Write It Well

From e-mail to blog posts to website content, much of our business writing these days is “clickable.” There are several ways to put links in your text. Which linking style looks most professional? I’m not going to focus on the technical part of making links — which is usually as simple as clicking a menu button. Instead, I’m going to talk about the phrasing.

One of the ugliest ways to include a link is this: CLICK HERE!! By all means, avoid the words “click here,” and particularly avoid capital letters. Readers know how to follow a link. Saying “click here” (1) wastes words, (2) doesn’t tell the reader anything about the linked site, and (3) smacks of spam advertising.

The more contemporary understated version of “CLICK HERE” is to incorporate direction words into the flow of your text. For example: You can find a linguistics blog here, and food writers here, here, and here. While much better than “click here,” direction-word links are a little bit coy: they force the reader to click on them before knowing exactly where they lead. In informal contexts, they’re acceptable, but don’t rely on “here” when writing something really impressive.

The best way to format links is to incorporate them unobtrusively in the sentence. For your link text, choose a word or phrase that refers specifically to the topic of the linked page. For example, link a company name to its website, link a confusing word to its Wikipedia page, and link to any reference when you mention it. Should you link the whole phrase? Or just the main word? That’s up to you. Just be consistent.

One more thing: avoid putting two different links next to each other. A reader won’t necessarily know that each word goes to a separate page!

How to start? Liz Danzico, the information architect and blogger at Bobulate, thinks that e-mail salutations have three basic purposes. In “Anatomy of a Salutation,”  she writes that salutations not only function as greetings, but set tone and establish a hierarchy between writers. More interesting, she notes that e-mail salutations evolve fairly quickly during back-and-forth correspondence. Most e-mail threads start out formal (“Dear Professor Miles”), but by the third e-mail the correspondents often drop to an informal “Hi,” or no greeting at all.

When writing a salutation, follow your correspondent’s cues. You’ll look stuffy and cold if you return a “Hey Charlie” with a “Dear Mr. Bowers,” and you could easily insult someone by using only their first  name. I like to check my correspondents signatures — if they sign only a first name, I can use only their first name, and if they sign their full name, I address them by their title and last name.

For more advice on writing business e-mail, check out E-Mail: A Write It Well Guide.

The Dutch design firm Qua recently made a comic book for PON Holdings. Much as graphic novels do, this comic book uses pictures, dialogue, and captions to convey serious information: it’s a strategy manual for PON’s employees. About their choice of medium, Qua writes, “The ‘comic’ had to have a business-look with recognizable people and products.” The company succeeded — but that didn’t stop the comic from relying on classic comic tricks, like speech bubbles holding nothing but punctuation marks.

Is this the end of business literacy? The end of verbal communication? Hardly. Most of us would be better writers if we had to fit high-level business information into tiny comic frames.

When Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang got to work writing an e-mail about layoffs, he made some serious blunders. Which was worse — the fact that he sounded patronizing and euphemistic, or that he only used his SHIFT key twice, to make the exclamation point in “yahoo!”?

From his e-mail: “having layoffs is very difficult, particularly in light of all we’ve experienced this year.  but we don’t take these decisions lightly.” Whether he intended it or not, lowercase letters always look a little bit lazy. Sometimes that lowercase laziness looks sleek, hip, and  perfect for a techie marketing campaign — but nobody wants to be laid off by a sleek, hip, lazy boss. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. Probably Mr. Yang thought his lowercase e-mail looked approachable. Too bad he further obscured his message with roundabout business talk:

“we understand that hearing this news now creates uncertainty, but we are moving ahead in a way that balances speed with a clear focus on accomplishing what is necessary to set the organization up for long term success,” he wrote. I’m quite sure he knows that “a clear focus on accomplishing what is necessary to set the organization up for long term success” means deciding which employees to lay off. But he didn’t write that. He tried to hide the bad news.

