Why are so many blogs and biz books overwritten; saying the same thing over and over as if repeating the message for an extra hundred or more pages will make it more powerful?

Even fiction often follows the same pattern.

Why is so much content garbage?

Why do people insist that more is better?

Why do they assume that using a word with multiple syllables will make them sound more intelligent and impress the reader?

Websites are worse, both B2B and especially B2C.

Way overwritten and in long dense paragraphs with the vital information buried.
Has it gone completely unnoticed that almost nobody reads anymore?

The majority scan and in a hurry, spending 5-10 seconds to decide if they want to spend the average of 30 seconds on that page.

And those of us who do read are easily annoyed by bad design and the garbage that passes for content.

The problem, of course, is that a healthy ‘data-ink ratio’, which means saying a lot clearly in as few words as possible, is hard work.

I probably shouldn’t complain since I offer a service called Clarity REwriting that contributes significantly to my revenues, but still.

It’s easy to avoid dense, opaque, overwritten books and blogs, but when I need information from a website I am stuck.

So do yourself (and me) a favor.

Think about the data-ink ratio when you develop your content; doing so will improve your business.

DISCLAIMER: What follows is an ad.

If that’s too much work call or write me (the contact info is in the right hand column); you’ll find I’m fast and more affordable than you might imagine.

Flickr image credit: Beck Tench

Today is a varied bag of stuff you should know—or at least know about.

Our first entry shouldn’t come as a surprise. Trust in business leaders is at an all-time low; it still ranks above trust in government leaders—but not by much.

In today’s multi-tasking, wired, always connected, omg-I-might-miss-something world here’s help on training yourself and others to focus.

“Unmentionables” has a whole new meaning and it can damage or even destroy your organization; once again, the problem and the solution are found in your culture.

Now for the fun stuff.

Millions of people base their buying decisions on peer reviews, AKA, the “wisdom of crowds,” but how wise is it when the “wisdom” is for sale?

Heads up! This is a rant. In today’s world of ‘citizen journalists’ I may wince at the misused words, but given our educational system I’m not surprised. However, when I see them in major online media sites such as Vator.tv I get really annoyed, as I did yesterday at this sentence, “Zynga is not loosing steam when it comes to entering 2012 with a whole new lineup of games for its users to get addicted to.’ I’m not referring to the fact that the sentence ends in a preposition, that’s way too common to cause a reaction. But if Zynga does start ‘loosing steam’ I at least hope the water isn’t too polluted.

This final entry should probably be called something like ‘when disparate things converge’. If you happen to have abundant disposable income and require a hospital stay shop around; you may be surprised at what’s available.

Flickr image credit: pedroelcarvalho

From the comment section of an article on best places to work:

“i used to work for [X] it was realy grate would work there if i could there not hiring”

I was appalled, to say the least.

Also curious, since I am familiar with the company and the quality of its employees.

So I followed the links and found the person’s Facebook page.

Yes, the person has a college degree. No, the person is not that young (early-mid thirties at a guess).

No, I did not make this up or “improve” the comment.

Yes, I saved the links, but have no interest in embarrassing the person. To what end?

If it wasn’t so tragic one might suspect a somewhat twisted sense of humor.

I have to assume the person made good use of spell and grammar checker at work, but those aren’t available when dashing off a comment.

To one degree or another this is who you will be hiring now and in the future.

And considering the extensive federal, state and local cuts to education don’t expect it to improve any time soon.

All I can say is good luck.

Be sure to stop by Wednesday for a look at just how important words can be.

Flickr image credit: dougbelshaw

Bosses, business coaches, academics, bloggers and many others bemoan the lack of communications skills in Gen Y, especially written communications, but they have plenty of company in preceding generations.

Not just bad writing, but opaque writing, the kind that leaves readers scratching their heads wondering what they are missing.

Of course, I shouldn’t complain, since one of my company’s most popular products is Clarity RE-writing, which involves using the fewest possible words to present even the most complex information in the most understandable way.

Who are the worst writers?

Granting that many of Gen Y don’t understand the difference between writing and texting, I find lousy writing much more offensive when it comes from those who (should) know better.

And while the more lofty their position the more offended I am, I save my greatest reaction for those old enough and senior enough to know better who work in the field—in other words, they are, or should be, professional communicators.

Charles H. Townsend, the chief executive of Condé Nast Publications, which includes Vogue, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, is such a one. He recently sent a 500 word memo to his staff, here is a sample from it.

