Dawn Brewer

A Few Ways to Check Written Content

I read a lot of words, both online as well as printed, and I spot more spelling and grammar mistakes on the web, which is crazy really as it’s so easy to amend online content if a mistake has been made.

Of course it’s better to avoid these mistakes in the first place, so I thought I’d list five ways to check written web content BEFORE it’s published. Although they work just as well after publishing too!

Five Ways to Check Written Web Content

1. Read written words out loud – v e r y   s l o w l y – This might sound like a mad idea if you haven’t tried it, but it really is effective. If the words you’ve written don’t make sense when you read them aloud, then they’ll confuse your readers. This method is a really good one for spotting missing words. Sentences that look OK can easily have a word missing or the wrong word used and saying it out loud makes it more obvious.The key to making this technique work is to read every word deliberately and slowly.

   Alternatively use a text to speech facility on your computer, which reads out the words you’ve written – amazing how easily you can spot mistakes this way.

2. Read written content backwards. This method helps to spot spelling mistakes and when the wrong word has been used. Look out for common misspellings such as:
   • Necessary or neccesary – there should be 2 ‘S’s, think Sugar and Spice is necessary (and amusingly, my word processor keeps correcting the wrongly spelt one!)
   • Recommend or reccommend – only 1 C in this one.

   And learn which spelling to use for common words such as:

   • To   Too   Two
   • There   They’re   Their
   • Whether   Wether   Weather

   There’s more information about homophones (words which sound the same but have different spellings) from Nikki Cooke of The Word Well who listed 10 spelling blunders to avoid.

   This technique also helps you to spot fro when you meant for and form when you meant from.

3. Keep a Checklist. Most of us have a few words we regularly spell incorrectly or use in the wrong way. Keep a note of them and always double check when you’ve used these words.
4. Run a Spell Check. Do run a spell check. If you’re typing directly into a website with no spellcheck facility, then copy your text into a word processor and look for mistakes before you publish live in the web – and another thing about spell check, make sure it checks in the correct language. There is a difference between US and UK, but also if your word processor is set for another language (not English) then many English misspellings will not be picked up.Both these might sound obvious –but clearly many people don’t do it.
5. Ask for Help. Ask someone else to read it for you. This could be a person reading it from paper or screen – or even a trained proof-reader (like me!). Amazing how different something sounds outside our own heads.

For more tips like these, follow me on Twitter for notification of tips being listed or to receive information like this direct to your email sign up for my newsletter.

Eco Button – A Gadget to Save Energy

I was watching The Gadget Show a few weeks ago and they had a green challenge to try and reduce energy use. Next thing, Janette Whitney blogged about ‘Green’ Grants for Business so I thought I’d take a small step and try out one of the gadgets. One which reduces the energy your computer uses when you wander off to do something else.

I bought an Eco Button and I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now. All incredibly straightforward – here’s what you do:

1. Buy an Eco Button.
2. Plug it into your computer (USB plug in – nice and simple).
3. Download & install the software.
4. If you’re like me then look up what rate your energy provider charges for a unit of electricity and type it into the setup screen (or just use the default value if you can’t be bothered).

That’s it – all set up.

Next, whenever you wander off – to make a cup of tea, take a phone call, answer the door, have lunch, whatever… just press the big green button. Your PC then goes into a low power mode. When you come back, hit any key on the keyboard and this is what happens:

• Your PC wakes up far faster than usual – marvellous.
• An eco screen shows you how much money you’ve saved today and so far, as well as the CO2 you’ve saved.
• Press any other key and you’re up and working again.

Fantastic – I reckon it’s worth it just for my PC to wake up so quickly.

So, my recommendation -Buy an Eco Button now!

A Few Ideas for Better Emails

I receive a lot of emails every day and most of them could be better. I guess its the same for you – and that must mean that all of us could send better emails.

We send out different types of emails, for example, those asking questions, those answering questions, those for marketing.

These tips focus on those everyday emails that we all send out, sometimes without thinking about them very much, the ones asking and answering questions and passing on information. Try out these tips for writing better emails and let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

