With more and more of us writing instead of talking, it pays off to write well and to write fast. But writing fast, can also cause common mistakes that can hurt your business instead of help it.
Yes, I tend to write fast some days too! I fly through a blog post or an email without carefully considering my grammar or to make sure I’m not rambling or repeating myself. It doesn’t mean that I don’t care, I just have a lot going on.
As a Home Business Owner, I know that you have a lot on your plate too. But if you take your time instead of rushing, you will make your point come across the way you want it to and help your business.
Here are some common mistakes that most business owners make when writing a blog post, an email, or writing for social marketing:
- Think first… then write!
Writing is more than just putting words to paper or typing it on your screen. Consider what it is that you want to convey, think about your audience, brainstorm a few ideas and carefully compose your messages. - Not knowing your audience and writing for yourself.
You have to write for your audience, not for yourself. If you angle everything you write from your own point of view, it can turn your audience off because they cannot relate to it or they simply do not care. Avoid the mistake of repeating OUR or MY or I, but instead say WE and YOU. For example, say I was selling Hummingbird Feeders online. Of course I want to appeal to the backyard birders and customers that love to just watch the pretty little birds fly up near their windows to eat. A mistake I could make to announce that I have feeders would be: “We have great Hummingbird Feeders for sale! Get yours today!” Yes, that’s quick and gets my point across, but it isn’t that appealing is it? Instead, write to your readers that would want to experience seeing these little cuties and write: “It’s springtime again and your local Hummingbirds are searching for flowers and Hummingbird Feeders to eat from. Watch these beauties from your own window by purchasing a Hummingbird Feeder! Click here for details!” That’s much nicer and makes the reader think, hey, I DO want to see these little guys! - Not Giving a Call to Action
Every time you write, you must write for a reason. You don’t want to leave your readers asking.. ok what do you want me to do about it? Make it clear what you want them to do. In my example above, it’s stated: “Click here for details!” That is a call to action. It’s telling the reader to click to check it out. If that small sentence was left out of my message, it leaves the reader thinking, yes, it would be nice to feed the Hummingbirds, but where do I get one, and they would simply disregard your message. - Failure to Edit
Grammar doesn’t mean as much these days, and the world is used to seeing typos and words ‘shortcutted’ so much that sometimes they are undecipherable or you have to look them up. (I’m guilty of having to look things up or ask someone younger than me! Ha ha!) Also with the world of texting and internet slang, acronyms like LOL or BRB are highly used and of course, there are the made up words! In fact, ‘shortcutted’ is not in the standard Dictionary! But regardless of that, editing is very important. If you were writing a blog post or a newsletter, like this one, and it was full of misspelled words because I failed to use the spellchecker, or not using punctuation where needed, it simply shows that you just didn’t care and you were writing just to post something because you were on a deadline. If you are writing a long message, write it, step away from it, and then go back to it with fresh eyes. Use your built-in spellchecker or even copy everything to Microsoft Word to check for common grammatical mistakes. You will be glad that you did!
Always reexamine your writing and revise it. The time it takes to do that, may seem better spent somewhere else in your business, but your writing does convey the quality of your business and will add credibility.
