Is writing an art?
Or a skill?
Can anyone learn how to write well?
For most of my life, I thought writing was an art. Something special. For talented people only.
Aren’t all writers talented geniuses? They lead amazing lives. They’re interesting people. And they are born with this wonderful skill to capture our attention with their stories. That’s what I thought.
And me?
I thought I was boring. I’ve never seen myself as a writer. I’ve never had a secret wish to publish a book. I don’t keep a diary.
Perhaps I could write a business letter or email. But anything else seemed impossible.
But a few years ago, I realized the importance of content in today’s marketing; and I knew I had to learn how to write. I had to learn how to touch, tickle, and dazzle readers. I had to learn to be engaging, interesting, and persuasive. Using words only.
I devoured a pile of copywriting books.
I studied how my hero bloggers were writing. How do they grab my attention? Why do I keep reading on? Why do I feel inspired?
And I analyzed the sales copy of brands I admire. Why is their content persuasive? Why doesn’t it sound sleazy?
I quickly get overwhelmed. And at times, it seemed impossible to learn how to write well. My only way to cope was getting organized. I broke the writing process down. I wrote checklists. Even editing became a series of specific tasks I would focus on one by one—like eliminating redundant words or adding sensory words.
Slowly, I distilled the critical components of good business writing.
Master these components, and anyone can engage, persuade, and inspire their readers. Want to know what they are?
1. Good business writing starts with empathy
Good writing starts with listening to your readers.
If you don’t know your reader’s struggles, how can you help him? If you don’t know what stops him from following your advice, how can you inspire him? If you don’t know what’s bothering him, how can you persuade him to buy your products?
A good business writer is a mentor, an adviser, a coach, a teacher.
Whether you sell designer mugs or offer a time-saving app, whether you’re a website designer or a copywriter, we all take readers by the hand. We share our expertise. We offer buying advice. We inspire people and encourage them to improve their lives.
To write good content, we have to anticipate what our readers think. We have to anticipate the questions they want to ask. We have to help them, comfort them, touch them, energize them, and nudge them to take action.
The biggest mistake I see business writers make is that they forget who they’re writing for. They forget to explain what fancy features mean for their customers. They simply share their knowledge without wondering whether their readers and clients are interested.
As Ann Handley suggests, good writers have a pathological interest in their readers.
Empathy requires discipline. Whenever you write, think about your reader. What would he like to ask you? Why does he hesitate to buy from you or follow your advice? How can you make him chuckle and feel closer to you?
2. Good business writing requires clarity of thought
Sometimes I think I know what I want to say.
But I don’t know how to say it.
I curse my lack of language skills. Why can’t I find the right words?
But the problem is usually not in selecting the right words. Using a thesaurus or dictionary can easily solve that.
The issue at stake is my thinking. I’m not clear on what I want to say. I have to peel away distracting layers of thought to uncover the essence of my message.
I have to simplify my thoughts.
What is my big idea? How can I explain it? How can I simplify it?
Writing can help clarify our thoughts and deepen our understanding. A first draft can be messy with too many trains of thought. When we edit, we notice the points remaining unclear. We must untangle our thinking and uncover our ideas.
To communicate your message and inspire your readers, ruthlessly simplify your writing:
- Write down how your content transforms your readers in one sentence—how do you make them feel? How will your tips change their lives?
- Print out your draft content, read it slowly, and for each section, write down the essence of the idea you’re communicating.
- Review your flow—do your ideas follow each other logically? Have you missed any key steps? Have you substantiated your claims and ideas strongly?
Empathy for your reader and clarity of thought are a superhero duo. Together they’re Batman and Robin. They’re Bert and Ernie. They’re ham and cheese.
When you know exactly what you want to tell your readers, and when you understand how to entice him, cajole him, and get him to spring into action, then your persuasive powers soar. You become engaging and seductive.
3. Good writing harnesses the power of words
Choosing words seems simple.
All day long we choose words … when we chat with a neighbor about the weather, when we call our wine merchant to complain about the corked wine, when we tell our husbands to please wash the dishes before going to bed.
When we talk, choosing our words is relatively easy. We get immediate feedback whether we’re understood or not. We can raise our voice. We can scream, sigh, cry or whisper to add emotion to our words.
But when we write we have to be more precise. Our words have to express both emotion and meaning. And you have to get this right first time.
Imagine you’ve been to a presentation. You’ve sat in the audience for 45 minutes, and you’re none the wiser. You want to email me to say how crappy that presentation was. What would you write?
- The presentation was bad.
- The presentation was boring.
