Here are ten quick tips to improve your writing:

Write conversationally. Imagine that you are talking to one person in your audience, and write to that person.

Avoid jargon. If you must use technical terms and jargon, explain it. Don’t make your readers feel stupid if they don’t understand something.

Vary sentence length. Short sentences are easy to read and comprehend, but using only short sentences can make your writing choppy.

Include just one main idea in a paragraph. Readers will be able to follow and understand better.

Use subheads and bullet points. Subheads and bullets make copy easier to read and help to reinforce main points.

Use an introduction, body and conclusion. Start by introducing your topic, deliver the meat, then summarize and wrap it up.

Give examples. Examples help your reader understand the point(s) you’re trying to make in your content. They can also help personalize the content and make it more accessible.

Keep it simple. I used to work with someone who loved to use long words in his business letters. There were at least two problems with that: He was often writing to people with very little education, and they didn’t understand what he was saying. And sometimes, he didn’t know what he was saying—he did not always use the words correctly. ;o) Use simple, easy to understand words.

Avoid inappropriate emphasis. Bold, italics and exclamation points are often used to emphasize certain words or phrases. Use them sparingly for the greatest effect. After all, when everything is emphasized, nothing is emphasized.

Smile when you write. Your mood affects your writing. Sit up straight and smile while you write. It will show in your work.

These ten tips are easy to implement and will make your writing flow more easily and be better received by your audience.

WHAT IT MEANS: In business, you’ve always got to know whom you’re talking to, and then use the right level of industry jargon. Not too much…not too little. When speaking to industry outsiders, make sure you’re not talking over their heads. If you edit your written and spoken communications, you will have a better chance of establishing and maintaining a strong relationship.

ACTION PLAN: Use analogies or plain English translations. People often understand complex messages if they are wrapped in analogies; the more universal the analogy, the better. Relating a concept to a trip to the grocery store, the car dealership, or a lemonade stand may seem simplistic, but these are activities that everyone has experienced.

EVEN BETTER: Pay careful attention to nonverbal cues as they will give you clues on what’s difficult to grasp and requires more explanation. If your speech patterns are sprinkled with technical words without any corresponding explanation, chances are your listener’s eyes will eventually glaze over. Adjust the level of industry language that you are using, both to make it easier to understand and to prompt questions when necessary.

Reprinted from “Rick Frishman’s Wednesday Tips”
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Customers may or may not read your entire letter, but if they read anything it will be the P.S. Not an afterthought, the P.S. is so important it had to be added to an already complete letter. It certainly must be read! Or, maybe we have just been trained that the “good stuff” comes in the P.S.

Whatever the reason, research shows that your prospects will read the P.S. in your letter or email–so make it count. Put your call to action and your best offer there. Make it urgent–include a deadline. Then, watch the results pour in!

Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any. - Orson Scott Card

Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats. – Howard Aiken

If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word. – Margaret Atwood

Nighttime is really the best time to work. All the ideas are there to be yours because everyone else is asleep. -  Catherine O’Hara

Don’t get it right, just get it written. – James Thurber

If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow. – Louis L’Amour

The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair. – Mary Heaton Vorse

Lower your standards and keep writing. – William Stafford

I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately I am inspired at 9 o’clock every morning. – William Faulkner

Do you have a favorite quotation that motivates or inspires you to write?

When I was in Las Vegas for the Affiliate Summit, I was interviewed by EzineArticles.com CEO Chris Knight. Chris got me to reveal some of my top tips for coming up with article ideas, doing keyword research, creating lots of content, crafting titles that attract readers, repurposing content and more.

If you are a blogger, an article marketer, or anyone who creates and markets with content, you will want to check this out. You will find plenty of ideas to help you get more and better results from your articles.

And if you are not currently publishing articles on EzineArticles.com, sign up for a free author account and get started now. I get traffic to my websites every day from articles I published there. Even articles I published years ago are still delivering visitors to my websites today.

An enhanced audio of the interview is above. Click on the picture to play. You can download the interview in audio or video format, or a PDF summary of the points covered, at http://blog.ezinearticles.com/2010/01/cathy-stucker-interview.html

Watch discussions on forums, blogs, and social networking sites to see what people are talking about. What common questions or comments do people have and how can you turn that into an article your readers can use?

Check your stats. Which past email newsletter issues have the highest open rates? What pages on your website get the most traffic? Which blog posts have the most comments? Do your most popular articles have anything in common? You may discover that your audience responds to some topics more than others, or that they like list articles, product reviews or other types of content best.

Jump in to a controversy. No matter what industry or audience you write for, there is always some sort of controversy brewing. Take sides in the controversy and continue the conversation on your blog to get readers involved and commenting. Or just lay out both sides of a controversial issue so readers can decide where they stand. You report, they decide. ;o)

Use lists. People love lists. They are easy to read and comprehend, and can be a valuable resource readers will save for reference.

Review products or services. Reviews give your readers information about products or services they may need. You can help direct them to a good buy, and if you’re an affiliate of the product or services you’re reviewing, you may be able to make a commission on any sales that result. Always be honest in your reviews (never recommend something only in the hopes of earning commissions) and disclose that you are using an affiliate link.

Ask your subscribers what they want to read about. Ask them for questions, what they want to learn and how you can help them. Do a survey, add a question-submission form to your website, or just watch for questions in your email. I sometimes use a question and answer format, where I publish the question a reader asked, followed by my answer. Get permission before using a reader’s name or other identifiable information.

Interesting and unique content doesn’t have to be hard to create. Just look around. What does your audience care about? How can you better help them solve their problems and reach their goals? Give them content they can use and they will be loyal readers for a very long time.

