If you read through this blog of mine, or any other articles that I’ve written, you would quickly discover that I’m not very good at grammar. I’ve always believed that as long as you communicate effectively, it really doesn’t matter what the "rules" are.
As David Ogilvy once said, "I don’t know the rules of grammar. If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language. "
And here’ what Gary Halbert has to say about the subject, "I determine where commas go by reading my copy aloud and when I come to a natural pause, that’s where I put my comma. There may be English teacher who say that’s not grammatically correct. Ah, But i think it works to communicate effectively. "
And that what I’ve always believed. Who would rather trust? Successful entrepreneurs or you English teachers who barely made a living?
But while I am not too concerned with my grammar, there are other writing mistakes that makes you look stupid . It undermines your credibility. You may lose a subscriber or maybe even a customer.
5 Writing Tips To Improve Your Response
Here are the 5 blunders you should be aware of.
- Check your spelling before you post anything. While grammatical blunders are often ignored by your readers (most of them don’t detect them anyway), spelling mistakes stands out like Paris Hilton in a group of beautiful girls. I suggest you use the Firefox browser so you can auto-detect spelling errors when typing in a browser (As far I am aware of, IE doesn’t do this… but then again, the last time I used IE was 5 years ago).
- Use simple words. Big words are for scholars trying to look smart. Most writings that are actually read uses simple English that everyone understand.
- Don’t use the word "that" unless absolutely necessary. If you go through anything you wrote and eliminated all the word "that", you’ll quickly find that it flows better. For example, instead of "verify that your credit card number is correct", doesn’t "verify your credit card number is correct" flows better?
- Use contractions. Instead of "you are", use "you’re". It’s always better to write as you speak. This kind of writing is friendlier and so it results in more response.
- Don’t use "us" or "we" when you’re writing. Instead, use "you" and "I". "You" and "I" gives your readers a feeling that the piece of writing is written especially for him. It feels like you’re sitting right in front of him and talking.
Want to learn more about writing well? Brian Clark from Copyblogger wrote 2 interesting articles on writing mistakes that you should check out here and here . And here’s what John Carlton has to say about using adjectives .
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
wrmjr 09.18.08 at 11:53 am
In point #3, I think you have a “that” that can be removed
Andre Thomas 09.18.08 at 4:44 pm
You’re right! I didn’t proof read everything I write here so yes, I have a tendency to use “that” a lot too!
Blog for Beginners 11.10.08 at 3:31 am
Awesome tips, Andre. You might have probably realized by now (that) English is not my mother tongue. As such I’m always on the lookout for copywriting advise and today I found some. In particular, on point #3, something I’ve never really put much thought into. Thank you.
Yan
Blog for Beginnerss last blog post..How I Increase My Email Subscribers by 60 in 7 Days
Andre Thomas 11.10.08 at 5:28 pm
Hi Yan,
Your English sounds pretty good to me! English is also not not my mother tongue. I also speak Chinese and Indonesian.
Blog for Beginners 11.13.08 at 4:12 am
Oh really, are you Indonesian too? I’m but I’ve left Jakarta since when I was only 17.
Yan
Blog for Beginnerss last blog post..8 Google Lessons I’ve Learned from Garry Conn
Andre Thomas 11.13.08 at 6:18 am
I actually left Surabaya when I was only 7 and spent my whole life in Singapore until I moved to Australia about 4 years ago.