Thanks to the digital age, all of us are communicators of one kind or another. So let’s make sure we’re doing it right.

When it comes to communication, how well do you fare — compared to my five best practices?

1. Before you start writing (yes, even an email), do you pause to think about your intended audience?

If so, give yourself 1 point. Give yourself an extra point if you’re able to describe your audience in a sentence like this: “This email is going to my subscribers who are short on time and need practical tips for writing better and faster.”

Points _____

2. Using one to two sentences, can you synopsize your message?

If so, give yourself 2 points. If it takes three or more sentences, give yourself 1 point. If you can’t do it, take 0 points.

3. Is your message easy to understand? Hint: Ask someone to read what you wrote and then briefly tell you what it said. If they can do it easily, give yourself 2 points. If it’s more difficult, give yourself 1 point. If they really have trouble, take 0 points.

Points _____

4. Have you used jargon, misspelled words, convoluted sentences, misplaced modifiers, bad grammar and the like?

Nope? Give yourself 1 point. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, give yourself 0 and contact me.

Points _____

5. Do you have a clear call-to-action? In other words, does your reader know what you want them to do with the information you’ve given them?

1 point if you have a CTA, 0 if you don’t.

Points _____

How’d you fare?

7-8 points – Well done! You’re a credible communicator.

5-6 points – Very nice. You’re better than average.

3-4 points – Not bad. A little work and you could create more credible communication.

0-2 – Sorry, but you’re a serious slacker. Time to make some improvements.

Just remember my 5 best practices for better communication:

1. Think about your audience.
2. Know what you want to say.
3. Simplify your message.
4. Watch for grammar mistakes and spelling errors.
5. Include a clear call-to-action.

Where do you fall short?

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I really like a Starbucks Mocha Lite Frappucino from time to time. I really do. And I don’t even drink coffee other than those. Ever.

But one thing I really don’t like is a lot of the writing I see on Starbucks.com. In fact, I often use Starbucks in my workshops as an example of what not to do.

While I won’t give a full critique of their site, I will tell you that in addition to being very self-centric vs. customer-centric, they use passive voice to their detriment. In most instances, passive voice is difficult to read, hard to understand and nearly impossible to enjoy.

Now I know the subject of passive voice can make even the most astute grammar student’s eyes glaze over, so I’d like to address the issue in a way that’s easy to understand and remember. And, just for fun, I’ll use Starbucks to help in our little lesson today.

First, passive voice simply means this: The subject of the sentence is acted upon instead of taking the action.

Starbucks BEFORE: “A live webcast will be available the day of the meeting.”

My AFTER: “Watch the live webcast the day of the meeting.”

In the Starbucks “before” example, the copywriter writes in passive voice that:

• Uses more words than necessary
• Creates a formal tone
• Confuses the reader about what is happening when

In my “after” example, I use active voice to:

• Use just enough words to make the point
• Make it easy to quickly understand the information
• Tell the reader what to do

Words to watch for that hint of passive voice include: will be, am, is, was, were, are or been.

P.S. Thanks @natashaF8 for this idea on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter @getgreatcopy.

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This post inspired today’s topic.

So let’s get to it … What kind of writer are you?

Procrastinator: You do everything BUT write. Delay tactics are your specialty and writing is a chore and a bore. Solution? Chunk your writing time into smaller, more manageable segments; use a voice recorder to capture your thoughts instead of facing a blank document; and hire it out.

Perfectionist: You spend ridiculous amounts of time trying to find “just the right word.” You’ve never met a deadline (at least not without tearing your hair out) and you’re highly critical of yours and everyone else’s writing. Solution? Keep your high standards but temper them with realism; limit your rewrites to three; and ask an objective party to review your copy.

Free spirit: You love the written word and enjoy crafting amazing sentences. Trouble is you sometimes don’t get to the core message quick enough. Solution? Write a synopsis of the main message and keep it in front of you; read your copy through the lens of “How does this relate to the main message”; and start a personal blog as an outlet for all that creativity.

Rule follower: You pride yourself on knowing the correct placement of every dot and tiddle. End a sentence with a preposition? Never! Problem is your writing is difficult to read and perhaps too formal for your audience. Solution? Make a list of which rules you’ll never break and which rules you’ll agree to bend; videotape yourself in conversation and note how often the rules don’t apply; and become the go-to grammar guy or gal in the office (people will love you for worrying about such things on their behalf).

Bottom line? Your writing style is a lot like your natural hair texture: Stop fighting against it and start working with it. You don’t have to force a drastic change but you can learn how to mold and shape your writing style so that it’s less angst-ridden for you and more pleasing to your reader.

Other writing types? Share them here.

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So it’s Friday the 13th.

Now, I am not, in any way, superstitious, but I thought it might be fun to use this “holiday,” as it were, to address some copywriting superstitions.

According to Merriam-Webster.com, the word superstition means, “a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation.”

Hmm. Great lead in because I always teach my coaching clients that great copywriting is not magic — but it is magical.

What I mean by that is that great copywriting doesn’t happen by accident. It does, however, differ from mediocre or bad copywriting in that it stirs something in the reader. Maybe that “something” is buying your product or maybe it’s thinking of your company in a new way or maybe it’s appreciating the value your services bring to the world. Whatever it is, great copywriting has an impact and that’s what makes it magical.

Now let’s get onto the superstitions. Okay, confession time. These aren’t really superstitions, they’re old, passé writing rules that you can let go of right now no matter what Mrs. English Teacher said or says. At least in the real world, when you’re not writing for a letter grade. Books have been written about new grammar rules and there are similar lists posted on dozens of other writing sites. I’m calling attention to the ones that I let go of a long time ago. And you’ll see evidence of it in my writing on client sites like the North Market and on my blog.

1. Never start a sentence with “and” or “but.”
2. Never end a sentence with a preposition like “to.”
3. Never use contractions.
4. Always write complete sentences and paragraphs.
5. Always put two spaces after a period.

The point of letting go of these antiquated rules is to get you to loosen up and write conversationally. All that formality is not only unnecessary; it clutters the core idea or message. And that, after all, is what your readers want to read.

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