There are many things that are confusing in this world: calculus, Congress and the BCS to name a few.

However, good communication should not be one of them. Whether you’re writing a personal email to a friend or a multi-page technical document about a new piece of machinery, clarity should be the goal.

All writers have indicators that tell them they need to reexamine the foundation of a piece. For a fiction writer, stale dialougue may be an indication of poor character development. To us at SpeakWell Communications, seemingly-confusing messaging is indication that the ideas behind a project are not sufficiently developed.

When the ideas or concepts that lie at the foundation of any organization are well-developed and can be clearly stated, that organization’s communication will never seem confusing. Whether they are giving customer service or writing their website content, the words they need will practically form themselves.

When the ideas at the foundation of an organization or project are poorly developed or in their infancy, every stage of communications after that may seem confusing or difficult. In this type of project, you may find yourself often wondering “Why is this so hard?” or “Why can’t I just say what I mean?”

If you find yourself confused with any form of online communications, we urge you to see it as an idea problem, not as a wording problem. Go back to the beginning to ensure your foundation for the communication is secure (including the purpose and format) before going to the execution phase. Ideas first. Words second.

Writing and communicating are not inherently confusing. They only seem so because they reflect our own divergence from our values. Treat the source of the problem and not only will your communications improve, but your own image of an organization’s foundation may be better off for it.

Want to learn more about SpeakWell Communications? Read our post about how a communications company is different than a PR or marketing firm!

Our music playlist at SpeakWell Communications is wide-ranging, including albums from Miles Davis to Big Boi to Justin Bieber (we admit it). However, it is also heavy on country music artists like Garth Brooks, Justin Moore, Easton Corbin and Jason Aldean.

While many people turn up their nose at country music, especially in the urban-oriented world of online communications, we believe it has valuable lessons to teach us all. Here are at least three things about writing you can learn from country music:

1. Be Genuine

Even with the inevitable contradiction of million-dollar entertainers singing about the working man’s life, country music labors to stay true to its roots. The lyrics speak clearly to who the artist is and what they love to do, not just how great or famous they are.

Even if you don’t have someone named ‘Bubba’ in your family, you can strive for this genuine tone in your company’s writing. To copy this approach, aim to speak the truth about who you are, what you do, and perhaps most importantly, why you love to do it.

2. Be Values-Based

Country music is primarily values based. The list goes something like: God, family, country, hard work, drinking, chewing tobacco and getting over a heartache. Even if you have a completely different set of values, you can’t help but admire the straight-forward way that these are presented.

In your own writing, you can do well by trying to emulate this approach. Potential customers can likely get your product or service from numerous other sources, and want to know what makes you different. Speaking to your values, and giving them a chance to form a connection, is a great way to compel someone to shop with you.

3. Be Simple

The saying goes that all you need to write a hit country song is a dog that died, a truck that broke down and a lover that walked out. While the reality may be slightly more complex than that, country music is simple at its very foundations.

It’s a wise policy. The simple approach was good enough for Strunk & White, who penned an entire chapter in their book, Elements of Style, that read “omit needless words.” It’s probably good enough for you, too. Say what you came to say. Say it passionately. Then get out of the way.

—> Have a writing or communications lesson you learned from country music? Share it in the comments section below.

Blogs, whether corporate or personal in nature, contain more than meets the eye. While nearly all marketing people will tell you that creating one is a good idea, the elements that make up successful blogs are less defined. Here is our top-5 list.

1. Smart Design

Your blog does not have to win any design awards, but it should have a clean look, reflect your brand, and get out of the way of your content. Some good wed design firms like Elegant Technologies offer affordable custom wordpress sites. You can also customize your own theme with basic HTML and CSS skills.

2. Quality Content

I am of the belief that it matters not what you write about, as long as you write about it well. If you want to write a blog about knitting, and can do so in an informative, helpful and interesting way, you will get read. If you fail to deliver quality content, you will have a hard time building readership even if you’ve picked the perfect topic.