Five Tips for Better Emails

1. Use a relevant subject. I receive lots of emails that don’t give me a clue what they’re about. Do you think I open them straightaway? Do you think I can find them again later? Changing the subject line so that it is relevant to the content doesn’t take long, but is a simple step that makes email more effective. Before you send every email, make sure the subject line is still relevant – let’s face it, emails do veer off topic and when that happens then change the subject too.
2. Include your contact details. Never mind that this may well be a legal requirement (depending where you are and whether you’re sending on behalf of a company, etc), it’s common courtesy. If you send an email asking questions, then maybe the recipient wuld rather call you than reply by email, so make it easy to be contacted, add your phone number and other relevant contact details.
3. Get to the point. Tell your reader what they want to know – why have you sent the email? If you need an action, then ask for it; if you are answering a question then say so; if a date is important then mention it up front.
4. Consider your audience. What? Well, you know those flags that mark whether something is urgent, think about whether it’s urgent for YOU or for YOUR AUDIENCE and then be polite about it – frankly, the urgent flag’s usually annoying and sometimes it’s just rude.
5. Consider your audience again. Email programs are wonderful aren’t they. We can set them up to tell us when a message has been delivered, when it’s been read and even when it’s been deleted. Wow! But ask yourself this – is it really your business when other people decide to delete their email? Once you’ve sent it, then surely it’s up to the recipient what happens to it. So, please, rather than tracking every moment of your sent email, press send and let it go.

And finally, consider whether email is the best communication method – there are others! Tell me what you think about email and my tips by leaving a comment below.

I really enjoyed myself talking to a Social Enterprise Networking group in Dorking  this afternoon. …I hope they enjoyed themselves too!

I’d like to thank Kary Backhouse of Plus Point for inviting me.

The topic was social media and we covered a wide range of ideas – from balls of sellotape, to knitting wool, the importance of content, SEO, key words, values and brand, and building relationships using Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

All really interesting stuff and I hope a worthwhile meeting for everyone.  For me, it drove home just how important it is to plan an online marketing strategy and follow it – otherwise a lot of time can be wasted (just like any activity). For all online marketing , before you start, I recommend:

1. Decide what results are required – what are you trying to achieve? Define this carefully, so that progress can be measured.
2. Decide on an action plan and steps to take to reach the goal. This will include a mix of activities and probably include offline marketing activity as well as online elements.
3. Track progress and make changes as necessary to achieve the results.

There’s a lot of technology available out there – the key to success is to define what results are needed first, then choose appropriate technology for the job.

I love words and writing and technology and I love speaking about it too, so if you’d like me to talk to your networking group, team meeting, seminar, or just have a coffee with you, then do contact me.

A Few Twitter Tips

Twitter is so easy to use and such good fun that’s easy to overlook how it can be used in business too.

If you agree that the relationships you build are key to more business, then using Twitter could bring benefits to you. Even if you’re not convinced, then Twitter could form part of your marketing touches anyway.

Try out these Twitter tips and let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

Five Twitter Tips

1. Set up your profile. It surprises me just how many people don’t set up their profile. Why does it matter? Well, if I bet I’m not the only person on Twitter who only follows people who look interesting – and how do I decide who’s interesting? Like this:
   • I already know you (or want to know you)
   • You’ve followed me so I’ll look at your profile and decide whether to follow you back
   • One of my followers recommended you or retweeted, so I’ll look at your profile and decide whether to follow you back
   • A topic you tweet about is trending and your tweets and profile looked interesting

   See the common theme? Take some time to set up your profile.

2. Keep it personal. There are plenty of ways to keep posting to Twitter but do make it personal too – that’s where the interest lies and that’s how to build the relationship. People build relationships with people not tweets. So make sure you include personal tweets – even if you’re a company Twitter account, keep it human.
3. Automate it too! I know I just said keep it personal, but use the technology of the web to automate it too and make sure it works for your business. You can set up automatic feeds to Twitter – so whenever you blog a tweet is sent automatically, or whenever you write a new article  a tweet is sent automatically. You can also schedule a list of  tweets to be sent.
4. Give information away. Don’t just tell people what you do, help them do it too. The basis of building relationships is giving as well as receiving.
5. Help others. If one of your followers sends out interesting information then pass it on (retweet it) – but please, don’t retweet everything you’re sent, just what you think your followers would like to see too.

And finally, make sure you enjoy it. Tell your friends about Twitter and ask them to follow you. Follow me on Twitter.

Yesterday I met Dee Blick author of Powerful Marketing On A Shoestring Budget: For Small Businesses for a quick coffee and a chat.

Wow – that woman’s amazing – within 30 minutes she’d passed on more tips on how I could do better at my own marketing than anyone else has passed on this year so far! Well OK, yes Dee can talk a lot – so can I, but I also know when to shut up and listen.

Apart from the gratitude that someone took the time to pass on some knowledge I’m also now swamped with ideas that sparked from that one short conversation (plus 2 cups of tea) and it made me realise just how much knowledge and help is available if we’d only look for it.

What were some of those tips? Well, many were all about raising my own profile and included the importance of commenting on blogs and building relationships. We also talked about being a speaker – now there’s a whole topic to be explored – as well as networking, Yorkshire and of course, technology (yes I did open my mouth too and passed on a couple of my own tips on Twitter and auto-responders – more on those in future blog posts).

So, for true marketing on a shoestring budget – apart from reading Dee’s book of course – meet up with people and don’t forget to share – share your problem and also share your own expertise.