“…a consumer-centric business model, a holistic brand management approach and the establishment of a multi-platform, integrated sales and marketing organization.”… “To optimize brand revenue growth, we will shift responsibility for single-site, digital sales and marketing to the brand level. Publishers can now fully leverage their offerings across all platforms.”

Don’t feel badly if you aren’t sure what he is trying to say, his staff wasn’t sure, either.

If you want to write clearly here is some quick and basic guidance.

• Avoid jargon;
• shun multi-syllabic words;
• use short, simple sentences;
• pass on large blocks of text, especially on the Net;
• spell check everything; and, most importantly,
• remember that most people scan and don’t actually read.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nirak/2854421030/

This week has been about communications, both corporate and personal, and what they tell the world beyond their words. Today is about basic ways to improve them.

Way back in 2006 I wrote Good writing fast—an oxymoron and in those four years only two things seem to have changed—writers care less and readers complain more.

It’s actually easy to make basic improvements on your writing using tools you already have. Yes, they take an extra minute or two, but consider the negative impression your writing can make will last for years.

Your writing will improve significantly just by using three simple tools

1. In Word (or what ever word processing program you use) and turn on spell checker and grammar checker (skip style checker) and use them.
2. Write blog comments, etc., in word and paste them where you want them.
3. Set your email to spell check automatically before sending.

But the most important tool to improve your writing is your MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™). You may find that you need to adjust all of them and this is as true for corporations as for individuals.

1. Foremost, you must think, not only about what you want to say, but also about the effect you want to have and the image you want to project.
2. You need to care; you need to own the idea that the stuff you write on the web really is people’s first impression of you and consciously decide what you want that impression to be.
3. Understand that jargon, rambling or complex sentences and multi-syllabic words will not make you sound more knowledgeable or your pitch more impressive.

You must be willing to spend the extra few minutes it takes to implement the six points; once it becomes your new norm and you see the effect you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

Flickr photo credit to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/karola/3623768629/

We are talking about communications this week; Tuesday we looked at a sample of opaque corporate communications; today we’ll consider personal communications.

I will skip the idiocy of the tell-all approach so popular on Facebook, MySpace, etc. and focus instead on the trail of poor communications so may people leave behind as they comment their way around the Net, whether it’s a review on Yelp, comment on a business/professional/”straight” blog, profile or some other form of “personal branding.”

Let me say this in words of one syllable: How you write tells people who you are.

As I’ve written before, this isn’t just about Millennials, it applies to anybody still concerned about the impression they make.

I came across a perfect example completely by accident.

Granted it is an extreme example; the comment was left on a blog post discussing social judging skills citing research showing that children as young as three months demonstrate them. (I’m not including a link to the post because I have no interest in embarrassing the writer who used her own name.)

well i think that people say they an change a baby if they are rude or like bad you know but really the baby knows what there trying to pull on them:) i think that people say they can change peope and if they think they changed someone there wrong cause deep deep down your still that mean cruel un hearted person or caring person:)

Lots of people write all lower case, so perhaps we should ignore that. And there are many words that sound alike with totally different meanings—there and their—so should we give that a pass? Can you make sense of what the writer is saying?

What is your impression of the writer?

Would you hire her or want her on your team?

Now consider that it was written by an adult, native English speaker, who has a college degree and works in a professional capacity.

If she was a candidate you were considering and you googled her name and saw this would you hire her?

It’s unlikely she writes like this all the time, because if she did she couldn’t do her job, but when it comes to the web the usual attitude is ‘who cares’?

Your writing is like breadcrumbs left along your route on the web; they enable the world to follow you and get to know you; it is their first impression of you.

It’s up to you to decide what that impression will be.

Join me tomorrow for the basics of good breadcrumbs.

Flickr photo credit to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeanbaptisteparis/224566560/

This week is about the effects written communications have on people’s perceptions of both companies and individuals. Today we are looking at company communications, Thursday we’ll look at the effects of communications on a more personal level and Friday discuss what can be done to improve both.

Websites are critical means of communications. Experts say that you have about two-four seconds to capture a visitor’s attention or they will leave the site.

That being the case, why in the world do companies use prose so opaque that the message is incomprehensible?

Here’s a great example from the landing page of nsoro. (I have no connection with the company and just happened to run across the site.)

nsoro is a worldwide service and solutions provider. We take great pride in supplying, designing, and supporting technology solutions to the commercial and government verticals. nsoro remains aggressive in pursuing ways to develop our expertise and improve performance. read more

Do you have any idea what they do?

The graphic indicates it is some kind of communications company.

