Posts Tagged ‘writing’

The first was “you”, you”, “you” and no longer “me, me, me” or “I, I, I”

We also discussed how frequently using “you” in your blog posts creates a cyber environment that puts the needs and wants of your readers first as you provide them with helpful information.

Because

Remember when you were little and asked your mother “why” (such and such), she replied “because”, and you said “because why” or “why because” and she still said “because”…

Well, there’s a “because” here, too, and it’s the second most important word for your blogging.

In order to write compelling, persuasive content, you must be specific. And the more specific you can be, the more believable and convincing will be your argument, your opinions or your pitch for what you are selling.

There are a number of ways you can fine-tune your writing so that you can present an exact viewpoint. One of the best is to merely state a reason why. And the most effectual bridge or connecting word to use when thinking of a “reason why” is because.

Robert Cialdini from the Blog Triggers series at Copyblogger states that “the effect of using because has in fact been documented by social psychologist, Ellen Langer. Langer performed an experiment where she asked to cut in line to use a copy machine.

She tested three different ways of asking, and then recorded the results:

• Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine? 60% said OK.

• Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush? 94% said OK.

It appears that giving the “reason why” of because I’m in a rush boosted the effectiveness of the request immensely.
But here’s the kicker:

• Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies? 93% said OK.”

The trigger word “because” is so powerful that it didn’t really seem to matter that the “reason why” provided was something you might expect to hear from a four year old child.”

So when you’re making a declaration, be specific by explaining why, particularly when you want your reader to act upon what you’re saying.

And you don’t have to repeat what your mother used to say, “because I said so”, but instead you could include (under your breath at least) “because it does really work”.

About the Author
Get a complimentary copy of “Tips and Tricks to Grammar and Proofreading” and a subscription to “On the Bright Side,” our weekly ezIne, when you click to http://www.Konceptuality.com. At Konceptuality, we specialize in proofreading, editing, and ebook production support services, as well as general administrative support to Coaches, Speakers and Consultants. Email Karen McGreevey, Virtual Assistant and Expert Author, at kmcgreevey (@) konceptuality.com, for details.

Okay, here’s the deal!

If you are a small business owner/entrepreneur, the usual reason you start a blog and continue with it is to “market your business” or to otherwise carry out some sort of “public relations” acknowledgment or activities.

So, just like you plan the copy for your Web site, your blog posts ought to also be carefully thought-out and designed specifically with your readers’ needs and wants in mind.

For it’s when you create a cyber environment with posts full of formation and put your readers first that the trickle-down effect will also help you.

The key to writing appealing, reader first, blog content, of course, is how you choose your words. Just like assuring you have SEO friendly words, it’s important to be certain your blog caters to the needs of your readers.

Think boy friend-girl friend; or first date or two.

For instance, when you first start dating your thoughts and actions are usually most commonly directed toward pleasing the person who’s caught your eye. You do every thing you can to provide him or her with charming conversation, and you try to be aesthetically appealing in numerous ways.

So, failing to get that your readers come first will likely cost you their opportunity to discover the value you can offer them.
Much of today’s literature centered around marketing states that it takes anywhere from 4-7 or so “touches” before you wind up on, or stick to, people’s radar; before they notice you and begin to care about you or what you have to offer.

Initially, and especially since they don’t know you, any interaction is all about them. Thus, make sure your message is significant and has a value they can’t refuse.

One way to do this is to get your blog content to cause more of a stir. Simply, ask yourself, “How many times have I used ‘I’ and ‘Me’?” Have you used “You” in any of its forms anywhere in your blog message?

If your final blog effort is all about the “I and the me” and no “you” after “see?” (when you do your count, the numbers will say so) better make changes so that all, or at least most, of those I’s are yous.

Try it. You’ll be amazed at the reaction you’ll get.

About the Author
Get a complimentary copy of “Tips and Tricks to Grammar and Proofreading” and a subscription to “On the Bright Side,” our weekly ezIne, when you click to http://www.Konceptuality.com. At Konceptuality, we specialize in proofreading, editing, and ebook production support services, as well as general administrative support to Coaches, Speakers and Consultants. Email Karen McGreevey, Virtual Assistant and Expert Author, at kmcgreevey (@) konceptuality.com, for details.