You never know who might help – and who might inspire you to come up with new ideas!

I’ve had a pretty heavy couple of weeks in terms of Open University work. Lots of assignments to mark (so many I’ve lost count now and at one point they were arriving faster than I could mark them), two tutorials – one in Crawley and one in Maidstone, a new course started so lots of activity in my tutor group forum, phone calls to make and emails to send. Phew!

The major effort’s over and it’ll now be quieter for a couple of weeks until more assignments are due to arrive.

The Open University is a distance learning organisation, so those assignments are really important – it’s how I provide feedback to my students and how they receive individual feedback on the standard of their work.

A plea from me on how to be a student:

1. Know what date your next assignment is due and if possible complete it slightly early
2. Make a plan NOW covering what you will do when your broadband goes down so you can’t submit your assignment  (hint: there are lots of places you can access the internet)
3. If you need an extension to the deadline then tell me BEFORE the deadline and tell me how long you need and why

Three steps to an easier life… I can hope can’t I?

A Few Tips on How to Create a Better Blog Post

Keep these tips in mind when you write a new blog post and do revisit posts to improve them too…

I read a lot of blog posts and of course some are better than others – not just in terms of interest and creativity, but how they’re crafted and whether they take account of the online world.

Five Tips for Better Blog Posts

1. Keep the post focused on one topic. This probably means keeping  it short too – attention span is not long when reading online (especially for visitors using mobile devices!)
2. Ban ‘click here’ and similar. Instead, state what the ‘click here’ will give your reader. For example: Find out about AIDA, Have you noticed these Twitter benefits?
3. Choose a relevant title. Make sure your blog post title is relevant to the content of the blog post – really! You want people to find it don’t you?
4. Include an image. Much more interesting isn’t it – or some audio – or a video – just make it interesting (please?)
5. Check the spelling. Spell check, then check spelling … then check spelling again. What impression does it give if a blog post contains spelling mistakes and poor grammar?

And finally, make sure you always publicise every blog post. Tell your friends about it and ask them to comment, Tweet about it, shout about it, post links by commenting on other blogs.

I really like Twitter. I joined in as an experiment, but I’ve found two benefits that aren’t mentioned that often (if at all) so I thought I’d share them. 

Yes it’s easy to send out a message and yes it’s easy to keep my interest with such a short message, but there’s more to it than that. As ever, all your comments and thoughts are welcome too.

Twitter Benefit 1 – To Learn

Do you realise that you can learn using Twitter? It’s free and it doesn’t take long.

When I started to use Twitter I had no idea that choosing people to follow could be so rewarding.

If you choose people who have something to share that you want to know about, then you can learn – a lot! For example, I started to follow a few expert bloggers and wow have I learned a lot – in a really short time. Although putting it into practice and taking action is another story…

Of course the knowledge isn’t usually in the Tweets, it’s in the people and looking at their profiles, following the links they recommend and reading their blogs and websites.

So, find people to follow that know what you want to know – and you’ll learn from them.

Twitter Benefit 2 – No More Home-Alone Working

Working from home can be isolating. Being online with Twitter means you can have a ‘coffee break’ and connect with colleagues worldwide.

I work from home and although I do visit client sites, meet people, attend networking events and I’m not housebound, I spend most of my working hours alone, at home. That can be very isolating – and the scary thing is that sometimes I don’t even realise how long it is since I’ve connected with someone else. (talking to the dog – and waiting for a reply – is a sign!)

When I make a cup of tea or take a break, I can share a joke, pass on some info and find out who else is online and what they’re doing – without being interrupted and that’s the key for me. Twitter’s there for me to join in when I want to – not when someone else is interrupting me.

It’s not the same as meeting at the coffee machine – but then it’s not a bad compromise and I can walk away whenever I want without being rude.

So, if you work at home a lot, join in with Twitter and no more isolation. Follow dawnbwriter (that’s me).

Did you set any 2010 goals? How are you doing with them?

It’s the end of January already and this month has galloped by for me. I set myself some goals for the year – which meant I also worked out some January goals to get me along the way – and I’m glad to say that last night I achieved one of my most important ones. I now have 50 Suite101 articles live – made me smile anyway

There’s been an awful lot written about goal setting and goal achievement - and a fair amount of what’s written has been pretty awful too I think. If only it was as easy as making sure that goals are SMART, writing them down and then waiting for it to happen. The key to goal achievement is in the action that we take – and making sure it’s the right action. This quote from Benjamin Franklin sums it up for me:

We need to be sure we’re working on the right things for us.

If you’d like some help or a refresher on goal setting, then you might want to sign up for this FREE email course on Goal Achievement.

I’d love to know if you achieved your January goals – or what your February goals are – or what you think of goal setting and goal achievement. Leave me a comment and let me know…