You would expect that by clicking the “read more” link you would find out; instead, the link takes you to the “About” page that restates the above paragraph along with the following links,

A Message from Our CEO

Executive Team

Core Values

MBE Certifications

Do you know any more about what they do?

How much time/effort do you spend when you are greeted with something similar? Please take a moment to share your answer in comments.

Flickr photo credit to: Svadilfari on flickr

A few months ago I received an email from the editor of The Conference Board Review inviting me to submit an article for the next issue.

The Conference Board Review is the quarterly magazine of The Conference Board, the world’s preeminent business membership and research organization. Founded in 1976, TCB Review is a magazine of ideas and opinion that raises tough questions about leading-edge issues at the intersection of business and society.

And not just for the online version, but to appear in the actual magazine.

I often go back and read stuff I wrote days, months, even years ago and it never ceases to surprise me. I read the TCB article online (no longer available) and that was cool, but today the magazine came and I read it again. The thrill of seeing something I wrote in a slick magazine like TCB Review was great, but when I reread it I was blown away.

Not because someone else says something, but because revisiting, but because something we did a week or a month or longer in the past and we see it from the outside—and we are blown away.

We look at it and marvel; the quality and execution impresses; the inherent value surprises; and we revel in the fact that it is our creation.

It doesn’t matter what it is, big or small; whether it was produced at work or elsewhere; it doesn’t even matter if anyone else will ever see it.

We look and we are amazed.

I hope you will take time to read it and come back and comment.

One more thing, just for the thrill of it, review things you did in the past and I’ll bet some of them will blow you away, too.

Image credit: The Conference Board

Do you understand what I write?

A few weeks ago I read that you should never use a thesaurus and always write using the simplest words possible. The object being that your readers never had to look up a word or think about your meaning.

I didn’t comment at the time because I was too annoyed (good rule not to comment when you’re seething; that way you don’t regret it later), then my system crashed and I lost the link.

Before the crash, out of curiosity I had checked and the post scored 7.2 on the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level indicator

That fits with what I’ve always heard about newspapers and other media writing for a seventh grade reading level.

To me, this attitude is a major contributor the dumbing down of our population. I see it daily in the glaring difference between the articles in the NY Times and the locally written articles in my own newspaper.

In writing both my blogs I use my normal vocabulary developed from years of reading—mysteries (not thrillers), F&SF, biographies, business, and a lot of other stuff along the way. My posts typically score between 10.x and 12.x, so I’m curious.

Do you find them difficult to read or understand?

Do you really prefer writing at the 7.x level? (This post is 7.9)

Please take a moment and tell me what you think.

All comments through May 15 go in the hat for a random drawing. The winner will receive a copy of The Connected and Committed Leader: Lessons from Home, Results at Work by Laura Lopez.

Image credit: karindalziel on flickr

Wally Bock left a comment today on a post at Leadership Turn. In part it said,

“When I was responsible for hiring management trainees years ago, I discovered that grades and degrees and schools didn’t tell me much. What I looked for where two things. Could a prospect write? If not, there was no need to go farther. The other thing I looked for was actual work experience.”

Wally would have trouble hiring anyone these days considering the atrocious stuff written by students and grads who are so busy texting that they can’t be bothered to learn to write readable, coherent, English.

It’s a good thing that writing isn’t most managers make-or-break or offers would be few and far between—and I don’t just mean new grads.

I don’t have a great desire to be forced to decipher hip-hop, Valley Girl, Ebonics, Spanglish, Country-Western, 18-wheeler or all lower case with no punctuation in order to communicate.

None of these may matter in private life, but they don’t contribute a whole lot in the context of what it takes to make it today.

Several years ago I wrote Good writing fast—an oxymoron and last year I asked, “Are most people loosing their minds while I am losing mine? during another minor rant.

I’m not a total dinosaur, if all that’s wrong in most communications is a misplaced semi-colon or an occasional preposition at the end of a sentence who cares?

People don’t realize that, consciously or not, they’re judged by what they write, just as they are by what they wear or drive or went to school—even people whose own writing is terrible will downgrade others for the same thing.

If you can’t write and want a future take classes; if you’re people can’t write send them for training.

And if you won’t/can’t do that, there is one simple thing you can do to improve your writing.

Read. Turn off the computer and the TV; take off your iPod and turn off your phone; pick up a well-written book and READ. It doesn’t matter if it’s great literature, a biography, mystery, or hilarious chic lit.

Read every chance you get and make more chances; pay attention and you’ll be amazed at how fast your writing improves.

Image credit: sxc.hu