Author: Michelle Troutman

For more than ten years, Michelle Troutman has crafted newsletters and other content for service providers. She has spent a decade creating attention-getting e-newsletters for law and economic development firms. Her marketing and business administration background and education enhance clear and persuasive copy. Through features in publications like "Attorney at Work" and "Law Fuel," and her e-newsletter and YouTube channel, she inspires professionals to create engaging content. She enjoys helping businesses who serve others reach their marketing goals.
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5 Ways to Pack Your Writing With Punch

1. Trim “to be” verbs. – Passive verbs, those in “to be” form, tend to weaken sentences compared to active verbs. “To be” verbs include is, are, am , was, were, has been, have been, had been, will be, will have been, being + a verb that often ends in -ed (and sometimes -en and other forms).

Example: The motel windows are washed by the room attendants.
Re-write: The room attendants wash the motel windows.

2. Use creative similes and metaphors. – The simile as crazy as a loon is a little old hat. A more original turn of phrase: As loopy as a traffic circle.Or, instead of He was drowning in paperwork, a better metaphor: He was mobbed with memos.

3. Shorter is spicier (and stronger). – Especially in the age of digital devices, slice wordy text to wield a sharper point.

4. Be specific to be more persuasive. – For many of us, the word food, though pleasant, doesn’t bring as many delightful images to mind as chocolate does.

5. Watch adjectives and modifiers. – Words such as very, really, and pretty have a right to exist, but they’re sometimes unnecessary baggage that weighs down sentences. Two words aren’t always better than one, and can also be a sign that you should be more specific.

Example: very small
Re-write: tiny

Example: really neat
Re-write: awesome

Example: pretty nice
Re-write: decent

The Classy Writing Blog

How to Strengthen your Sentences

“Do you like reading writing that rambles like a senator filibustering to block a vote? If you need some NoDoz before you read a work, it’s obviously a little weak….” Read more

Quotes

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”~ Anton Chekhov

“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

Comments? Suggestions? Need help with your writing? Feel free to contact me.

Michelle Troutman
classywriting.com

writing advice

5 Commonly Abused Words and How to Respect Them

1. only — It’s known as a modifier. How you place it in a sentence affects its meaning:

  • I watched only the nightly news. (The nightly news was the only program I watched.)
  • I only watched the nightly news. (I watched the nightly news, and didn’t do anything else during the program.)

2. that/who — Sometimes, when referring to other people, some people use that in place of the pronoun who. Use that when you refer to objects.

  • The girl that drives the Porsche honked at me yesterday. — incorrect
  • The girl who drives the Porsche honked at me yesterday. — correct

3. what/which — It’s more grammatically correct to use what in sentences about something that needs to be identified. Use which when you refer to something that involves making a choice from a limited number of options, and what if you have several choices.

Examples:

  • What time is it? — correct
  • Which time is it? — incorrect

What color do you like? — You can use what, but it’s not as exact; “What colors…” or “Which colors…” work better. Which color do you like? This is a more specific, and more correct form.

4. affect/effect — These two words sound the same and can easily be misused. Affect often refers to how something has influenced something else.

High humidity and low pressure affect my arthritis.

In most cases, effect is more about the accomplishments or the results of something:

Larry’s “can do” attitude has had a positive effect on his employees.

Grammar Girl offers a trick to remember their differences: The arrows affected the aardvark. The effect was eye-popping.

5. impact — Some people use this word as a verb rather than as a noun. An example from the National Weather Service (NWS) website: “Severe weather is possible in the Great Plains and critical fire weather conditions continue to impact portions of the southwest.”

According to The Oxford English Dictionary, as a noun, impact means “The action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another.” Its meaning as a verb changes:

  1. “To come into forcible contact with another object.”
  2. “To have a strong effect on someone or something.” (have an impact on) A meteor can “impact” or “have an impact on” something, but not every word can be used as a noun and as a verb in that context.

Grammarians suggest that affect is a shorter and better word choice. A correction to the NWS prediction: “Severe weather is possible in the Great Plains and critical fire weather conditions continue to affect parts of the southwest.”

See below for more information about nouns being used as verbs.

Quotes

“Verbing weirds language.” ~ Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter — it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” ~ Mark Twain

Comments? Suggestions? Need help with your writing? Feel free to contact me.

Michelle Troutman
Classy Writing
207.332.8379
classywriting.com

capitalization rules, capitalization tips, capitalize, capitalizing, caps

5 Capitalization Rules in Business Writing

1. Proper nouns — This is one of the primary capitalization rules in business writing: capitalize the name of a person, a place, or a thing.

Scrabble tiles that spell out the word "SEO," an example of an initialism--part of the rules of capitalization in business writing.

Example: Luke Skywalker was from the planet Tatooine and helped defeat the Death Star.

This includes people with specific job titles and department names: Certified Financial Planner Bob Cash of the Investment Department. What if we refer to Bob by just his job title? The Certified Financial Planner said he wants the reports finished next week.

The Internet – Some language experts consider the Internet a proper noun — it’s a reference to a thing, and therefore, they capitalize it. But, nowadays, even the Associated Press Stylebook keeps it lowercase.

2. Sentences — Capitalize the first word at the beginning of a sentence, whether or not it’s complete, including the first word of each item in an outline.

