Here’s another installment in my continuing my series on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Communicators.

HABIT 4: THINK WIN-WIN
Covey says win-win is “a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit.” In the case of effective communication, that means keeping the other person in mind. Note that the habit says speak to the mutual benefit. That’s what writers call the “what” and the “so what.” What do you want to say? And so what does it mean to your audience?

How to incorporate it:
Communicating your point fearlessly but with consideration takes practice. Find someone you admire who does it well and become a student of their communication habits. Also, always put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Take a moment to consider an alternate angle, an unarticulated need or an opposing viewpoint. Make a list of win-win words and phrases that are mutually respectful. If you look closely you’ll see that I use words like “many” and “some” instead of “all” or “none.” Sometimes it just takes softening the tone, swapping exclusive words for inclusive ones, or leading with a more benefit-driven message.

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“I wish I were a better writer.”

That’s a refrain I hear all the time. Fact is, anyone can become a better writer. Now that doesn’t mean you’ll become a great novelist, award-winning author or sought-after copywriter. It does mean, however, that you can improve your skill level.

Like anything, becoming a better writer takes practice. So the first way to become a better writer is to write. Then write some more. Write, write, write, write, write.

World-famous author Ray Bradbury confesses that his first attempts at storytelling were atrocious. He says it took him from the age of 12 to 22 – ten full years — to begin developing his talent.

I’ve seen this in my own writing. My first published article in a regional magazine was mostly the work of my editor. But over time, I’ve developed my skill so that my editors don’t have to touch my copy much, if at all.

#1: The more you write the better you’ll write.

The second way to become a better writer is to read other writers. If you’re a copywriter, study the work of other copywriters you admire. If you’re itching to write a mystery, study the work of great mystery writers. Same with magazine articles, novels, children’s books, short stories, non-fiction, etc.

One of my favorite books is New York Times columnist Dan Barry’s, Pull Me Up: A Memoir. In it, Barry tells the story of his life and childhood while quietly telling the story of my own with beautifully crafted sentences and haunting word visuals. We are strangers. Our lives are not the same. And yet his words tell my story. That’s the power of brilliant and masterful writing and soaking it into the marrow of your bones I promise will make you a better writer. (But not without practice!)
 
#2: Read and study great work.

The third way to improve your writing skill is to practice writing like those you admire — both literally and figuratively. Start by writing someone else’s work in long hand. (No computers, please!) Do it again and again until you get a flow and a rhythm and a pace. Feel the writing. Then move into crafting your version of the same work. How would you rewrite the paragraph? What words might you choose for a headline?

Remember, these are exercises to help build your skill; not teach you how to plagiarize. Take note of another writer’s word choice, length of sentence and whether the adjectives are present or absent. Don’t worry about taking on someone else’s “voice.” Your voice will come over time and in time.

#3: Emulate great work.

Certainly, there are more ways to improve your writing skills, but start with these and be committed about doing them. You will see a difference in the pace, speed and clarity of your writing.

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“Voice and tone” is one of the most important — yet most confusing — concepts ever known to both writers and non-writers alike. Part of the confusion comes from the fact that voice and tone are talked about together as if they are one and the same. (They are not.)

It’s an important concept because voice and tone can help distinguish you, your brand, your company, your business.

It’s confusing because rarely are the terms clearly defined.

Until now.

• Voice is how you talk to someone.
• Tone is the attitude behind your words.

For example, my voice on this blog is identical to the voice I use in my workshops and at client meetings because it’s a reflection of me. It’s how I teach, talk, train, converse.

My tone, however, changes depending on my audience. On this blog, I skew towards the informal but never the irreverant; however, with a new client, my tone tends to be much more formal.

Still confused? Think about a recent conversation with your kids. What you said to them is your voice. How you said it is your tone. Same goes with copy, both online and off.

Ever been confused about voice and tone? Share your comments, ask your questions and let’s discuss.

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Here’s a question I asked on LinkedIn back in December and the subsequent discussion. I thought I’d share the dialogue since we talked about the “untalked about” such as:

• What impact regulatory review has on creating user-friendly copy
• Understanding the differences with online and offline content in a Web 2.0 world
• Optimizing copy for search without losing the human element/relationship component

Special thanks to my “guest bloggers” for their keen insight. These folks had a lot of great things to add to the conversation. Read on to see what they (and I) have to say, then continue the conversation by adding your comments and opinions to this post. 

My Original Question:

When it comes to web copy, what’s your (or your client’s) biggest challenge?

Answer #1:

In my experience, trying to get clients to understand that web copy is different than print copy is difficult. People don’t read copy in a web site they way they do a print piece and very rarely are they going to read it all! We’ve always tried to get clients to use headlines and bullets to separate content and make it easier for someone to find the information they are looking for when skimming pages. To add another twist, you need to have keyword rich content for SEO purposes. There are so many things to consider to write good clean copy that converts customers.

Answer #2:

Web sites often take a bad turn when user interface and web copy experts are not brought in to a web redesign process early enough and, therefore, appropriate use cases are not developed and planned for in the site. Use cases, for example, often don’t take into consideration where visitors are coming from and where they are in the education or buying process. It is easy to forget that we never sell anything … people buy things and we need to make that buying process as easy as possible. Design, copy and information architecture all has to work hand in hand, as a team so to speak. The process takes time and great thoughtfulness and one has to get to an outside-in view on their organization … not the typical inside-out view most organizations take. Anyone ever been to a web site that reads like a brochure — and a bad one at that?

