Essay Online

The new Blogger Beta is a great free tool for an amateur or aspiring writer. Because it uses your Google account to maintain a login it is conveniently available whenever you are online. Generally, I usually write short articles, but the methodology I’ve described below is also useful for larger works. Simply adjust my advice to apply to larger chunks of work such as chapters.

Create A Private Blog

It is very easy to create a private blog. After creating a new blog use the settings tab to access the blog’s permission details. Select the option that makes your new blog visible only to blog authors. Voila! You now have a private blog available only to yourself. You may now consider your entire blog a scratch pad for draft writings.

Use Labels To Track Relevant Details

When you start a new writing project, whether it is an article for submission to directories or another type of work, simply create one or more blog entries for that project. You can start simply by writing a single sentence describing what you intend to write about. Then, apply your labels. Personally I like to use Work In Progress (WIP) as a label so that I can view all work in progress at a single click. I also like to add project subject labels as well as various other categorizations.

This strategy allows me to quickly get a list of all my articles, all of my historic work on a certain subject matter, or all of my completed work - assuming I change the work in progress label to another suitable value upon publishing. The power of simple lists for organization and productivity cannot be overstated!

Write Draft Material And Edit Anytime With One Click

Of course you are now reading the published version of this article, but for quite a while it was residing in my private blog. I’d write some content, publish it for my own review, and then make changes as I saw fit. When the article was nearing completion I simply left it alone for a while, to get a fresh viewpoint, and then read the article again looking for errors and sections that could be improved.

How convenient! If I spot a mistake or think of an enhancement I simply click on the pencil icon and I’m in the editor fixing up my work. After making that one simple change I save my efforts and then continue on about my day. Personally, I like to pace, or otherwise keep busy, while I think and then put small amounts of time into making a change or addition when inspiration strikes. Generally, I think most creatively while I’m not writing.

When Complete Then Publish And Track

Obviously, when your work is finalized, you will publish it somewhere. You can simply open up the blogger editor and copy entire documents to any other location you like. At this point you should change the WIP label to something more appropriate instead. Once your article is published I would also suggest no longer making changes to it. Create a new project and copy the original document when starting a derivative effort.

After publication, use the comment feature to keep track of any issues that arise. You can also track the places that you’ve submitted the article for publication. This will help you avoid sending it to the same place more than once in the event you are later able to reuse the article. Also, add a comment if you use the article in some way as the basis for another piece of work. When adding comments be sure to link to the locations, sites or projects you are discussing.

Security And Backups

No computer system should be relied upon for any serious project without considering both security and data backup. While the odds are very good that Blogger will do a better job at protecting your data than you, on your own home computer, don’t rely on it completely. I would suggest either downloading or emailing yourself your own articles from time to time. Preferably to a location that is not also managed by Google.

With respect to security, you must realize that convenience and security are competing ideas. If you do not sign out, staying perpetually logged in, to maintain access to your blogger account, then anyone using your computer will be able to act as you and view or edit your work. If this is not appropriate then you must remember to sign out after each work session. Personally, my home computer is used only by myself, so I love the convenience of never having to log in.

Summary

Using Blogger as a free writing tool makes a lot of sense. You can quickly and easily view or edit an entire catalog of work from any Internet accessible computer. Your data is professionally managed and relatively secure. Flexible tagging features allow you to organize large and small projects with ease. Comments can be used to store project related issues and to track actions taken after project completion. In short, if you haven’t tried the new Blogger Beta yet then you are missing out.

Web content writing is said to be the most easy and relatively straight-forward thing one can ever do. But when you finally sit down for it then you realize how difficult it can be. Web content writing means writing quality yet unique content for the website so that ultimately it boosts the business and your website. But ironically web content writing is chiefly driven by seo and web design. To be more precise web design literally dictates that what font should be used, particular type of wording, perfect layout. This is just for the benefits of the visitors so that they never feel uncomfortable or disappointed while surfing your site. Same happens in the seo as they want the content which is search engine keyword friendly. Thus, in short web content writers have to listen what seos and web designers have to say.

To be honest web content writing is not as easy task and involves a careful process. And this careful process is basically dependent upon the right information, the right style, and the right keywords. All these measure are taken just to attract more visitors, easy for search engines to index, assuring that you achieve a good ranking and are easier for web users to find. Thus, it won’t be wrong to say that web content writing is an art and skill which is to tackle with full ease. Else you will end up loosing your visitors and customers. The sure shot mantra to web content writing is that each and every word should be focused on the reader or visitor. The content should be very engrossing and crisp so that visitor is bound and attracted to read it till the end. As longer the visitor sticks around your website, the better your chance of getting your message across. And in return you’ll achieve your goal for which you actually strived for.

