V.L. Thompson's Blog, page 26

Your Company Is Only as Good as Your Writing

Article from HBR Blog Network by Kyle Wiens

Good writing: Businesses claim to practice it, support it, and value it. But more often than not, their money isn’t where their mouth is. Poor grammar and jargon-riddled writing are rampant. We’re great at inventing terms — the instruction manual for my toaster refers to the lever that pops up the toast as the ‘Extra-Lift Carriage Control Lever’ — but poor at communicating what we actually mean.

We could learn a thing or two about communication from our forefathers. One of the most effective speeches of all time, Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, was only 701 words. Of those, 505 were words of one syllable and 122 had two syllables.

Great leaders consider communication a core competence, so why don’t more businesses? Manufacturers spend millions on safety training to get people to wear hard hats, but spend very little to make sure their safety critical work instructions are written clearly.

That’s not good enough. Effective writing must be a company-wide endeavor.

If my marketer misses a typo while writing about a product, I want my packaging staff to catch it before the design gets sent to print. If my technicians don’t capitalize a tool’s name consistently, I’d hope my videographer notices the error when he glances at the report on their desks. When I’m writing an essay, I always ask my software engineers for constructive feedback. (I’m not too proud to admit that many of them are better writers than I.)

Over the years, I’ve worked hard to foster an atmosphere where everyone has the right to critique, question, and suggest. Just because most team members don’t have “professional writer” in their job descriptions doesn’t mean writing is off limits to them. Everyone here is a writer.

In my experience, the practice of good, collaborative writing makes the difference between great business and bad business — a sale or no sale.

Last year, I kicked up a bit of a stir ’round these parts when I wrote “I Won’t Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here’s Why.” I confidently declared myself a “grammar stickler,” unwilling to hire qualified applicants if they couldn’t pass a basic grammar test.

After the article was published, I heard back from a lot of different people. Some disagreed. One participant in a New York Times debate exclaimed that my “requirements that viable candidates write with Strunk and White on their minds are highly questionable.” Others wholeheartedly shared my convictions. The range of feedback is to be expected. After all, the grammar debate tends to be divisive.

The feedback did prove one thing: It’s not easy to talk about writing. Certainly not in business. Writing, even writing in public arenas, is always personal. It exposes the writer’s ideas and ability (or inability) to navigate language. Writing is vulnerability.

Plus — and this is the frustrating part — there is no right way to write. Even the most basic rules are fuzzy. Prepositions aren’t something you should end a sentence with. You should never start a sentence with “because.” Why not? Because. Sentence fragments are unforgivable. Unless they’re not.

We like to think that we learned everything there is to know about grammar in our 10th grade English classes, but the conventions are constantly changing. The standards shift. That makes writing hard — and difficult to talk about.

Read entire article on HBR Blog Network.

Uniiverse Releases Direct Payments So Anyone Can Sell Tickets to Anything

Article from Venture Beat by Rebecca Grant

Uniiverse wants to make it easier for people to make money doing what they love.

The startup released a Direct Payments feature today which sets up peer-to-peer payments for activities and services on a personal website or blog. A yoga teacher can sell Saturday classes in a park, or a food blogger can sell tickets to a cooking class. You can customize the date of the event, type of tickets, and pricing as well as send customized invites, manage bookings, and collect information about attendees.

Uniiverse says it connects people in the real world over shared experiences. The goal is to encourage people to engage with others while also providing people with a channel to make money doing what they love.

“Uniiverse was founded on the belief that human interactions are getting too virtual,” said cofounder and CEO Craig Follett to VentureBeat. “We want to remedy this by enabling people to discover unique things to do. Small businesses and individuals who offer any kind of activity or service can use Direct Payments to integrate payments forms and booking directly on their site or blog. Direct Payments decentralizes the sharing economy, by moving it beyond centralized marketplaces.”

The sharing economy has erupted over the past few years to connect people who need something to people who have it. Also referred to as “collaborative consumption,” the idea is to make the most of underused resources by offering them in an online marketplace. AirBnB changed how travel accommodations work by offering other people’s homes rather than hotels. Ridesharing companies like Zipcar, Lyft, and Sidecar are doing this with transportation.

Read entire article at Venture Beat.

Launch and Grow Your Freelance Blog

Article from www.freelanceswitch.com by Sean Hodge

As a freelancer you’re always marketing and trying new approaches to bring in clients. There is a proven method online to raise your profile and that’s blogging. Done the right way, you’ll bring in more clients than you need. If you’re fresh to blogging, or have a blog that isn’t getting the attention it deserves, then nows the time to sink your marketing time into this tactic.

In this Session, written by seasoned freelance blogger Carol Tice, you’ll learn how to improve your freelance blogging performance.

Find out how to write effective blog posts, design your freelancer blog for conversion, hook client’s on your content, and score guest posts on top blogs. You’ll discover promotion strategies and methods for earning from your freelance blog as well.

 

10 Fundamentals of Good Freelancer Blog Posts

Many freelancers tell me they’re posting like mad on their blog…but nothing’s happening.

No comments. No shares on Twitter or Facebook. Even worse, no client nibbles, and especially, no firm new clients. Let’s see if we can fix this and get your blog some traction by focusing on improving your fundamentals.

 

The 8 Basic Design Elements That Turn Your Blog into a Client Magnet

Just as it’s important to write blog posts that attract clients, the design and layout of your blog is critical, too. A great design and feel on your blog will help attract better-quality clients — the ones you really want. What do you need to know? Here are eight basics of blog design and layout every freelancer’s blog should have to attract clients.

 

Do Freelancers Have to Blog To Get Clients?

Would you like to have a freelance blog that attracts clients? It’s a freelancer’s dream — you dash off short blog posts now and then, prospects read them, get impressed, and ring you right up. If you’re investing precious marketing time in writing and styling up your blog it needs to get you clients.

 

How One Blogger Gets Freelance Gigs: Tom Ewer of Leaving Work Behind

You can use your freelance blog as a portfolio sample to get freelance blogging gigs. That’s what UK-based freelancer Tom Ewer discovered — quite by accident — shortly after quitting his job and starting his blog Leaving Work Behind in mid-2011. He quit his full-time job in early 2012 to work full-time on his blog. Learn more tips from Tom in this interview.

 

40 Attention-Getting Post Topic Ideas for Your Freelancer’s Blog

It’s not easy keeping up a freelancer blog. You need a lot of ideas for posts! Meanwhile, you’re trying to get your work done for your current client. Here are 40 specific ideas for quick-and-easy blog topics that will attract quality prospects and then keep them interested:.

 

12 Ways to Keep Prospects Hooked on Your Freelance Blog

If you’re a freelancer and you have a blog, you’re probably hoping your posts will impress clients and get them to hire you. Unfortunately, most freelancer blogs don’t get so much as a nibble, much less a steady stream of clients. Here are 12 different ways to get prospects subscribing to your blog — and keep them on hooked your email list.

 

Red entire article on www.freelanceswitch.com