Archive for the ‘writing’ Category
Write for Readers
The title got me, and I immediately clicked through to read a health newsletter's article about the "25 diet-busting foods you should never eat." Strangely enough, the most valuable information was in the comments.
Punctuation!!!!! – Watch Out For Exclamation Points
At the risk of sounding totally geeked-out, I hate exclamation points. When I see unnecessary or excessive exclamation points, it's my equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. Most of the custom content I write or edit at Parthenon is straight-forward, so exclamation points rarely crop up. They’re pretty rare in newspaper and magazine writing as well. But e-mails — professional and personal — now that’s a different story.
Jargon be Gone!
As soon as employees read the words, “synergistic opportunities” their eyes glaze over. Similarly, when customers read self-congratulatory prose about process management improvements, you’ve lost them. While the news being shared may be relevant or even critical to the intended audience, if it is masked in corporate jargon, it will never be heard. One of the most important things a CEO can do to improve his or her communication skills is to stop thinking about the audience and instead focus on the people in it.
Display Copy Tricks & Tips
That sigh of relief when an article is done can easily morph into a case of writer’s block when it’s time to come up with a headline. So a lot of people just throw something together, forgetting to put the same care and effort into headlines, subheads and pull quotes that they do when crafting a story. But readers use those elements to decide whether they will actually take the time to read the full story.So how do you fashion a headline and subhead that draws the reader in? How do you pull out ideas or quotes from an article that make the person skimming through pages stop and read every word?
The Making of a Great Article
The basics of storytelling don’t change much, no matter what you’re writing. Granted, celebrities may be more fun to write about than, say, the history of concrete — but there’s always a way to make a topic unique, engaging and helpful. And like any ability, writing well comes by practice and persistence. So what are the differences between a so-so article and a great article? Let’s see…
No Offense
Don't we all know better now? The best trained journalists in newspaper and television are in the midst of examining whether their coverage of Hillary Clinton was sexist. Fox News apologized for a headline about Michelle Obama that they probably thought was clever, but was, in fact, a slur. Entire websites are devoted to pointing out examples of stories or quotes in the mainstream press that show prejudice, intolerance or reinforce stereotypes. This happens at large media companies, so it can certainly happen at small, non-media companies. Nobody deliberately injects bias in a company publication or website, but it can slip in unintentionally and hurt or anger readers.
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