I love Copyblogger. I almost always get a chuckle from something I read on that site. I also always learn something, a plus in my book.

Today’s topic was one I was going to tackle, but Brian Clark did it with such panache and humor, that I thought I’d simply refer you to his post.

Nothing drives me crazier than reading a blog post (or anything else written) and see typos, grammatical errors and just dumb mistakes that probably could have been avoided if the writer had taken the time to review his or her work.

Programs to check spelling and grammar exist for a reason. (Although, as I’m sure someone will point out in the comments, these programs aren’t foolproof.)

It takes little time to re-read something to find those errant little thoughts that somehow made it into your copy that don’t belong. Or the misused word or the place where your train of thought derailed. Are you really in such a hurry that you can’t take a minute to re-read your text? Really?

Brian’s post deals with 5 common (but avoidable) mistakes writers can make in their copy. I hope you get a chuckle out of his dangling participle examples.

Five Grammatical Errors that Make You Look Dumb

I should add that, like Brian, if I truly have a grammar question (since grammar was like a foreign language to me in school), I ask my significant other. It helps having an in-house grammarian.

I’ve been away from this blog for about 3 weeks (YIKES), and I feel terribly guilty. My business has exploded (YIPPEE), but that means something had to give (NUTS). Unfortunately, since I write for a living, my blog suffered the consequences.

And YOU noticed. That I was gone at least. Thank you.

Well, now I’m back. From Outer Space. I just walked in to… Oh wait. I’m channeling my inner Gloria Gaynor.

So if you I asked you to name the tone of this particular blog post, what would you say? Light, humorous? Apologetic? Upbeat? You’d be right on all counts. Those are what I try to convey in this blog (mostly). It’s called “Tone.”

Tone, as defined by dictionary.com, is:

• a particular style or manner, as of writing or speech; mood: the macabre tone of Poe’s stories.
• prevailing character or style, as of manners, morals, or philosophical outlook: the liberal tone of the 1960′s.
• style, distinction, or elegance.

A consistent tone throughout your blog helps define who you are and how people will feel when they read it. If your tone is serious, this will evoke certain feelings in readers. If your tone is humorous, people will come to expect that when they visit. When you step away from the tone (or tones) you typically write in, your readers will notice. And not always in a good way. I mean, can you imagine what would have happened if Erma Bombeck, my favorite humor writer, had suddenly started writing dirges? (Shiver)

Sometimes, when I sit down to write a post, I realize my head’s not in the game. Maybe I’m distracted by other things I need to do, maybe I’m not inspired by the topic I’ve chosen, maybe I simply don’t want to write, but feel I have to. If any of these are the case, I stop trying to write because I know the words I want won’t come. (The same is true for client work. If my head’s not in the right space, if I can’t connect with my subject matter, it’s futile to sit at my computer.)

So -

Rule #1 – Make sure your head is in the right place. If it’s not, get it there or don’t post. While one “off” post won’t chase away readers, why take a chance on damaging your reputation, especially if your mood is a bad one? Go clear your head – whatever that means for you. For me, it means doing something completely different, like working with my hands. That could mean washing dishes, working in the garden, fixing the doorbell, sorting laundry. It’s the things I can do to bring myself to a different place mentally. Usually, it doesn’t take long for me to be able to sit down at my computer again and begin to write. But this time with the tone I want and need.

Rule #2 – Stop oiling the squeaky wheel. If you ignored Rule #1 and wrote a post anyway, put it aside. Don’t post it yet. Go away and then come back and re-read it. It’s likely you’ll want to revise it, once you’ve accomplished Rule #1. But what if you try to revise it and nothing seems to work? If that’s the case, you might simply need to scrap it and start over. (GASP) Yes, I did say start over. It won’t kill you to do this. You can always pick the bones of the first post’s carcass and use them in the new post. It’s better to start over than try to fix something that can’t be fixed, no matter how well written it may be.

Copyblogger has an excellent post today from D Bnonn Tennant outlining 5 key ways you can improve what you write for your website or for others.

His advice is time-honored and traditional, but many writers fail to do them all, or even some of them. What are they?

1. Write drunk; edit sober (words of wisdom from Ernest Hemingway)
2. Sleep on it
3. Get a friend to read it aloud
4. Use the breath test (no, not breathalyzer test)
5. The passive voice should be rewritten

I rarely have a friend read my things aloud – and I do have friends who would do this. However, I do read almost everything I write aloud simply to gauge flow, word usage, wordiness and to listen for any gaps in the story.

And, I don’t always rewrite passive voice. I know, call me lazy, but sometimes ideas are best expressed that way.

Sleeping on it is my favorite. One – I get to sleep, a wonderful thing. Two – my brain gets a reprieve from thinking about what I’m writing, or as often happens, gives me some inspiration as I dream to revise the piece. Stepping away from what I’ve written also allows me to come back with “fresh eyes,” and a sharpened red pen. I see things much more clearly after being away.

Oh, just for the record, I’ve never written anything while drunk. Not even my phone number.

What do you think about these points? Do you have any of your own to add to the mix?

Have a great week!