Keywording is the nucleus of any web content writing. It should be done in keeping the needs of seos and web designers. Both have their different needs and requirements and should be catered properly so that none of them suffers. As far as seo point of view goes keyword placing is the most important task involved in it. And for web designers there are certain rules which should be kept in mind. Those rules are as follows:

1- Always use 10 or 12 font size as this font size is best for readability.

2- As far as size goes always use Verdana, Arial, Palatino Linotype, and Helvetica. Reason being all of them are very clear, and well spaced.

3- Avoid the usage of any other color in web content writing. At times it looks very jarring for the eyes and makes it difficult to read.

4- Always use black text on white background as it is pleasant for eyes and also it’s the standard rule.

Thus, try to keep all these mentioned points in mind while doing web content writing and see your online business flourish.

In this day and age competition is fierce for a limited number of desirable positions in the professional world. The only hope that many job seekers have, no matter how qualified they may be for the position, is to create a cover letter that turns up the “wow” factor and impresses hiring managers as something a little above and beyond the others.

If you are wondering whether or not you should write your own resume cover letter the answer is a resounding “yes.” There are many reasons you should write your own cover letter not the least of which is the fact that no one knows your qualifications any better than you. Feel free to take suggestions and research the proper methods of doing so but do not fall into the trap of using a form cover letter for your resume that was written as a one-size-fits-all sort of cover letter or having a cover letter written just for you by someone else. The voice will not transfer well to the interview and you want perspective employers to resonate with you rather than someone else who filled in the blanks on your behalf.

Your cover letter is your first chance for a first impression with potential employers. It is the opportunity to highlight the skills and talents you can bring to the table or, more to the point, how you can help them rather than how they can help you. It is also the perfect opportunity for you to give them a small taste of your personality in action. Personalities are the ones that show up to the office day in and day out. Your personality is going to have a greater impact on your ability to fit in well with a particular corporate climate than your skills (unless you are grossly incompetent or some sort of prodigy). Use your cover letter to let a little bit of your personality shine through. This will make it a little more interesting than the boring “just the facts ma’am” approach that so many job applicants use when creating a resume. While it may have worked in Dragnet it isn’t quite as likely to work in the corporate climate of today.

Cover letters are becoming popular because they are more personality influenced (or they can be) than traditional resumes and they allow a good feel for the person on the other end of the paper without reading quite as many stale facts and figures as you will typically find in a resume. Many hiring mangers simply find a cover letter much more appealing than they find reading resumes and they can often skim cover letters initially and review those that they found compelling a little more closely.

Ultimately a cover letter is one of, if not the most powerful tools in your job application arsenal. An artfully written cover letter that remains positive, professional, and personable is much more likely to achieve the desired results than a resume that has been professionally prepared in hopes of gaining a foot in the door and that is no small accomplishment. The problem for most is that professional cover letter services cannot provide that personal touch that can only come with you. As I mentioned above no one knows the contribution you can offer by way of skills and personality better than you. This makes you your best advocate in the process of creating a killer cover letter for your resume.

Make sure that your passion for the position shines through when writing your resume. If you have a sincere passion for the work you do or the work you are hoping to do your words are the best in the world to get that message across. A passion for the job, product, or service is one of the greatest things you can bring to a company and hiring managers are well aware of this fact. If you write your own cover letter you can explain your passion, it might make the difference between being invited back for an interview or not and every positive edge you can find is an edge worth exploiting in today’s competitive business climate. Most importantly, try to have fun writing your cover letter yourself. You may discover a hidden talent.

Life is impossible without difficulties. The moment we are born to this world, life gives us trials every day. Some of us overcome their ups and downs without sticking on them. Others tend to experience difficulties more often, in their lives run of bad luck lasts for a rather long time. It would be logical to ask why? Who divides people into successful and unsuccessful? Probably they do it themselves. The people take negative life circumstances quite differently. “Losers “regard them as defeats, whereas “winners” perceive them as some valuable life lesson to enrich their life experience. The main rule of “winners “is the thesis: “there are no defeats, but there is a feedback”. Such life approach allows them to acquire severe life lessons more easily and advance to their aim.

