|
Copywriting that Sells
The first thing I learnt after writing my first copy was – it all boils down to how much your copy sells. No matter how good it is, no matter if it beats Hemingway and Dickens in the efficient employment of language, if it does not sell, it is...
The ONLY Thing You Need to Know About Writing Articles
You don't need to be a great writer to write great articles, just be fast and entertaining. There is only ONE SINGLE THING you need to know about article writing. Tell a story. Stories are easy to follow and interesting. Why are the Chicken Soup...
TWENTY FIVE TIPS IN WRITING ARTICLES FOR THE WEB
Writing articles can provide you with enormous amount of exposure on the Web. You are branding yourself on a shoestring budget - it hasn't cost you a cent, but a little time and effort Writing a free content article is simple and follows a...
Why Article Writing Can Be Good For Your Business And For You
If you have spent any time researching internet marketing then
you have heard some buzz about article marketing. Perhaps you
are even intrigued by the idea (after all, any FREE marketing
method is worth checking out) but the hype surrounding...
Work at Home and Make Money Writing for Profit
When you work at home to make money writing for profit you do it in your own time, your spare time. What spare time do I hear you yell at me? Time is what you make of it and if you try (really, really try) you can always allocate a little for...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Secret to Good Writing
Skilful business writing involves getting your message across simply and quickly. This often means writing in a style that is easily read and understood by a broad audience.
Yet, writing simply is often difficult for most of us.
Why? The answer lies in our school education. We learnt that if we used big words and complex sentences, we were more likely to get an ‘A’ by our English teacher or University lecturer. The education system taught us that people who use a broad range of vocabulary are more intelligent that the rest of us.
There is nothing wrong with writing beautifully pieces of prose that feature a stunning range of vocabulary knowledge. However, such writing is unsuitable for a business market.
No business manager has the time to wade through material that meanders and weaves before a point is made. They are even less likely to have time to grab a dictionary to work out what the writer is trying to say.
When I used to work as a market research consultant, I had the impossible task of trying to write market research reports that seemed interesting. My immediate response was to write a report that would make my University lecturer’s proud. Sadly, my colleagues all felt the same way.
It wasn’t until we had a business writing consultant come in to train us about how to write at the level of a Year 8 student that we realised the folly of our ways.
Using my newly found skills of writing a report using simple English, I proudly produced my ‘easy on the brain’ report to my manager (who missed the writing class). He told me ‘You write like you talk’. To this day, I still don’t know if he was criticising my talking or writing ability, but I gathered either way he wasn’t happy.
However, from a communication point of view, this style of writing is perfect for getting your message across quickly.
Later on in my career, I worked at a company that prided itself on its easy to read reports. While this was true (to some degree), one of the directors loved
to throw in a difficult word in every report he wrote to make the marketing manager reach for his dictionary. He thought this was really clever and that his clients would be in awe of his knowledge. I’m guessing his clients thought he was a tosser (interestingly, I met an ex-client years later who told me that when their company received one of his reports they would quickly scan it to find the unusual word and then erupt into hysterical laughter).
Articles that are written to impress your audience about how clever you are, do nothing more than distance them. No matter how learned your market is, they still prefer to read information that is easy to digest.
A great way to test whether your writing is easy to comprehend is to read it out loud. If someone spoke to you, using those words, could you instantly understand what they were getting at or would you have to really concentrate?
Scripts for marketing videos are no different. In fact, they need to be extremely simple in order to quickly grab the attention of people walking past at a trade show, for example.
Writing that is heavy on technical terms and jargon can be a real turn off. The beauty of a marketing video is that it uses both pictures and words. The saying “A picture tells a thousand words” is a powerful concept with corporate movies. It means you can actually get away with saying less, but easily get your message across, because the pictures do all of the talking.
Surprisingly, clear writing can be quite a difficult writing style to master, but the effort is well rewarded. And look at the bright side, at least people won’t burst into fits of laughter when they read your masterpiece.
