5 Writing Crimes You’re Probably Guilty Of

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’s 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’s 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.

1. 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).
2. Use simple words. Big words are for scholars trying to look smart. Most writings that are actually read uses simple English that everyone understand.
3. 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?
4. 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.
5. 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 .

Tagged as: copywritin tips, writing effectively, writing mistakes