- The presenter’s voice was so monotonous, I nearly fell asleep.
- The presenter was rambling on without saying anything. He wasted my time.
- The slides were crammed with so many bullet points, I couldn’t figure out the essence of his story.
Option 1 doesn’t tell me much. Option 2 is a little clearer. But options 3, 4 and 5 paint a more vivid picture. I instantly understand what was wrong with the presentation.
Words like good, bad, or nice are imprecise. They don’t allow readers to feel or visualize your thoughts. And they lack emotion.
To edit your content, you need to pick exactly the right words to communicate your thoughts.
4. Good writing has a dynamic rhythm
Writing is like music.
You have short and long silences. A full stop is a quick pause. A white line is a longer silence.
Long sentences whisper in your ear like a lullaby, while short sentences wake you up. Like percussion. Bang!
Try reading the paragraph above aloud. Do you hear the silences? Do you notice how your voice changes when reading a short or long sentence?
Now compare it to this:
Like a presenter’s monotone voice, your writing can be bland, too. When each sentence and each paragraph has the same length, your writing becomes boring. But by varying sentence length, you add interest and energy, and you make your content come alive.
Not so energetic, huh?
Good content mixes short and long paragraphs, short and long sentences. When your reader’s mind wanders off, re-engage him with a question. And use soundbites to summarize key thoughts.
Like music or conversation, good writing ebbs and flows.
5. Good business writing oozes personality
Can a robot write compelling content?
Of course not.
Writing requires a dollop of creativity, a dash of personality, a touch of YOU.
But what if you’re not creative? What if you don’t have personality? What if you’re boring?
At school, I considered myself one of the most boring people in my class. At work, I found entertaining customers hard work. I was always afraid I would have nothing to contribute to the conversation.
But here I am.
Writing a blog week in week out. Writing for popular blogs like Copyblogger, Unbounce, and Boost Blog Traffic.
Deep down, I still think that I’m boring. That this blog is a smart facade masking my true, boring self.
But I do know this:
We’re all creative. We’re all artists. We’re all writers.
Creativity doesn’t require an artistic talent.
Everyone can come up with fresh ideas, dream up new metaphors, and captivate readers with mini-stories. Try these 3 creative writing exercises for business writers to embrace your creativity.
Believe in yourself
We’re often told that we need talent to write, to draw, to make art.
But nothing is further from the truth.
Our brains have an amazing ability to learn new skills.
So get to work.
Study one piece of content every day.
Write every day.
Because we want to hear YOUR voice.
Special thanks to Sophie Sun, who inspired this post.
Recommended reading for business writers
How to eliminate gobbledygook
How to improve your business writing skills
11 tips for writing persuasive copy
This is exactly where I think I’m going wrong, my content is poor to say the least?
I need to take a deep look at the site and improve it tremendously.
Thanks for the tips Henneke,
Aires
You’re welcome. Happy writing!
I definitely agree with you that great writing begins with having empathy for your readers. If you skip this step, how do you even begin writing? Find out what your readers want, and then give them the best quality out there.
Yep, so true. But it’s easy to fall into the trap of writing what you know. I’ve done it a few times. Sometimes it’s hard to stay disciplined and stay focused on your readers.
Hi Henneke,
Awesome post.
Good writing does start with empathy. And what you said about anticipating what our readers think is spot on.
That’s what many bloggers, business writers, make the mistake on. They don’t know who they’re writing for and what they want to help them with. And what usually ends up happening, is that they write content that doesn’t connect with the readers at all.
A good clarity of thought is also important and an excellent point to touch on. That’s why it’s always important to never publish the first draft. That’s why editing is important.
Question.
How far in advance would you suggest to have the first draft ready so you can begin the editing process?
For example, say my publishing schedule is Monday. How far in advance should I have my first draft ready so I can begin proper editing?
Excellent post here Henneke and I don’t think you’re boring at all. You’re one of my top 5 favorite bloggers and I’ve learned so much from you. Never stop being you.
– Andrew
Oh wow, I’m honored to be in your top 5 😀
Two years ago, I would often leave a draft for one week before editing it (and in some cases, I’d leave it another week before editing it again). I now try to have 24 hours in between writing a draft post and editing it so it’s ready for publication. I think practice makes editing a lot easier and quicker.
I wouldn’t like to leave it less than a day. I need to create a little distance so I’m able to see whether I need to delete my favorite sentences. When the copy is too “fresh”, I can’t see this.
It was me—I didn’t express the question clearly. Many small businesses struggle with what they think is a need to “sound big”. Sometimes it is a problem. Can one guy successfully remodel your house? Maybe.
