Archive for May 2009
How Blogging Can Benefit Your Business
Introduction Blogging is a great way to communicate with your audience and keep them up-to-date on the latest developments in your industry. A blog can be a powerful tool for your business, as it provides a great way to communicate with your audience. Blogging helps you improve search engine rankings, it helps you build authority…
Read MoreUse AutoResponders To Make Money Online
You may be like most people, and not even know what an autoresponder is. An autoresponder is a piece of software, or a service that automatically emails a mailing list. Most would wonder what use someone would have for an autoresponder? Think about how many people don’t buy something form you but opt-in, is it…
Read MoreHow to End a Sentence to Communicate the Right Subtext
How you end a sentence makes all the difference in the world in your commercial and technical copy. Or rather, it makes all the difference in the world the way you end a sentence. (See the difference already? In the first sentence the emphasis is on “copy”; in the second it’s on the “end of…
Read MoreTechnical Communication – A Pandemic Influenza Scale that Does Not Work
Meaningful classification of information is one of the prime tasks in technical communication. By that standard, the WHO (World Health Organization) classification of the Swine Flu into “phases” fails the test since it does not give us an indication of the severity of the “pandemic” or suggest what should we do about it. But first…
Read MoreInkscape – How to Use the Layers
Inkscape is a free vector drawing program which is ideal for many of the illustrations drawn by technical writers. The fact that it’s available for free makes it a great resource for those freelance technical writers with limited budgets to spare for more expensive vector programs like the Adobe Illustrator. Inkscape has a Layers menu…
Read MoreHow to Balance Facts and Emotions in Technical Communication
Technical documentation readers are usually a “voluntarily captive audience.” They choose to read a user manual by their own free choice. When we get to a piece of technical documentation we are usually ready and willing to believe in the author and follow his or her procedural steps. All we are looking for are the…
Read More10 MS PowerPoint Power Tips for Greater Productivity
PowerPoint is a great tool for writers to present ideas, products and services. Follow these 10 power-user tips provided by Microsoft to give riveting, effective and memorable PPT presentations. 1. Provide a compelling spoken content to accompany your PPT slides. 2. Keep your slides simple. Do not have more than six lines of written information…
Read MoreEnglish – Eliminate SIMPLY from your Technical Documents and Copy
Eliminate SIMPLY from your sentences for more impact and greater clarity in your technical documents and commercial copy. ORIGINAL: Simply enter your User ID into this field. BETTER: Enter your User ID into this field. – – – – – ORIGINAL: I have to remind you that this simply is not going to work. BETTER:…
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