TashWord

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Tash is a professional writer who loves helping people communicate clearly and effectively.

Help others help you

Published 11 May, 2012 | By TashWord

I do a bit of guest blogging, and I believe it is a mutually rewarding experience if done well. I certainly don’t think the host blogger is doing it all for the sake of guest bloggers as they also benefit from the arrangement.

Maybe the host blogger likes updating the blog without writing much themselves, maybe they like the traffic guest bloggers can bring or maybe they are basing their blog on a team effort to give a broader picture. Whatever the motivation, the host blogger benefits.

Accept posts graciously

I think it is plain good manners and a strategic decision to be nice to people who offer posts upon request.

Recently, I saw a blog request blog posts through BloggerLinkUp. I looked at the site and the topics covered, decided it was a good fit for me and emailed the blog with a post idea.

The response received left a sour taste in my mouth and I didn’t bother writing a blog post for him. The issues with the email:

he didn’t bother using my name or a greeting of any description
he told me to read his ‘write for us’ page to see the requirements – he didn’t link to it or tell me how to find that page. At a quick look in his site menu and footer, I can’t see any related links so I left the site. It would had been easy to give me a link. It would have been easier to include such a link and requirement in the original request for blog posts
he didn’t use his name to finish the email – it made it all very impersonal and showed no attempt on his part to build a relationship. I no longer felt comfortable with him or his site, and certainly didn’t feel it was somewhere I wanted to regularly contribute posts to
this one is perhaps more personal, but I didn’t like his comment “I would publish your post if it meets the standard of this blog”. I felt he assumed I wasn’t up to the standard rather than assuming I am (sort of ‘capable until proven incapable’ is my usual approach). He didn’t acknowledge the topic I had suggested – who knows if that even met his unstated standards?

So if you want people to provide guest posts for your blog, or articles for your website or newsletter, try to build a relationship with those who offer you their writing – or at least send them a nice email response.

What sort of responses have you received from sending out or offering to write guest blog posts?

Posted in blogging, Business Communications | Tagged blog, email, guest post, manners | 6 Comments

Factoring in the carbon tax

Published 9 May, 2012 | By TashWord

The biggest carbon tax cost impact for most Australian businesses will relate to increased utility costs – power and gas in particular. And the flow on of suppliers having to cover their increased utility bills.

Energy Action has an online calculator to help you estimate the impact on your business – just enter your current electricity and gas bills to get an estimate of your bills for the next 3 financial years.

The carbon tax is coming, power bills will increase and businesses have to deal with it.

In the fight to keep prices down but profits steady, I think adding green practices to your business can help. That is, if you can implement some changes that reduce your power bills, the carbon tax will have less impact on for expenses so you can maintain prices and profits.

As a test, I reduced my electricity consumption by 50 kWh to save $16.93 per month in 2013 and $18.71 per month in 2015. Prices jumped $3.55 per month in that period prior to my reduced consumption.

{I made up the consumption numbers just for interest and used Victoria as my state.}

Saving in business power

How can you reduce your power consumption by 50 or more kWh?

There are many ways to cut your energy consumption, but some I have done or am looking at include:

switch to energy saving globes
turn off lights, printers, copiers, monitors, etc at the end of every business day – and over lunchtime if everyone is out of the office
put on a jumper and turn down the heating
dress in cool clothes, use a fan and ensure circulation in the office so you can use the air conditioning less in summer
keep your equipment clean – dust in fans and filters can slow things down, risk overheating and therefore cost more to run
rearrange furniture to maximise natural light from windows to reduce the need for electric lighting
where possible, reduce the amount of sun hitting your windows in summer – plant deciduous trees outside or put up some shade cloth
only print what is necessary – many things can be read on your screen and stored on your hard drive. Saves in paper and ink costs, too
use kitchen appliances wisely – only add enough water in the kettle as needed but fill the dishwasher completely before use
where relevant and practical, encourage staff and clients to use manual doors rather than electronic doors and stairs rather than lifts – it’s healthier for them as well as saving electricity use

What other ways can you minimise the impact of the carbon tax on your business? Will you try to minimise the impact rather than pass on increases to clients?

