1. Keep it short - aim to provide copy that is sharp, focussed and to the
point.


2. But not too short - search engines prefer blog entries of 300 words or
more (see note on SEO below).

3. Keep it simple - the average person's level of reading comprehension is
much lower than you might think.


4. Come straight to the point - in this digital age we all have short
attention spans. Decide what are going to be your key points and stick to
 them; do not ramble or people will lose interest.

 5. Make it readable - people are reluctant to start reading a huge block
 of text, even if you have made the content really interesting.  Make it
 more readable by breaking it up.  Use headings, paragraphs, graphics and
 text boxes and make sure you incorporate your key words or phrases into
 your headings.

 6. Don't leave your text naked - liven it up with pictures, charts and
 video snippets.

 7. Get to know your audience - research what your target audience wants
 and how they like to be spoken to.

 8. Find your own voice - find a style that suits you, your personality and
 your subject matter.  Make it authentic - believe in what you're saying
 and people will listen.

 9. Add value - give the reader something in return for reading your blog:
 information, advice, entertainment or a give-away such as an e-book.

 10. Market your blog - engage with readers and other bloggers to become
 recognised as a go-to expert in your field. Encourage readers to give you
 their email contact address - that's a precious marketing resource.

 11. Use SEO techniques - by using search engine optimization techniques
 you can raise your blog's profile and help people to find you by improving
 your Google ranking.  SEO experts will charge you a fortune for
 this, but there's so much free SEO advice on the internet that any
 intelligent person can get to grips with it very quickly.  Free software
 such as Jetpack and Yoast will guide you towards sharpening up your blog's
 hit and conversion rate.

 12. Finally, before publishing - always try to get some feedback on your
 latest blog piece.  Ask a friend or someone whose opinion you trust to
 give you honest feedback.

Image 1: “Wocintech (Microsoft)” by Flickr User WOCinTech Chat, used under a Creative Commons License.

Image 2: By Musicaline - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47059265

This year’s big trend for businesses promoting themselves through social media has been the imaginative use of video clips.  Short video clips shared through social networking sites have been popular among younger users for some time; now the practice has been taken up tech-savvy businesses eager to promote their brand.

The trend started in the United States as major brands began to make use of Vine and Instagram and in 2013 McDonald’s launched a huge marketing campaign through Snapchat. 

The strategy is now being taking up by businesses in the UK, particularly those who wish to target their sales at younger customers and those who are more technologically sophisticated.  Amongst the first has been Co-operative Electrical who recently targeted a laptop sales campaign at the student market by means of Snapchat. 

The Snapchat app allows users to send pictures or short video clips to each other.  The clips ‘self-destruct’ after a few seconds creating, from a marketing perspective, a feeling of immediacy and exclusivity.  MTV UK is another company which has taken up the Snapchat initiative by sending ‘exclusive’ behind the scenes clips to followers of the show ‘Geordie Shore’.

Though available only to iPhone and iPod users at the moment, Twitter’s Vine app is designed to be a platform for video clips of up to six seconds.  Gap and Urban Outfitters are amongst the first companies to use this platform.

So is using video on social media simply a trend that will come and go, or does it offer businesses who wish to promote themselves something more substantial?  Taking into account the amount of money that global brands are investing in social media video advertising, the latter seems to be the case.  Indeed, research commissioned by Business2Community suggests that people are ‘40% more likely to have a better response to visual content as opposed to plain text’ and 'posts with videos attract 3 times more inbound links than plain text posts'.  The future, quite clearly, is visual.

A press release is a cost-effective way of obtaining positive media coverage for your business; coverage on your terms presented from your perspective.  But there are a number of key rules to follow when preparing a successful press release.

Do Your Research

Be selective about the media sources you approach: which are the publications, websites or TV/radio channels people turn to for news about your line of business?  Put the work in to build up a network of journalist contacts by giving them good quality, newsworthy content and make sure you’re available should they wish to follow-up on your item.

 

A Killer Title

Pick a title for your piece that grabs the reader’s attention and indicates what it’s about.  But don’t try to be too clever; whilst a little appropriate humour in your content is good, clumsy punning titles are definitely not.  Whatever you say, try to avoid the received phrase; don’t talk about ‘our journey’ or ‘going forward’, for instance.

 

The Right Tone

Keep the content of your press release professional and informative, which means you should avoid writing in the first-person and not be too sales-driven in your tone.  The golden rule, as with any other form of writing, is to think of your audience and the way in which they expect to be addressed.

 

Is it News?

A press release is designed to communicate a piece of news about your company.  This could be a new product, a key appointment, an interesting piece of research or perhaps a company restructure.  But remember, this is not a sales pitch; it is a factual summary of a genuine news item.  And don’t forget to emphasise the human side of your story.  Who are the people involved?  People want to read about other people and what they’ve done.  What have those involved got to say?  A good quote is worth more than several paragraphs of careful narrative.

