The Case for Contractions

From memos and emails to reports, websites and blogs, you should use contractions in all your business communications. If you're not doing so already, you should start changing that today.

Why? 

Modern life and work environments are far more casual than they were just a decade ago. Speech is more casual, attire is more casual, and working relationships are less formal. Online and digital communications are also significantly more casual and interactive than the paper-based communications of the past.

Centered on the Web Revisited

A couple years ago, I wrote about the problems and pitfalls associated with centered text on websites and blogs, so if you're a regular reader, you already know how I feel.

If you're new, you may not, so here's my bottom-line recommendation: Don't do it.

Here's why. 

Searchable

In theory this site is searchable, but in reality, sometimes the search function works and sometimes it doesn't. The Google overlords routinely change search algorithms, which often has a direct and very surprising effect on the results of even the simplest search.

(They also routinely alter formatting algorithms, so blog posts have an interesting tendency to reformat themselves and appear different from one day to the next. But that's a topic for another day.)

There are nearly 300 posts on the Crossbridge Beyond Words site, so if you're looking for something specific, here are some tips. 

Ditch the Dots

Thanks to the internet, we can easily share information, highlight new products, explain processes, and engage customers and prospects on a global scale. For better or worse, we can also see what others are doing and quickly integrate new trends into our own communications.

The rampant use of ellipses (...) is an unfortunate trend that's spreading like wildfire. These dot-dot-dots are popping up everywhere from letters and emails to blogs, websites and product descriptions.

A recent example was brought to my attention because it was from someone seeking employment in the communications field. Presumably, this person had a background related to the position they were seeking, but there it was in black and white: The applicant had visited the company website ... and was looking for work.

When the business owner saw the ellipsis, a red flag shot up and rightfully so. The rules governing ellipses are specific and quite limited. It's appropriate to use an ellipsis if you want to indicate:

1. Uncertainty
2. An abrupt change of thought
3. A pause
4. Words missing from a quotation

That's it, four simple applications.

So, back to the job applicant. Were they expressing uncertainty? A thought change? A pause? (They weren't quoting anyone, so that option isn't relevant.)

In the end, it doesn't matter what they hoped to convey. The inadequate cover letter and unread resume moved directly to the rejection pile. Why? To the business owner, those three tiny dots were a huge signal the applicant was unprepared for a professional position. 

It's your decision. You can be on trend and use ellipses with abandon, but be prepared for the fallout. 

If you're smart, you'll ditch the dots unless you're eliminating words from a quote. Otherwise, you risk being viewed as uncertain, indecisive, distracted, inconsistent or incapable of clear thought, qualities few if any employers, clients or customers find desirable.


TIP: In lieu of an ellipsis, substitute a dash (-) to indicate a thought change or pause.


For more writing tips, see:
The Great Comma Controversy
The Humble Hyphen
Pesky Periods & Parentheses
Respect the Semicolon

For more related to employment, see:
Do Writing Skills Still Matter?
What Employers Really Want

3 Tips for Crafting Content to Boost Your Business

Demand for original high quality content continues to grow, due to our insatiable appetite for fresh, relevant information. Because not all content is created equal, the internet is awash with material that’s inadequate at best, and inaccurate and incomprehensible at worst.

This makes it fairly easy to stand out from the crowd.

To craft content that boosts traffic, builds your brand and solidifies your reputation, implement these practical tips:

1. Target your audience. Whether you’re generating content yourself or working with a team, take time to pinpoint your target audience. Are you addressing:

• Long-term customers with experience and expert knowledge?
• Prospects from diverse backgrounds?
• Newcomers who are just learning the ropes?
• Casual readers who have little or no context for the information you’re sharing?
• Passionate followers who are informed and engaged?

2. Produce content your readers are seeking. Based on search trends, the most consistently popular categories:

• Inform. Explain products or services and describe why they’re important, useful, irresistible or valuable.
• Instruct. Demonstrate how to do something using step-by-step tutorials, process models or videos.
• Influence. Provide context that shapes opinions or helps readers make better decisions.
• Improve. Highlight products, services and processes that help readers work smarter, live better or both.
• Inspire. Deliver content that motivates, encourages, supports and stimulates.
• Impel. Provide information that prompts action such as buying products and services or making work/life changes.

