TashWord

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

Console foreign dignitaries…

Published 2 April, 2012 | By TashWord

Another pair of words that could lead to embarrassment if used in the wrong way…

consul: [noun] a State agent in a foreign place, usually to represent the state in that foreign place
I contacted the Australian Consul about voting when I was in Europe last year.

console: [verb] comfort and make someone feel better; [noun] control panel or switchboard of electrical equipment; [noun] cabinet or frame supporting equipment such as a TV or stereo
Family and friends gathered around the widow in an attempt to console her.
The sound technician pored over the console to find the error and restore sound.

Posted in Monday Meanings | Tagged console, consul, foreign, meaning | 4 Comments

Useful policies are short

Published 30 March, 2012 | By TashWord

If you take the time to prepare a policy or procedure,then you may as well make it accessible to people, right?

I just read a blog post discussing how the average internet user could spend 76 business days a year reading privacy policies that affect them. 76 days!

That is based on the average policy having 2,514 words. Which is a lot of words for a policy that basically needs to say ‘we will only give your information to Fred under these circumstances’.

And it is an average. Some places have very short privacy policies (for example, if you subscribe to my newsletter you will see a 34 word policy!) so that must mean other places have extremely long policies.

So next time you write or update a policy, keep it as short as possible by

using simple words as much as possible so it is easy to understand
avoiding legalese so it makes sense to everyone and doesn’t look intimidating
think about your reader – what do they want to know and expect to see?
use an active voice as it is generally shorter than a passive version of the same sentence
use bullet points and sub-headings to organise the policy – this is easier to read, often means less repetition is necessary and sentences don’t need to be so complex.

Legally, you may be covered by providing a policy even if people don’t bother reading it (how often do you read the policies you agree to online?) but I wouldn’t be comfortable with including unexpected details that could hurt people later. That is, the legal issue is not always the moral one so I prefer policies people are more likely to read.

As a business owner, do you just want to protect yourself or do you want people to properly understand your policies?

Posted in Business Communications | Tagged effective, legally, policy, short | 8 Comments

Dealing with poor guest blog posts

Published 28 March, 2012 | By TashWord

Have you got some low quality guest posts for your blog? Hopefully you understand that quality content less often is better than frequent content that is not always very good.

Last week, I described some aspects of low quality blog posts so they are easier to spot even if you have little confidence in judging people’s writing abilities.

But what if you have accepted some poor guest blog posts or have a regular guest blogger who is providing low quality posts for you to use?

Your options as the blog host

The most important thing to remember is that it is your blog so only you can set the standard and make the rules.

Reject the post
If there is nothing good about the post, you don’t have much choice but to reject it. That could mean sending it back to the author with a ‘no thanks’ message or just deleting it from your blog or emails. It’s up to you if you give reasons or reject them from future consideration – having clear policies* can help you make and enforce such decisions.
Request an amendment
If the post has potential (for example, it has some great ideas but is poorly written or doesn’t explain ideas very well) it may be worth asking the author to change the post and resubmit it. If you request this, you will get better results if you make your expectations very clear.
Edit the post
Again, if the post has potential you could make some changes to the post yourself. This is simpler than asking for an amendment in that your standards will be met but there are other complications* – remember the guest blogger’s name is on the post. I believe this is perfectly acceptable if you are just correcting a typo or two but needs care for larger changes.
Accept the post
You obviously have this choice but it can damage your blog’s reputation so why risk it? If you feel you have to post it because of an agreement, make sure it is clear in your blog that it is a guest post (not the host owner or regular contributor) and adjust that agreement as soon as possible. If you have an ongoing or desirable relationship with the blogger this may seem tempting but it isn’t really doing him or her many favours either. Better for you both to let them know their posts are not at a suitable standard so they can learn from their mistakes.

How have you dealt with low quality guest posts you have received? What reactions did you receive?

* I’ll cover editing others’ posts and setting up your policies over the next few weeks.

Posted in blogging, Business Communications | Tagged dealing, guest post, low quality | 16 Comments

What increased super rates mean

Published 26 March, 2012 | By TashWord

Last week, the Australian Government passed legislation that means the superannuation guarantee (SG) rates will gradually increase from 1 July 2013.

For employees, it’s clear – they will get more super in their account which should help them in retirement. I do support the idea of people retiring with more money and having less dependence on age pensions and the like.

But who will pay the extra 3% SG?

In simplest terms, employers will pay more super into their eligible employees’ super accounts. The Government will give tax concessions to that extra money which is what the mining tax is supposed to go towards.