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged calculator, carbon tax, green, minimise | Leave a comment

Tell others about you

Published 8 May, 2012 | By TashWord

There are two main reasons people visit a website – they want information on a topic or they want information about the business behind the site.

So why do some sites avoid sharing anything about themselves?

Add an about us page to your website and blog

As Chris Lake wrote, an about us page “is surely one of the only true rules of doing business online. I can think of no good reason why you wouldn’t have one.”

An about us page can be very simple but it can make a huge difference to people thinking of doing business with you.

For a stand alone blog, it lets readers know who is writing the posts – for instance, is it a business or an individual, is it by an expert or someone learning the topic, or is the blog focussed on a specific topic or just a collection of ideas.

For a business website, it can build enough credibility for me to do business with you – or not.

How ‘about us’ can build credibility

you are being open and transparent compared to making me wonder why you are hiding things – no name on a website instantly makes me suspicious
providing history shows the business is more than a fly-by-night – if you’ve been in business for a few years, you must have done something right!
explaining how the business began or the passion behind the business will certainly give me a believe in the intent of the business and its owners
introducing team members can give me an idea of what skills are available for me as a potential client
listing values or just writing a personal story can show the company culture

I have an about us page on my website and as part of my blog, even though they are on the same domain, so it is easy for people to read about me and my business. I wonder if I’m brave enough to ask if you have read either of them!

How important is an about us page when you are assessing a potential supplier or service provider?

Posted in blogging, Business Communications, web content | Tagged about us, blog, credibility, information, page, website | 2 Comments

How bizarre’s your bazaar?

Published 7 May, 2012 | By TashWord

While clearly pronounced differently, bizarre and bazaar are similar enough to cause confusion. Although it may simply be the spelling of each that confuses, rather than mixing the two up…

Bazaar [noun]: a marketplace with miscellaneous stalls and shops, especially in a Middle Eastern country; a shop or market selling a mixture of items; a stall or market where goods are sold as a fund-raising event
Mireille strolled through the bazaar while waiting for friends in Lebanon.

Bizarre [adjective]: odd, obviously out of the ordinary and different, far-fetched, unexpected
The teacher’s outfit was bizarre – a mix of cultures, colours and fabrics like I’d never seen before.

Posted in Monday Meanings | Tagged bazaar, Bizarre, define, difference, meaning | 2 Comments

Repeat annual report content?

Published 3 May, 2012 | By TashWord

Most annual reports contain the same general information year after year.

Whether it is an introduction, history of the business, outlining products, naming directors or key staff, there are sections of an annual report that don’t change much over the years.

Repeat the wording?

The fastest option therefore is to use exactly the same wording in those sections every year, just changing small details as necessary. The freshest option would be to rewrite all those sections.

There are pros and cons to both options, such as:

if you assume most people don’t read annual reports from cover to cover, and probably don’t remember last year’s report in depth anyway, not changing the words would probably escape attention from the majority of people
repeating the wording not only saves you time rewriting the content but also in gathering feedback and approvals on it – it was approved last year so will meet the criteria this year too (if major style changes have occurred, copying old content isn’t an option!)
it looks a bit slack and old to anybody who does notice the wording hasn’t changed
it is easy to make errors when you assume ‘oh it was ok last year so I’ll just skim read this bit’ and miss the reference to ‘our new office’ a year later or forget to update 2012-11 to 2011-12.
content from the annual report can be copied and used elsewhere because it is approved, public information. Updating the content each year is a nice way to update basic information in numerous places so your profile is kept fresh and interesting
depending on how your annual report is presented online, you could end up with what appears to be duplicate content on your site (if four pdfs are all 33% the same, for example, there will be a lot of repetition). Search engines do not like duplicate content and can penalise your site for it
staff can get bored rereading the same words – new content gives them fresh wording to utilise in presentations and on phone calls, too

So what do you think – would you be unhappy getting an annual report that was largely the same as last year’s? Would you even notice?