When most of us are little, we have an imagination that just won’t quit

A long time ago, not withstanding any of today’s stereotypes or political correctness, the boys would play “cowboys and Indians” or “cops and robbers”; the girls might play “dress-up” or “movie star”, or take on the guise of “Florence Nightingale” their favorite nurse; or fantasy characters, “Snow White”, or  “Wonder Woman”!

Later, those dreams and fantasies morphed into a reality that didn’t materialize quite “like the books” or how our imagination expected. Alas, we discovered we had to change our thinking or real life would just get in the way.

In more recent years, the fantasy in some ways has taken on a dream we all dream at some point in our lives, that of being somebody special, somebody big. Who hasn’t fantasized about being the one who hits the game-winning homer? Who hasn’t dreamed of being the homecoming queen? And how many times have we dreamed of being rich, or successful, or happy with our relationships?

Often, though we dream big dreams and have great aspirations, our dreams, unfortunately, remain just that – dreams. And our hopes easily get pushed by the wayside or collect dust in our attic.

Such a sad turn of life’s events

Instead of experiencing exciting adventures in self actualization, we become caught up in the humdrum of living from day-to-day, perhaps that of just barely existing.

But you know, life could be so much better, if we just learned to aim higher.

The most common problem to setting goals is the word “impossible”. Most people get hung up with a self-fulfilling prophesy; a thinking that I can’t do this. It’s too hard. It’s too impossible. No one can do this.

It then becomes their reality!

However, if everyone thought like that, where would we be?  It’s almost like we become George Bailey in “It’s A Wonderful Life” looking at his life; for us/the world there would be no inventions, no innovations, and no breakthroughs in human accomplishment.

On the other hand, some people suffer from dreaming totally outrageous dreams and not acting on them. The result? Broken dreams, and tattered aspirations!

It’s a sad, sad situation

If you limit yourself with self-doubt, and self-limiting assumptions, you will never be able to break past what you deem impossible. If you reach too far into the sky without working towards your goal, you will find yourself clinging to something that can never happen.

Here’s an exercise to try

Take a piece of paper and write down some goals in your life. Under one header, list things ‘you know you can do’. Under another header, write the things ‘you might be able to do.’ And under one more, list the things that are ‘impossible for you to do.’

Now look at all the headers and figure out how to accomplish the goals every day that are under things ‘you know you can do’. When you accomplish them, check them off. After you’ve gone down the list and addressed each goal under that heading, move to tackling the goals under the next header–the one ‘you might be able to do’.

As the items you have written under “things I could do” are completed, move the goals that are under things that are ‘impossible for you to do’ to the list of things ‘you might be able to do.’

You’ll soon realize, as you work through this process, that the goals you first thought were impossible become easier to accomplish.

And the impossible begins to seem possible after all

You see, the technique here is to not limit your imagination. It is to aim high, and start working towards that goal little by little. However, it also is unwise to set goals that truly are not realistic.

Although,  if you had told someone a hundred years ago there would eventually be a man on the moon, or if you had said you would one day send mail from here to the other side of the world in a few seconds, in all probability, you would have quickly found yourself carted away to the nearest mental facility.

As you know, though, with sheer desire and perseverance, these impossible dreams are now realities. And much like  much like attaining dreams in athletics, there can be no forward motion unless you take yourself out of your comfort zone.

So, whether you are a “cops and robbers” kind of guy, a “Nancy Drew” kind of gal, or an “impossible dreamer” with aspirations to dust yourself off and dream a reality that includes medals, and riches and world recognition

How will your dreams chart look now?

About the Author
Get a complimentary copy of “Tips and Tricks to Grammar and Proofreading” and a subscription to “On the Bright Side,” our weekly ezIne, when you click to http://www.Konceptuality.com. At Konceptuality, we specialize in proofreading, editing, and ebook production support services, as well as general administrative support to Coaches, Speakers and Consultants. Email Karen McGreevey, Virtual Assistant and Expert Author, at kmcgreevey (@) konceptuality.com, for details.

Or the icing on the cake!

It’s all about the show!

