Often enough, we use the word don’t and do not in our writing.  They’re real words, they convey clear meaning, I’ve got nothing against them.

Yet, often enough, your reader will skip over the “not” part, and think you’re saying “do.”  Here are some tips to help you say No and be sure your reader hears you.
Vocabulary choice
Replace don’t with a precise and unambiguous word. Here are just a few excellent candidates for the job of saying No: Avoid, ban, block, delete, exclude, forbid, hinder, obstruct, omit, prevent, prohibit, reject and stop.

Avoid submerging your toaster in water.   is clearer …

What is Online Ore?

Online Ore is a new feature here at the Gold Mine, and one that has us all fired up.  Each week, on Monday morning we’ll be featuring a new site or service to improve the life or productivity of business owners or their employees.

Online or not, each of these nuggets is a tool that can be used to find value, joy, or efficiency, either inside the workplace or out of it.

So far we have featured

• Mint, a personal finance management site.
• …
  Read More…

This week’s vein of online ore can be found at www.groupon.com

Groupon provides a service for vendors and customers alike, by making group discounts more accessible to the general public.  Every day Groupon offers a group discount in the form of a special coupon that only “activates” if enough people sign up to meet the requirements specified by the vendor.

For the consumer this means a chance at great discounts on wonderful services, a chance which improves when they tell their friends, but which comes with no risk if the offer falls through.

For the vendor, Groupon …

Throughout my recent series of postings, Build a Better E-Mail Message, I spelled e-mail with a hyphen.

While writing those three articles, my fingers kept typing email. I got so tired of having to go back to insert missing hyphens, I paused to research the correct spelling of e-mail. My usual resources confirmed e-hyphen-mail, so I conscientiously kept inserting hyphens.

However, since …

E-mail service providers are companies like Constant Contact and Vertical Response that track and manage legitimate bulk e-mailing.

So what do e-mail service providers have to offer?
Improved Deliverability
The best e-mail service providers maintain their own anti-spam protections so that they can pass the high quality e-mail reputation along to their customers.  Because emails made through an ESP call upon its email reputation (and not your own), by using an ESP you will be able to move mass mailings past most ISP level spam filters even when you are using a brand new account.

Moreover, …

First, let me tell you that I, as a writer, help businesses with their e-mail marketing.

Now, let me tell you how I, as a business owner, handle my e-mail marketing:  I turn to The Blue Penguin and to Constant Contact. The former helps me figure out what to say, and the latter helps me deliver the message.
Blue Penguin helps me focus on the message
I found Blue Penguin Development serendipitously (Internet surfing pays off!) and immediately subscribed to Michael Katz’s bi-monthly “E-Newsletter On E-Newsletters.” Sign up for this newsletter if you want success with your newsletter. No issue disappoints.

Michael …

Branding is a way to build a strong “persona” for your business that distinguishes it from that of your competitors.  It establishes and reinforces your presence in the market.

And if your business is like most others, your e-mails are an abundant source of communication and present a great opportunity to build your brand.
Branded E-mails Show Pride In Your Work

By applying your company brand to your business correspondence you show that you are backing your words with your company’s reputation.

Branded E-mails Are Distinctive

One unmarked white sheet of paper looks very much like another.  So too do e-mails …

This week’s vein of online ore can be found at http://bit.ly

Bit.ly will take any web address and shorten it to exactly 20 characters. This is especially useful when you are making a short form post like a Twitter entry or a Facebook status update, were the total length of your post is limited. However, it is also handy whenever you encounter a site with a URL more than a line long.

In addition, bit.ly tracks statistics, letting you know how many people followed your links, and whether …

I normally consider myself slightly ahead of the curve when it comes to mathematics, but tax season always makes me question that self assessment (especially that Earned Income Tax Credit).  Anyway, for those of you still working on your personal income taxes we thought we’d replace our regularly scheduled blog with a list of online tax resources.

Federal Income Tax Forms

• IRS Form and Publications

Federal Income Tax Calculators

• H&R Block Tax Calculator
  
• Earned Income Tax Credit Calculator (IRS)

Online Federal Tax Filing

• IRS e-file …
  Read More…

D
Do the work so your reader doesn’t have to.
If your recipient has to work to understand your e-mail, the results could be:

• If she is your employee, she’ll read the whole thing and try to understand. She might think she understands. What if she’s wrong?
• If she is a customer, she might just stop reading. You and your product aren’t the only fish in the sea.

So the consequences, if you don’t put in a bit of work crafting your e-mail message, can be (a) work done wrong, which means work that needs to be done over or (b) …