 

Ready for Publication

Journalists are busy people and will not thank you for sending them a piece of copy that still has to be checked for spelling and grammar before it is ready for publication  Make sure too that your press release includes all the relevant facts, without any assumptions about prior knowledge.  It’s always a good idea to outline the main points of your piece in the introduction and then summarise your piece in the conclusion.

 

Finally, make a point of becoming someone journalists like to hear from, not by ingratiating yourself with them, but by building a reputation for being someone who provides good, reliable content in a readable form.

One of the most effective ways to draw traffic to your website, and to convert some of that traffic into sales, is to work at becoming recognised as an expert in your field.  People value sound, unbiased information and websites which consistently offer the kind of information that consumers want will inevitably build a following.

Think of your company website as your shop window; people browsing the web, potential customers, can look into that window and see what you have to offer.  But then there are so many other shop windows offering similar products or services.  Becoming an expert, offering something of value for free, will help you stand out from the crowd.

Whatever your business, whether you sell a product or provide a service, you already have a degree of expertise in the area in which you specialise.  Offering up some of that expertise for free through a business blog and associated social media is a simple, cost-effective way to provide your business with a competitive advantage.

A Business Blog

I’m a copywriter so my business blog is about copywriting.  I also run a small business, so I blog about the kinds of things that concern other small businesses.  The aim of this post is to convince business people of the value of blogging, of how it can be used as a tool to promote you as a ‘go to’ expert, thereby stimulating traffic to your website and increasing sales. 

But before diving into a business blog there are a few key points to take on board:

Answer the questions that people always ask – The point of a business blog is to provide content for your readers, the kinds of things they want know about.  Make an effort to find out the questions people are asking, the kinds of search terms they use when they want to know something relating to your field of expertise.  There are a number of free tools on the net to help you find the right keywords.  You might also find inspiration in the types of questions your customers ask you.

Blog frequently – My heart sinks when I visit a blog where the most recent post is from several months previously; I don’t tend to visit that blog a second time.  A successful blog needs to be fresh and up-to-date; frequent short posts are better than irregular rambling ones.  It’s the quality of the content that matters, so offer your readers something of value: the kind of information they are looking for.  Frequent posting will also help improve your blog’s Google ranking making you more visible to potential customers.

Develop your own voice – ‘Your own voice’ is one of those elusive qualities that is hard to describe, but it’s something your readers will recognise when they see it.  So be consistent in the way you write, focus your attention on the reader’s needs not own and make sure your content is clear, readable and that your spelling and grammar are both correct.  Above all, write as yourself and let your blog reflect your personality.  You can learn from following other blogs, in fact that’s essential, but don’t try to imitate them.

Offer real value – The aim of your blog is to position yourself as an expert in your line of business, so you need to offer content that is accessible, reliable and authoritative.  For the casual reader your business blog should offer interesting, potentially useful information.  For those who want to know more, make sure you provide signposts for where to go next.

Social Media

You will be missing a trick if you do not promote your business blog on Twitter, Facebook and other social media.  Also, readers who enjoy your blog will want to share it with others.  Make it easy for them by providing social media buttons, like those at the top of this page.

Check Your Performance

In order to continue improving your blog and to stimulate traffic you need to know which of your posts prove to be of most interest to readers.  Most web hosts provide a tool for analysing the statistics of your business blog.  Google Analytics also provide an excellent free tool.

Get Started

Having lots of useful knowledge about your industry is one of your business’s key assets.  But that knowledge can only be converted into a competitive advantage if you have a strategy for sharing it with others.  A business blog is one very important way of ensuring you are the person others will come to when they want expert information.

Which of the following statements most closely matches the state of play in your business?

• We have a full suite of HR policies and procedures and they are regularly reviewed and updated;
  
  
• We’ve drafted our HR policies as and when we’ve needed them so we’re reasonably well covered;
  
  
• We don’t really have any HR policies and procedures, but we know it’s something we need to attend to; or
  
  
• Do we really need HR policies and procedures?  We treat our staff fairly and everyone has a contract

My guess is that most businesses will be in in the second category.  In other words you have a range of HR policies and procedures which have grown organically in response to need, but that the issue is not regarded as one of strategic importance to your business.  The aim of this piece is to convince you otherwise.


What is the Difference Between a Policy and Procedure?

A policy is a statement of principles and commitments, whereas a procedure sets out the processes you will follow in order to comply with those principles and commitments.



Why Does My Business Need HR Policies and Procedures?

In essence, if you employ people in your business, you can’t manage without HR policies and procedures.  A business with a comprehensive set of these documents will:

• Make clear the behaviours that are expected from managers and staff; so that everyone knows where they stand
  
• Make sure that decision-making is consistent, transparent and fair
  
• Ensure your business complies with employment legislation and, just as importantly, provide evidence that you are doing so
• Provide the business with a valuable tool for training and developing managers
• Document best practice and make a public statement of your values

What are the Key Policies and Procedures My Business Needs?

