Writing Tips & Guides
Communicate Effectively with a Powerful Writing Style
Writing Business Plans : Top 3 Reasons For Writing Business Plans
Article by Louis Zhang
Whether you are a start up or established business, and whether you are a non-profit organization, writing a business plan can be one of the most useful things you can do for your business. Obviously there are different types of business plans depending on the nature of your company or organization. It’s not enough that you have a “hunch” your new start up will be a roaring success, or you believe your latest web. 2.0 idea a surefire “ten bagger” success for the lucky venture capitalist. There are people who need to take a close look at your business plan; whether it’s you, internal management or external investors. In this article, we will look at the top three reasons for writing business plans.
First to answer the question: “Is the business feasible?”
Before you actually commit funds, manpower and time on starting a business, it helps to actually have a “dry run” to see if the venture you have in mind has a good chance of success. The business planning process forces you to look at what your competitors are doing and to ask yourself how you can differentiate your product or service. Typically we call this a SWOT analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. At the same time you want to identify, as clearly as possible your unique selling proposition. This can be a special feature or something unique about your branding. Just be different and attractive in the eyes of your target market. Going through this process will give you a better idea of you chances for success in the marketplace.
Then look at your projected financials – do you have the required funds to start your business? Where are you going to raise the capital? How soon will the business break even? All of them are pertinent questions.
Secondly, a business plan is used to help secure loans from banks or financing from outside investors. Typically if you are a start up, you will find it very hard to get any financing from your local bank unless you have landed collateral, regardless if you have a plan written or not. If your business is established for several years and have healthy cash flow, then the bank will definitely want to see your financials before given you any loans or bridge financing.
If you are looking for angels or venture capital investment, then a business plan, particularly the executive summary is what they will require. What’s more important to these investors, more than the plan itself, is the entrepreneur’s track record and the strength of your management team. Be sure to include these important points in your bplan.
Last but not least, a written business plan should be constantly evolving. It acts as a blue print to guide management in the execution of business strategy and to meet goals. By constantly reviewing and updating the plan, it is used as a useful communication tool within the company to guide business growth.
We’ve looked at some good reasons from writing business plans. Now, if you don’t think you know how to write one, help is available. Look for a template online, such as at the site given below. Or better still get business plan software. The good ones, such as Business Plan Pro 2007, are easy to use and will guide you to input the necessary text and numbers and come out with a complete plan for you. There’s absolutely no reason why any business person should not have a business plan blueprint.
For more on business plans, and tips and templates to help you write a winning business plan for different types of start ups, established bsuinesses and non profits, go to www.businessplans4u.com
Letter Writing : 10 Innovative Rules for Letter Writing
Article by Thomas Lund
When you write a letter and want your letter looks innovative impression, This article will guide and help you about 10 innovative rules of letter writing. Here are the following rules of good business letter:
1. Study your reader’s interest.
The letters you send out must create a good first impression, To achieve this, “put yourself in your reader shoes” and try to imagine how he will feel about what you write. Ask your self constantly. ” what are his needs, his wishes, his interest and his problems, and how can I meet them?”. ; what would be my own feelings if I were to receive a letter of the kind I propose to write?” Try to imagine that you are receiving rather than sending a letter and emphasize the you attitude rather than the I or we.
2. Adopt the right tone.
If a letter is to achieve its purpose, it’s tone must be right. before write think carefully about the way in which you want to influence your reader. Ask your self, ” What do I want this letter to do?” and then express your self accordingly, being persuasive, apologetic, obliging, firm and so on. depending on the effect you want to produce.
3. Write naturally and sincerely.
When you sit down to write a letter, try to feel a genuine interest in the person you are writing to and in his problems. say what you have to say with sincerity and make sure that it sound sincere. Express your thoughts in your own words and in your way. Be your self. Write so that what you say would sound natural if read over the telephone.
Instead of
I have pleasure in informing you. We do not anticipate any increase in prices. please favor us with an early expression of your views. Please be good enough to advise us.
Say
I am pleased to tell you ( or,to say). We do not express prices to rice. Please let us have your own opinion soon. please tell ( or inform) us.
4. Write clearly and to the point.
First be quite clear about what you want to say and then say it naturally without frills, in language your reader will understand – just as if you were in conversation with him. For the most part, keep your sentences short and avoid the over frequent use of such conjunctions as and, but, however, consequently. the effect of which is to make sentence too long.
