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!

As the world of Internet business grows, so it seems does the pace of communications. The advent of real-time services such as Twitter have sped conversations up, creating the perception that companies have to engage with their customers at the speed of noise.

While it is tempting to buy into this perception, racing to engage with potential customers quicker and more efficiently than ever, doing so actually flies in the face of years of established principles of communication: relationships take time and continual effort to build.

Friendships are not built in one day. Successful marriages are not formed in a single month. Nike has been communicating with customers with its ’swoosh’ consistently since 1971. And successful presidential campaigns are now starting 2-3 years before the actual election, using more time (instead of less) to get a candidate’s message across to voters.

For organizations large and small, successful communication strategies are built for the long-term. They are established on your website or in your storefront, reinforced in your in-person, email and phone conversations with customers, and emphasized through advertising or social media. Clear, friendly and personal interactions have a continued impact over time that establishes strong and lasting relationships.

My favorite current example of this approach in action is Pro Photo Rental*, a company that rents photo equipment to aspiriing or traveling photographers. Not only is the PPR website designed and written to be inviting and friendly, but each interaction after that is consistent with this message. Whether you DM, email or call, the staff or owner will personally take the time to answer your questions or solve your problem in a caring and direct way.

The residual effect of all these interactions is the formation of a strong and lasting relationship between customer and company. While PPR faces stiff competition, almost all of whom offer comparable prices and shipping offers, they have been able to become one of the top dogs of the industry. While a competing website may run a special promotion or appealing ad campaign, their repeat customers will continue to do business with the people they know and trust.

If the theoretical principles and real-life example teaches us anything, it is that there is nothing wrong with engaging in the high-speed arena of social media tools. You may find them immensely helpful to your brand and bottom-line. Whenever proceeding in these mediums, however, remember the lessons of communicators before you. Great relationships are built methodically. Not instantly.

Disclaimer: Pro Photo Rental has been a paying client of SpeakWell Communications in the past. However, there is no formal relationship currently in place and we have not been compensated in any way for this mention.

Disclaimer #2: The owner of Pro Photo Rental bought me a coffee for my birthday. This still does not constitute a formal relationship, and no other compensation has been received for this mention.

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?

As a writer, I’m cautious to use proper terminology. When I describe my company, in person or on paper, I’m careful to call it a communications firm, rather than better-understood terms such as a marketing firm, or a PR firm.

What does a communications firm do?

A communications firm helps companies hone and communicate their message, better reaching the target market for their products and services. In the case of this company, SpeakWell Communications, we focus almost exclusively on online communications.

How is a communications firm different than a marketing firm?

While a communications firm works to hone and communicate a company’s message, it rarely does the foundational work to establish where in the marketplace a company fits, or exactly who (and how) it aims to reach. These tasks — often done in the formation phases of a company — are best assigned to a marketing firm.

A marketing firm holds the expertise and resources to do extensive research, thorough competitive analysis, and complete business and marketing plan construction. While a communications firm can help clarify these concepts as needed — such as editing the content of a business plan — they most often come into the picture only when the plan is in place, and ready to execute.

How is a communications firm different than a PR firm?

While a marketing firm can lay the foundation for a company’s marketing outreach, and a communications firm can produce the content and drive for this outreach, a PR firm most often comes into play to provide the promotion and publicity to disseminate the content.

PR firms excel at tasks such as creating and maintain press and influencer relationships, distributing and promoting produced content, improving customer relations, and doing damage control. While a PR firm, in other words, acts as an ideal megaphone for the work of marketing firms and communications firms, PR firms do not replace the value they provide.

Do I need a communications firm?

The simple answer is yes; you do need the help of a communications firm if you want to reach your target market(s) as effectively as possible. However, you probably also need a marketing and PR firm, for the individual value they provide. In ideal cases, you can afford for the three to work in concert, combining to define your product and market, form and communicate your message, then disseminate and promote your message.

However, in the real world, if your name isn’t General Electric, you can probably only afford one of these, and ask them to do their best to fill in the gaps. While you might find this approach limiting, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with it. The main challenge becomes finding the right firm, and having a productive ongoing discussion about their limitations (as well as their value).

If you’re unsure of how to proceed, or still require clarification about what a particular firm is best able to provide, contacting a reputable representative of one is a good first step.

