Bad Business Bloggers of the World, Untie!

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By his own description, Richard Lederer is a verbivore.  Fans refer to him as the “poster godfather of good grammar”.  Lederer is able to laugh about common grammar mistakes writers make. Myself, I have a harder time suppressing my anger, particularly when it comes to bad grammar and incorrect spelling sins committed by blog content writers.

True (as I’m fond of mentioning in corporate blogging training sessions), the language used in blogging can be – in fact should be – more conversational than the stuff you might find in a company’s brochures or on their website’s “About” page, so that, depending on the target audience, blog writers are OK bending grammar rules by a bit.

But, as Richard Lederer reminds us (albeit with a smile), some of the crimes committed against our precious English language are definitely not on the OK list. “Every time you make a typo,” Lederer writes, “the errorists win.”

Copyblogger’s Brian Clark explains that while bloggers try to write the way people speak, there are certain mistakes that detract from your credibility, including four mix-ups:

  • Your vs. You’re
  • It’s vs. Its
  • There vs. Their
  • Affect vs. Effect

Gini Dietrich on American Express’ Open Forum worries that creators of customer-target content’s worry about the grammar police (I proudly sport my badge) can create writer’s block. The most important thing, she says it to “get the writing out of you. It can always be fixed to perfection later.” Still, Dietrich says, if you can learn to avoid basic errors (she mentions Brian Clark’s items of your/you’re, they’re/there, then adds the total no-no “irregardless), you’re off to a good start.

HubSpots’s Ginny Soskey adds a few errors to the watch list, breaking the news that
“alot” is simply not a word, and cautioning writers to use “who”, not “that” when referring to a person: “Ginny is a blogger who likes ice cream.”

Judging from the search results when I Google “grammar and spelling mistakes in blogging”, everybody seems to be conscious of the problem. Still, the more I keep reminding blog content writers in Indianapolis how important it is to be fastidious using our language, the more examples of sloppiness seem to stare me in the face whenever I surf.

“Bad spellers of the world, untie!” quips Richard Lederer.  Professional ghost bloggers of the world, unite!” is all I have to say! Are you going to stand there and let those errorists win?

 

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Business Blog Readability in the Flesch?

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“Readability is a critical yet often-overlooked aspect of writing – particularly online writing,” according to Jeanne Dininni of StraightNorth.com. The idea, of course, is to match your writing to your intended audience. “Some sites target a more educated demographic, some attract a population segment with specialized knowledge or expertise in a particular area, and others,” observes Dininni, “cater to more general audiences”.

Science?  Common sense? Both, actually. After all, we business blog content writers aren’t in this to entertain ourselves – we’re out to retain the clients and customers we serve and bring in new ones.

If you didn’t already know this, there are tests you can put your blog through to see how you’re doing in terms of readability – are you reaching the right people and doing it by using words and sentences to which they can relate?  Well, a Readability Index Calculator can give you the answer.

The most-used calculator is the Flesch-Kincaid.  Your scores on the Flesch indicate two things:

  1. How easy your text is to read on a scale of 0-100. (A high score, say 60 or 70 means your stuff is relatively easy to read; a low score, say 20 or even 10 means you’re getting too close to legalese territory – and who wants that??)
  2. What grade in school a person would need to have reached to be able to understand your content. (A score of 7 would mean the typical seventh grader would understand your writing, while a sixth grader might not. In fact a score of 6 or 7 would be considered optimal in journalism.)

So what, exactly, do those two Flesch-Kincaid measure to take your readability “temperature”?  Essentially, two things:

  • The average number of syllables per word
  • The average number of words per sentence.

I tested a recent blog post of mine, https://blog.sayitforyou.net/blog/ghost-blogger/dont-you-hate-it-when-blogging-for-business, with the following “verdict”:

“This page has an average grade level of about 7 and a reading ease score of 68.7. A value between 60 and 80 should be easy for a 12 to 15 year old to understand.”

You need to know – how would your business blog measure up in the Flesch?

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Language Basics for Business Bloggers – Part C

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“Grammatically speaking, voice refers to whether the subject of a sentence is on the giving or receiving end of the action, explains Anne Stillman in Writer’s Digest Yearbook.

For us freelance blog content writers, “voice” is an enormously important element when it comes to “hooking readers and wowing fans”. This week, my Say It For You blog posts are devoted to a review of fundamental writing tools and techniques based on the Yearbook. In a way, choosing the right “voice” goes far beyond grammar and sentence structure, setting the entire tone for each business blog post.

“The active voice has definite advantages over the passive,” explains Stillman. “It’s more concise, it’s often more informative, and it can make your writing appear more vigorous and confident.”  That doesn’t mean, she adds, that the passive voice is never appropriate.  For example, Stilman says, “The wedding cake had to be carried in by eight strong waiters” is better than saying “Eight strong waiters had to carry in the wedding cake.”  Why?  The focus of the sentence is the cake, not the waiters.