But I think I answered the question when I said “it sounds more honest”. Might as well be yourself. Eh? I do reach out to other people and hire them for projects where their specialty would be of benefit. So, that should be said. Thanks for your input….Chris
PS—I love your drawings. You might consider selling some art!
This is especially true for businesses with a huge presence online! Whenever I see bad writing on websites I click the ‘X’ button right away and don’t even bother reading, no matter how attractive the product is. Good writing also means that the company takes it’s image seriously. Awful business writing is an insult to the customer.
Yep, so true. Good writing has a huge impact on the perception customers get from a company.
I love your juicy writing. Here’s a question that has me blocked. I have business of teaching presentation. My clients love my classes so I can say I’m good. Should my website be written in the first person? I have another website where I explain my service as a speaker. Obviously that works in first person. But should a service business write in first person? To me, that seems more honest but I wonder if people would question the depth of the abilities of one person. What do you think?
Chris
In blog posts, I would definitely prefer the first person, because it feels more like a natural conversation when you write about “you” and “me”. On other pages, it’s a personal preference. On my About page, for instance, I mix both third (she) and first (I) person when I refer to myself. I’ve written a little more about it in this post: https://www.enchantingmarketing.com/how-to-write-an-about-page/ (at the end of the post there’s a section “First or third person?”
Does that help?
It helps focus on the important thing—the enchantment. Few people read about pages. Of 100 site visits, on 3 went to that page. They mostly go to the product of interest—which goes back again to the adage that they don’t care about me, they care about solving their problem.
Can 1 person do that? That’s the central question. I have decided to go with the first person—except as you mentioned. The question was more to the third person singular or plural. Many small businesses struggle with this. “We help people with the same problem every day.” or “I help people with the same same problem every day.”
Ah, sorry, I didn’t understand your question. If you’re a one-person business, then I’d go for singular because it sounds more natural.
I started with first person plural on my site, but it didn’t sound right. I mistakenly thought I had to sound like I was an agency rather than a one-woman business. But people hire me, because they like what I have to say. Also, when a reader pays attention, then he’ll sense that “we” refers to only one person.
Love how writers should have a pathological interest in their readers. I guess that’s what its all about. We want to believe our blog is about us, but its really about them. Thanks for the reminder.
Yep, indeed. It’s a two-way conversation 🙂
Great post Henneke,
#2 struck home with me. I notice that I often have ideas for a post and I write a draft. Then when editing I struggle and think the post is garbage. Then I see that my ideas aren’t clear and I have to take a few steps back.
Thanks for making a complex process seem accessible,
jesisca
Yes, I’ve had that often, too – that I think a post is garbage. Usually there’s a gem buried somewhere in the post. We just have to find it and give it the attention it deserves.
I’ve found that it becomes easier over time. Perhaps writing regularly makes us better thinkers?
Hi Henneke,
Loved this article, which is maybe on the couching field rather than marketing? I very much agree on what you said about blocking time to think, and to enjoy. When we write, we reflect our mood in our words, and being happy is part of writing good articles in my opinion.
I really liked how you encourage us in this article to do great things and be creative. Different (and nice) touch on your blog- impressed.
Cheers,
Virginia
Yes, I agree with you – our mood reflects in our words.
Sometimes I find it hard to take the time to think. Either because it doesn’t feel productive. Or because I can’t slow down enough to think clearly. Our always-on society doesn’t make it easy to make time to reflect.
Oh, and it’s so nice to you have your comment system set up to let us share our more recent post! 🙂
Yeah, but you’re not meant to post multiple comments just so you can get two links! 🙂
Deep down you think you’re boring? Well, I won’t try to disabuse you of that as we all have certain notions about ourselves that we’re trying to overcome. But you have soooooo managed to convince us otherwise.
Haha! That’s the shiny facade… wait till you meet me in person 😉
That would be great fun. Coming to the U.S. any time soon?
I’ll be going to the Copyblogger conference in Denver in May.
I thought for a bit about going, but decided not. Have a great time!
Fab post as always Henneke, you’re such a blogging goddess, not boring at all! 🙂
Thank you so much, Mel. I appreciate your support 🙂
Awesome tips as usual Henneke 🙂 I particularly love the ham and cheese combination. Without knowing and understanding readers’ problems it would be impossible to write for them.
And, when one lacks clarity in thinking it becomes challenging to express one’s thoughts. This causes boring content being created 🙂
It is surprising to know that you used to think yourself to be boring! Wow, if a boring you could transform into this great writer, yes writing is a skill that can be learned, developed and mastered 🙂
Cheers,
Jane.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Jane.