About the Author
Marie-Claire Ross is one of the partners of Digicast. Digicast works with organisations who are not satisfied that their marketing and training materials are helping their business grow. She can be contacted on 0500 800 234 (Australia wide) or at mc@digicast.com.au. The website is at www.digicast.com.au.
|
|
|
|
|
| Guide to Academic Writing Article - Management - University of ... |
| University of Canterbury-- Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha. UC Home | Courses | Departments | Library | Teaching | Research | Students | Contacts | Search ... |
| www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz |
|
| Writing the Empirical Journal Article |
| File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML |
| Your browser may not have a PDF reader available. Google recommends visiting our text version of this document. |
|
| Writing article about audio systems and need enthusiasts to ... |
| Yahoo! Autos Custom Forums - Writing article about audio systems and need enthusiasts to interview - I'm looking for enthusiasts willing to be interv. |
| forums.custom.autos.yahoo.com |
|
| Writing article about audio systems and need enthusiasts to ... |
| Yahoo! Autos Custom Forums - Writing article about audio systems and need enthusiasts to interview - hey buddy i got a premmie system in my car i have a. |
| forums.custom.autos.yahoo.com |
|
| Writing Article About G2 - Seeking Input | Gallery |
| Writing Article About G2 - Seeking Input. steveohm. Joined: 2005-10-28 Posts: 2. Posted: Mon, 2006-01-16 08:16. Hey there,. I'm writing a how-to article for ... |
| gallery.menalto.com |
|
| (5.30) Not a directory writing article file -- throttling |
| (5.30) Not a directory writing article file -- throttling. This typically means that in the spool there is a directory in the spool that thinks it is a file ... |
| www.faqs.org |
|
| (7.25) Server throttled No space left on device writing article file |
| (7.25) Server throttled No space left on device writing article file. If df still shows you plenty of space then look if you have enough inodes free. ... |
| www.faqs.org |
|
| 10 Ideas for Writing Article/Blog Online - lifehack.org |
| 10 Ideas for Writing Article/Blog Online. Ever wrote some articles online and they have hundreds of people bookmarking and linking, on the other hand others ... |
| www.lifehack.org |
|
| Writing article reviews |
| Writing article reviews. What is an article review? Reading and noting; Writing the first draft; Revising and redrafting; Using feedback ... |
| www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au |
|
| "The 'Mane' Event" (Shotgun Writing - Article #3) by Barbra L ... |
| try your own tag:. "The 'Mane' Event" (Shotgun Writing - Article #3) ... Shotgun Writing (Article #3) (11.22-28.06). Palominos. . . golden-colored horses ... |
| www.gather.com |
|
| Muslim Man Kicked Out Of Mosque For Writing Article Criticizing Al ... |
| Muslim Man Kicked Out Of Mosque For Writing Article Criticizing Al Qaeda ... Muslim Man Kicked Out Of Mosque For Writing Article Criticizing Al Qaeda ... |
| tailrank.com |
|
| Muslim Man Kicked Out Of Mosque For Writing Article Criticizing Al ... |
| Hat tip to Atlas Shrugs . Yes, you read that correctly. He criticized Al Qaeda, so he got kicked out of his Mosque. And, this is no small Mosque. |
| tailrank.com |
|
| Articles About Freelance Writing Index |
| Freelance Writing Article Index. Getting Started · How To, Tips & Samples · Getting the Writing Done · Rewriting & Editing · Your Writing as a Business ... |
| www.aboutfreelancewriting.com |
|
| Todays-Woman - Short Story Writing: Article 1 - Introduction |
| Short Story Writing: Article 1 - Introduction Date: Tuesday, September 26 @ 22:01:33 CDT Topic: Writing Advice. Author:Ian Mackean ... |
| www.todays-woman.net |
|
| SEL: Presentation + Writing Article for SMS |
| Presentation + Writing Article for SMS. I have a presentation to prepare for, plus I'm writing an article for the Search Marketing Standard. ... |
| www.searchenginelowdown.com |
|
| Writing article introductions HOWTO (English) - ArchWiki |
| Writing article overviews HOWTO (English). Writing article introductions HOWTO (English). Effective use of headers HOWTO (English). Related articles ... |
| wiki.archlinux.org |
|
| Writing article overviews HOWTO (English) - ArchWiki |
| Writing article overviews HOWTO (English). From ArchWiki. This article discusses article overview writing techniques. Article overviews are short textual ... |
| wiki.archlinux.org |
|
| Seeking a guide to the quality of web writing : Article : Nature |
| Nature is the international weekly journal of science: a magazine style journal that publishes full-length research papers in all disciplines of science, ... |
| www.nature.com |
|
| Resume Writing Article - Resume Falsification |
| Resume Writing Article - Resume falsification: Would you lie on your resume? |
| www.resume-resource.com |
|
| Resume Writing Article - Now What? How to Ensure Your Resume ... |
| Resume writing article: How to ensure you resume produces top results. |
| www.resume-resource.com |
|