When I was a kid, there was a TV show called “In Search Of” hosted by Leonard Nimoy. It investigated paranormal and pseudoscientific topics, according to Wikipedia. I loved that show because it made me think about things that I thought were not only pretty cool, but weird, different and, sometimes, scary.

Being a perfectionist can be much like that TV show.

I like to say I’m a recovering perfectionist, probably more to convince myself than anything else.

But I keep trying to avoid reading blog posts over 10 times to make sure they make sense and there aren’t any errors before I hit “publish.” Or, stressing over an email because I want to say “just the right thing.”

I often find that if I simply let the words flow freely from my fingertips, the things I dread the most (typos, grammatical errors, misused words) still happen, but I get a lot more writing done in the short term. So, I suppose you could add continuous self-editing to the “I don’t do that anymore” pile.

I may never completely free myself from my (somewhat admittedly) obsessive ways. But one thing that has helped me tremendously is watching the people I admire get things done – sometimes at lightening speed. And they might have errors in their writings, which they might eventually correct . . . or not.

I think it fundamentally comes down to trust. Do I trust myself enough to be imperfect? I am only human, so errors are just par for the course after all.

I suppose – and I think I have plenty of company when I say this – being a professional writer and editor means the bar is set a bit (or a lot) higher than for the Average Bear. Or, maybe that’s just my story.

To be continued . . .

Another aspect of my “Organizing for a Better Blog” quest is giving my blog the importance it’s due. It’s part of my marketing mix; it not only showcases my thinking, it also demonstrates some of my writing ability. As a writer who wants to work more in the online arena, that’s pretty important.

And yet, I can find myself doing almost anything else but blogging. It’s not that I don’t want to write, it’s that I will place more importance on other tasks and minimize the affect of blogging on my business. I also put clients ahead of my own work – not a bad thing if I’m on a deadline, but if the project is more long-term, I can steal a few minutes/hours for my own work without jeopardizing what I’m doing for them.

Maybe it’s a “woman” or a “mom” thing, but I’ve always placed more importance on others’ needs than my own.

That stops today. Well, at least with regard to my blog and blogging.

A smart woman in my weekly mastermind group suggested I do what I don’t want to do first thing in the morning. That’s good advice. However, given the importance of blogging regularly, I’m going to change that to – “do the one thing in the morning that will have continued benefits for your business.” Then I’ll move to “the one thing that will make me the most money today.” (That second one might not have immediate cash benefits but could.) Then if I feel like it, I’ll tackle that one thing I don’t want to do.

There. Now I’ve made that public.

And my blog post for today is now finished.

Now, if it would only stop snowing outside and get back to the business of becoming Spring.

You have mere seconds to capture the attention of a visitor to your website, blog, landing page, sales page… or any page for that matter. ~ Deb Augur

This impactful statement is how Deb Augur of “Ask My Webgal” starts her blog post about writing headlines. And she’s absolutely right. If someone comes by your website, picks up your literature, reads your sales page – if you can’t grab their attention, you’ll lose them before you’ve had a chance to even really say “hello.”

That’s why a well-written headline is the key to nearly everything you write. A considered headline grabs the reader, sucks them in and compels them to read further. But knowing this and doing this are two different things.

Deb touches on 3 key things – emotional connection, writing in active voice and making the reader feel important – that are essential to getting your blog reader, potential client, etc., to move deeper into your copy.

She then explains 3 simple steps you can take to help you write those compelling headlines.

Writing headlines is an art and science. If you’d like to know more, there are many books on this topic as well as websites. A quick search on Amazon.com (a favorite place of mine to troll for ideas and information) resulted in 160 results, although not all of them are probably relevant. You can see that list here.

To read Deb’s full post click here.

The 30 Day Blog Challenge was not on my radar when I started this blog. In fact, I was such a newbie that I had only a few posts on the site. But this challenge has helped me understand several things about blogging and consistency – and also helped me understand better what is of interest and what isn’t here. I thought I’d share some insights I’ve gained over this past month, just in case you want to participate in the next 30 Day Blog Challenge.

1. Don’t expect people to read your posts. Ah ego. It is a bit stinging when you work hard on a post, it gets published and then . . . crickets. No comments, nothing, nada. <sigh> Get over it.
2. What you think is important might not be to your audience.
3. Shorter posts are easy, but well-written and researched posts tend to be more favorably received.
4. It pays to pay attention to what’s going on in the world. This helps inform your blogging.
5. Reading other people’s blogs is a good idea, but don’t use their words for your sole source of inspiration (and for heaven’s sake, don’t use their words verbatim!)
6. Don’t stress about what to write. Your muse will arrive in time.
7. Plan ahead, if possible, so you have at least your topics outlined for the month. That helps you avoid #6.
8. Don’t be afraid to broach controversial subjects. If you lose readers, they weren’t yours to begin with.
9. Unless your blog is a personal one anyway, limit your personal revelations. However, don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through.
10. If you miss a day, don’t get discouraged. Get back on that horse.
11. If you do get comments on a post, thank the people who took the time to write to you. Even if the comment is negative, at least you know people are reading. Thanking them appropriately keeps them coming back.
12. Don’t be surprised if that great and unique topic idea you blogged about yesterday was blogged about by others yesterday, too. Innocent but identical idea inspiration seems to hit several people at once.
    
