Newsletter points to ponder

Photo courtesy of Mike Baird (2010)

A client has been thinking of introducing an e-newsletter, and no wonder. Web usability expert Jakob Nielsen calls email newsletters “the Internet’s best tool for supplementing a website.” Few promotional efforts can claim the degree of “customer buy-in” enjoyed by newsletters, Nielsen … [Read more...]

Make your messages a jargon-free zone

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Every industry has its jargon, and oh my, people love to use it. Jargon is the specialized or technical language of a trade, profession or group; kind of like a secret handshake. You're in if you know it, a clueless outsider if you don't. Two official definitions of jargon give you all the … [Read more...]

Do your words include everyone?

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The search for an alternate way to say “man hours” and “manhole covers” for an employee newsletter article (how about “work hours” and “sewer covers”?) got me looking at the whole issue of gender neutral (or gender fair) language. Some people scoff at even calling it an issue, but I … [Read more...]