Author: Michelle Troutman

Michelle Troutman has spent more than a decade crafting attention-getting newsletters and other content for service providers. She specializes in creating standout e-newsletters for law firms and economic development organizations. Her marketing and business administration background and education enhance clear and persuasive copy that speaks to the right clients. Through features in publications like "Attorney at Work" and "Law Fuel," and her e-newsletter and YouTube channel, she inspires service professionals to create engaging content. She enjoys helping businesses that sell their expertise reach their ideal customers.

writing advice, writing apps, writing better, writing tools

5 Writing Apps to Improve Your Content

1. Relatedwords.org – If you need the right word, a more specific term, or a synonym, this is among the writing apps that will find related terms for you. It works as an electronic thesaurus or a word association generator.

For example, the top results for the word “energy”:

Kinetic energy
Work
Radiant energy
Vitality
Electricity

And the word lists can run long. You may click on each for a definition with the option to find more related words. They can help you compile article topics and outlines.

2. Ludwig.guru – This app shows how to use a word or phrase properly in a sentence and offers definitions and alternate terms. It works in other languages, too, such as Latin. And you can even find out which terms are popular to get a better sense of common usage. For example, “Take a shower” is used 80 percent of the time versus “have a shower” at 20 percent. The premium version gives you unlimited queries and more search results, together with an advanced filter library. Desktop or mobile versions are available.

3. Headline Generator – This tool by Content Row will create headlines based on one word. It scores their quality on a 1-100 scale and can analyze them for their strengths (their word count, whether it’s positive, negative, or neutral) and for improvement. It also filters the results by category, including whether a headline qualifies as “clickbait.” Other tools in the kit include lists of trending topics, a word counter, and a title case converter. To make headlines and use the editor, you must register for free.

4. Wave Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool – This browser add-on helps you find which parts of a document are missing alt text, which can affect whether people with disabilities can understand it. It also analyzes design elements, including contrasting colors, font sizes, and navigational structure. It covers many of the common Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). You can also enter a website address for analysis.

5. Searchresponse.io – This tool offers results based on terms you search for to reveal what people ask in search engines, their related searches, and keywords. It’s like a combo of Google, Google Ads’ Keyword Planner, and answerthepublic.com. Under the free plan, searches are limited. Other apps, like Ahrefs and BuzzSumo, go one step further and veer into content analysis for engagement based on search terms. But this app helps you gauge your options and the level of interest in a topic, especially for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Have you tried every tool and are still unhappy with your writing? Get help turning your gibberish into everyday English.

BOOK A FREE COACHING SESSION

What are your favorite writing tools? Feel free to comment below.

Quotes

“Having a set of writing tools helps when you get lost in your writing process. And we all get lost sometimes.” ~ Leigh Shulman

“You have certain writing tools but generally creating something from nothing makes one quite mad and Cynthia and I are quite mad, you know.” ~ Barry Mann

Published December 6, 2022

writing for accessibility, writing for readability

5 Ways to Write for Accessibility and Readability

1. Images – Create clear descriptions or “alternative text” for them in web pages, blog and social media posts, and e-newsletters to aid the visually or cognitively impaired. Add as much detail as possible within any limits on the number of characters. Alt text, however, isn’t the place for a link, a source citation, or more information irrelevant to the graphic featured. Write for accessibility — remove phrases like “image of” or “picture of” and get to the description in a complete sentence. MailChimp suggests avoiding images entirely if you can convey the same information in writing.

Example: NASA won praise for its 126-word alt text in a Twitter post featuring a photo of the early universe taken with the James Webb telescope. It begins: “The background of space is black. Thousands of galaxies appear all across the view. Their shapes and colors vary.” Yours don’t have to be that long, but they should be long enough to create a picture in someone’s mind.

2. Hashtags – Perkins Access suggests you capitalize the first letter in each word in a hashtag to help screen reading software pronounce it correctly.

Example: #EmailMarketing instead of #emailmarketing

3. Email headlines – Subject lines with specific wording can reveal the reason for and the topic of your message.

Example: Picked for you: light wash jeans (Levis®)

4. Links – Avoid the phrases “click here” or “learn more” in favor of words that describe the purpose of the link. Adding a benefit can influence clicks.

Example: Read more about planting healthy petunias.

5. Overall – When you write for accessibility, consider the entire language and structure of your piece. Is the wording clear and easy to understand, free of jargon and slang? If someone can’t see colors, images, or video, is the message still clear? Can someone skim the document and absorb everything?

Depending on their settings, some screen readers might not interpret punctuation correctly. For clearer sentences, punctuate properly. An “Oxford” or “serial” comma distinguishes items in a series (example: grapes, apples, and bananas).

Need help improving your content? A “makeover” can boost your engagement and help you get the right leads.

POLISH YOUR WRITING FOR BETTER RESULTS

How do you write for accessibility? Feel free to comment further below.

Quotes

“I do not care much about speaking in some jargon that perpetuates inaccessibility.” ~ Malebo Sephodi

“You might ‘know’ the person you’re writing to is not disabled. But you cannot guarantee your email will not be sent on to someone who is. Being inclusive from the start removes the risk.” ~ Elisabeth Ward

Published November 1, 2022

business communication, business writing, content, content ideas, writing advice, writing better

5 Best Practices for Repurposing Content for Business

1. Check your tags – When repurposing content, add hashtags to social media posts and vary the amount. More or fewer can influence the results. Tag people or companies who may be interested in your content or any you name in your post.