There has been a lot of complaint in the last week from employers and employer groups about the need to find this extra 3% per employee – many had apparently thought the Government was somehow going to fund the increase.

Maybe the extra will come instead of pay increases for employees. But workers unions don’t agree with that concept and think the small percentage can be absorbed by businesses.

I don’t know the final answer and am not taking any political stand point on this either.

Small business people

For the self-employed, I don’t think we’re going to win from this deal.

I am self-employed so my super account only grows if I choose to make it so (or if I treat myself as an employee with a regular wage) – there is no compulsory super for me which means a change from 9% to 12% doesn’t have to affect my super savings.

As a small business I don’t have huge profits that would make it easy to increase employee salary packages by 3% (or the 0.5% steps).

My options would be to

reduce pay increases to cover the SG (so their pay over the following 7 years may not increase much regardless of CPI)
somehow reduce hours for existing staff (and that wouldn’t be fun for anyone really)
pay the extra out of my profits (meaning my take home pay is decreased)
increase prices enough to cover the super increases (of course, if clients don’t like that option my business suffers)

I do feel for small businesses with a number of employees as this could cause a lot of stress.

But I do agree with increasing savings for retirement. So is this a necessary pain for a few years for the greater good?

If you have a small business, what are your thoughts on the increased SG?

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged employees, rates, superannuation | 5 Comments

Finding hares in your bathroom

Published 26 March, 2012 | By TashWord

I admit the only times I have seen today’s words used incorrectly is in bathrooms or children’s writing, but is a bathroom notice less important than any other business communication?

Putting up a notice in your public bathroom as part of a policy of keeping them clean and pleasant for all users is fine and can communicate more than the words on the paper. However, a very different message can be conveyed with signs like:

Please keep your hares out of the basins

and graffiti replies such as

Then provide some rabbit hutches for us

But hairs are ok in the basins?

So for the sake of all of us using public bathrooms with hair issues, here are today’s definitions.

hair [noun]: a long protein fibre produced by animals (mostly by mammals) from follicles in the skin. Humans consider head hair as part of our appearance whilst hair is important for warmth and survival in many other animals. Similar strands (such as on plant roots) are also called hairs.
Jenny brushes her hair every morning before leaving her room.

hare [noun]: a mammal belonging to the genus Lepus, similar to rabbits
The hare is related to the rabbit but does not have burrows for its young and is generally larger.

My tips for remembering which is which – hares are like rabbits while hair is in the air.

Posted in Monday Meanings | Tagged bathroom, definition, hair, hare, sign | 7 Comments

Replying to blog comments

Published 23 March, 2012 | By TashWord

Blogging is part of social media and is about communication. The only way it can become a conversation, however, is to encourage comments about the posts in the blog.

Comments are sometimes just as acknowledgement that you are reading the post but often people leave comments that enhance what was written in the post – the conversation and comments can sometimes teach and entertain as much as the post itself.

So here are some basic guidelines to replying to comments:

in your own blog, a key to encouraging more comments is to reply to every comment you get. It can be a short ‘hello’ or thank you’ but it shows you appreciate comments and the people behind them
always be respectful and polite in comments – you don’t have to agree every time but respect the fact that others have a different opinion to you
before replying to a post, read through the existing comments – apart from the fact you may learn something, this gives you the opportunity to discuss the issues with others and to not just repeat a comment made by someone else.
If here are a LOT of existing comments that you don’t read, acknowledge that to show you have noted that and may be repeating what someone else has said.
When replying to another commenter, make it clear that is who you are talking to – threaded comments make this easy but otherwise use the person’s name
it isn’t always possible, but try to make your comment interesting and useful – give a personal example or opinion about the topic, answer a question asked in the post or give some additional, relevant information. This expands the conversation, builds your credibility and makes it less likely your comment will be considered spam
if you write guest blog posts, treat it like your own blog – aim to reply to every person who comments on your post. You have written the post as the expert so need to be available to answer questions; blogs are about people and community so it comes across as arrogant to not reply to people discussing your ideas. From a business perspective, doing guest posts is about building relationships and expertise, so not answering comments is loosing an opportunity.
never make a comment an ad for your own business/services/products. It just annoys people and makes it likely your comment will be deleted as spam. Give tips and advice, mention you have expertise and link to your site but remember that this is someone’s blog, not your personal ad directory, and that people don’t read blogs and comments for ads.

From comments you’ve seen and blogs you admire, are there any other guidelines to add to my list?