5. Be courteous and considerate.
Courtesy is consists, not in using polite phrases (your kind enquiry, your esteemed order, your valued custom, and so on.) , But in showing consideration for your correspondent. It is the quality that enables us to refuse to perform a favor and at the credit without killing all hope of future business
Deal promptly with all letters needing reply, Answer them on the day you receive them if you can. it is discourteous to keep your correspondent waiting for an answer. if you can not deal promptly with a letter seeking information, write, and explain why and say when you will write again. This creates an impression of efficiency and helps to build good will.
try to understand and respect your corespondent’s point of view and resist temptation to reply as if you could not be in wrong if he suggestion is so stupid and his criticism unfair, reply with restraint and say what you feel tactfully and without giving offense. if he needs you a rude or sharp letter, resist the temptation to reply in similar terms. Instead, answer him courteously; your lower dignity if you allow him to set the tone of your reply.
6. Avoid wordiness.
Make it to use no more words than are needed to make your meaning clear. today businessmen have may letters to read and welcome the sort of letter that is direct and to the point.
Instead of
Please see that an enquiry is conducted to determine the reason. We express our regret at being unable to fulfill your order on this occasion with our customary promptness.
Say
Please find out the reasons. We are sorry we can not meet your present order immediately.
7. Avoid Commercial Jargon.
Avoid using stale and roundabout phrases that add little or nothing to the sense of you write. such phrases were at one time common, but they have no place in the modern business letters.
A good business letter will be free from the kind of jargon illustrated and will use no more words than are necessary to convey a clear and accurate message.
8. Plan your letter
Many Business letters are short and routine and can be written or dictated without special preparation. Others must first be thought about and planed. First jot down all the points you wish to cover and then arrange them in logical order to provide the plan for letter that will read naturally and fluently. suppose for example you are writing to a builder complaining that he has not kept his promise to complete his house by the agreed date, the following would be logical arrangement of the point you would cover.
An opening paragraph referring to the promise made. A statement that the promise has not been kept. That the delay is causing you inconvenience. A closing paragraph requesting completion without further delay.
If your letter is in reply to one received, underline those parts which comment is necessary, this will ensure that your reply is complete.
9. Pay attention to the first and last impression.
1. The opening paragraph
If your letter is one sent in reply to another,refer in the opening paragraph to the letter you are answering, but avoid the sort of old-fashioned phrases. Although thank you for your letter, In reply your letter, with reference to your letter are grammatically correct, they tend to monotonous, worn threadbare from over – use., only a little thought is needed to replace these formal expression by others more interesting, for example:
I was glad to receive your letter of …………. I am sorry we can not supply the books you ordered on………..( followed by reason) When I received your letter of……… I at once gave instructions for……….. In your letter of……….you enquire about……..
2. The closing paragraph
If a letter has been well planed and follows logical sequence, a brief observation will usually be enough to provide the kind of ending needed. For example;
We shall deal promptly with any order you place with us. We are sorry there should have been any misunderstanding. We are glad to have been of service. Thank you for sending your check promptly. I hope to receive your reply shortly.
10. Check your letter.
Be careful to create a good first impression with each of your letter. before signing it. check it for the accuracy of its contents and test its general suitability against such questions as these.
Is its appearance attractive; Is it well laid out? Is it correctly spell and properly punctuated? Does it cover all essential points and is the information given correct? What I have said clear, concise, and courteous? Does it sound natural and sincere? Does it adopt the reader’s point of view and will be readily understood? Is its general tone right and is it likely to create the impression intended/ Is it the kind of letter I should like to receive if I were in the reader’s place.
If the answer to all these questions is “YES” then the letter will take the first step in creating good will and you may safely sign and send it.
I love to write. I write better than I speak. Writing satisfies me. Writing calms me down. And through writing, sometimes, we open another perspective or dimension on how we view or understand things. So I write to speak my mind, which could be different from others. Most of the time, I write out of curiosity. Because people play with words. I wonder if what they are saying are 100% true. I wonder if my opinion could make a difference on the subject. I wonder if there is another way to say things so that other people can understand.
Feel free to read and you are welcome to leave your comments. Thank you for reading. God bless.
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Writing For Business : How To Write For Business
Article by Daniel O’Connor
How To Write For Business
Sitting down to write something for your business, whether a press release, newsletter, web page or plain old letter, can be pretty intimidating. You can zing off emails to friends without a second thought, but once it concerns your livelihood, – money, in other words – it’s easy to find other things to do that suddenly become much more important. Making another cup of tea and seeing if Wikipedia lists the ingredients of Birds Custard*, for instance.
