Thank Your Favorite English Teacher!

I hope everyone reading today’s entry will take a moment to drop a note or call to thank your favorite English teacher. Without him or her none of us would be where we are today. So bless that English teacher for giving us the sound, solid basic writing skills that have helped us so very much so far. The skills that allow us to build from them to move forward and take the next step. The skills that allow us to prove our professionalism and demonstrate our credibility.

Even Before You Think About Writing…

If I could give you an easy way to be more productive in your working life, would it be worth a try?

Recently-published research from Stanford University (Ophir, Wagner and Nass) indicates that people who identified themselves as high multitaskers did not do as well at filtering irrelevant information, organizing memories, or switching from one thing to another as low multitaskers did.

Advice for Bloggers – Rule #5: Be patient, but active.

This week, we’re welcoming back blogger Marilyn Tycer. Marilyn is a graphic designer and blogger, and we’ve asked her to share some of her tips for bloggers. (Click for Rule #1, Rule #2, Rule #3 and Rule#4).

Advice for Bloggers: Rule #5

Be patient, but be active.

Advice for Bloggers – Rule #4: Take it seriously.

This week, we’re welcoming back blogger Marilyn Tycer. Marilyn is a graphic designer and blogger, and we’ve asked her to share some of her tips for bloggers. (Click for Rule #1, Rule #2 and Rule #3).

Advice for Bloggers – Rule #3: Be Original

This week, we’re welcoming back blogger Marilyn Tycer. Marilyn is a graphic designer and blogger, and we’ve asked her to share some of her tips for bloggers. (Click for Rule #1 and Rule #2).

Advice for Bloggers: Rule #3

Be original.

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While we live in an era where everything seems to be up for grabs on the internet, take care to protect your reputation by using your own original material, or by attributing when appropriate. No, blog posts aren’t like formal papers that you turned in to a professor, but your name is listed as the author of your posts. Be honest as to where you got your ideas.

Advice for Bloggers – Rule #2: Be a Team Player

This week, we’re welcoming back blogger Marilyn Tycer. Marilyn is a graphic designer and blogger, and we’ve asked her to share some of her tips for bloggers.

Advice for Bloggers: Rule #2

Be a team player.

[Image source]

Blogger Tip #1: Make it readable

This week, we’re welcoming blogger Marilyn Tycer. Marilyn is a graphic designer and blogger, and we’ve asked her to share some of her tips for bloggers.

Tip #1: Make it readable.

Now that you have a subject for your blog, and some ideas for posts, what comes next? Start typing! But it’s important to take care to craft your blog posts into something readable. So before you hit the “Publish” button, take a moment to revise your writing. While the subject of your blog might be popular, your blog probably won’t get a lot of followers if your writing is hard to read or bland.

Good manners, good email

Consider the tone of your message.  Tone is the relationship the writer sets up with the reader.  Even though email is a friendly medium, it’s tough to make humor (especially humor clothed in sarcasm) or tongue-in-cheek comments work in email, and it’s best to avoid them.  Also avoid personal comments about others, or knee-jerk emotional responses – email is no place for sarcasm, hostility, cynicism, or whining.

Remain professional at all times.  Consider waiting a bit before emailing a “sensitive” message.  Avoid “venting,” vulgarity, or certainly, any kind of profanity.  Think about your corporate culture, or prevailing attitude – which can be especially critical for emails to co-workers.

And the subject is…

“But if you don’t use a subject line, people will be so curious they’ll be sure to open it.”  Would you believe a lot of people have believed this old nonsense – much to their dismay?  The truth is that a bad, or absent subject line is far more likely to result in a trashed email than in curiosity.

Avoid email disaster

The job of effective business mail is (1) to get read, (2) to get results, and (3) to avoid disaster – not necessarily in that order! Let’s begin with a few ideas for avoiding disaster…