We all know that it’s courteous to thank the people we work with - but we don’t always work it into our everyday interactions.

This week, make it a point to thank everyone with whom you interact, even if only for their time and attention.  Everyone likes it when their efforts are appreciated.

Just keep it brief.

Expressing gratitude for time invested should not take up significantly more.

Over the past month we’ve been helping one of our clients launch their Facebook presence. This has given me time to reflect on you can develop a personal and respectful relationship even when you are acting as a company or organization.
Narrative Voice
Facebook is filled with people who want to connect with people, companies, and causes they care about. However, many are slipping in during the odd moment of freedom at work and don’t have time to waste.

It’s therefore a good idea to aim for something short, clever, and conversational. It’s fine to acknowledge your personal agency as …

People regularly confuse I with me,  or confuse me with I. Who among us stops to think, “Am I using this first person pronoun in the subjective case or the objective?”

But there are simple ways to remember how to use first person pronouns correctly.
First Person Technical
In case you’re interested, here are the technical details:

• Use I in the subjective case; as the subject of the sentence. “I ate ossobuco.”
• Use Me in the objective case; as the object of the verb. “That pesky armadillo chased me down the canyon.”
• Use Myself in the reflexive case;  following the noun that refers …
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Your marketing writing doesn’t need to be all sell, sell, sell.  Your writing can speak to your customers pre-sale and then post-sale.

I’ve mentioned before the differences between marketing writing and technical writing. You can use both on your web site, in your newsletters, and in various communications to customers and potential customers.
Think “Post-Sale”
After you sell your product or service to a customer, the work was performed and paid for, he still needs to hear from you.

Depending on your business, your customer needs instructions or opinion. If you sell garage door openers, provide installation and how-to-use instructions. If you sell mortgages …

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 …

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 …

Gentle Reader,

E-mail correspondence, like all business communication, plays a balancing act between formality and efficiency.  But there are other features that are unique to e-mails.

One in particular made compiling this list especially difficult:

There are actually two …

This week I conclude my series on e-mail deliverability inspired by the Lyris Inc panel featuring Michael Kelly of Click Mail Marketing, Craig Spiezie of the Online Trust Alliance, and David Fowler of Lyris Technologies.  If you enjoyed this series, or found it useful, please comment on this post.

Origins of the term SPAM

Anyone telling you that SPAM is an acronym (at least in regards to its online usage) is pulling your leg.  It comes from Monty Python’s SPAM skit, where SPAM manages …

Emoticons are those small two to five character icons that use letters and symbols from the keyboard to create faces, hearts, or other recognizable shapes in order to convey how the author feels about what they are saying.

The most commonly used emoticons are fairly easy to identify.

and XD are used to express pleasure
and :`( are used for sadness
is used to point out jokes or inside references
<3 and @`~,~~ are used for romance

However, beyond general impressions, the meanings and use of the various emoticons has never been codified.

may show mirth, but it does not indicate …

Sound can be a touchy subject online.

Remember many people will have multiple web browsers open at once, or while playing music of their own, and that catchy jingle that is perfect for your site can cause your visitors no end of consternation while then are engaged in other activities.

Earache My Eye

It is very rare that you can guarantee that your audience will give your site their undivided attention. Any sound that starts up on its own will most likely be considered audio SPAM.

It is better “netiquette” to let visitors chose to turn your chosen soundtrack on. …