Writing Good: Common Mistakes - Copywriting for Business, Online and Social Media

The English language can be very odd when you take a look at it. I mean, consider a word like ‘thought’, which doesn’t look like it should be pronounced the way it is. The spelling is similar to the word ‘through’ although even that word sounds the same as ‘threw’, which has a completely different meaning. No wonder people from other countries have trouble understanding or learning English or that we see images of those badly translated signs from around the world. Nevertheless, that’s no excuse for what sometimes seems like pure laziness in the use of the language by English speakers that we witness so often today in the business world and elsewhere.

For example, if employees are informed that something will be to their company’s advantage or will benefit the employees personally, it is often described as being an added bonus. However, this is actually nonsense, since a bonus already represents something extra. Another commonly used word is irregardless, as in ‘irregardless of the consequences, we’re going ahead with the project’, or something similar to that. Adding ‘less’ to the end of the word already makes it negative. It doesn’t need the ‘ir’ added at the beginning to make it even more negative.

Some people actually ask their employees after a meeting ‘what learnings can we take from this?’ They simply don’t seem to realize that what they mean to say is ‘what have we learned from this?’ or perhaps ‘what lessons have we learned?’ which would be correct uses of the language. Here are a couple of other phrases that have crept into the corporate environment in recent years. ‘What’s the ask here?’ or ‘what are we tasked with?’ are presumably supposed to mean ‘what are we being asked to do here?’ And of course these two wonderful expressions can even be combined as ‘we’ve been tasked with the ask of ...’, which is just wrong, in so many ways.

Maybe this material is only for internal consumption or inter-office memos, but whether in the small office or in a large government building, someone, somewhere, is cringing when they read this stuff. Plus if this type of thing finds its way onto company websites and blogs, it’s obviously accessible to a far wider audience and can be very detrimental. People will assume your lack of attention to detail is reflected in your products and services and you’ll never even know why you’re losing business. This is where a professional web copywriter can help you. 

I have extensive experience in writing for a wide range of industries and markets. Contact me directly for details of rates and fees regarding copywriting services.

The Children's Writer's Guide - Now Available on Amazon

The Children’s Writer’s Guide examines how you can get started as a writer, create time and space to pursue your craft and deal with lack of motivation and writers block. Topics covered include where ideas come from and how writers turn them into stories, choosing names for characters that are appropriate to the story, the importance of historical research if your novel is set in a different era, writing science fiction and fantasy, and the use of magic in stories for children.

The guide examines the role of editing and revision and how to deal with what is often the inevitable process of rejection, at least until good fortune comes your way. I also recount some of my experiences with marketing and promotion, such as book launches and in-store signings, websites, blogs, and social media, and discusses presentations, workshops and author-in-residence programs at schools and libraries.

Check out the video on YouTube, where I talk about some of the topics covered in the Guide.

Here are just a few places where you can buy The Children’s Writer’s Guide.

Amazon Canada               Amazon USA               Amazon UK     

Amazon Germany             Amazon France           Amazon Japan

You can also learn more about The Children’s Writer’s Guide, along with all my other books, on my website.

Writing Good: English Errors on the Web - Copywriting for Business, Online and Social Media

We’ve all seen those funny signs and ads, featuring incorrect translations in non-English speaking countries or more alarmingly, from parts of the world where English is spoken and where the company or organization should know better. The poor use of English also infiltrated the corporate world’s internal memos and documents quite some time ago. People simply don’t understand their own language anymore. They’re also unaware of what words actually mean or can imply if used incorrectly, leading to comical and at times dangerous assumptions.

For example, oversee and overlook appear initially to mean the same thing, but are of course opposites and should never be confused. Imagine this conversation with your boss in the office.

Boss: Did you see the document on the upcoming project? I need your recommendations right away.

You: Yes, I overlooked that last week.

To your boss’ dismay, presuming he or she is familiar with the correct use of the English language, this means that you completely ignored a very important piece of paperwork. The project could now very well be in jeopardy or you could even be out of a job, depending on the importance of the project. Now if you’d overseen the document, this means that you read it, possibly more than once. Your boss will appreciate that you’re completely familiar with the contents of the document, will place great faith in your comments and suggestions and possibly even recommend you for a promotion. See the difference?

Another somewhat amusing mix-up occurs with the words pour and pore, which sound exactly the same, but once again have very different meanings. If you informed your boss that you pored over a document, he or she will feel confident that you studied it in great detail, so that you fully understood it. However, if you poured over a document, you’ve spilt your coffee or other beverage on a vital piece of paperwork. Once again, the use of one word could result in you climbing the corporate ladder, while the use of a similarly sounding word could lead you to searching for alternative employment.

These two examples occurred in communications between two employees, perhaps in an internal memo or an email. However, serious errors in the use of language find their way into important external documents every day. Some mistakes may be inconsequential, but others can have a serious impact on your company’s business or reputation. Perhaps you should seriously consider hiring a professional copywriter?

I have extensive experience in writing for a wide range of industries and markets. Contact me directly for details of rates and fees regarding copywriting services.

Forming Fictional Characters - University of Calgary, Tuesday, January 28

Each year, the Continuing Education department at the University of Calgary serves over 20,000 lifelong learners and offers thousands of courses taught by more than 1,000 instructors – all experts in their fields.

Forming Fictional Characters - Tuesday, January 28, 6 pm to 9 pm 

Without people there is no plot and characters are at the heart of any story. In this workshop, we explore where writers get ideas for the people in their stories, the many methods of creating strong characters and how to use descriptive language to build them. Students invent their own unique characters and also learn how to write effective and engaging dialogue for their creations so that their characters truly come alive for the reader.

