Keep it Short and Simple

I know it’s a cliche but it’s true – simplicity of language is an important element which you should consider before starting off the article. Flowery or complex language is rarely required. Sometimes a few words written in a short, precise order can work wonders. Sometimes complex language and difficult phrases do not express the situation and tone of the author as a few simple sentences do. Look at President Obama’s speeches – he uses simple words to deliver powerful messages, a lesson for us all!

The simpler your choice of words, the easier it is for you to convey your message to the reader.

Clarity Stems from Simplicity

The beautiful element of clarity comes along with the simplicity of the language. People usually try to avoid reading extra long paragraphs, especially is they are full of exaggeration or long words.

Most writers think that articles based on complicated issues require a complicated tone and language. On the contrary, complicated material should be dealt with simply so that your word can carry its meaning and message. The worth of your words is also increased with your simple language.

Another important reason for using simple language is that the rule for communicating to a mass audience is to use simple language. That way, everybody is able to grasp the concept behind the content and the usefulness of the article increases.

Your content can be made simpler by the use of soft words like please, thank you and requests. So if you wish that your word is carried on make sure you don’t forget to add a touch of simplicity to your work.

Nic Oliver is a trainer, writer and coach who runs workshops on leadership writing and influencing skills.

It is important for every writer to be clear about the point they are trying to make because the writer is in charge of the reader’s experience. If the writer doesn’t know the point then the reader won’t. That means at best, a writer without a point will soon be a writer without a reader. At worst, a writer without a point can end up with a confused and perhaps even angry reader.

Making the point of your article clear and relevant is the way to capture and keep the interest of your reader. However knowing your point and making it clear and apparent are sometimes easier said than done. So what can you do?

Finding the key point of your message is simple:

First, identify your topic. Simply make a note of the subject you plan to address. Narrow it down to one word or simple phrase. For example, you plan to write an article about dog training. That makes dog training your phrase.

Second, ask yourself a pertinent question about that topic. For example, how can you make dog training easy? Now turn that question into a statement, such as “You can make dog training easy… ” This is your point. But there’s more!

Third, you will need to expand and support your point so you must come up with around three supporting points. Remember, not only do you have to make your point, but you also need to make it clear and apparent. That is why support is important. So think of three points you can make to support your point. For example, keeping the pressure low, making it fun, and giving it time. Finally, you join your statement with the three points and use a preposition to join the two together. In this case probably “by” would work best and often “because” is a good choice. Some other prepositions include about, during, through, under, and with.

Now you have a good introductory paragraph:

You can make dog training easy by keeping the pressure low, making it fun, and giving it time.

Not only do you have a point that you will be able to make clear and apparent to the reader, but you also have a road map for your article or essay. Simply expand on your introduction and expand on each supporting point in turn and you will have a clear point, good organization, and solid support.

Taking a few minutes to plan out your point in this manner can be well worth spending the time as it will make your writing easier. It will also make the reading easier as well. And that is the point of this article.

1. It Shouldn’t Be a Chore

Writing articles and blogs can sometimes feel like a chore but don’t despair; we all feel that way at times. However, if you find you always seem to dread the journey to the keyboard, then ask yourself whether writing is right for you. If you lack enthusiasm for writing, readers will pick up on this.

2. Get Started

Sometimes it’s difficult to pick a subject or theme, or to get started once you have a topic . Relax! The main thing is that you get started. Pick a subject you know something about and just start. You will be pleasantly surprised at just how easily ideas flow. Don’t assume everyone knows what you know. They don’t. One tip I was given years ago: if you are finding it difficult to get started, then stop thinking about “what must I write” and focus instead on “what does the reader want to read?”

3. Quality

Your old English teacher is not looking over your shoulder.  Perfection is not the goal and is, in fact, seldom possible. Keep your writing short and simple and your readers will thank you for it. Perfect but long and boring will not be read.

4. Length

If you are writing commissioned work, stick to the publisher’s requirements. Most publishers want between four and six hundred words.  Blogs can be much smaller and should include appropriate pictures and embedded links.

Just don’t over do it. Remember, it’s the “World” wide web. Many readers in developing countries are still using dialup modems.

5. Format

Microsoft Office often adds weird, hidden code to what has been written. If at all possible, use Notepad to produce your final copy.

6. Spelling and Grammar

Once you have written your article or Blog, use a good spell checker. Microsoft Word works well for these purposes, so use its suggestions to make any necessary corrections to your plain text copy. Remember that Word was created by Americans. If you are writing in the UK, some of the spellings will be different.