Personal blogs, developed for personal branding outside a company or organization, are becoming increasingly popular. The people who develop them are finding that the increased name-recognition, online popularity, and search engine optimization benefits can actually be helpful for their business goals. Notable examples include: www.tammycamp.com, www.gwenbell.com, and www.andrewhy.de.

This article covers 5 things you should do if you’re considering building a personal blog, or want to improve the one you already have. It’s not intended to be a step-by-step guide — there’s much I won’t cover here — and other points will be covered in later posts.

1. Find a design that suits you

It’s important that personal blogs be well-designed, both for aesthetics and to make it easy for visitors to find and use the content you produce. It’s important also for your design to reflect you the person, as it’s the first impression many people will get of your personal brand.

I prefer Wordpress as a blogging platform, and with a eaily-customizable theme like Thesis, it’s relatively simple to modify your blog with your own pictures, colors, and layouts. Only moderate skill in HTML/CSS is required.

2. Make your contact info accessible

In ideal cases, visitors to your personal blog will want to reach out, and extend their contact with you — whether it’s to propose a project, exchange an idea, or just to say hello.

By making your contact info invisible, or nearly impossible to find, you make it hard for them to take this step, and lose out on the benefits of a possible connection. Instead, feature your contact info in an accessible place, and make it as easy to find as possible.

I usually recommend that contact info be put somewhere on the front page of a personal blog, as well as be put in a separate ‘CONTACT’ page.

3. Be consistent with your posting

It goes without saying that a personal blog needs great content in order to thrive. What people often overlook, however, is the consistency with which content is published. It’s important to establish clear patterns of posting so visitors know what to expect, and have a reason to check back on a regular basis.

The actual timing and amount of posts will vary from blog to blog, and should be determined with what best fits your schedule and goals. Though some bloggers recommend up to 2-3 posts/week, I think 1 post/week is sufficient in most cases.

4. Integrate your social media profiles

Personal blogs work best when they act as portals to your other personalities and profiles online. A personal blog should be linked with your social media presence(s), receiving traffic from places like Twitter and Facebook, and directing traffic out to the same places. The interactions that happen around your blog, thus, can carry over and grow in other places.

The easiest way to integrate your social media profiles on your blog is with customizeable ‘buttons,’ that lead back to your profiles. A wide variety of these buttons can be found at www.mysocialbuttons.com.

5. Interact with other blogs

Personal blogs work best not as singular points of information in a vast Internet universe — these usually come off as narcissistic — but rather as pieces that contribute to a whole. Personal blogs work best when the author plugs themselves into other blogging communities, and regularly puts energy into building outside relationships.

This can be done by guest posting on other blogs, writing posts that are part of a series with other authors, commenting on other blogs, or linking to content from your blog and social media profiles. Mix up these approaches for the best results.

Conclusion

There is no silver-bullet to building a great personal blog. The most successful approaches integrate blog building and posting best practices, and allow ample time for the blog to grow slowly over time. Remember that the biggest benefits might come months, if not years, down the road.

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.

Many businesses are realizing the benefits of creating and maintaining a profile on the popular networking site, Twitter. For a relatively small time-input, business owners are able to interact directly with their target customers, exhibiting their personality while simultaneously enhancing their credibility. Twitter is currently regarded as the best place to build online communities, allowing you to grow brand loyalty among a sea of competition.

While posting and interacting on twitter is relatively simple, it may be intimidating to build your own account. Here is a step-by-step guide for establishing your own twitter profile, and customizing it for business use.

Step 1. Establishing your profile

Navigate your browser (Safari, Firefox, etc.) to http://www.twitter.com. On the righthand side of the page, highlighted in neon green, is the SIGN UP NOW button. Click it.

Now enter your information as asked. Enter your first and last name in the first field. This can be the actual name of the person running the account, or it can be your business name.

Next, pick and enter a USERNAME. It should be something unique to you, preferably a variation of your name (for personal-focused accounts), or your business name (for professional accounts). In general, it’s recommended that your username be between 5-12 characters.

Next, enter a PASSWORD that’s unique to you. It’s recommended that you don’t use any dictionary words, and that you include either a capital letter, a number, or both. These measures ensure your account stays secure — don’t share your password with anybody.