3. Follow a few basic rules. At minimum, make sure every article, news blurb, blog post, product release or marketing piece has a clearly identified audience (customer, prospect, casual reader, etc.) and a defined purpose (inform, instruct, etc.). Then follow these rules:

• Keep things simple.
• Be clear, concise and compelling.
• Write in a direct and active voice.
• Avoid insider jargon.
• Revise, refine and rewrite.
• Proof, polish and perfect.

If quality content isn’t part of your marketing strategy and budget, you’re missing a critical opportunity to grow your business. Luckily, it’s an easy problem to solve. 

You can take the time to develop content on your own or work with a reliable provider like Crossbridge. Either way it's a sound investment, because you’ll have a steady flow of fresh material that attracts traffic, builds customer confidence and boosts your bottom line.

Streamlining Social Media

Have you noticed? There's a new trend emerging on the social media front, one we can sum it up in one word: Streamlined.

From consultants to conglomerates, businesses of all sizes are opting to consolidate, simplify and rein in their social media reach. I'm seeing it in every sector, and it's particularly prevalent among micro, small and medium-sized businesses.

Briefly, the essence of the new strategy is:

• Emphasize the website as the business center.
• Use targeted, quality content to revive neglected business blogs.
• Radically reduce the number of social media venues.

On average, the typical business appears to have slashed the number of social media outlets from a high of six or seven to a more manageable list of two or three. Why?

The first goal, according to one owner, is to refocus on their core business and customers. Juggling an ever-growing list of social media venues fragmented their focus, splintered marketing strategies, created endless churn, and produced disappointing results compared to the cost and effort involved. They were attracting traffic and attention rather than customers and clients.

Equally important is the desire to improve and centralize communications. The social media scattergram approach was inadvertently driving people away from rather than toward their websites, and leading to very public missteps, contradictions, dropped balls and promises that couldn't be kept.

As a result of these endless distractions, the business and bottom line suffered.

Instead of producing and planning, they were tweeting and facebooking. Instead of nurturing relationships, they were pursuing fleeting digital friends. They were "liked," but not selling.

Their eyes were so glued to the small screen, they'd lost sight of the big picture.

This is a development worth watching. It signals a new level of online maturity and a recognition that by trying to be all things to all people, many businesses lost sight of the essentials, something they're striving to rediscover.

Are Sliders Driving Away Customers?

There's no doubt about it. The full-screen rotating image sliders favored by so many web designers can be striking.

They can also be annoying and counterproductive.

Let's look at just one recent example. I found some information related to an ongoing project on a site with attractive imagery, decent content and a few possibly pertinent facts. Unfortunately, my mission was at the mercy of the site designers, and each click brought fresh torments.

Why? Every major topic featured a slider (aka: carousel). This fad pervades the web, and often it's a mistake.

In this particular instance, essential facts were displayed in paragraphs on the image and below it. The details were different, so it was vital to read and understand both to grasp the key facts.

Sliders made this challenge impossible: Image with text. Images without it. Image with text. Images without it. You get the picture (pun intended).

The rotation was timed so there was just enough time to read a handful of words before the text disappeared, replaced by a new image. By the time the text reappeared, I had to start all over again. As an added irritant, there were no clickable controls to slow or stop the rotation.

After a little exploration, it became clear the entire site was constructed in this manner. Any specifics I hoped to glean flashed briefly on screen, then were quickly replaced with attractive but uninformative pictures.

I did what any rational user would do: I left.

I tracked down another source where the presentation wasn't dramatic, the images were static and the content was solid. In combination, these factors allowed me to quickly locate the information I needed, absorb the details and complete the task at hand. Following so closely on the heels of the slider fiasco, this experience was refreshing and straightforward.

Guess which site I'll visit again, and which one I'll avoid?

If you've bought into the myth that image sliders, carousels and rotating banners enhance your website, you might want to rethink your strategy. Here's why:

1. Few products and services are so basic they can be conveyed in a series of images whizzing across the screen.
2. Sliders only work in situations where each image transmits sufficient information to be self-explanatory.
3. Readers routinely dismiss (block out) moving elements because they assume they're ads, not information. 

The aversion to sliders is more than a pet peeve. Studies conducted by Jakob Nielsen, the web usability expert, found automatic carousels annoy users and reduce their ability to find and act on the content or product they're actively seeking. (For more about Nielsen, go here and here.)