If the work has been commissioned, then you need to honour the publisher’s language requirements. If you are writing for your own blog, the most important thing is to be consistent. Decide whether to use US or UK spelling and stick with the one you choose.

7. Publish and Let the World Know

Once your Blog is ready you may want to use some automatic tools to publish and announce it. First do a search for Blog hosts and select those which best suit your needs. Join one or more and publish your Blog there. Then search for Blog announcers and RSS announcers and use them to get your Blog noticed. Tweet about the article, letting the on-line world, or at least those people who follow you, know where to find it.

Now that you have that out of the way find an article wizard that will post your Articles to free publishers. You can post them one at a time by hand if you are really bored and have absolutely nothing else in life to do. Using an automatic poster you can publish to hundreds of hosts in an hour or so.

8. Patience

If you are submitting for publication by someone else, be patient. It’s beyond your control. Many of the men and women who host articles act quickly and your articles will be reviewed within twenty-four to forty-eight hours. But, many others will take days or even weeks; so never date an article – it’s a sure way to get rejected.

9. Dealing With  Rejection

Be prepared for hosts to reject your articles. It often has little to do with you or your article.

Some databases routinely reject articles for spelling errors when there are none or where there is more than way to spell a word. Other hosts are simply too lazy and get so far behind, the easiest and fastest thing to do (and perhaps the only alternative) is to reject everything. If you discover one of these, stop submitting articles to them.

Then there are those who run your articles through software and if they find certain words, irrespective of how they are used, your article gets no farther. These are the people who can’t publish the Holy Bible because it contains words that offend them or their readers. Don’t worry about these folks who are so heavenly minded they are of no earthly use!

10. Persistence

Since most authors prepare only one copy of an article, be persistent. Once your articles begin to be accepted and published, this will drive visitors to your website while creating those all important back links. You will also find writing becomes easier as you taste the fuits of your success. Practice, practice, practice!

Bonus Tip

Rejection slips are usually accompanied by a suggestion on how to “fix” your article and a request that you resubmit it. Don’t waste your time. While trying comply with one database manager’s request you could have written a new article from which you get much more punch. Enough publishers will pick your article up so move on and save yourself some time and heartburn.

Everybody has a thought or idea at least once a day, sometimes at an “inconvenient time”. How many good ideas have you lost because of waiting? Don’t procrastinate! Go! Capture that thought before it is gone forever.

If writing is an art, then, blogging is one way of using words to create art. This is because people who are into blogging are the ones who are creative, carefully choosing words that would best describe their feelings, sentiments, wishes, desires, opinions, knowledge etc..

History of Blogging

Basically, blogs were first introduced as weblogs that refer to a “server’s log file.” It was created when web logging hit the virtual market. Since its inception in the mid-1990s, web logging gradually saturated the virtual community making the Internet a viable source of greater information. With web logging, you still need a web site and domain names, but with blogging, you only need an account with a blog providers. In most cases, these kinds of blogs are free of charge. However, if you want to blog seriously, you ought to think about getting a self-hosted site, ie one where you own the domain name. With the onset of blogging, personal journaling had become a common ground for people who wish to be known all over the world. Many blogs were created for personal use. Like a journal, people write their daily adventures, sentiments, and whatever ideas they want to express online.

Business Blogging

With the growth of online businesses, blogs have gradually taken the limelight in providing businesses a chance to boost their productivity online. In essence, Business blogs are created to advertise the services or products of a certain web site or online business in order to increase online sales. Moreover, business blogs are also one way of promoting the company so that the other readers will know that a certain company exists online. With blogs, entrepreneurs are able to establish a name in the virtual market through articles that can be very useful in the reader’s life. From there, you can make money out of blogs by simply syndicating it to your business’ web site. This can be done through the RSS technology.