Yep, empathy and clarity of thought are the basis. When you master those two, then you’re nearly there – only a little cleaning, polishing, and painting left to make your content shimmer and shine. Well, that’s how I see it and it seems to work. 🙂
“A good business writer is a mentor, an adviser, a coach, a teacher.”
Thank you for this great reminder, Henneke!
You’re most welcome, Anca 🙂
Good to see you again!
Thanks Henneke!
Henneke, as always, great post!
I think your system of writing is amazing to produce great content.
Dividing the work to small tasks and understanding when to do each helps materialize your ideas to something that is pleasure to read.
And editing is the secret ingredient to enchanting your readers.
I like your suggestion of writing a first crappy draft, to put all your thoughts on paper.
And then edit it to make it exciting to read.
Thanks Henneke!
For me it’s just too complicated to try doing everything in one go!
When I started writing, I found it hard to accept that my first draft would be crappy. I wanted to be able to type the “perfect” words in one go. But that’s a sure-fire way to facing writer’s block!
Always a pleasure to see you here, Benny.
Henneke,
As a performer/composer, the comparison you drew between writing and music really resonated (pun intended) with me. I agree that writing can (and should) be like music, but sadly like music, things can sometimes go horribly wrong. Often I find in music and writing that being ever-so-slightly bad is more painful to read or hear than completely missing the mark… although I’m not quite sure why that might be. One thing’s for sure, you’ve got the “musical writing” thing down, my friend! I could read your stuff all day.
I loved the quote “good writers have a pathological interest in their readers.” I hadn’t heard that before, but I think it’s right on the money, especially when it comes to bloggers and business owners. The more we help the reader, the more they like us. The more they like us, the more we succeed.
Brilliant. As usual.
Brittany
Hi Brittany
Interesting point about things being ever-so-slightly bad. I think that might be true. Or perhaps it depends on what is going wrong. One false note (or one grammar mistake) doesn’t really matter so much to me as a listener / reader (although some readers might disagree). But consistently singing slightly out of tune or constantly writing too long sentences becomes exhausting for the listener / reader. Would you agree?
Thank you for your kind words!
Love the idea that anyone can become a competent writer (with study and practice). And your way of teasing out the different skills really makes that idea feasible.
Yes, I do believe that’s true – that anyone can become a competent writer. To become a novelist, we might need a special talent, but good business writing should be within anyone’s reach.
Good to see you here! 🙂
Hi – I’m glad you moderate the emails you post. I just posted one in reply to Sophie’s email and thought I was replying to her. I referred to her second sentence, but it is actually the third sentence that succinctly summarizes my feeling towards you and your writing. I wanted to convey thanks to Sophie for putting in to words what I couldn’t. Thanks for what you do Henneke. You do it very well.
Hi Joanne – yes, you replied to Sophie. She should have seen your comment.
Thank you both for your kind words 🙂
Thanks Henneke for another inspiring post.
I always open up your engaging emails as i know it is well worth my time reading them.
When i write, i love to use my imagination, it just seems to be a source on tap ready to dispense. However, i’m not so good as getting it down so captivating as your craft.
Your post today got me thinking about the rhythm & how to construct better sentences. It’s so true now i think about it.
I know i can always turn to your posts to give me a jolt in the right direction.
All the very best
Pete.
Yes, rhythm is important and many writers don’t realize this.
What I like to do is reading my content aloud, so I can hear the rhythm. I do this as a last editing round, and I always make some more changes.
Thank you for stopping by, Pete
Hi, Henneke.
I’ve read your blog posts for a while now. But I am new to the comments.
I just wanted to say that I appreciate your insight. It is exceptionally beneficial.
P.S. I cannot believe that you think of yourself as boring! You’re one of the brightest people I know. (Even though I’ve never met you personally. . . You get what I mean.) 🙂
Welcome, Anna. Nice to “meet” 🙂
And yep, it’s true. Being boring is one of my biggest fears. Thank you for your kind words!
Wow… I am so honored… All along, I have been wanting to give back to this blog even in small ways. I love your writing, it feels different, the warmth in your voice and the genuine care you have for your audience makes me keep coming back and never miss an article.
I am not a native English speaker, and I am a Chinese and work in China so the blogs I have been trying to write is in Chinese. But still, one of the most useful lessons I have got from you is the No. one key writing ingredient: Empathy- Write with the reader’s interest at heart. ( you are a living example of this).