3. The four seasons — Capitalize “fall,” “winter,” “spring,” and “summer” if they’re part of proper names.

Examples:

  • Summer Olympics
  • ABC Widget Co.’s Fall Income Report

4. Titles — Generally speaking, you should capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and the first words in titles of books, movies, plays, songs, etc. This is also a matter of style. Some people prefer to capitalize the first letters of all words in a title.

Examples:

  • movie: The Big Short
  • newspaper: The Wall Street Journal
  • website: Facebook
  • TV show: Mad Men
  • play: The Teahouse of the August Moon
  • song and musical performer: Yesterday by The Beatles
  • report or document: “The Science of Color”
  • book: How to Win Friends and Influence People
  • brand: Pitney Bowes

5. Acronyms and initialisms:

Acronyms – Acronyms are abbreviations that can be pronounced as words. When you refer to one used as a proper name, capitalize the letters.

Examples: FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

Initialisms – Initialisms are words formed from the first letters of a phrase, but they can’t be pronounced as words. Capitalize them if they’re proper names, but if they aren’t, you don’t have to. In the following examples, “ETA” and “PC” aren’t proper names, so you shouldn’t capitalize the phrases they’re based on:

Examples: FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), ETA (estimated time of arrival), PC (personal computer)

Sources: Grammar Girl, The Elements of Grammar by Margaret Shertzer

Advice from someone who knows capitalization rules in business writing can help you improve your writing and make you look smarter and more skilled in your field.

BOOK A FREE COACHING SESSION

Quotes

“The rules of capitalization are so unfair to words in the middle of a sentence.” ~ John Green, Paper Towns

“What we admire, we capitalize.”  ~ Murray Munn

capitalization, capitalization rules, capitalization tips, capitalize, capitalizing, caps, writing advice

5 More Business Writing Capitalization Rules

1. Degrees — Among the many business writing capitalization rules, capitalize all academic degrees following a person’s name, whether or not they’re abbreviated.

Examples: Hunter S. Thompson, Ph.D., Sigourney Weaver, Master of Fine Arts

2. Titles — Capitalize all academic and religious titles, or other titles of rank, honor, or respect before a name.

Examples: Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, President Wilma Smith, Dr. John Henry

3. “Federal” — Capitalize it when you refer to the U.S. Government.

Example: Federal Government

4. Directions — Capitalize points of the compass when they refer to specific parts of the country.

Examples: The Northeast, the West

5. Quotations — Capitalize the first word of every complete quotation.

Example: The soldier cried, “Halt! Who goes there?”

Source: The Elements of Grammar by Margaret Shertzer

Advice from someone who knows business writing capitalization rules can help you improve your writing and make you look smarter and more skilled in your field.

BOOK FREE A COACHING SESSION

Quotes

“I love you. You are the object of my affection and the object of my sentence.”  ~ Mignon Fogarty, Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

“A man’s grammar, like Caesar’s wife, should not only be pure, but above suspicion of impurity.” ~ Edgar Allan Poe

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How a Newsletter Can Boost Your Business

Imagine a marketing method that can multiply your business income with little effort. It may help you:

  • Stand apart from your competitors
  • Enhance your reputation
  • Build trust to keep your current clients and attract new ones

Most importantly, it’s affordable, can provide a repeat income, and you don’t need to take time away from serving your customers to create it.

This magic money-making machine is an e-newsletter.

In this digital age of short attention spans, it can be hard to stand out effectively and make money. An e-newsletter can solve those problems and become a valuable marketing tool.

How a good newsletter can boost your income

Repeat advertising = sales – Studies show that the average consumer must be exposed to a product several times before they decide to buy it. A newsletter keeps your business in your customers’ minds, helping you stay in touch with them and reach new ones. A Nielsen Norman Group study of online newsletter subscribers found that e-newsletters form a greater bond between customers and a business than a website (NNG, Email Newsletter Usability, 2011). Building a relationship with your customers is crucial for boosting your sales over time.

Newsletters can also increase referrals.

A New York Sales and Marketing Club study showed that 71 percent of your customers base their initial buying decision on how much they like, trust, and respect you.

Customers who feel a connection with you are more likely to forward copies of your newsletter to others. Linking to your website from your newsletter can boost your traffic; you may also easily link to a blog or social media.

MarketSherpa’s 2010 Email Marketing Summit revealed how social media and email can be a powerful marketing combo:

  • 75 percent of daily social media users said email is the best way for companies to communicate with them, compared to 65 percent of all email users
  • 49 percent of Twitter users said they made an online purchase because of an email, compared to 33 percent of all email users

Offering printed copies of your newsletter in a waiting room and for networking at events can also spark readers’ interest in subscribing. This works better than a business card, flyer, or brochure to market your business more memorably; people are more likely to hang onto something they see as useful (instead of advertising) and show it to others.

A newsletter is cheap, competitive advertising.

Once you have it set up on an email marketing platform, an e-newsletter is a free or low-cost way to stay ahead of your competitors. And if they lack a good one, your business can stand out more.

Also, if you show your personality, your clients will see you not just as a business owner, but as a friend. Combined with your advice, readers will consider you an expert, giving you and your business credibility, boosting your image, and building trust and sales.

Lack time or the skills? Explore how a quality custom e-newsletter can help you boost your business and gain the right leads.

What do you think about newsletters?