The sad truth is that bad news takes guts to deliver. Coincidentally enough, Yahoo!’s own written guidelines for layoffs are right on the mark:

• Get right to the point.
• Don’t own the employee’s feelings.
• Be clear, concise, and respectful.

Nobody likes to write difficult e-mails. Effective communication skills help us write e-mail that gets the job done and looks professional. Check out Write It Well’s guide to e-mail for more tips on effective writing.

Ever wonder where companies got the brilliant names for products like Barbie, Milk Duds, and Grape Nuts? Their branding was so successful the names are now household words, but many companies named their products almost carelessly. Ask for It by Name tracks these brandnames’ histories, and comes up with some surprising results.  

Formica? Named after mica, a common electrical insulator, which it was meant to replace. Countertops weren’t even in the picture. Häagen-Dazs? It’s just faux-Nordic nonsense, and means nothing in any known language. Motorola? A combination of motor and -ola, as in victr-ola. It originally referred to car stereos, not cell phones.

Work keeps us busy–for most of us, busier than we’d like. So we don’t have the luxury of pondering over the prose that crosses our desks or arrives in our inboxes. We need the information and we need it quickly. When we have to work hard at reading business documents, many of us get annoyed. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone who writes to us would write clear, concise sentences, so we could get the point and move on?    

Check out the following passage from a recent e-mail message I received:

“On the basis of your recent inquiry, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that I will investigate the problem about the delay in processing your application which you mentioned and send you a letter in order to report my findings. Please be advised that if you need further assistance beforehand, do not hesitate to contact me.”

Wow! That was an earful. I had to read it twice to get the point. What if the writer had written this instead?

“Thanks for your checking in about your application. I’m sorry for the delay. I’ll look into it and email you with the status by Monday. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please give me call.”

Isn’t this version easier to read? And not only is it easier to read, it has a much friendlier, conversational tone. 

So, give your reader a break, cut the clutter. Here are two tips:

1.    Use only one word for a one-word idea. 

Instead of:     We are in agreement.   
Try:               We agree.

2.    Avoid unnecessary repetitions.

Instead of:     Ten AM in the morning or 12:00 noon.
Try:               Ten AM or noon.

When you cut the clutter from your writing, everyone wins. Your reader will get your point quickly and easily and you’ll bask in the rays of their appreciation. Effective writing saves times and promotes more positive business relationships. 

For more tips on how to write effectively in the workplace, read Write It Well’s popular training texts: Professional Writing Skills and E-mail-A Write It Well Guide: How to Write and Manage E-mail in the Workplace.

“MBAs’ rusty composition skills could benefit from a brush-up,” said a recent article in Business Week. Writing classes aren’t usually core requirements at business schools, though more and more schools are recognizing the need for writing classes and workshops.

Business writing is significantly different than academic writing, says Roseanne Bane, a business writing professor. She shares her tips:

• Don’t be long-winded. Padding and fluff have no place in the business world.
• Know your medium. What works in an academic essay won’t work in an e-mail or a presentation.
• Understand your audience. Ask yourself what your audience already knows, and what they need to learn.
• Practice writing often. Make time for writing several drafts.

Efficient research is critical to solid writing. The blog Dumb Little Man has a useful post on using Google more efficiently. Even when you aren’t writing a “research” essay, do a quick survey of the Internet just to see what other people have written on your topic. Heaven forbid, you might even find out you were wrong.

Here are a few of their tips:

• Use the “not” operator (“-”) to weed out irrelevant returns. Suppose you wanted to do an image search for white stripes, but didn’t want pictures of Jack White. An search for “white stripes -music -jack -meg -band” will get you at least a few pictures unrelated to the band.
• Use the “define:” operator to define terms quickly. Whether you don’t know the word at all, or just want to check your hunch, Google puts the definition right at your fingertips.
• Use the “site:” operator to search within a site. Many sites have their own search bars, but they can be slow or inconsistent. 