6 Blogging Tips

So, if you are thinking about creating a blog, whether for business or for pleasure, here are some tips that could help you get through and make your blog one of the interesting blogs online. Here’s how: 1. Consider your audience. Even if your blog is generally personal, it is still better to consider the minds of your readers. You have to think of something that would interest them. After all, the reasons people write blogs are not just confined to their own personal motives. Most of them would love to be “heard” (or read) and would love to be known, in some way or another, even if for just a minute. Hence, it is very important to write in a style that everybody can understand, even if they don’t agree with you! 2. Pictures speaks a thousand words. Your blogs will be more attractive if you include a picture or two. It does not necessarily mean you have to place a picture of yourself. Any photographs will do as long as it does not pose a danger or insult to anyone who will be reading your blog. 3. Make constructive and beneficial blogs Even if you are free to write anything you wan to say to the world, still, it would be better to create some write-ups that would be beneficial to your readers. After all,  it’s called “information technology” so it’s preferable to provide useful information rather than sheer quirky entertainment. 4. Avoid writing multifaceted and complicated blogs In order to have an interesting blog, keep the language simple. After all,yu are not writing a science discourse or a debate, so better stick to simple facts and short blogs. Bear in mind that most people who use the Internet usually do more scanning than scrutinizing each site word for word. Therefore, it would be better to come with blogs that will not bore your readers! 5. Make it interactive As much as possible and if your capacity will allow it, make your blog interactive. You can do this by placing some video or audio clips in your blog. You can even place an area for comments or for feedback. I always enable the comments feature on each blog. In this way, you can get some impressions or reactions of other people. Who knows, you might even gain some friends just by making them feel at home in your blog site. 6. Connect – Engage – Share (CES). Traditional relationship building skills revolve around connecting with people, engaging them in dialogue and sharing information with them.  This is as true on-line as it is off-line. Blogging gives you the opportunity to bein the CES process. As they say, blogging is the contemporary term of creative and commercial writing.

Well, although it may sound counter-intuitive, it often pays to write your introduction after you have written your main body and ending. Once they have been written, it’s easier to then write the introduction, especially if it will contain a quick overview of what follows. It’s easier to write that overview if you already know what you’ve written!

If you are going to do this, have a piece of paper alongside you as a reminder of your objective.

This mainly applies to business writing in general and longer report writing in particular. It can however be used by writers of fiction. You don’t have to write your chapters in sequence. If you can’t think of a punchy opening, write the second, or even third chapter first if you’ve got some great ideas for it. This will then give you confidence and may spark some ideas for that opening!

What do I mean? Most of us have experienced the following kind of conversations:

1. A friend says to you “I don’t mean to be personal, but…” You know that the conversation is about to become personal.

2. Your boss writes an e-mail saying to you “That’s a great report you’ve sent me but…..” You know you had better prepare yourself for criticism or contradiction. Incidentally, that’s why so many managers are poor at giving feedback. they give the positive feedback first, then say “but” (wiping out the positive effect of the feedback) and then give negative feedback. It demoralises staff and next time, the manager may only want to give positive feedback but the recipient is waiting for the sting in the tale.

3. A parent who says to their child “Daddy loves you very much, but….” Children learn from a young age that “but” means trouble and they begin having trouble believing the first part of the sentence.

There are a couple of valid uses for the word. The first is when you put forward a point of view that is opposite to the one you want to promote. You then use “but” and write your position. Using “but’ in this way reduces the impact of the counter argument for the reader(s). So I might write “I know that you have concerns about the cost of my idea but when you see the benefits and long term advantages, I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s money well spent.”

The second is when you are writing a presentation or speech. “But” is a useful linking word to help with the flow of the presentation and in particular if you want to demonstrate that you are looking at both sides of an argument.

Oh, and before you think you can be clever and replace “but” with “however”, the latter has exactly the same effect!

A variation on this is to link two clauses with “even though”. This has the opposite effect of using “but”; whatever comes after “even though” has its impact reduced.

So, keep an eye on what you are writing and listen when you are talking; do you mean to undermine the impact of what has been written or said before the conjunction, or have you used it inadvertently? Be careful with your buts!

• Use an attention grabbing headline;
• Ensure your opening paragraph describes what you are writing about – the opening paragraph is what will make the reader decide whether to read on or not;
• The main part should clearly meet the objectives established in the opening paragraph;
• Make sure you have a logical flow to your thoughts, and reject any points that are unneccessary. Above all, reject anything that doesn’t relate to your objective(s);
• On average, use short sentences, but vary their length to create interest;
• Use bullet points for lists, they are easier to read than horizontal lists;
• Follow the rules of punctuation;
• Check spelling and that you have use the correct word – I often see ‘complimentary’ used when the author means ‘complementary’ and vice versa;
• Make sure that you have used the verb form when you are describing an action – advise is the verb, advice the noun; practise is the verb, practce the noun etc.;
• End the post with a summary and if appropriate, what you consider to be the next step;
• Try to end on a positive note
• Most Important of all, never, never, never be boring!

What are your top tips?  Have I left anything out that applies to blogs that doesn’t apply to letter writing?