Since one of the very purposes of business blog writing is to showcase the accomplishments of the business owners, as a general rule we bloggers need to focus on “staying active” in our content, I teach in corporate blogging training sessions.

A jewelry store blog might read “Our jewelry is worn proudly by all types of people, from homemakers to business executives,” but it would pack more punch to say, “From homemakers to business executives, people of every type proudly wear ABC
 jewelry.”

This past week in my Say It for You blog, I spent a lot of time discussing the ingredients of good writing. There’s certainly a lot more to effective blogging than just the writing. Bloggers need marketing expertise and at least some degree of technical expertise.  The bottom line, though, is that blogging involves the skillful use of words.

For us blog content writers as well as for our business owner and professional clients, A is an important letter in our lexicon. From apostrophes to active voice, paying attention to our craft pays off!

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Language Basics for Business Bloggers – Part B

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There’s no lack of information for us content writers when it comes to hooking readers and wowing fans, but, as Tiffany Lucket, editor of the Writer’s Digest Yearbook points out, it’s important to go back and review fundamental writing tools. That’s why I’m devoting this week’s Say It For You blog posts to some of the language basics covered in that wonderful magazine.

“…the ways in which the elements of a sentence can be put together – separates the casual writer from the true professional, asserts Anne Stilman. “Unconventional or incorrect grammar may be seen as an indication of carelessness or ignorance, with the result that readers may take the content itself less seriously,” she explains.  (Thank you, Ms. Stilman! I get a lot of pushback from business owners and professionals when I tell them their website is filled with grammar errors – supposedly nobody “normal” pays attention to such language detail.”)

Stilman focuses on topics that she finds present frequent stumbling blocks for content writers, including:

Agreement between subject and verb:
When sentences contain two or more nouns or pronouns and share the same verb, the verb needs to be plural, even if one element of the pair is singular, and even if the singular noun is the one closest to the verb.

Avoiding misplaced modifiers:
If a sentence is carelessly constructed, the entity to be modified is not clear. As an example, Stilman offers the following sentence: “Just two years after finishing graduate school, Adelaide’s career took off.” Since it was Adelaide and not her career that finished school, this is a confusing sentence.  It would have been better to state that “Just two years after Adelaide finished graduate school, her career took off.”

When I’m training newbie blog content writers, I like to remind them of the doctor’s mantra “Above all, do no harm.” In blogging for business, the warning might read, “Above all, create no confusion in readers.” You want online searchers to get the message, not be left scratching their heads.

If online searchers can’t tell what you mean, they will simply click and leave! Ignoring clarity by failing to use proper punctuation and sentence structure in blog posts is done at business owners’ peril.

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Language Basics for Business Bloggers – Part A

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“Keep in mind that apostrophes are never used to form a plural word; they are used only in contractions and when creating the possessive form,” Brian Klems reminds readers of The Writer’s Digest Yearbook.

The basic concept behind this treasure chest of a magazine: Writers learn about hooking readers and wowing fans, but it’s important for them to go back and review fundamental writing tools. “Without a base, there’s nothing to build upon,” says Tiffany Lucket.  The Digest’s executive editor is addressing novelists, but blog content writers are equally in need of such a reminder.

And speaking of apostrophes, I find misuse of them nothing short of rife in business blogs, beginning with the use of “it’s” as a pronoun. (“You need to see this furniture to appreciate it’s beauty. Oh, Gawd…).

Brian Klems goes on to describe a related apostrophe question: Should you use the apostrophe to form a plural word when a name ends in the letter S? In a word, no, no. no!  We keep up with the Joneses, not with the Jones’. Of course, if you’re trying to have your cat keep up with the Jones’ pet, the apostrophe would be very apropos as a possessive.

What’s the big deal? Grammar mistakes in content writing for business are very much like the much-publicized TV star wardrobe mishaps in that they call attention away from the kind of impression we intend to make on behalf of our businesses or professional practices.  (Yes, I’ve been accused of being a “grammar Nazi”, and yes, it’s true that most readers won’t catch the grammar errors. But, can you afford to lose the respect of even a few?)

Assuming all content writers would at least reluctantly concede the answer to that question is  “no”, I’m devoting all of this week’s Say It For You blog posts to language basics covered in the Writer’s Digest Yearbook. IT”S elementary. Blog WRITERS’  AND BLOG WRITERS’ CLIENTS’ reputations need protection against grammar and vocabulary mishaps!  Repeat after me: apostrophes are never used to form plural words, and “its” would have one only if you mean “it is”.

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