they’re not trying to blatantly sell me anything!”
Giraffe, in turn, uses its newsletters as a way of getting to know its clients and potential clients on a more personal level. “Did you read the article in our last newsletter? What do you think about it?” a Giraffe team member may ask during a business phone call. It helps customers see Giraffe as a group of talented people and not just a company looking for business. Of course, as with any business, Giraffe wants to attract customers! But through it’s newsletters, it seeks to inform first and then lure in new business by gaining trust and communication.
So why aren’t you writing a “Newsletter That Makes You Go ‘Hmm’” right now?
Does Your Web Content Sing?
One of my daughter’s favorite commercials during the recent Summer Olympics had a catchy refrain that she happily sang long after the music had stopped. “This is Budweiser. This is beer,” the voices rang out from the television set. My daughter chimed in every time the commercial ran.
Budweiser may very well have picked up a new patron 13 years from now (much to my chagrin). The point is that the song accompanying this commercial was simple and succinct. “We make beer, and it’s good” was the gist, and my daughter, probably without knowing it, got the message. She may not have been the company’s target audience, but chances are many people of legal age also enjoyed the jingle.
To capture the attention of visitors to a company website, the content must “sing.” That doesn’t mean you have to employ trite slogans. Rather, your website content should be easy to understand, concise and engaging.
How can you make this happen? Here are some ideas:
A.) Use headlines and taglines that grab readers’ interest.
Which headline would entice you to read the history of a small business?
A History of the Joe Blow Acme Company
Joes Blow Acme Company: Lights, Camera, Action
The second headline draws you in because it creates an image of a company on the move. Think about writing headlines and taglines for your content that encourage visitors to read on. What makes your business unique? Find a couple of key words to sum that up, and use them in an attention-grabbing headline.
B.) Don’t tell the whole story.
This can be difficult, especially when you’re really proud of your company’s products or services!
Imagine turning on the radio in your car and hearing the tail end of a song that has a great tune and lyrics. It’s the first time you’ve ever heard the song, and you want to hear more. Thus, you go in search of the song on another station or on the Internet.
Think of web content as a concise–but not complete–overview of your business. Offer important details about who you are, what you can do for customers and why you do it better than anyone else. Make it interesting, and leave them wanting more. If they like what they read on the site, they’ll contact you to hear the rest of the story.
C.) Keep the copy flowing.
Remember reading a school text book that seemed to drone on from page 1 to page 599? The paragraphs were long, the sentences within the paragraphs were long, the words within the sentences were long, and after awhile you either fell asleep or became frustrated because you were unable to grasp the subject matter.
Even if your business is very technical, it’s important to keep the website content interesting and engaging. Use technical jargon when appropriate, and offer easy-to-understand definitions if you feel they’re necessary. If you’re target audience is non-technical people, try to use “layman’s” terms.
Shorter sentences are easier to follow than longer ones. A former editor of mine hammered into my head that a sentence should never be more than about 25 words long. That doesn’t mean you have to count every word, or keep every sentence at 25 words or less. (You’ll see that I broke the rule more than once within this post!) But if you reread a sentence and find yourself losing your place, you can be sure viewers of your website will do so as well.
Try to keep paragraphs between 3 and 5 sentences long. Any longer, and the readers eyes–and attention–will start to wander.
D.) Use pull quotes with meaning.
Take a really special quote from a satisfied customer and show it off somewhere on your company’s home page. (Of course, giving proper credit!) Or borrow quotes (again, giving proper credit!) from famous people in history to inspire visitors to your website.
E.) Be creative when appropriate.
Some company websites demand straightforward, serious content, but many times a website can accommodate a little creativity or levity. Why not add some oomph to your company’s history? For example:
“On a bone-chilling January night in 2003, two young entrepreneurs sat at a dimly lit table in a neighborhood coffee shop and fantasized about how they would revolutionize their industry.”
You can also be creative on an About Us page. Include interesting or little-known facts about your employees; e.g., what clubs they belonged to in high school, any sports trophies they won, their idea of a dream vacation. By including tidbits that don’t directly relate to the business, you’re revealing a human side to the company. And people (i.e., potential customers) like relating to other people.
These are just a few suggestions to help your website sing, and to get visitors to “hum” your catchy “tune” long after they’ve left your site. Now, let’s hear from you. How do you make your web content sing? What tricks of the trade do you enjoy on others’ sites. Let’s share.