I’m going to ask Tom Evans, author of “Blocks” to write a longer guest post on the subject, but here are some tips for writing through those blocks. They are all various ways of changing the angle you are taking on your subject; I’ve found that making the change often helps me break through a block.

1. Stop thinking about what you want to write and focus on what does the reader need to read in order for your objective to be met.

2. Brainstorm and write down at least 10 different ways of describing your subject.

3. Brainstorm the points for and against your subject. For and against according to whom? Who is known to have strong opinions on your subject? Is there a “right” or “wrong” involved in your subject?

4. Does the subject lend itself to a PESTLE analysis? Such an analysis looks at the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental issues surrounding your subject.

5. If you have carried out a PESTLE analysis, what would be the consequences of a change in one or more of the variables involved?

6. Write a piece explaining why you can’t write the piece you are trying to write!

7. Tom’s favourite: take the dog(s) for a walk – it’s great for clearing your head!

I wrote an article here , analysing the writing of some of the Social Media greats. The article you are reading now looks further at some of the issues involved and announces a service for all writers.

Content and Process

The research has also thrown up something interesting: traditionally, attention was placed on “content” words, the adjectives, adverbs, nouns and regular verbs. It appears that the little “process” words, the articles, conjunctions, prepositions and pronouns are just as significant, perhaps because they are responsible for how something is expressed.  Content words tell us what a person is saying.

You often hear people say “It’s not what you say but how you say it that matters,” and this is reflected in the research. How something is expressed can give a strong indication of someone’s emotional and mental state. And because our reaction to the “how” is influenced by our cultural background, our own emotional and mental state and our own use of these words, use and interpretation of the process words requires speaking or writing skills and a degree of sensitivity.

What can the analysis of words tell us about people?

There are social and demographic differences when using process words, for example:

• Age. As we age, we tend to refer to ourselves less and use more words relating to positive emotions. With age, we also tend to use the past tense less frequently and the future tense more often.
• Gender. Analysis of writing reveals that men are more likely to use articles, prepositions, and longer words. On the other hand, women tend to refer to other people more frequently than men do and use more pronouns.
• Social class. Those from more elevated levels of society use fewer emotional words and are less inclined to use the first person singular form of pronoun.

Some behavioural changes:

• Lying vs telling the truth. When people tell the truth, they use words that make a distinction between what they did do and what they didn’t do, words such as but, except etc.. Liars generally have a problem with such complex concepts.
• Social bonding after a trauma. In the time immediately following a traumatic event, those involved use “I” less frequently, preferring the more inclusive “we”.
• Testosterone levels. In two recent case studies, when people’s testosterone levels increased rapidly, it was found that they stopped their references to other people.

So, the little process words are very important, yet often neglected. And it can be a chore for writers to have to analyse all that they’ve written. This is where Great Writing Tips can help you; click here to find out more about our language analysis service.

More often, it’s the opposite and the words just won’t come. Tom Evans has written a useful book called “Blocks” that gives lots of ideas about how to deal with writer’s block and I strongly recommend that all authors and writers read it.

Let’s look at a few practical issues:

• Are you a good screener? Some people can screen out all background distractions and write wherever they find themselves. Others are put off by the slightest sound.  You’ll know which is true for you but if you are not a good screener, make it easy for yourself; eliminate as many distractions as possible. And if there are still unavoidable distractions such as street noises outside, the neighbours children playing next door etc., see whether music helps. I use classical or modern instrumental music as anything with lyrics may provide distraction  of their own.

• Set yourself a schedule and intermediate goals. Again, self-knowledge is very useful here: do you write best when you have a deadline to meet or when you have all of the time you need? Whichever it is, write daily and use this little trick I picked up a while ago: write for a set time each day rather than for a set number of words.

• Write then re-work. Editing as you go, except to correct obvious spelling mistakes, is an attractive but inefficient way to work. You can polish each phrase, each sentence only to discover that as you have developed your theme, a more logical structure has emerged. This will then require some cutting and pasting and re-working of work you have already reworked. What can then happen is, because of the time already invested in polishing the earlier work, we end up not bothering to do the re-structuring!

• What does the reader want to know? If you find yourself stuck, rather than asking yourself what you want to write, ask yourself what does the reader need to be able to read in order for you to meet your and their goals?

• Use Your Natural Style. You may often find that things flow better if you set yourself the aim of writing with the same style you would use if verbally explaining the subject to a good friend. I often get stuck if I try writing in any tone other than my natural one. This can be a challenge if your output has to conform to a particular house style.