If you don’t want to receive promotional or informational emails from twitter (recommended), uncheck the box that reads: I want the inside scoop–please send me email updates!

Lastly, enter the security-code words you see in the box below (click get two new words if you can’t understand the original ones), and hit CREATE MY ACCOUNT.

If you entered all your information correctly, you’ll be forwarded to the SEE IF YOUR FRIENDS ARE ON TWITTER page. If you’d like twitter to search your email contact lists, click on the appropriate icon, and enter your information. If you’d just like to do this later, click on SKIP THIS STEP (at the bottom of page).

That will take you to a page with suggestions of people to follow. You can add more manually later, but for now, check 3 or 4 profiles that interest you. Following a few people to start will help you ‘get’ how twitter works. When you make your selections, press FOLLOW.

You now should be forwarded to your new homepage. And voila… you have yourself a twitter profile.

Congratulations! Have a lollipop, take a quick walk, or just raise your arms in celebration.

Step 2. Adding a profile picture

Adding a profile picture is the most important and easiest way to personalize your new account. Your profile picture is the first thing most people will look at deciding whether to “follow” you, and will be displayed next to each one of your updates.

For accounts with a primary person updating it, it’s alright to use a personal picture. It’s even encouraged. Just make sure it’s a closeup, because twitter only displays a small thumbnail. Strict business accounts can use your logo.

To add your profile picture, first click the PROFILE button, located in menu to the upper righthand side of the page.

Now, to the left of your username, there’s a space for a profile picture. To add one of your own, click on the green PLUS sign.

Once you’re on the add a picture page, click the CHOOSE FILE button. Select an image from somewhere on your computer — I use a Mac, and have all my photos stored in iPhoto. Once you’ve found a photo, click on it to select, and click CHOOSE (in the bottom righthand corner).

If your image is too big — the maximum allowed size is 700k — you have to resize it. You can do that in PhotoShop, if you have it, or online at http://mypictr.com.

Once you see that your picture has uploaded, click SAVE, and you should see it displayed next to your username.

If that worked, go back to HOME, and you should see your new profile pic. Sit back and admire it.

Step 3. Writing your bio

After a profile picture, your bio is the profile element that communicates the most about your business. For person-centered profiles, your bio might give readers an idea of what you do for work, what you do for fun, and what your personality is like. For business profiles, the bio should tell readers about your services, your identity, and perhaps one fun fact about your company.

Twitter bios should be written in sentence form (resist the urge just to make a list), and are only a few sentences long — the max is 160 characters. They can be challenging to write, so do so first in a word processing document.

When you have your bio finished, click on SETTINGS, and enter your text into the box that says: ONE LINE BIO.

While you’re at it, also include your website address (URL), and your business location. Even for Internet businesses that lack a true brick-and-mortar location, it’s advisable to enter something here. Saying you exist ‘on the Internet’ doesn’t give people much to connect to. Try to place yourself somewhere.

After you enter this information, hit SAVE. Then click on PROFILE, which will take you back to your page. Here, you can see the (awesome) results. It should look something like this:

Step 4. Customizing your profile

Just like each website has its own identity, you can now customize the look and feel of your twitter profile (recommended). Go to SETTINGS –> DESIGN, where you can choose a twitter background theme. The theme will be displayed on your homepage, behind the updates from your network, as well as behind your twitter profile page.

If you can’t find something you like, or just want a more-intricate background theme, visit http://www.tweetygotback.com, and pick out your own design. The website is linked directly to your twitter account, to make upgrades as easy as possible.

Because we’re from Boulder, we picked a mountain-themed background, and applied it to our account. It’s looking good. At this point, your page should look something like this:

Step 5. Start tweeting!

If you’ve completed steps 1-4, you now have a fully functional, personalized and customized twitter business profile. Now you’re ready to start using the service. You can post tweets, follow your friends or network contacts, respond to their updates, send direct messages, and more.

If you want information about how to use the features on twitter, or about how to maximize the brand awareness you get from twitter, I recommend you start with this YouTube video, this blog post, or the many more you can find all over the Internet.

Also, I’ll be writing more-detailed posts about the use of twitter as a marketing tool soon. So if you’re interested, make sure to stop back by this blog!

Please leave any questions you have in the comments section.

Happy Tweeting!