I was browsing through a PostSecret collection today when I read a postcard from someone who confessed waiting several days to respond to friends’ e-mails.  Just to seem busier. Most of us are probably guilty of postponing a response for similar reasons, but does e-mail delay actually make us look busier or more glamorous? 

I thought back to delayed e-mails I’d received — delayed e-mails from writers who certainly weren’t overwhelmingly busy. Had they just taken the time to compose a thoughtful reply? Were they apathetic? Bored? I compared their e-mails to prompt replies. The prompt replies usually came from professionals, and were followed by prompt action on my part. The delayed responses simply got buried in my inbox.

If you want to project a professional image, reply as soon as you are able. Certainly, reply thoughtfully and carefully. But I find that it’s much harder to respond if I’ve let an e-mail sit for a few days.

For more guidance on how to write effective e-mail, check out E-Mail: A Write It Well Guide.

Write It Well delivered a pair of e-mail writing workshops at Leadership Public High School in Richmond on Tuesday, December 2, 2008. In this era of high speed electronic communication and high-profile e-mail misfires, e-mail messages are in the spotlight. The workshops were designed to help high school seniors improve the quality of their e-mail messages and learn what’s appropriate as they prepare for college applications, summer jobs and internships, and the demands of the business world.

More people are entering the workforce without the ability to express themselves clearly in writing. According to The National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges, schools and colleges today neglect writing and, as a result, many college graduates enter the workforce with poor writing skills. Yet, writing – and e-mail writing – is a fundamental business skill. In fact, a recent survey by the Commission found that half of all companies assess writing skills during the hiring process and when making promotion decisions.

Poorly written e-mail can sabotage job prospects while effective e-mail opens doors. “People often enter the workforce without an understanding of what it means to communicate professionally. College applicants can really set themselves apart with a basic knowledge of what’s appropriate and effective in e-mail communication,” says Preston Lewis, Director of Talent, Bonfire Communications.

Leadership Public High School serves grades 9 through 12 in Richmond, CA . The school offers college preparatory curriculum in a small and safe learning environment. “This is not something I’d know how to teach so it’s really nice to have someone come in and teach it to our students,” says Andy Hatcher, 12th Grade English Teacher, Leadership Public High School.

To conduct the training, Write It Well donated copies of its bestselling book, E-Mail – A Write It Well Guide: How to Write and Manage E-Mail in the Workplace. “This book should be required reading,” comments David Krane, Director of Corporate Communications for Google, Inc.

The ability to write an effective e-mail is also essential for landing a job. “Excellent communication skills are universally appreciated in business, and in many cases it’s a core requirement for candidates. Well-constructed, thoughtful and professionally written emails make a powerful first impression, and will often set a candidate apart from the rest of the pack.” Sharon Kittredje, Managing Partner, HIRE Talent Management Solutions, Inc.

“Quality counts,” says Kevin Hoover, Professor of Economics and Philosophy, Duke University. “E-mail has greatly expanded the range of student-faculty interactions and of collaborations among students. When students write clear, crisp, organized, and polite messages, e-mail enriches learning. Sadly, too often poorly written e-mail inhibits useful communications and undermines learning.”

E-mail has become the primary method of business communication, surpassing the telephone as our preferred communication tool in the workplace (Datamonitor report, September 2007). While most people already sense that this is the case, most of us don’t stop to consider the implications for our careers. “While most of us understand that poorly written e-mail can waste time, we forget that poorly written e-mail can also create costly misunderstandings, catapult deadlines, delay deliverables, impact people’s opinion of you, and sabotage your career,” says Natasha Terk, president of Write It Well.    

According to Xobni, a San Francisco-based start-up that has developed an Outlook add-on to help manage e-mail, by 2009, workers are expected to spend 40 percent of their time writing and managing e-mail. It’s an important skill to hone since poorly written can be embarrassing. In fact, in a recent Write It Well survey, a whopping eighty-eight percent of respondents said that poorly written e-mail messages leave a poor impression of not only the writer, but the writer’s organization as well.