A woman sitting at a desk thinking while repurposing content.

2. Add images – A picture can stoke curiosity. Nielsen Norman Group studies indicate online photos should be informative. People tend to ignore decorative pictures and favor those with real people. Also, some social posts perform better with or without photos. Experiment.

3. Track links – Generally, those at the top of an article or newsletter, where people tend to look first, may perform better than ones in the middle or at the end. Also, it depends on the platform. LinkedIn posts with offsite links might not see as much exposure, so links in the body of a post there can get fewer impressions than those in a comment.

4. Test your headlines – If you resend an e-newsletter or recycle a post, try another headline. If possible, include an emoji. For blog posts, which are sometimes optimized for search engines, research keywords people search for and questions people ask to tweak your headline and help increase your visits or impressions.

5. Edit – Rewriting your content to improve it can increase the odds people will read it. A social media algorithm may prefer a well-written post over one with errors. Editing especially helps blog posts, which can benefit from more precise keywords and to follow Google algorithm trends, in-depth, research-based text.

Need help reposting or repurposing content? A content repurposing service can make over your business content to improve the results and help you gain the right leads.

BOOST YOUR ENGAGEMENT

How do you repurpose your content? Feel free to comment further below.

Quotes

“Rather than waste or eliminate items which you don’t currently use, discover a new way to improve and enjoy their value.” ~ Susan C. Young

“Content repurposing is about getting the maximum return from every single piece of content you create. Content repurposing can take many forms, and there are lots of different and creative ways you can repurpose your content, but every content creator must repurpose.” ~ Amy Woods

subheadings, titles, writing, writing advice, writing better, writing well, writing with clarity

5 Ways to Hook Readers With Your Subheadings

1. Move from the general to the specific. As one whiskey maker put it, “Don’t be vague — ask for Haig.”

Example: Scenarios for Changing Trusts
Revised: How to Divide Trust Assets Fairly

Another way to clarify your subheadings (and improve SEO) is to use questions people ask from Google’s Instant or Answer box or Answer the Public.

Example: When Should You Decant a Trust?

Several subheadings in a long article can form a table of contents.

2. Keep count – In a study of 100 million article headlines by digital marketing experts BuzzSumo, the top two most engaging headlines began with a number.

Example: 7 Ways NOT to Win an Argument

Numbers in headings can also help your SEO. For instance, many top-ranked pages have numbers in the titles and subheadings. They’re timeless attention-getters in ads and on magazine covers.

3. Add benefits – Think of subheadings as part of the content that helps promote your piece throughout. Feature a different benefit in each subsection.

Example: Sharpening Your Subheads to Build Engagement

4. Get active – Through action verbs and persuasive wording, subheads can lead into a call-to-action.

Example: “Listen to music ad-free and offline, free until December 6, 2022. Cancel anytime.” (Spotify)

5. Use moderation – Explain, but not too much. Leave some mystery with simplicity.

Example: How Sears Keeps its Promise

Interested in repurposing or re-posting your existing content? Consider a makeover to help increase impressions.

BOOST YOUR ENGAGEMENT

How have you used subheadings effectively? Feel free to comment further below.

Quotes

“Subheadings are like signposts for your readers.” ~ Cinden Lester

“Write subheads that reveal, rather than conceal, your contents.” ~ Ann Wylie, Wylie Communications

Comments? Suggestions? Need help with your communications? Contact me.

business communication, business newsletters, business writing, newsletter advice, newsletter tips, newsletter writing

5 Ways to Improve Your Business E-Newsletter Headlines

1. Test some emojis in e-newsletter headlines – Depending on your audience and the context, one per subject line is fine to help your readers understand the content. They’re more common in business-to-consumer than business-to-business newsletters. Certain companies and industries, such as the legal field, which have strict advertising guidelines, may frown ☹️ upon them.

2. Stay error-free – Don’t make typos — not even intentionally. Some marketers make mistakes (or pretend to) to give them an excuse to send an update later. As I’ve discovered through trial and error, a correction email often gets more opens than the original. But it’s better to be honest.

3. Write it well – As SaaS content writer Masooma Memon suggests, “Keep subject lines short, clear, and simple.” She also advises that power words, such as “insider” and “secret” can entice clicks.

4. Keep to one subject (per line) – Describing more than one topic in an email headline doesn’t always work when attention spans tend to be short. If you have more to say, save it for the preview text, where you can expand on the meaning if it makes sense to do so.

Example:

Subject: See How Knowledge College Can Secure Your Future at Our Open House
Preview text: And get the secret recipe for career success.

5. Avoid click-bait – For example, if you’re promoting a breakfast seminar, it’s better to describe the subject of the talk rather than writing, “Bacon, Bacon, and More Bacon!”. When readers discover the true nature of the email, they can feel like you’ve conned them, and you may lose credibility with them.

Based on a #ContentChat hosted by Erika Heald.

Does your e-newsletter fail to get clicks? Find out what you should tweak to help your content connect with readers and gain the right leads.

GET A FREE E-NEWS AUDIT

What are some other ways to polish your e-newsletter headlines? Feel free to comment further below.

Quotes

“When it comes to email marketing, the best subject lines tell what’s inside, and the worst subject lines sell what’s inside.” ~ MailChimp

“A subject line is like a newspaper headline, a title on a book’s spine, or the key slogan of a print media ad. It tells the user that this is all about. And it should do so in sparkling style — seamlessly channeling your brand.” ~ Win Goodbody, Senior Product Manager, Sitka Technology Group