13. And finally, have fun! Too much pressure takes the fun away. Never lose sight of having fun.

A big thanks to Dr. Jeanette Cates, the person in charge of this challenge. I can’t imagine the amount of work this added to her day, but she’s to be commended for taking it on. Thanks to Connie Ragen Green for starting this program originally.

Thanks to all the readers who’ve taken the time to read my words and comment on them. I’ve learned a lot from you, and I’m grateful you’re out there.

Now that the challenge is over, I’ll be inviting select people to contribute to this blog as guest posters. I do believe in the power of collaboration – plus, I may be smart, but I don’t know everything. (Shocking, I know.)

It was a natural progression. I’ve worked as a ghost writer for years, so employing my same skills in social media seemed like a slam dunk. And don’t kid yourself – this is done more often than you might think (not that I have any statistics at hand to support this notion). I mean, many of the books you see written by celebrities are often written by ghostwriters – so it’s a natural progression that really busy people hire ghost tweeters. Unless you’re Ashton Kutcher, that is.

Tweeting for someone else isn’t hard, but it does take finesse. After all, the beauty of Twitter are the relationships that are forged through the back-and-forth of tweeting, retweeting, @replies and direct messages. I will admit to initially feeling a bit insincere when I responded to someone – and they thought I was the person they were addressing. I’ve gotten over that. This is, after all, business. Besides, if something is truly personal, I can always pull the business owner in for help.

While ghost tweeting isn’t hard, you have to be prepared to be in it for the long haul. That’s why there are several questions I consider before taking on a ghost Twitter client. These questions help us both understand the nature and scope of the project and determine if a ghost Tweeter is a fit for the business.

• Do you understand Twitter well enough to take this project on? Okay, I only asked myself this the very first time, but it’s worth asking. Tweeting for someone else is different than tweeting for yourself – you have to be able to demonstrate what you’ve been doing for the client – they are paying you for your expertise.

• What do you need to know about your client and their business to effectively represent them on Twitter? Some businesses may be harder than others to ghost tweet. If you don’t have a technical background, but have a client with a technical product, you will likely need to bone up (pun intended) on it so you have more than a rudimentary understanding of what it is, what it does and why it exists. Only you can decide if you want to delve that deeply into someone else’s business. Additionally, you need to understand their motivation for being on Twitter. Run, run away fast if their sole purpose is to “increase sales.” This is nearly impossible to track, so you’re starting out on the losing end of an unfair bet with a client like this.

• Will you be the sole tweeter or will your client add their own tweets? I encourage my clients to tweet themselves for a two-fold reason. One – it gets them involved in the process and two – I get to read their tweets and gain a bit more insight into how they like to phrase things and what interests them. And, if there are other Tweeters on the team, you’ll need to coordinate in some fashion so you aren’t overlapping one another.

• How much time will you spend on their account each day/each week responding to other tweeters, re-tweeting, direct messaging, finding new followers, etc? This is important to determine ahead of time and could impact your bottom line. You’ll first need to understand how much time you anticipate spending on each type of task. Finding followers is usually more arduous than retweeting, for example. Since you’re already a Twitter expert, you probably already have a good idea of the time spent on each with your own account. Yes, your experience does translate.

• How will you track your progress? Even though the end game is to create relationships with people who are (or say they are) interested in what your client has to say, providing hard numbers may be difficult. Certainly, the client can track new customer inquiries, asking each “where they heard about us,” but this is an imperfect science. Ah, the bugaboo. How DO you measure progress on Twitter? Number of followers? Number of retweets? Number of @replies? There are, uh, a number of tracking tools available to Twitter users who need their numbers fix, but it really comes down to relationships. Pay attention to followers, provide them with interesting, insightful information (don’t just talk at them), thank them when appropriate and you’ll increase what Digital Media & Social Marketing Strategist George Benckenstein calls “Return on Influence – an investment of a different sort.

Just for fun, here are a few tools (truly just a few. There are a gazillion out there.)

• Number of followers/following:  Twittercounter.com provides a nice visual graph that any business owner can appreciate. It shows the growth (or not) of both followers and following.
• Twitter rank:  Twitterholic.com provides a snapshot of how your Twitter account measures up the everyone else based a number of factors that aren’t completely clear. However, you do end up with a rank within the entire Twitterverse and within your local community (which is really cool).
• In-Depth Statistics:  For the true techy, Twitalyzer.com provides measurements on five key areas:  Influence, Signal, Generosity, Velocity and Clout. Can be helpful, but it’s unclear how large the Twitterverse they pull from is currently.
• Retweets:  Nothing says “I like you” like a retweet. Retweetrank.com provides a percentage ranking of your retweetability. According to their information, they troll the entire Twitterverse. I still say take the number with a grain of salt.

For additional tools, visit 6 Favorite Twitter Tools.

Do know that Ghost Tweeting can be fun and lucrative with the right clients. Just be clear about what you’re getting into.

Note:  This post appeared on another blog last year.