If you’re going to put out an ezine, a newsletter, an eBook, a manual or some other document with your name on it, it’s important to put your best foot forward.

You can’t just throw on your “duds” and go out “looking like that!”

So, to keep you from looking a bit like you don’t know what you’re doing in your written presentations, consider these hints for proofreading.

Don’t rush

If you’re rushed to get your ezine, your newsletter or other project done at the last minute or otherwise, you might be inclined to skip the proofreading altogether.

Spell-check is your friend!

Although, there may be a time or two when you wish you didn’t use Spell-check–because occasionally it just does not get it right.

The Gremlins

Common trouble makers are the words that sound alike, spell differently and sometimes give a whole new meaning to what you’re talking about. Words like “your” and “you’re;” “its” and “it’s;” “to,” “too” and “two.”

And this is not all!

First impressions, and all that!

Here are several more tips to consider when you’re putting the finishing touches on your written work:

Make sure you capitalize only proper nouns

Unless you’re me!

I really like to capitalize words, other than proper nouns, and sometimes do it more than necessary (or I suppose more than correctly)…as exaggeration for effect! To make a specific point stand out!  So I confess to taking some “writer’s license” now and then.
It’s sort of like that “because I said so” thing!

Have someone read what you’ve written before you print, “hit send” or seal the envelope!

It’s a lot easier for a second party to see misspelled words, transposed letters, incorrect word usage and the like when that person is not as close as you to your end result.  If you have no one available to do this, leave your work for a few hours, and then come back to read what you’ve written.

Print it out, then proof!

“Misteaks” are lots easier to see when you can hold them up to the light. Although I suppose you could enlarge the Verdana font size in a Word document to size 28 or so. Nevertheless, it’s usually still easier to proofread from a print document.

Tou dnats sekatsim pleh ot sdrawkcab daer dna, dne eht ta trats

Well, somehow I don’t think that’s quite what the guideline means, although it really is easier to see errors when you “read it backwards”. I mean, hello, the whole line ^^^ above is an error!

And finally,

When in doubt, look it up!

Now I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have a concern about that. Because even if you have the bestest dictionary and style guide in the world if you don’t know how to spell a word or barely know how to start it, neither will do you much good.

So there you have them for now. We’ll have more again one of these weeks!

In the meantime, good luck in “righting” your “writing”

About the Author
Get a complimentary copy of “Tips and Tricks to Grammar and Proofreading” and a subscription to “On the Bright Side,” our weekly ezIne, when you click to http://www.Konceptuality.com. At Konceptuality, we specialize in proofreading, editing, and ebook production support services, as well as general administrative support to Coaches, Speakers and Consultants. Email Karen McGreevey, Virtual Assistant and Expert Author, at kmcgreevey (@) konceptuality.com, for details.

Okay, so you’ve written a “killer” article that can help you stand out in the crowd. But, will it?

Check these three tips to see if they apply to your article:

Your Target Market Niche

Often, article authors will send their article to the wrong target market/niche directory. Make sure your target audience will have access to it. It’s best to try to not blast every ezine publisher on the web. If you are niche specific, you’ll have a better chance for your article to be seen by your target market.

What’s It About?

It you’re sending your article to an online publisher, be sure to include the headline of your article in the subject of your email. This means, actually include the title of the article rather than just writing “New Article for Submission”.

It’s Not About You

Sometimes when article authors write articles promoting their products or affiliate programs, they spend their time, and the space in their article, writing about–themselves. As a result, many article directories will reject the article because it’s “too adversity” or “too salesy”. Information about your business, your services and you go in the Resource box, along with active links to your product or service. Your readers will also quickly click to your Web site if you give something away, or if you offer a free bonus.

About the Author
Get a complimentary copy of “Tips and Tricks to Grammar and Proofreading” and a subscription to “On the Bright Side,” our weekly ezIne, when you click to http://www.Konceptuality.com. At Konceptuality, we specialize in proofreading, editing, and ebook production support services, as well as general administrative support to Coaches, Speakers and Consultants. Email Karen McGreevey, Virtual Assistant and Expert Author, at kmcgreevey (@) konceptuality.com, for details.