Posted in Business Communications | Tagged annual report, fresh, repeat, rewrite | 2 Comments

Blog editing policies

Published 3 May, 2012 | By TashWord

The editing of guest blog posts is a perfect example of a blog policy.

It gives the host blog some control over the standard of posts accepted. The host blogger can accept great post ideas and make sure they read well.

Specific policies are more effective

Many blog policies include something like

All guest blog posts may be edited before publishing.

As a potential guest blogger, that makes me nervous. What will they edit? Will they tell me they have edited it before it is published? What if their edits include poor grammar/expression so it looks like I made those mistakes?

As a host blogger, I would feel uncomfortable taking advantage of such a policy and making huge changes to someone else’s post. I would also start to think it would have been easier to write my own post on the topic!

I prefer a more specific policy, such as

Guest blog posts may be edited for spelling and basic grammar.

For full transparency and relationships building, I would add an extra sentence, too:

We will get your approval on any edits other than typo corrections

If you’re submitting guest posts, which blog would you choose if the only difference was in their editing policies?

Posted in blogging, Business Communications | Tagged blog, editing, policy | 2 Comments

How you communicate is important

Published 1 May, 2012 | By TashWord

I spent the weekend camping with 50 Scouts (from 6-year-old Joeys to 17-year-old Venturers). We had a lot of fun, completed many activities and came home exhausted!

With such a diverse age range, not to mention the range of personalities and other abilities, it could be challenging to keep them all involved and engaged.

Change how you present a message

Making the weekend work was a good example of adjusting your communications to suit the audience.

As leaders, we could have said lets learn how to cook in a fire and use a compass. Instead, fitting with our Harry Potter theme, we created choc-orange cauldrons and searched for the Philosophers Stone.

When a little more time was needed to prepare something, I could have asked the kids to wait patiently or run across the oval to burn energy. Instead I said “Sarah and Wil, see if you can run across to the tower and back before anyone can catch you”. They all ran off, had fun and didn’t notice the delay for preparation.

Scout camp sorting hat communicated groups

Communicating via sorting hat

The best example, however, was putting the Scouts into groups for the weekend. Any other time, we might just read out a list of names and leave it at that. This time, each scout was called up to greet the sorting hat and have it decide on their group. Yes it took longer but there were no complaints nor restless kids as they loved the process.

HOW we presented the activities and our messages was important in making the weekend a success – the WHAT was important too but would have been less effective on its own.

Applied to business

A Harry Potter theme and changing ordinary activities into those with exciting names won’t help in most business situations. But the concept of adjusting a message to suit the situation is perfect for anyone, including businesses and websites.

You have a key message you want people to hear, so you may as well present your message in a way that maximises how many people will listen to it.

There are many ways to adjust your presentation, but here are a few to get you started:

put it as a question rather than a statement
add some humour
choose the words and tone to suit – perhaps more formal or casual, simple words or more sophisticated vocabulary
use a short and to-the-point version on Twitter but a friendly and more questioning version in Facebook
can the background be livened up to catch interest? For example, I’ve printed flyers on blue paper rather than white to put into conference goodie bags

Of course, to tailor your message effectively, you need to understand your audience. On camp, we knew we were talking to active 6 to 17 year-olds who wanted to have fun and be involved. Our techniques wouldn’t have worked so well if we’d had 50 4-year-olds or a group of business men on a team building exercise.

So how well do you know the target audience for your business? Well enough to adjust your message to suit? Well enough to tailor your message for different segments of your audience (e.g. those on Twitter compared to those attending a workshop)?