Before I wrote like a teacher trying to teach students , my mind was concerned with making all the financial technical details right. But now I realize that the majority of the audience don’t want to know how to calculate EPS, or P/E ratios (some investment terms), what they want to know is why they have to know these. In other words, the benefits to them.
So, I can’t thank you enough for all the valuable advices I get from your blog for free. And I will continue to look out for other potential topics for you. Blogs like yours are so many on the internet, and you have the courage to believe in yourself and take the plunge in this red sea is an inspiration for me.
Happy drawing, writing and cycling!
Yes, the language on your blog may be different, but you’re still writing for human beings. I assume that the way we engage and inspire readers is quite similar across cultures. Did you know I once studied for a year in Chengdu in Sichuan?
I love your example – first explain why these ratios are important before telling your students how to calculate them. That’s spot on.
Thank you for stopping by again, Sophie. And yes, if you have other questions or topic ideas, please do let me know 🙂
What a lovely post. In your second sentence you so kindly and concisely expressed some feelings that I share about Henneke’s emails.
Hi Henneke,
Point #2 – Good Business Writing Requires Clarity of Thought – is the one I’ll tackle first. I have oodles of ideas vying for the spotlight. I’ll spend time prioritizing to get to my big idea. After I gain clarity, I’ll focus on your other writing guidelines.
Yes, that’s a great plan of action. The risk with having oodles of ideas is that we cram too many ideas into one post, so prioritizing is a good idea.
On the flipside, having many ideas is great, because you’ll never run out of blog post ideas 🙂
Thank you for stopping by, Amy. 🙂
LOVE your short, to the point, easy-going entertaining writing!! Reading your book now.
thank you, Thank You!
Hey Carmen, Nice to meet you 🙂
Hope you’re enjoying my book!
likewise! And YEP, I sure as HECK am.
Grats for giving lil ol’ me hope.
Hugs!
Outstanding article. Makes a ton of sense. Keep up the awesome work Henneke.
Thank you, D.H. 🙂
Love this topic but haven’t finished because I got distracted by a problem – in #2 the word “know” is missing.
Oops. Thank you for letting me know. Corrected 🙂
As a new writer, I can’t tell you how much your insights help me. My only complaint is there’s too much good stuff in each post. I can’t process it all and don’t want to lose one bit. Maybe I’ll tape your posts to my bathroom mirror?
For this morning, I will focus on sensory words.
Wait…today I will savor the morsel titled “use sensory words”
is that just awful? lol
No, I think that’s normal, not awful at all. And it’s a good tactic to decide to take away only one morsel and work with that first.
I appreciate your feedback – it’s not always easy to limit a post to just one tiny topic. But I’ll see what I can do!
Thank you, Beth.
I can definitely relate to number 2. Very familiar.
Sometimes it feels as if what I want to say is all there in my head and of course it’s going to be absolutely brilliant. But then I get stuck when I want to turn it into words. Or what does come out tastes rather bland.
That’s when I know I have to backtrack a couple of steps and do the basics. What is it exactly I’m trying to say? What’s the one central idea I want to convey? What’s my angle? And how am I going to break down my post?
Yes, exactly. Sometimes we have to think more and reflect more on what we’re trying to communicate before we can write.
In our busy-busy schedules, it’s hard to take the time to think. Staring out of a window and thinking doesn’t seem to qualify as productive time. But it is!
Hi Henneke,
I like how you’ve pointed out great business writing isn’t actually about you – it’s all about the readers and you being clear and creative but also yourself. Becoming good at writing is a lot of work, learning skills and applying them much like any other profession. Many great writers started as terrible writers but dedicated themselves to learning the craft.
P.S. Love the drawing.
Yes, you’re so right. Business writing isn’t about your business. It’s about your readers.
Thank you for stopping by, Amy. Glad you like the drawing 🙂
Great Stuff Henneke!!
Thank you, Liesje 🙂
I am so guilty of crappy content. But as long as I am improving my writing it will become less and less. I hope. Anyhow, your blog and ebooks are a great help. I love your clear, concrete and practical content. And this post is no exception. Thanks, Henneke. And I am jealous the sun’s shining over there ;-).
When the sun shines at this time of the year, I feel like celebrating 🙂 Last week it was foggy and grey all week …
Thank you for your kind words, Noël. Keep writing!
I like that you say empathy, and I think other emotions work as well. You can be passionate, engaged, horrified. The conversation among friends will have that intimacy of reaction.
Yep, so true. When we have a face-to-face conversation, empathy and emotion are more natural. They’re part of being human, right?
But somehow when we write, we often lose our humanness. It’s easy to forget we’re still having a conversation even if our readers seem invisible when we write.