Do you write like you talk?

Do you write like you talk?

When I was young I was a prolific letter writer – I had an American pen-friend and a French pen-friend, and my Mum stood over me shortly after Christmas and birthdays, insisting that I wrote to say ‘thank you’ to my aunts and uncles who had sent...
Do you write like you talk?

Which word is right?

English is a very rich language with many more words than most languages have – however, even with so many words to choose from there are many instances where one or more sound the same, but mean something different. Here are the most common words that are...
Do you write like you talk?

Language, language!

Knowing what your message is, who your readers are and what they want is a great start, but then you need to write in their language.  Before you start rushing off to find out how much it will cost to translate your site into Greek, Dutch and Swahili, stop! ...
Do you write like you talk?

5 reasons why people don’t get your message

If you want people to get your message you need them to hang around long enough to read it. There are lots of reasons people don’t stay on a website; these are just five of them: 1. Too much going on, making it difficult for them to focus on any one thing and...
Do you write like you talk?

Do it now!

Do you know what you want people to do when they’ve looked at each page on your website? Every page should have a purpose, whether that’s to send the reader to another page with more information or to contact you by phone or email, or fill in a form,...
Do you write like you talk?

Your reader’s journey through your website

When someone lands on your website they are usually looking for something, whether that’s a product, a service or information. The secret of a good website is that their journey from their landing point to where they get what they want is seamless. There are no...
Do you write like you talk?

Writing for your reader

I wish I had a pound for every website I’ve visited that starts with ‘We’ – and then continues to ‘We’ all over their website in paragraph after paragraph! I know we’re all proud of what we do – but, as a potential...
Do you write like you talk?

Giving them what they want

This is your third step on the journey of writing the right thing for the right audience! Today we’re going to look at what people want. Now you’ve got your message honed and you’ve identified at least one target audience, you need to know how to...
Do you write like you talk?

Who is in your audience?

When you’ve cracked the message and got that polished to a shine, you need to know who you want to get it. I hear lots of people saying ‘Anybody’ or ‘Everybody’ – and I know of services and even products that do have a very wide...
Do you write like you talk?

What is your message?

I’ve taken the ultimate blogging challenge and intend to post a series of 30 blogs that will help you to get an insight on what you need to know to use written material to help you to make a real impact on your target audience. Today is about the message. If you...