Learn more about the Forming Fictional Characters workshop and how to register here

How Hard Can It Be? - Copywriting for Business, Online and Social Media

When it comes to writing, some people still ask, "how hard can it be?" Think for a minute about that question. Just because you’ve seen a few medical shows on TV over the years, would you consider yourself capable of performing surgery on someone? And would you consider removing one of your own teeth or would you always consult a dentist about performing such a procedure? Most of us know how to check the oil and put gas in the car, but how many of us know how to conduct a complex repair on a vehicle engine? For this task, we consult the experts and pay them for their expertise, without ever thinking, hey, maybe I’ll do this myself.

Now that we’re all so dependent on technology in our daily lives, it’s much the same with computers too. Most of us don’t have a clue how a computer works and take our machines to professionals for service and repair. Got a problem with the furnace, your electricity supply or a major plumbing issue? You call a professional, every time, confident that they’re far more knowledgeable about the problem than you are and that they know what they’re doing. If you’re going to engage an expert to build a website for you, why attempt to cut corners by having substandard copy on those expensively produced web pages? You need to hire a professional copywriter, period. 

I have extensive experience in writing for a wide range of industries and markets. Contact me directly for details of rates and fees regarding copywriting services.

Writing by Writers - Copywriting for Business, Online and Social Media

This article's title might seem to be stating the obvious, but was inspired by the continuing trend of people deciding against using a professional to compose their website copy. Some people even go to the trouble of contacting an experienced copywriter, give them all the information the writer needs to provide a quote and then still decide they’ll try and do it themselves. Or maybe that high school kid who worked in the mailroom last summer could do it? He seems really smart. I mean, just about everybody knows how to write, right? It’s pretty straightforward to be able to get things down on paper or on the computer screen. How hard could it be?

Again, stating the obvious perhaps, but a professional writer writes, that’s their job and what they get paid to do. And they can command a fee for their work because they know what they’re doing. You need words that will market your company and promote or sell your products and services. A copywriter knows how to do this and can make a great deal of difference to how your business performs in the marketplace. 

I have extensive experience in writing for a wide range of industries and markets. Contact me directly for details of rates and fees regarding copywriting services.

The Children's Writer's Guide - Now Available on Amazon

The Children’s Writer’s Guide examines how you can get started as a writer, create time and space to pursue your craft and deal with lack of motivation and writers block. Topics covered include where ideas come from and how writers turn them into stories, choosing names for characters that are appropriate to the story, the importance of historical research if your novel is set in a different era, writing science fiction and fantasy, and the use of magic in stories for children.

The guide examines the role of editing and revision and how to deal with what is often the inevitable process of rejection, at least until good fortune comes your way. I also recount some of my experiences with marketing and promotion, such as book launches and in-store signings, websites, blogs, and social media, and discusses presentations, workshops and author-in-residence programs at schools and libraries.

Check out the video on YouTube, where I talk about some of the topics covered in the Guide.

Here are just a few places where you can buy The Children’s Writer’s Guide.

Amazon Canada               Amazon USA               Amazon UK     

Amazon Germany             Amazon France           Amazon Japan

You can also learn more about The Children’s Writer’s Guide, along with all my other books, on my website.

Maintaining Your Focus - Copywriting for Business, Online and Social Media

What's the ultimate purpose of your company’s new website? Why are you having this thing put together at considerable cost, involving a great deal of time, effort and attention to detail? If all you’re trying to do is keep your chief executive happy, making him or her look good online, massage their ego, then go right ahead. But wouldn’t it be better to convince the boss that the website is actually there to set the company apart from the competition, achieve better search engine rankings, create greater awareness of your products and services and of course, make more money? 

If the powers that be still insist on having one of those welcome messages or an introduction from the CEO about how he or she really cares, which could even be peppered with their favourite phrases such as ‘outstanding customer service’, ‘second to none’ or ‘the very latest technology’, try and put it somewhere else on the website, other than the home page. Not actually hidden, but certainly not in a prominent position, maybe in the ‘About Us’ or ‘Meet the Team’ area of the site. The home page is vital for the copywriter to be able to work their magic, so make sure nothing interferes with the message you have displayed there. If you do it right, the boss will be happy, even if their picture and their opinions aren’t the first thing your visitors see. 

I have extensive experience in writing for a wide range of industries and markets. Contact me directly for details of rates and fees regarding copywriting services.

It's Not All About You - Copywriting for Business, Online and Social Media

In previous articles, we’ve talked about banishing meaningless phrases from your web pages and the need to keep the content current, to ensure that your visitors keep returning. People don’t actually read web copy, at least not in detail, but rather tend to scan it very quickly. Consequently, you have very little time to grab and hold their attention, so your copy has to be both compelling and interesting. 

One thing that might actually prevent you from achieving this is the need to keep the head of the company happy, by featuring them prominently on your web pages. However, even if you have a well known, celebrity CEO, no really cares what they’ve got to say, unless they’re making some earth-shattering announcement. And even this would have to be about the company’s product or industry, such as a comment or statement that’s directly relevant to the person reading the copy. The owners of the company often believe that people care about their opinion on any given number of topics and trust them implicitly, but this simply isn’t the case. It might certainly be something of a challenge to actually persuade your boss of this, but it still needs to be done. 

I have extensive experience in writing for a wide range of industries and markets. Contact me directly for details of rates and fees regarding copywriting services.