Strategies of Technical and Business Writing

Keep Your Writing Concise

Brevity is important. An editor once told me that if there’s a way to say something
with two words instead of three, do it. People want the information they’re seeking
instantaneously, without having to wade through fluff. For instance, you can
almost always remove the word “that” from sentences and instead of saying “in
order to,” saying “to” is sufficient.

There’s a distinction between brevity and content length. If the topic you’re
covering is broad, there’s nothing wrong with banging out a 1,500 word piece as
long as every word provides value to the reader.

Focus on Timely Content

If you write about healthcare, focus your content on recent news to help generate
more buzz and improve your results. For instance, you could focus on recent
Affordable Care Act updates.

Are veterans your niche? Work recent VA problems into your next article, or
provide information on new updates to veteran benefits. The more you can tailor
your content to run in lockstep with current events, the better off you’ll be.

Be Accurate
The Internet is filled with misinformation. I’ve often told friends I can get the
Internet to say just about anything I want it to. When doing research, look for the
latest statistics, and only pull quotes from reliable sources. Google Scholar is a
great resource for searching recent studies, and you can also search for data from
government or educational websites by adding “site:.gov” or “site:.edu” in front of
your Google search term.

Inject Humor When Appropriate

When it’s appropriate, go ahead and show your sense of humor in your writing. By
injecting your voice and point of view into your writing, readers are more likely to
form an attachment to you and your content. Just be careful – not everyone has the
same sense of humor – think carefully about what you’re saying and how you’re
saying it. If there’s a chance it could be misinterpreted, think it through before you
put it out there.

Offer Extra Details

Generic content is a dime a dozen. If you want to bore your readers to tears, offer
the same information they can find anywhere else.  But if you want to catch your
readers’ attention and keep them coming back, offer details and tips they can’t find
anywhere else. Provide personal examples, add quotes from experts, and offer
images that tell the story – these are the types of details that set good content apart
from bad content.

It’s one thing to develop high-quality content, but it’s another to write it well.
Spelling “effectively” correctly is only worthwhile if you also use it correctly.
Spell checkers and basic grammar programs aren’t 100% accurate. If your
grammar is rusty, consider trying Grammarly. The program corrects more than 250
grammatical mistakes, many of which aren’t caught by other services. There’s a
free trial available, and paid plans start at $29.95 per month.

Do you regularly use business writing? How have you improved the content you
develop?