And there’s so much bad writing out there! So many websites going on and on and on and on and on about blue-skies solutions, outside the box thinking and stakeholder management. It’s sometimes hard to stop yourself from screaming “Get to the point!” before ripping your monitor from its wires and throwing it, and yourself, out the window. And you’d hate to add to all that bad writing, wouldn’t you?
Well, you don’t have to.
Here’s a simple checklist to follow whenever your cursor is winking at the top of a blank page. I’m not saying that following these rules will win you awards and make your company the next Google, but it will help. Honest.
1. Benefits, not features. Your customers don’t care about you, your 50 years of experience or cutting-edge client management technologies. At all. They want to know “What’s in it for me?” Tell them how you can make their lives better. Let’s say you sell drills. That sexy chrome finish on the Hyper Electron 5mm Deluxe, is it a benefit? Not really, no. It’s a feature, no matter how cunningly designed. The super-accurate holes it drills are benefits.
2. Write like you talk. Don’t be stuffy. Use regular words. Read aloud what you’ve written. How does it sound? Corporate and impersonal or a conversation between two human beings?
3. Lose the weak words. Don’t describe how your company may, might or should help customers. Talk about how it will.
5. Every word is gold. Take out anything not pushing the message forward. Your customers will not read waffle. They only want to know: Can you help me? Yes or no?
6. Invisible text. The message, not your writing style, is everything. Don’t be self-indulgent. Don’t distract from the message by making the way you say things more important than what you’re saying. Bursting with Wildean repartee and wit? Start a blog.
7. Rhythm. Some sentences are long. Some short. Mix it up and keep things interesting.
8. Re-read what you’ve done. Edit, edit, edit. It’s so easy to make mistakes that you, as the writer, don’t notice the first time through. You can bet your customers will and they’ll think you’re unprofessional. Check your grammar, your spelling and, yes, your spacing. If you’ve done something like a numbered list, make sure the numbers follow each other. Seriously! Some people really are stupid enough to mess up basic stuff like that.
*It doesn’t. I checked.
Check out my regular feature, “Daniboy’s Good Business Weekly”. You’re very welcome to reprint any of the G.B.W. articles on your website and/or newsletters free of charge, provided:
– you don’t change the article in any way – you include the writing credit below (including all website links)
Daniel O’Connor is a website copywriter, advertising copywriter and marketing copywriter using the name Daniboy. He can be contacted in the UK on +44-1892-518269 or at mail@daniboy.com. Visit http://www.daniboy.com for further details of his services, including bespoke article writing, and more free reprint articles.
I’m a marketing copywriter based in the UK. I’ve worked for local government in Japan, the airline ANA and telecoms giant NTT, so have long experience of working with very big companies.
I became my own boss when I began working as a freelancer in 2003. Over the years I have built up a diverse portfolio of clients and work that makes coming to work every day a genuine pleasure. The 5 second commute to work is, what is more, highly convenient.
Writing Courses : Writing Course
Article by Seth Willis Jr.
How Online Courses Work
Anyone who chooses to become a writer in any category of writing would benefit greatly by opting to do an online writing course. While they work at honing their writing skills they could simultaneously be working at another career or even completely another online course in the same or even a different subject.
Online courses are a boon to students everywhere for a number of reasons. Students enrolling in online courses have the freedom and flexibility to complete a course at their convenience from anywhere in the world. All the projects, assignments, tests and quizzes are completed online and all communication with their online teachers is via instant message, e-mail and in some cases by phone too.
Advantages of Online Writing Courses
Online writing courses are becoming increasingly popular among people all over the world who are looking for an ideal way to express their thoughts such as novelists and fiction or non-fiction writers or for those who need to report real-life incidents such as journalists and historians.
Online learning is a boon to students whose career timings conflict with traditional school hours or those who have trouble concentrating on school work in conventional settings. All you need to complete an online writing course is a creative mind, a computer and an Internet connection.
Choosing an Online Writing Course
Lots of organizations offering online writing courses, however selecting a good one would require a lot of time spent on research and inquiry. Many online writing courses promise big advantages and it is easy to fall for these big claims. However thorough research should be done before enrolling for any online writing course.
There are a few points you would have to consider before enrolling for any online writing course:
Make sure the course has teachers who have the necessary qualification and experience in different kinds of writing.