Posted in blogging, marketing, social media | Tagged blog, comments, replying | 24 Comments

identifying annual report tasks

Published 20 March, 2012 | By TashWord

I find it interesting how little many people know about the process of writing and preparing annual reports.

Many people just accept an annual report exists, glance it and forget about it. Other people think annual reports are a good idea and that someone can just sit down for a few hours (maybe a couple of days) to write the report.

If only it was that simple!

I have already started on one client’s annual report – it won’t be released until September, so that gives you some idea of how long it can take.

So here is a list of tasks involved in producing a professional report that meets all legal, business and branding requirements professionally:

checking what legal and regulatory requirements apply and ensuring those requirements are met. I often start with checklist of topics to include so I don’t forget any of them
deciding on a theme, if suitable, as this will influence the exact wording and design, and possibly some of the actual content
collating relevant information, such as major events, financial reports, directors’ details and performance data
arranging the design and layout – this may mean finding a designer or using an in-house person, but will require time and various drafts
writing the actual content – which may include writing the bulk of individual reports (Chair’s report, CEO Report and so on) and writing marketing material
collating relevant images to be used in the report – or editing and approving those collected by the designer
deciding on marketing elements and then preparing them – you can insert ads for various products/services or even accept external ads as long as you have space and it meets all relevant rules
editing, rearranging and refining to get everything to fit nicely!
coordinating feedback from a variety of people (for example, technical, financial, legal, marketing and company experts)
reviewing final drafts to ensure the report meets the requirements from step 1, meets the business style guide, has all spelling and grammar correct, is readable, appears professional and somewhat attractive, has all correct numbers (check phone numbers, ABNs and addresses are perfect as typos are easily missed) and is approved by the responsible people
arranging printing – even with digital copies available, some printed copies are usually required – and digital access (formatting and uploading the document and adjusting webpages and links to make it accessible)

There also the additional tasks of arranging distribution (so designing and printing envelopes, arranging mailing lists and stuffing envelopes) and any other materials to go with the annual report (such as member statements, renewal forms and marketing flyers) that may be part of ‘writing the annual report’ or managed by someone else.

It is a lot of work and there is certainly some pride in the final result of your hard work, but it can be a little frustrating when you realise that many people just don’t open or read the annual reports they are given!

Posted in Business Communications, writing | Tagged annual report, professional, tasks | 2 Comments

Feeling content with contempt?

Published 19 March, 2012 | By TashWord

These three words are completely different, and if said clearly, should never be confused by someone who knows their individual meanings. However, said quickly, these words can sound alike and lead to confusion – do you know the difference and take care to pronounce them carefully?

contend: [verb] taking a position or stand in an argument, competition, contest or effort
The politician contends his position again, hoping his past achievements will win back his seat.

content: [adverb] satisfied, happy; [noun] contained or what is contained
Having finished another 10,000 words, the writer was content with her efforts.
He warily viewed the content of the student’s locker.

contempt: [noun] feeling of disapproval and superiority to something or someone that is regarded as vile, of little account or mean
He treated all criminals with contempt, and never tried to hide the fact.

Posted in Monday Meanings | Tagged contempt, contend, content, definition | 9 Comments

Impressive words don’t

Published 15 March, 2012 | By TashWord

Including long ‘impressive’ words in your content won’t impress many people or make everyone think you are super smart.

In fact, using lots of long words makes your writing harder to read and you appear pompous. A study in 2005 showed a negative relationships between complex writing and perception of the writer’s intelligence – in other words, overuse of big words made readers think the writer was less intelligent.

You may have developed the habit of using a bigger vocabulary at school or university – and teachers do need to see you understand a range of words and technical terms – but it’s a good habit to break when writing business materials.

Keep words and sentences short – write in the same style as you speak – be clear and concise – and your message will be understood which is the point.

Posted in Business Communications, writing | Tagged impressive, intelligence, long words, simplel | 29 Comments

The birth of a berth

Published 12 March, 2012 | By TashWord

With my daughter’s birthday this week, this seemed like an appropriate pair of similar but unrelated words.

birth (noun): a new start, especially relating to a baby leaving its mother’s body
My youngest child’s birth was quicker than my earlier experiences.

berth (noun): a space for a ship or large vehicle to be tied up or parked; a sleeping space in a boat; a job (usually on a ship); space in which to turn or manoeuvre a ship
The Captain skilfully brought the ship into its berth.

There are two ways to remember which birth is which. The first is to think of the sea in relation to the ship’s berth. However, the more fun option is to think of the i in birth as a candle on the-all-important birthday cake!

Posted in Monday Meanings | Tagged berth, birth, definition | 12 Comments

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