What do I mean by ‘evergreen content’? Evergreen content does not go out of date and does not change. If you write about breaking news or the hottest new technology, those posts may be very popular for a while, but they will soon become dated. On the other hand, if you write about how to knit or you compile historical or reference information, it will not go out of date. Anything that does not change substantially over time could be considered evergreen.

You may wish to include a mix of timely and evergreen posts on your blog. Having timely posts can bring traffic when you write about a hot new topic, but including a number of evergreen posts will bring visitors for years to come. When I look at my web site stats, I find that some of the most-visited pages are articles I wrote and published years ago.

Even though evergreen content stays ‘fresh’ for many years, it may be seasonal. Consider the example of a gardening blog. The topic of gardening is evergreen. Plants have been growing pretty much the same way for a long time now, and they will continue to do so. However, the topics that bring the most search traffic to your site and the pages that get the most views will depend on the season. Gardeners are thinking about different things in the spring than they are in the fall, and your traffic patterns will reflect that.

You can add evergreen posts to your blog by writing about tips, how-to and other advice that remains constant. Essays and opinion pieces are often evergreen, too.

Keep your content evergreen by making updates when appropriate. For example, if you link to specific vendors or other resources, those pages may disappear from the Internet over time. Check for broken links and repair, replace or remove them to make sure your posts are still useful. You may be able to do this with the software you use to create your web site, or you can use one of the free link checkers available online. Just search for ‘check for broken links’ and you will find several options.

That last example is another way to keep your content evergreen: Instead of giving a link to a specific page or resource, suggest how readers can find a current resource themselves. That way, if the resource you were going to suggest goes away, or a better one comes along, readers will not be left with broken links and no resources. (You would be surprised how many people do not know how to properly search for things. Giving them search terms helps.)

Another way to keep your blog evergreen is to do away with dates on your blog posts. This may be a little controversial in some quarters; however, why draw attention to the fact a post is months (or even years) old? This may be especially important if you reach a point where you are not updating your blog as frequently as you once did. Someone may arrive at your home page, see that the most recent post was three months ago, and leave without discovering all of the useful content available.

Making your blog content relevant for years to come will make your blog more useful to visitors and more profitable for you.

Is there such as thing as “writer’s block”? Anyone who has ever struggled to write something, finding that the words will not come, would say that there is. However, professional writers can not afford to have writer’s block. When they have deadlines, they have to write. They have to finish what they are writing. And they have to hand it over to an editor.

I wrote a newspaper column for more than three years. I had to turn in my 500 words every week, even if I didn’t know what I should write about, or just didn’t feel like writing. There is nothing like a deadline to get your thinking focused and your fingers flying across the keyboard.

When you have to write, you will write. So what is this thing we call “writer’s block”?

Often, someone who says they have writer’s block is afraid to write. They may believe that they are not good enough, or that others will judge their work (and thus judge them) harshly.

Somewhere along the line, they may have gotten the idea that writing is magical, and that real writers only create when they are inspired. Hah! Writing is work, and like any work you just sit down and do it.

Clearly the magical part is wrong, but could they be right when they think they are not very good at writing? Yes, they may not be good writers at all. They may be lousy. But do you know how someone becomes a better writer? They write. They get feedback on their writing. They study the things they are not very good at. That might mean taking a class in grammar, or learning how to structure an article, or discovering the finer points of a personal style.

A blog is great practice for someone struggling with writer’s block. If this is you, set up a “fun” blog. This is not your business blog, and it is not deadly serious. It gives you a place to write. You will not have to worry about whether or not it is good, because at first you will have no readers. Your audience and your skills will grow with time, and you will start getting great feedback from your readers that will help you to improve even more.

Here is how you can use a blog to overcome writer’s block:

Set up a blog. Do it now. Go to http://www.WordPress.com/ and set up a free account. You can have a blog up and running in five minutes. This is not what I would recommend for a blog that is an important part of your business, but this is a throwdown blog. You do not even have to use your real name on the blog. Fast and free works.

Establish a goal. How often will you post to your blog? Every day is a good goal, but cut yourself a little slack. Make it your goal to post five times a week. Or three. Set a goal that will be a stretch, but one that you can achieve.

Build a cheat file. I keep a list of blog post titles and ideas. When I need something to write about, I dig into the list and write a post about one of the ideas on the list. Make a list of things you could write about: What are your favorite things? What has you ticked off today? What did you do today? What are your strongest memories?

Schedule a time to write. Put an appointment on your calendar to spend 30 minutes writing on the days when you have a blog post “deadline.” Even though you do not have an editor standing over you waiting for the post, take the deadline just as seriously as if you did.

Write. During your scheduled writing time, just write. Do not organize your desk drawer or balance your checkbook or answer the phone. Just write.  One exercise that works is to commit to writing for five minutes without stopping. If you do not know what to write, just keep writing, “I do not know what to write,” over and over. You will get tired of that soon enough, and will put together words that mean something.

Stop. Not being able to start writing is one form of writer’s block. The other is not knowing when to stop. Finish your draft, then put it aside for a while (a few hours or a day or two). Come back and do one edit, then publish it. Do not keep polishing and changing your work.  If you are writing the Great American Novel, multiple edits are in order. Not for a blog post. Write it and publish it.

Keep at it. Keep posting to your throwdown blog for as long as you need the practice in building your writing muscles. Soon, you will be able to write whenever you need to and you can let the blog go. Of course, you may decide to keep the blog because you are having fun with it. That’s good, too. The important thing is that you are now a professional writer, one who does not get writer’s block.

And for those of you who think that you have writer’s block because you can’t think of anything to write about: Look at these writing prompts. Then start writing. No excuses.