It’s, Like, Not Good in Print Either
A recent article in the local newspaper–a front-page, above-the-fold article–told the story of a local politician at an event. The politician handed a treat to a youngster, and the mother somewhat protested. The next line of the article read:
Russo was like, “What?”
Please read that again. If you think the word “said” should have been used instead of “like,” we’re on the same page.
There is absolutely no reason why the word “like” should have been in that sentence, unless it was part of a direct quote. (And even then, I think there’s a way to partially quote the person and leave out the word “like.”)
It’s bad enough that that word is horribly misused in the spoken language. (And I will admit right here that I catch myself using it now and again, and could scream when I hear it come out of my mouth.) “Like,” as it is shown in that sentence, should never, ever, ever be used in print.
There’s nothing wrong with the written word being somewhat more formal than the spoken, especially when your words are going to be read by a lot of other people. If you are writing a business letter to a customer or a blog post on your company’s website, you should use words that are powerful and reflect the professionalism of yourself and your company.
Words create an image in the reader’s mind. If you are using the word “like” when you should be using “said,” a reader can’t help but conjure the image of someone who is not that professional or mature. As the younger generations become businesspeople, they are going to have to be especially careful of this.
Today, I heard a reporter on CSPAN asking questions of an international figure. She used the word “like” no less than eight times in her question, and threw in a couple of “you knows” and “and things.” What do those words convey? The idea that the reporter is young, inexperienced and uncomfortable in that position. There was no sense of confidence and authority.
The same thing happens in the written word. We must use words that convey an image of strength, maturity and professionalism.
Calling All Youngstowners (present and former)
I have been looking at a lot of sites lately dedicated to Youngstown. I am pleased with the pride that all of these people have for their community.
I grew up in Y-town, and even though I left, I carry my small town, working class, ethnic and religious pride with me wherever I go. My family visits Youngstown about once a month. I have to say, in a good way, that there is no place like it in the world. Every time we visit my parents’ church, everyone knows us, kisses our kids, makes us feel as though we live down the street. It’s hard to find that sense of community these days!
Please visit this link to find something truly unique about the Y-town area:
http://shoutyoungstown.blogspot.com/2008/07/return-of-baby-doll-dance.html#links
You’ll see video from the annual Mount Carmel Festival in Lowellville (down the hill, literally, from my parents’ house). There is a very unusual ritual called the Baby Doll Dance. If I try to describe it to you, you won’t believe me. But it’s incredible. There is definitely a story there waiting to be written! I hope to take my family to see it next summer.
Although I’m not in Youngstown anymore, I am very committed to singing its praises and helping in anyway I can with its revitalization.
In fact, I’ve had this crazy idea lately: What if you could create a public relations campaign that would tout Y-town for its small community, sense of pride, friendly neighbors, strong faith, etc.? Aren’t a lot of people hungry for this stuff? It would take some pioneers to settle in from elsewhere and keep the flavor going, but I think it could work. Am I crazy?
The Dictionary, Please
In the not-so-olden days, a writer relied on an electric or even a manual typewriter, some White Out for mistakes and a dictionary. Spell Check was nothing more than a glimmer in some young technical genius’ eye. Instead, you depended on your own keen sense of spelling and grammar, with help from Merriam-Webster. A typo was unacceptable.
Today, we pretty much rely on the Spell Check built-into our software to get us through an important piece of copy. But we shouldn’t place all our faith in that. Just like everything else in life, we’ve got to take some personal responsibility for our writing.
Just the other day, I was writing an article and wanted to describe the large portions of food served at a restaurant. I first wrote down hearty, then switched to hardy, then decided I needed to consult the dictionary included with MS Word. I have to say, I wasn’t totally convinced after reading the definitions provided there.
So I lugged the big red dictionary over to my computer (complaining all the way, of course; what a hassle to have to actually GET UP from your computer station!). I saw that among the definitions for hardy were bold and brazen and inured to fatigue or hardships. I wouldn’t want to eat that type of food, would you? But just to be sure I had the correct word, I flipped the pages to hearty: abundant, rich or flavorful enough to satisfy the appetite. Ah, there we go!
Anyone can get confused with the meanings of words or the spelling of words or how words should be used in a sentence. The dictionary comes in handy for all of that. (As an example, it can–and should!–be used to remind oneself about when to use “its” and “it’s” in a sentence. More on that issue–one of my pet peeves–in another post.) The dictionary confirms our thought or politely lets us know we’re wrong. Plus, it forces us to move our bodies when typing and gives us a chance to hold a great book in our hands if only for a minute.
The dictionary: a must-read for writers, whether they’re doing so for business or pleasure.
