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The world wide web is a fantastic publishing medium. Anyone, anywhere, with a web browser can access it; it’s easy to update materials; quick and cheap to publish; and adding links to other pages enhances the value of your own. But the web was not designed to be an all-purpose display medium. Computer screens are […]

If your reader has to guess what you mean, you’ve failed as a communicator. “Pedestrians are requested to proceed with caution on these steps during inclement weather” Perhaps the council’s signwriters, who crafted this example, are paid by the letter. “Slippery when wet” or “These steps may be hazardous in the rain” would be a […]

“I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter”. (Seventeenth century philosopher Blaise Pascal) Concise writing is hard to produce. The trouble with some words is that they are, basically, overused and unnecessary. To all intents and purposes, they are redundant. The end result […]

Much writing in business assumes that readers are more interested in a lengthy explanation of, say, a product’s features than an interesting narrative explaining why it is good. So we get sentences like this: ‘X’s core product suite delivers an open, robust, cross-platform scalable solution for the indexing, categorisation and integration of disparate information feeds.’ […]

Business people spend a great deal of energy and time preparing, delivering and listening to speeches and presentations. This is not always enjoyable: presenters struggle to get complex slides and notes together and audiences fight to stay awake. However, if you follow some simple rules, giving and receiving presentations can be a happier experience for […]

What’s happening and why is it important to me? Whether it’s a new business letter or email, a press release, or a brochure, it’s vital to explain relevant information quickly. Your time-pressured audience may not be reading your copy out of choice. They will swiftly reject anything that seems irrelevant. So begin promotional documents with […]

Get someone else to do your selling for you. Quote them. “Since installing X’s sales management product, we’ve seen a significant increase in orders.” (A Customer) A third-party endorsement or reference is the best way to add credibility to promotional materials. Work hard to get a concrete statement like the one above, if you can. […]

“Even when the sense is perfectly clear, a sentence may be deprived of half its force — its spirit — its point — by improper punctuation.” Edgar Allan Poe Wage war on stores which flout the conventions of punctuation, for they bombard young eyes with low standards. WH Smith, a stationer, sells childrens birthday cards, […]