Make sure the student-teacher ratio is low so that you can get the attention and help from the teacher when you need it.
Make sure that the course has competent teachers who are enthusiastic about assessing the work of budding writers and ready to lend a helping hand when required.
Different online writing courses offer different courses and different methods of teaching them. Make sure that both of these suit your requirements.
Check if the online writing course offers extra assistance to students by letting you communicate directly with teachers during office hours for any help you may require.Types of Writing Courses
There are many different types of online writing courses available including:
Nonfiction WritingFiction WritingNovel WritingFeature WritingTravel WritingScreenwritingChildren’s Book WritingMemoir WritingPoetry WritingScience Fiction WritingBusiness WritingWriting Course Opportunities
A writing course is usually designed to help in developing writing skills for:
Creative Writers- story-writers, poets, lyricists, novelists
Professional Writers- copywriters, scriptwriters, journalists, speech writers
Teachers- all unit areas, primary, secondary, tertiary
PublishersEditorsHistoriansEducatorsCommunicators
Seth Willis Jr. is the webmaster for http://www.blackboardarts.com a distance learning web portal.Our goal is to bring learning products to the public via the internet so that people all over the world can enjoy the benefits of our online courses.
GrantWritingOnlineCourse.com Learn grant writing now! Call 1.888.293.0284 for more information. This online grant writing course will teach you the ins and outs of grant proposals. Learn from the comfort of your own home. Granter Writer secrets will be shared for nonprofit grants, government grants, federal grants and more. Are you curious about what it takes to develop an award-winning grant proposal? Are you interested in being put on the right track to learning how to write grant proposals that get funded quickly and easily? GrantWritingOnlineCourse.com has got the solutions to all of your grant writing needs and challenges! Just try out our free e-course and receive as an added bonus our Grant Writing Starter’s Kit. Our free e-course is designed to point you in the right direction and provide you with a sample of the rich content you will receive when you sign-up for our other online trainings that takes the guesswork out of grant writing. Our Basic Course gives a great overview of the entire grant writing process in a very concise manner and is ideal for those wanting to gain quick insight into the world of grant writing. Our Standard Course, which is also taught at other colleges and universities, goes into detail about all the nuts-and-bolts of the grant writing process and offers you special access to our Online Grant Writing Library that is loaded with rich content, including templates, forms, samples, and interviews with professional grant writers, funders …
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Writing Business Proposals : 5 Simple Tips To Remember In Writing Business Proposals
Article by Ewen Chia
Starting out is almost always the toughest part of going into business. Not only does it entail the gruesome process of product development, business planning, market analysis, hiring and so on and so forth but it also it is also the phase that requires a lot of money. Why? Because prior to starting, you would need to invest in equipment, lease a place, have some renovations done and secure business licenses. Of course, all those would not be a problem if you have a lot of financial resources to start with right? But what if you don’t? Should that be enough to discourage you from even starting? Well, it shouldn’t because if you need help with some starting cash, you can always get some by writing sound business proposals.What have business proposals anything to do with your financial problems? A lot actually, this is because through them, you may be able to convince some banks to loan you the amount that you need to get started. You just have to work on convincing them that your business is indeed bankable and it can help you pay the money you owe them including interests of course. Now that you know the importance of proposals, then the next thing that you should be figuring out is – how can you make a good one? If you do not know how to start, here are some tips that may help. 1. Sell your concept. In most cases, a good concept is enough to get people to try your products, get interested in your company and have a bank invest in you. As such it is always best to start your proposal with a presentation of your genius and unique concept. Note however that this presentation does not have to be a litany of what you intend to do. A solid 2 to 3 sentences will be fine. 2. Give your possible investors some facts. Do not just baffle them with impressive sentences that have no factual basis. So before you even think of writing your business proposal, make sure that you do some research. 3. Keep the formality in your tone of writing. A proposal is a formal document, so it is meant to be written following a formal style and format. If you can, try to avoid using slang or street language to get your point across. If you are not really adept in formal grammar rules and writing styles, then it would help for you to ask the assistance of someone who does. 4. Add graphs and other visual aids to your proposal. All these would help make your write – up easier to understand and more interesting to the reader. 5. Before submitting, make sure that you ask the help of someone to proofread your work. This is important because presenting an error – free write – up will help you come across as someone who is professional and meticulous in your work. 6. Finally, print your business proposals in a good quality paper as doing so would give your proposal something extra that all investors may be looking for.
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