3. Purpose

Good blogs have a topic. Great blogs have a purpose. If your blog is designed to talk about how modern farm equipment operates because you find it interesting, other people will probably find it interesting as well. If you have a burning passion to help people improve the mechanical efficiency and scope of their private farms, and build a blog to help spread your message, people will find it fascinating. Even if they don’t own a tractor.

4. Conversation

As smart or as cool as you may be, no blog reaches its maximum capability on the author’s words alone. The most successful blogs engage their readers in the conversation at the center of each post, adding the ideas of others around a central foundation. You can encourage commenting by asking questions at the end of each post, but a heavily-commented blog also requires a large readership and engaging content.

5. Availability

I’m not of the mind that blog authors need to post something every day, or for that matter, every week. Frequency helps build readership, but you should write only when you have something to say. No matter how often you post, however, you should be available to answer questions, respond to comments and return emails from readers. Availability builds trust with readers and strengthens online relationships.

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What do you believe is missing from this list? What are your favorite blogs, and how do they exhibit these elements?

Articles can be great additions to any online content creation campaign. Well written articles — hosted on your website or distributed around the web with your brand attached — can deliver information pertinent to your customers, and build your reputation as an expert source within your industry.

When writing articles, it’s important to follow a pre-determined process. This process keeps you focused and moving forward, both minimizing your time input, and improving the final quality of your articles. Though the process people follow to write articles may vary from author to author, here is the 4-step process we use:

1. Plan and construct an outline (approx. 15 min)

The structure of an article, created before you start writing, goes a long way to determine the quality of your finished product. It’s important that you define a specific subject at this point, as well as how you’re going to explore it.

We usually construct a specific outline in this step, detailing each individual section and the content it will cover, but I don’t believe one is necessary in every case. Each writer should find what system works best for them.

2. Create a first draft (approx. 30-60 min)

The next step is to create a first draft of your article. The better your planning and outline, the quicker this step will go. When writing a first draft, the goal is to get most of the article’s content onto paper. It doesn’t have to be, and probably even shouldn’t be, perfect.

While writing your first draft, try to avoid any rewriting or editing as you go, even if you make spelling errors or typos. There will be plenty of time to go back and fix them later. If you find this to be difficult, try taping a piece of blank paper over your screen.

3. Write a second draft (approx. 15-30 min)

The next step is to write a second draft of your article. View the second draft as an opportunity to revisit the content of your article, establishing and honing the ideas presented in each section, and ensuring they fit into the larger context of the piece.

Begin your second draft by reading the article straight through, from start to finish. You’ll likely see errors, typos, or sections you’d like to change, but try not to stop and edit them. Reading the article in one bite will give you a broader view of what its strengths and weaknesses are, before tackling the specifics.

After you’re done with this, you can start to make revisions. Feel free to fix any glaring typos or errors you see at this point, but try to keep focused on the ideas. Edit each section until you feel that it communicates what it needs to, and then move on. Try to stick to the approximate time limit above — you’ll get another chance to revisit everything in the third draft.

4. Write a 3rd draft (approx. 15 min)

The next step is to create a third and final draft of your article. With the format and content mostly set, the goal of this step is to create a polished and professional-quality product. The edits in the third draft should deal with elements like sentence structure, word choice, word order, punctuation, and so on.

Begin your third draft by reading the article out loud. Hearing your writing lets you experience the article as a first-time reader would, and it clearly highlights the words and sentences you need to fix. When you stumble (or cringe) on a section while reading, that’s a sure sign it needs attention.

After reading, edit your third draft paragraph-by-paragraph. Spend as long as it takes so each one sounds as you’d like, but not longer. When you feel each section, and thus the whole article is sufficiently polished, call it a final product, and walk away. There’s certainly such a thing as over editing, and going beyond a reasonable stopping point is both time-inefficient and detrimental to the quality of your writing.

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Once you have a well-planned, written, and polished article — one you’re proud to show — you can distribute it throughout your network, as well as on third-party online sites. In turn, it will become a tool to attract valuable target customers, and provide long-term benefit to your marketing plan.