If a new dissatisfying situation arises, people act differently depending on their common behaviour strategy. Let’s see how people of these two categories react to difficulties. The loser’s strategy. “Something is wrong again…” When he does not attain the desirable result the loser experiences strong emotional discomfort that prevents him to evaluate the situation objectively. He transforms this negative experience onto other situations in his life. The winner’s strategy. What is the result? A person tries to separate this situation from the rest and give an objective analysis of facts. The loser’s strategy. Who is to blame? A person searches for the guilty. In most cases he blames the circumstances, more rarely people and almost never himself. The winner’s strategy. What have I learnt? A person is trying to find positive things in the situation. If you are given a lemon instead of apple &ndash make lemonade. The loser’s strategy. Why did it happen? (Fixing on the past). All the thoughts are concentrated on the negative experience. The winner’s strategy. How do I want to use it? (Fixing on the future). A winner has a dream. That is why he reflects how this experience can contribute in approaching his aim. The loser’s strategy. Limiting his future. “I will never swallow the same bate“. The winner’s strategy. New opportunities. How can I act more effectively in the future?

As you see from the above examples the winner has a positive outlook and he is learning every day he lives. A winner is not a person who never loses. More likely a winner is someone who takes lessons from his mistakes and every day does something to approach his dream.

In article anatomy I like to teach that there are several key components. Of course these can be stretched varied and thrown out altogether, but not until you’re an expert at writing content-rich articles. One key component of a clear article is, of course, the lead paragraph. Second in importance only to the headline itself, the lead graf (paragraph for short) has to be engaging, informative and lead the reader to believe you’re the one with all of the great advice they’ve been looking for.

Write a good lead-in and your readers will be anxious to act on whatever advice you share in the article itself and if they do find value in your advice in the article &ndash they’ll be very hungry for me of your expertise. Hence, more sign-ups to your e-mail newsletter &ndash or better yet, more sales of your products and services.

So here are a few ideas for writing engaging lead paragraphs for your target audience:

A problem: Try to identify with a huge challenge or issue your audience is facing. Most likely you’re facing it too. So expose your experiences with this problem. You’ll endear yourself to your audience, cementing your status as the authority in your industry. Here’s an example of a problem lead:

Mistakes. We all make them and no one wants to admit to them. We’re all faced with the question, how do we recover after we make the occasional slip-up? When it comes to e-mail marketing there’s a huge debate over whether to ‘fess up or to make like an ostrich and stick our heads in the sand. I’ll offer my solution in four words: Own up to it.

A statistic: You’ll have to check your specific industry publications for these stats. Even if you see something in the mainstream news, you can always put a twist on it that relates specifically to your industry. Here’s an example of this kind of lead/identifier paragraph:

What’s that sound? You know - that slipping sound you keep hearing. If you’re still writing your marketing pieces in-house, you’re hearing the sound of market share slowly slipping away from your business. Here’s why: A recent survey shows 72% of your col leagues outsource so that they can focus on serving their customers and reducing costs.

The news: You can tailor national and even international news to meet your needs with your identifier paragraph. For instance, I just used the SARS epidemic to display the benefits of teleseminars. Too much of a stretch? You be the judge:

Picture this: The task of setting up a conference has fallen to two marketing managers in Beijing. One tests the market and discovers his company’s client base is ready for teleseminars. Our other marketing manager decides to follow the same road as the many managers before her and sets up a live conference at a hotel in downtown Beijing. The story of the SARS epidemic breaks just days before their events. Which manager gets to keep his or her job?

Note: In the example above I also used another extremely effective writing technique called “painting the picture.” This is used throughout writing whether it’s commercial or creative. Setting a scene for your readers is a wonderful tool for persuasion. You’re in control, you can paint the option most beneficial to you as the best option and the one that isn’t so beneficial as the worst option.

Your readers will think you’re great because you’re not telling them what to do, you’re just presenting them with information they can use. But in the end you’ve persuaded them to use your products or services - if you paint the picture correctly.

OVERVIEW

You’re a non-writer who has just been assigned to write the User Documentation for your company’s new product. Your overwhelming emotion is fear, perhaps with some anger.

With any new activity there will be some anxiety. Writing may have added anxiety because of your writing experience while you were a student.

Writing User Documentation is not like the writing that you had to do in school. Those activities were filled with anxiety and “writer’s block.” In this article you will see how to overcome your writing anxieties so you can write a good User Document.

WHAT YOU’RE NOT WRITING

All writing and writing situations are not the same. Let’s differentiate writing a User Document from other types of writing and writing situations.

YOU’RE NOT WRITING A NOVEL

You don’t have to worry about a plot, characters, and techniques to make the writing flow. You do not have to worry about transitions from one section to another; you don’t have to worry about continuity. It is extremely rare for your Reader to read a User Document from start to finish; Readers usually only look up the information that they need at the time.