If online traffic is down, SEO rankings are slipping or sales are declining, it's time to take a good, hard look at your website. The dynamic image sliders you hoped would boost your brand and business are a fad to forego, and in fact might actually be driving away customers old and new.

Centered on the Web

There's a strange and rather unfortunate trend emerging in online venues.

From landing pages to websites and blogs, there's an inexplicable proliferation of centered text. It's particularly common on small business sites, where they appear to believe it looks arty or sophisticated.

They're mistaken. There's nothing inherently wrong with centered text, but it's extraordinarily difficult to read, so a little goes a very long way.

Let's look at some examples.

This is an excerpt from Case Studies | 5 Ways They Work for You:

Case studies are remarkably effective marketing and sales tools. They provide a structured way to tell a compelling story, and from the dawn of time, stories have been a potent way to share information or make a point. The best case studies include meaningful data, testimonials, examples and results. It takes time, resources and effort to accomplish this, but it’s worth it.

Here's how the same passage looks when it's centered.

Case studies are remarkably effective marketing and sales tools. They provide a structured way to tell a compelling story, and from the dawn of time, stories have been a potent way to share information or make a point. The best case studies include meaningful data, testimonials, examples and results. It takes time, resources and effort to accomplish this, but it’s worth it.

See the problem? Wading through this relatively short excerpt is a headache-inducing challenge.

Add in the fact that most people scan rather than read, and the absence of a fixed starting point makes this or any text very difficult to review, let alone process and comprehend.

This means if your business blog or website features centered text, it's likely you're losing customers and prospects. In today's fast-aced environment, few are willing to work hard enough to wade through a more than a few lines of centered text.

You can correct or prevent the problem by restricting centered text to these limited applications:

• Brief titles
• Brief labels for graphics, images, tables or charts
• Brief product descriptions 
• Brief phrases 

Notice the emphasis on brief? With centered text, less is definitely more.

You can completely circumvent this issue and create crisp, clean copy by adopting common business standards, which means you left-align all copy in plain block paragraphs and lists.

In work and life, striving to be centered is a good thing, but on the web, it just doesn't work.

12 Reasons to Blog

In recent months, I’ve been creating content for everyone ... except Crossbridge that is. It’s always good to be in demand, but it's produced some unexpected consequences.

This became clear when a client commented on the blog and mentioned the reduced posting frequency. It’s good to know people are reading your business blog, but his remarks drove home this point: 

Contrary to perception, blogging is alive, well and growing, because both existing and potential clients value quality content.

It was a timely reminder. If you're trying to manage the competing demands of multiple social media venues, there are 12 solid reasons why your company should maintain an active blog:

1. Ad infinitum.  What you post now works for you around the clock 24/7, 365 days a year. This year, next year and for years to come.
2. Building blocks. Blog content can be leveraged in multiple ways. Blog first, then promote the content and your brand through Facebook, Google+, Twitter, print, email and more.
3. Business as usual. In today’s business landscape, a stagnant blog sends an unreadable signal. Is the company defunct or just busy? Confusion causes uncertainty and uncertainty sends customers elsewhere.
4. Blog-only benefits. Blogs are the ideal place to make special offers that attract, build and reward loyal readers/customers.
5. Centralized communications. Pin, tweet and tag to your heart’s desire, but savvy, time-conscious customers are seeking central repositories where they can efficiently find useful, reliable information rather than an endless series of one-liners, broken links, quirky quips or (yet another) string of pretty pictures.
6. Constant contact. Blogging helps you sustain constant, steady contact with customers, vendors, suppliers and prospects.
7. Critical mass.  Building core content mass boosts SEO results and establishes you as an industry leader.
8. Differentiation. Now more than ever, quality content helps you stand out from your competition.
9. Expert status. Not all blogs or bloggers are created equal, but if you produce a steady stream of solid content, it will build or reinforce your status as an expert in your field. This effect is exponentially magnified if competitors have abandoned or neglected their blogs.
10. Findability. Frequent posts raise your online profile and improve search engine results.
11. Open channel.  Blogs serve as a reliable venue where you can solve problems, ask for feedback, develop new products, promote upcoming releases, respond to crises or concerns, and much more.
12. Relationships. Blogs help solidify new and existing relationships, in the same way print newsletters did in the past.