At the very least a company should have the following:

• Disciplinary Policy and Procedure
  
  
• Grievance Policy and Procedure
  
  
• Health & Safety policy and Procedure
  
  
• Equal Opportunities Policy and Procedure
  
  
• Absence Management Policy and Procedure
  
  

Others may be developed according to local need; a policy on internet usage if your staff regularly use IT, for instance.

 
Introducing New HR Policies and Procedures

It is important you are systematic in your approach.  Key processes when introducing HR Policies and Procedures include:

• Appoint the right person to draft the procedure.  In a small firm this will probably be the owner or one of the partners.  In a larger firm you will need to identify someone with the necessary skills
  
  
• You will need to consult.  Policies and procedures should not just appear from above; speak to your managers and staff to gauge their views
  
  
• Ensure your policies and procedures are compliant with current legislation and best practice.  ACAS and several employers’ organisations provide useful templates
  
  
• Communicate each new policy or procedure to your staff to ensure they understand what it means for them
  

 

Working With your Policies and Procedures

Your HR policies and procedures should be living, working documents and part of your everyday processes for managing people.  You will need to:

• Review and, if necessary, update your policies and procedures on a regular basis.  As a rule of thumb this should be at least every two years, more often if legislation or best practice changes
  
  
• Any revised policies or procedures should be signed-off by the senior decision-maker in the business
  
  
• All managers should be trained in how to operate the business’s policies and procedures
  
  
• Similarly, the policies and procedures should be covered as part of your induction training for new staff
  
  
• You may wish to consider including your HR policies and procedures in a handbook to be issued to all staff
  
  
• Keep adequate records to demonstrate that your decision-making processes comply with your own policies and procedures

Further Information

Acas, CIPD and EEF are all good sources of information.  We at Write Centre are always happy to advise too.






 

Professionals know how to write.  Don’t they?  Managers are constantly required to produce reports and strategies and most professionals spend a huge proportion of their day sitting in front of a screen.  So why are so many people completely thrown when asked by the boss to come up with an article for the company newsletter or website?  Here are my top eight tips for producing the kind of article that people will want you to read:

 

1. Have something to say
We all have something to say, things we know about and care about that we want to share with others.  There are all sorts of reasons for deciding to write a particular article: to entertain, to inform, to stimulate debate or to make a call to action.  But, whatever your aim,  you should always write about something that you find interesting and exciting, that way your enthusiasm will be conveyed to the reader and you will be able to engage their attention.

2. Think about who you are writing for
It is vital to know who you are writing for.  Is the piece you’ve been asked to produce for an audience of like-minded specialists, or for a general readership?  Pitch your article accordingly; keep it fairly basic for a general audience and explain your concepts and terminology.  If fellow-professionals will also be reading your piece you can always provide links to further in-depth reading. 

3. Break it up
For any article longer than a few paragraphs, consider using headings to make your piece easier to read.  Help the reader by providing a structure: an introductory paragraph to establish your subject, the main body of your piece to cover your key points and then a conclusion to draw everything together.  Most readers want to read your article at one sitting; if it is too long you risk losing the reader’s attention.  Take a tip from the American poet Lorine Niedecker who said the writer’s job was to condense words down from the rambling to the concise.

4. Give it a good title
Try to come up with a catchy, informative title that gives the reader an idea of what the article is about and makes him or her want to read on.  

5. Avoid jargon
You may know what a feedback loop is or what SEO stands for, but that doesn’t mean everyone who reads your piece will.  There is a danger people will end up feeling excluded by those they perceive to be ‘in the know’.  Think twice before using jargon and make sure you explain all but the most common initials and acronyms.
 
6. Take a break
Once you’ve written your first draft, save your article and put it away until later.  Come back to it with a fresh mind and read it through to see how it comes over.  Editing really is the key stage of any kind of writing: try to cut out any ‘padding’ to make it more readable, rewrite any ‘woolly’ sections to provide greater clarity and remove any clichés or received phrases.  Finally, check your spelling and grammar; and don’t just rely on your computer’s spell-checker, this can often give you the false assurance of the right spelling for the wrong word!
 
7. Get your facts right
The internet is a wonderful tool for checking up on that fact or statistic you seem to remember.  If in doubt, make sure you use a reliable site to double-check.  Also, if you add any quotes to your piece, ensure you give full details of your source.

8. Ask for feedback, and be prepared to listen
Before submitting your article, you may wish to show it to someone to see what they think.  But choose someone who will give you honest feedback, and not just easy praise.  But remember, if you’re asking for feedback, be prepared to listen to it!