Monthly Archives: December 2014

Jane Austen on Persuasion in business writing

Jane Austen “How quick come the reasons for approving what we like.” Want to be a more persuasive writer? A few suggestions: Tap into the reader’s values. Be decisive. Don’t sit on the fence. Force the reader to take sides, hopefully with you Ask the reader a question, often framed as a dilemma. Help them […]

How to make Matt Cutts fall in love with your blog

Put yourself in Matt Cutts’ shoes. When people click Search, you give them the best results. How do you decide what really is the best? Understanding this is the key to creating content – not just text – for Google. It’s after quality. Yes, I know, there are exceptions to the rule but after blogging […]

How to Get Meaningful Feedback After Training

What’s your reaction when you’re asked to give feedback? I expect it’s that unpleasant feeling when you feel obliged to do something, but would rather not. Most of us don’t like giving feedback. Somehow there is a negative element associated with it. However, we need feedback. Others need it too. Giving it to others helps […]

How to Write a Customization Guide

The first question is: who are you writing this customisation guide for? As a technical writer, the skill to developing a useful guide is to keep the reader in mind. Who will be reading this customisation guide? What’s the most important thing they need to know? How can I make this more helpful to them? […]