So how often should you post to your business blog? To grow your business, experts recommend:

Minimum:  1 time per month

Moderate:  1 time per week / 4 times a month

Maximum:  2 to 4 times per week (more often and quality tends to suffer or content becomes shallow and non-relevant)

Frequent posts drive temporary traffic, but quality content is the key: Visitors come and go. Readers-followers return because they know they'll find something of value. Day after day, week after week, year after year.

Control the Use of Capitals

Capital letters play an important role in communication. They add emphasis to key words and help readers recognize concepts you find important.

Like many useful things, however, a little capitalization goes a very long way.

I was reminded of this during a recent research foray. A pivotal resource site had high quality content. Unfortunately, the over-zealous use of caps made it very difficult to read, let alone deduce what was important and what wasn't.

A Brand New Year

It's time to welcome a brand new year filled with promise and opportunity.

This means it's once again time to update the copyright statements on your website and blog.

Why bother? Updating your copyright statement:

• Boosts your search engine rankings
• Improves your online findability
• Informs customers, vendors and prospects you’re current and up to date
• Confirms you’re still actively engaged in your business
• Demonstrates you diligently manage your online presence

It does something else as well. It indicates you're paying attention to and staying on top of little as well as big things. This sends a powerful message to  existing and potential customers, advertisers, supporters and yes, search engines.

Remember using specific dates in your copyright statement tends to improve your search engine rankings. Why? Some engines actively search for current dates (2015) rather than sweeping statements (copyrighted from 2010 to present). The general statement is easier and requires no additional attention, but it also does little to positively affect your online rankings.

Do it now, while you're thinking about it. Otherwise, it will get lost in the flurry of tasks that accompany this time of year.

Happy New Year one and all!

Two Out of Three

There's an adage in business that with any product or service, you can have two out of three critical things. These are:

1. Price
2. Time
3. Quality

Not familiar with this concept? Here's how it works:

Three SEO Constants

The powers that be refine SEO algorithms and change both the playbook and playing field with alarming frequency.

What's a small business to do? Focus on what works.

From a communications standpoint, three constants will help streamline your SEO strategy. They are:

Mastering the SEO Universe

The business world has been buzzing about both recent  and planned SEO changes.

As we all know, Google regularly updates and refines its search engine algorithms. Others do, too, but Google is the 800-lb gorilla in the SEO universe.

Theoretically, Google’s SEO algorithms optimize the speed and quality of search processes and minimize detractors like spam-based sites. 

If you routinely conduct online searches for products, services or reliable, trustworthy information, you can judge for yourself how well these improvements are working. Or not working, as the case may be.

Questions about "Qwality"

Recently, a client asked for feedback on a program devoted to quality in business and education.

We talked for awhile, because I wanted to be certain I understood my client’s interest and point of view. Then, I visited the website to learn more.

The program is quite reputable. The website, however, raised some nagging questions about quality.

Puzzler: Write More, Not Less?

Most business blogs and websites receive spam comments. Usually, I just delete them and move on.

This recent one, however, is spamtastic (reproduced here, typos and all):

Today is That Day

Today is that day, the one where you tackle a small task that will have impact all year long.

Which task is that, you ask?

It's time to update your copyright notice on your websites, blogs and other online venues.

Why is this so important?

SEO | How Findable Are You Online?

Many things have changed in the SEO and internet realm.

To test the real-world effects of these changes, Bob Chapman and I decided to run a quick, informal “findability” comparison.

Working in separate locations from our own office computers, we each searched for “Bob Chapman, Sandler” to see what results appeared. Bob used Yahoo, I used Google.

SEO | Is Google Sending Fresh Signals?

In April, Google launched a new round of search algorithm refinements.

Some were minor, others more significant. In all, Google implemented 52 changes to improve overall search quality.

These refinements have implications for you, your organization and your online presence.

Today, let’s focus on one thing: how Google describes changes related to searching for and finding current content.

SEO | 5 Fast Facts

We’ve been examining practical, low-key techniques for making LinkedIn useful and usable for small business owners and professionals of all stripes.

Which raises some obvious questions.

How many people use LinkedIn? Does social media rule the business world?