At its simplest, word count is just a number: the number of words in your case study, brochure, website page, or e-book. You may wonder, then, why you need to be concerned about it. It’s the number of words; so what? When you are preparing to write a document, you should know the intended word [...]
Put Your Best Word Forward
Tag Archive: research
10 Questions to Ask Before Writing Any Business Document
If there’s one thing that can help you be more successful in writing, it’s careful planning. Before you even begin researching or drafting a website, blog, article, brochure, case study, elevator speech, e-book, grant proposal, or other business document, you need to ask yourself some basic questions. Here are a few to get you started:
1. [...]
Effective Interviewing for Convincing Copy
One of the things I love most about my work is asking people questions. Because, if I can understand it, then I can write about it, and the better I understand it, the more like my clients the documents I prepare for them will sound. Sometimes, my clients just let me loose to find information [...]
5 Keys to Writing Project Success – Part III: Drafting
This is Part III in a five-part series on keys to writing project success. In Part I, I introduced the topic, suggesting that a document may be good (i.e. well written, well organized), but not successful. I defined a successful writing project as one that “delivers not just the necessary content, but also the higher-level factors [...]
5 Keys to Writing Project Success – Part II: Research
This is Part II in a five-part series on keys to writing project success. In Part I, I introduced the topic, suggesting that a document may be good (i.e. well written, well organized), but not successful. I defined a successful writing project as one that “delivers not just the necessary content, but also the higher-level [...]
5 Keys to Writing Project Success – Part I: Planning
Good writing and successful writing are two different things. In the context of developing a website, brochure, newsletter, press release, or case study, you could thoroughly understand organization, flow, theme, brand, and grammar. Your logic could be flawless. You could compose a stunning document that is a pleasure to read. And you could still miss the [...]
How to Write a Fantastic First Draft
Before we start talking about HOW to write a fantastic first draft, let’s talk about WHY you should do so. You should write a fantastic first draft because it will lead to a superb second draft, splendid subsequent drafts, and a fabulous final draft. A good first draft provides a solid foundation on which to [...]
How to Write for Your Hidden Audience
We all know how important audience awareness is in writing. In business writing, your audience is typically clients, customers, and colleagues. Right? Yes and no. Yes, you must consider one or more of those audiences. But, no, it’s not that simple. Often there is a hidden audience to think about, and leaving them out of [...]
Your Research Secret Weapon
Some topics are harder to research than others. For such topics, all the online research in the world does not lead to real-world understanding. In these situations, it is often helpful to work with a subject matter expert, or SME (pronounced “smee”) (aka your research secret weapon).
Let me give you an example. A few [...]
Effective Research for Business Writing
The advice often given to writers is, “Write what you know.” In business writing, “what you know” may be in the form of personal experience, observation, or good, solid research. To perform the most effective research for business writing, your goal should be to learn enough to feel comfortable explaining the topic to someone else…which [...]
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