My Reply:

Thanks for your comments and input. I couldn’t agree more with both of you. It is a delicate balance in achieving effective, readable copy that is optimized for search but, of course, it’s very doable. And I especially appreciate that you realize the value of bringing in web copy experts at the beginning of a project. In working with a wide range of clients to develop web copy that is on brand, on message and optimized for search, I find that clients typically overlook one very important thing: their customer. As you said, many companies take an “inside out” approach and I find this to be especially true when they speak to their customers. My goal is to help companies find and use their voice when communicating with their customers — both online and off.

Answer #3:

Wow. Big topic. There a lot of angles to copy that complicate it. Your question asks what’s the biggest challenge with copy. Its a tough question because there isn’t a lot of good advice or absolutes about it. It’s almost always a “depends on the situation.” Sure there are some web copy baselines, like ones mentioned above (concise where possible, use of headlines, etc.), but writing copy depends greatly on its application in a given site. I have a few questions that I use to gain greater insight to the context of copy’s role in a given place- it helps bring focus to the writing process:

~~What is content?~~
Big provocative question to start, but an important one. Often the web development process separates visual design from copy content, resulting in a site where words are most definitely working nearly on their own and can be written as such (assuming a good creative brief and IA have been completed).  But, in other cases a “high design” site will depend on the integration of copy with visual design. This type of content development requires a different process — designers and writers working o together with an interaction designer, many storyboards and pots of coffee.

~~Who is your user?~~
It was mentioned above. You can’t forget your user. Of course, everyone talks about their user, but do you know what motivates them? What kind of language resonates with them? Also, “them” represents a potentially diverse set of users who have varying motivations, purposes for visiting, etc. Finding the right way to message to a diverse group is at the center of “all things web strategy.” The way to deal with this is probably in a book-to-be-written, but for the sake of this discussion, I’ll just say its important to (1) identify whether you have a diverse psychographic user set and (2) prioritize them demographically ahead of time for the sake of conflict resolution with your team.

~~Why is copy important?~~
It seems silly, but I always ask the question. It seems defacto to believe carefully crafted copy is important to the success of the site, and most of the time it is. Sometimes though, its not worth putting resources at something that success if not dependent on. Fact of the matter is that some sites don’t have or need a lot of copy, or copy is generated by some of other means, such as the users themselves, dynamically aggregated, etc.  Copy is sometime most important for its impact on SEO. Of course another complicated beast, but when your search engine performance is crucial, resources need to be committed to well-planned copy. Keyword density, linking and content order need to page addressed on a page-by-page basis. And, often pages that do not seem important, actually are because of their impact on how search engines see your site.  When writing copy, know why you are writing it. Sometimes its to persuade people, sometimes its to persuade Google Bot. And sometimes, its guide the user and not get in the way.

~~Where are you?~~
Most content is written on a page-by-page basis. I think this is a great practice. Not just because its logical and manageable, but because it allows the writer to address the unique needs of each page. A writer should ask before each page, “Okay, where am I?” It’s critical to realize that when writing a page of content, the page lives in an environment. Not all pages work on their own; rather they work together in sequence with one another in a network of only slightly predictable user paths. A good exercise to make sense out of this is for each page, ask (1) who SHOULD visit this page?, (2) why did they arrive here? and (3) where might I want to send them next? You can probably think up others, but hopefully you get the point — good copy is dependent on its ability to serve the situations a page acts. 

SO, what is the toughest challenge in web copy? Dealing with these dynamics and their effects on the writing process.

Answer #4:

Years ago at AOL/CompuServe/Netscape in Columbus, I worked with financial content and Forbes.com, which was one of my biggest providers. They quickly learned that their usual 14-page magazine articles were a total yawn on the Internet, so they’d massively edited them down for the web and we were very successful with those articles — especially “top 10″ lists. The web has attention-deficit disorder, so you’ve got less than 2-3 seconds to capture the user, so you better make it immediately worthwhile. Waste the user’s time and he’s gone to the next thing an instant. To answer your question as it pertains to me now, the challenge is to meet the above demands plus what the others above mention, and to also pass medical, legal and regulatory reviews.

My Reply #2:

You bring up an interesting challenge and one that I think is rarely talked about. You’re exactly right when you say users are more prone to clicking away if there’s no immediate payoff. That’s why companies need to understand (or remember) that interactive is both a “push” and a “pull” medium.

Our job is to create compelling interactive experiences rich with content that users both want and need. (Of course, content is not just copy, it’s also video, audio, PDFs, data, downloads, charts, music, presentations, etc.)

I hear you about the medical, legal and regulatory reviews … one great thing about the interactive space is that you can make those necessities available but non-intrusive, meaning that you can put a privacy policy, legal disclaimer, contest rules or T&C in a place where site visitors can see it or agree to it without cluttering up what they’re trying to do.

Remember, interactive is a task-oriented medium, so we must help them accomplish their task in a way that’s both engaging and easy. Still, we live in a litigious society, so medical, legal and regulatory reviews are all the more important; however, they must be balanced with the user experience.

I suspect, perhaps, that as a whole, we’ve kept an “us” and “them” mentality, with interactive services on one side and medical/legal/regulatory on the other. Wouldn’t it be interesting to open up a dialogue between the two sides and start looking at a holistic solution that serves the user and satisfies the regulatory side?

From my experience working with legal and medical review, we are often forced to acquiesce on content, sometimes to the detriment of the user experience and project goals. I’d love to see a more collaborative relationship between these two oft-times opposing sides.

And, with the explosion of user-generated content and social media influences, don’t you agree that it’s well past time we loosened the reins just a tiny bit on the “we can say this, but not that” mentality that’s pervaded the content approval process since before the internet age?

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