Posted in Business Communications | Tagged audience, how communicate, message | 2 Comments

I’ll throw your throne

Published 30 April, 2012 | By TashWord

I spent a lot of time yesterday running around and throwing balls at kids (mostly during games of poison ball with Cub and Joey Scouts) so this pair of words came to mind for today’s Monday Meanings. It’s certainly a pair of words that would look very strange when used in the wrong way.

Throne [noun]: a seat reserved for use by a monarch; a large, ornate or imposing seat
Everyone stood as the Queen approached her throne.
A giant throne dominated the grass near the car park.

Thrown [verb – past participle of throw]: having propelled an object through the air, generally by an abrupt arm or hand movement; caused a fall; confused (common speech use)
The ball was thrown five times before Jack could catch it.
The cowboy was thrown from his horse when a snake crossed the path.
“I was thrown by the word buoy in that sentence,” she said.

If you need a way to tell these words apart, remember that a throne is for one special person.

Have you ever seen these two words misused?

Posted in Monday Meanings | Tagged meaning, throne, thrown | Leave a comment

Social media predicts stuff

Published 26 April, 2012 | By TashWord

Which option will be our future?

I have just read a great article* by Amy Birchall about social media being used to predict the future.

A researcher at Illinois University, Kalev Leetaru, was able to ‘predict’ events such as the Libyan revolution, Osama bin Laden’s location and the Arab spring revolts by monitoring conversations and trends on Twitter. (This made me think of the TV show Person of Interest which is based on a machine predicting the future!)

Extrapolating from that and other observations, the article discusses how social media can be used in many fields to predict things – giving warning to health authorities about epidemics for instance could be very important. Obviously, marketers and advertisers are interested by this as they can predict trends and position themselves accordingly.

It has also pointed out how valuable it can be to target the right (read influential) people can be. The example given was to immunise 96% of people for community immunity – or immunise the most connected 30% for similar results. In business terms, work at promoting yourself to 96% of your market, or to the 30% that influences the rest of the market.

With hash tags and various data monitoring and mining platforms available, it is possible to use social media to research your market and tailor marketing to suit. Have you used social media to decide on a strategy or campaign? Do you think it helped you make good decisions?

* I would love to link to the article for you but I can not find it online – Management Today does have a website and lists a number of articles but not this one unfortunately. I could upload a photocopy of the article but that would breach copyright so I won’t!

Posted in Business Communications, business info & tools, social media | Tagged article, predict, social media, target | 6 Comments

Getting procedures used

Published 24 April, 2012 | By TashWord

Procedure for using a stapleless stapler

Short, practical procedures work

If you have gone to the effort of creating some procedures, you want to have your team make use of them.

Let’s face it, many of us have tried putting together an Ikea unit before reading the instructions – often to use them later. But we don’t want that happening to the procedures we spend time on writing to benefit our businesses.

Here are four tips for encouraging use of your procedures:

when presenting them (for instance, if emailing it out to your team), sell the benefits.
Would you respond better to ‘procedure you must use’ or ‘record sales data quickly’?
lay out each procedure clearly and neatly
if it looks easy to read and follow, people are much more likely to use procedures so use the basics of good procedures such as lists rather than paragraphs, decent size fonts and short instructions (‘hit submit’ not ‘use your mouse to click on the submit button’)
make the procedures easy to find
if you have a shared computer area (intranet or a shared folder somewhere) or a physical shelf or cupboard, put the procedures there so everyone can always access to most recent version. For specific equipment, keep the procedures nearby – I don’t want to have to visit the main office to use the machinery in the workshop. Then make sure procedures are named clearly so it’s easy to find the relevant procedure when it is needed.
keep procedures up to date
imagine following a procedure that has an old password or refers to an old version of software (especially a major change so steps have changed) – it’s very frustrating. Let people get frustrated with your procedures and they’re less likely to refer to it again. Most updates are quick but if it is a big change and will take time, note that on the existing procedure so at least people know to expect changes and that a new version is coming.

What makes you use any procedures you find helpful?

Posted in Business Communications | Tagged benefits, procedures, used, useful | 5 Comments

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