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Soft Skills

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Writing Review and Strategy

6:18 with Dan Gorgone

No matter what you write, it's important to have your own review process in place, and like the various types of writing we've discussed, the type of review for each one will need to be customized as well.

With practice and experience, you'll learn to avoid many of, 0:00
of these commonly confused words, or grammatical errors that I've mentioned. 0:05
No matter what you write though, it's important to have your own 0:09
review process, and like the various types of writing that we've discussed. 0:13
The type of review for each one will need to be customized as well. 0:18
In the case of our professional 0:24
communications, it's very helpful to have a 0:25
friend, a relative, or a colleague review them, especially cover letters or resumes. 0:27
First of all, you should ask them to be honest about their feedback. 0:33
The last thing you need is, is for someone to try and not your 0:37
hurt, try and not to hurt your feelings, you know, because of being nice. 0:40
You know, you want that harsh, unfiltered feedback. 0:45
And you need to put it to good use by improving your work. 0:48
At the same time, these people can be trusted to be discrete 0:52
about what you've written, especially if you're applying for a new job. 0:55
But by all means, make sure that any cover letter, project proposal, 1:00
or any other vitally important document, is free from typos and mistakes. 1:04
Don't only rely on the spell check feature 1:08
you might have to save you from embarrassment. 1:11
If you're unsure in any way, about the use of a 1:14
figure of speech, or even a word, Google it, super easy. 1:16
Search for any word and add definition the word definition after it, 1:20
and you'll be shown a dictionary type listing of the term in question. 1:25
One way to improve any instructional writing that you might create 1:30
for a website, is to put it through a usability test. 1:34
You can ask users to complete a task that you know will take them on a path 1:38
through pages with your text, and by doing so, 1:42
you can gauge the effectiveness of what you've written. 1:45
You might find that your text is too long or you might need more detail 1:50
to improve the understanding of it, or in some cases you don't need text at all. 1:53
But don't forget documentation isn't just for colleagues or future team members. 1:57
If you're writing documentation or, or including 2:02
comments in code, you yourself might need a 2:05
reminder about how code or data or other 2:08
elements work, at some point in the future. 2:11
So, make your future job easier by writing effectively about it now. 2:13
One of the most important aspects about corporate writing, such 2:19
as marketing copy, is that it must be honest and accurate. 2:24
Part of effective marketing writing is understanding what you're writing about. 2:30
If you're writing about an app, be truthful about what 2:34
it does, and why it will bring value to the user. 2:38
Don't sensationalize or overstate things. 2:41
Marketing shouldn't be about exaggeration. 2:44
It should be about offering helpful solutions 2:47
that a potential customer simply cannot do without. 2:50
It's about telling a story that people can relate to. 2:54
If you write your marketing copy 2:57
effectively, the right target audience will 2:59
have no choice but to do what you want them to do. 3:02
One key to effective marketing copy, especially on a 3:06
website, is sticking to a prepared list of keywords. 3:08
Now if you've done your job correctly, 3:12
you'll have researched and determined which keywords to 3:14
use on your site and if so, you'll wanna use those keywords in your website text. 3:17
However, you wanna use them naturally, don't overload your 3:21
text with repetitive keywords because you think that's gonna result 3:25
in positive SEO where actually it'll, you know, you'll suffer 3:28
from negative readability, and users will leave because of it. 3:32
And social updates are the quickest to publish, 3:36
but they can also be the fastest to spread. 3:38
So, apply the same standards for review before posting anything. 3:41
But also understand that social updates have a limited lifespan. 3:46
You know, they generally disappear from the 3:49
public's attention within days, if not hours. 3:51
So, if you're hoping to use social 3:55
platforms to publish pieces that would be valuable 3:57
over a long period of time, consider if people will still be able to find them. 4:00
And, you know, maybe a different, more searchable platform 4:04
would be more appropriate for the writing in question. 4:08
So, in the future, you're gonna write for many different reasons, 4:12
you know, for many kinds of audiences, about lots of different topics. 4:16
But before you face these challenges, it's important to challenge yourself. 4:21
You know if you truly wanna be a better writer, create 4:23
a place and an opportunity for yourself to try things out. 4:27
For example, you'll get one of these. 4:32
You have some field notes. 4:34
Buy a notebook and keep it with you. 4:36
Don't be concerned about crafting the next great 4:38
novel, you know, just take notes, write some blurbs. 4:41
Make note of anything important that you wanna remember at a later time. 4:44
You know, if you need some ideas to write 4:47
about, write better slogans for the products that you love. 4:50
Write a story about your favorite childhood memory. 4:54
Share your thoughts on your most important personal challenge. 4:57
You know, share them or keep them to yourself, put 5:00
them in your notebook, but regardless, write, and write some more. 5:02
That's how you'll become a better writer. 5:06
And remember that words are just one part of communicating, too. 5:08
Draw doodles, take pictures, shoot some video, record things that matter to you. 5:11
You know, inspiration can strike at any time. 5:16
And if you're more of a digital type of person, get on EverNote, or GoogleDrive, 5:20
or some other easily accessible platform where 5:24
you can record your thoughts at any time. 5:27
And remember, not everything you write will be perfect. 5:31
You know, communication can be 5:34
done instantaneously, but communicating effectively 5:36
takes planning, preparation, consideration, and 5:40
it takes a little experience. 5:43
So before you produce that next amazing writing 5:46
piece, consider who and what you're writing for. 5:49
Why it's important, and different ways to tell the story to the people that matter. 5:53
Your cover letters will become personal mission statements. 5:58
Your project proposals will become professional road maps for success. 6:02
And your blog posts and social updates will 6:06
become a reason to follow and engage with you. 6:09
Your voice and your story are within you right now. 6:11
So make sure that you share it with great effective writing. 6:14