YOU’RE NOT ARGUING A POINT

You don’t have to determine a point to argue, think up arguments to support that point, and then convincingly present the arguments.

YOU’RE NOT WRITING A LABORATORY REPORT

While lab reports provided a structure for writing, it was usually over-restrictive and those doing the grading were very picky regarding that format and structure.

YOUR SCHOOL-WRITING EXPERIENCES

At the end of your school writing exercise there was a critic (your teacher). Your goal was to impress him/her with your writing, all the time being extremely careful to write grammatically, and follow the prescribed structure. Later we will get a “critic” (editor) to be on your side in the writing project.

Writing a User Document is Different. The team is on your side. (I am ignoring office politics.) Everyone wants to have a successful product, and good User Documentation is part of a good product.

Remember that other members of the team are human, also. They have their tasks to complete, and would probably prefer not to have to answer your questions. Be prepared (read background info, etc) before you ask questions.

STRUCTURE MAKES WRITING EASIER

The overall structure of the User Document will follow the interaction between the User and the product. Within that structure you will write components…pieces of the User Document, each dealing with a specific topic. Each component will have a defined structure: overview/background, the actual material, and additional information.

One benefit of working this way is that you will not be concerned with “writer’s block.” The primary cause of writer’s block is having making decisions (”what should I say here?”). An effective writing structure eliminates most decisions, and reduces your writing task to almost “fill in the blanks.”

In fact, some experienced writers find it difficult to write in a modular environment. They are concerned with writing elegant transitions from one section to another. You do not need to do this…you can write each component totally independently of the others.

Your task is to clearly provide the information that your reader needs, and make that information easily accessible to him/her.

You must cultivate an attitude of compassion for your Readers.

YOU NEED RESOURCES FOR SUCCESS

Whoever assigned you the writing project (your “patron”) is responsible for your success. Your patron should provide resources to assist you. One of the most important resources is an editor.

EDITOR

Your editor (if hired early in the project) can help you over many writing difficulties. For example, your editor can help you with wording problems as you write. Consult with your editor as you are creating the User Document…not just at the end.

Your editor is not your critic!

Your editor will reduce your worries about grammar and wording. Your editor is on your side; he/she is not an adversary or someone you have to impress (like your school teachers). Your editor can help you produce a good User Document.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Your patron should enable you to have access to the product developers, information about the product (a mockup of the product, marketing information, assumptions about the Users of the product), and the industry.

TIME AND PHYSICAL RESOURCES

You need time to do a good job, and the physical resources to get it done.

If you are in a hurry, and if you do not know any of the current fancy authoring tools and content management systems, do not bother with learning them.

Instead, investigate what your word processor will do. Can it be made to create PDF, HTML, RTF or text files? If so, then it is a fine candidate for this project. Learn how to use its basic capabilities, especially its concept of formatting “styles.”

TRAINING/GUIDANCE

Typically, documentation is started late in the project’s life cycle. As a result, the documentation production is always rushed. Taking a live writing course may be out of the question: there will be scheduling problems, and you will be away from the writing task while you are being trained.

A better alternative might be to take a computer-based course that guides you through the writing, and supports you via e-mail. Visit the links in the “Resources” or “About the Author” section of this article.

YOU NEED A WRITING METHOD

To simply gather the required information, produce an outline that gets approved, and go off to write the document, is a recipe for high-stress and possible failure. It’s high stress because at the end of your writing, you get everything evaluated at once. There is the fear of failure. Fundamental errors could result in a major re-write. Aaaargh!

Consider writing components (modules, pieces) of your document. Let a component sit for a while, review it, and then circulate it for review. This way you will know that you are on track early in the project.

Since components will usually be short and focused on a particular topic, your reviewers will actually have the time to read and comment on your components. Just providing a complete, massive document at the end of the project will discourage your reviewers from effectively evaluating the material.

Writing and having reviewed small chunks of text (as opposed to creating the entire document, and then having it reviewed) helps reduce your stress, enabling you to do a better job.

Recall a skill that you have learned. It may be driving a car, riding a bicycle, or solving differential equations. Remember how you got more comfortable as you worked at it. It is the same with writing your User Document in components. The first few components will be high-stress, since you are new to the process.

As you write and have your components reviewed, you will become comfortable with the process. The later writing will go faster and better because of the reduced stress. Your review team will know where you are in the writing process; they will see each component as you release it.

Contrast this with writing the entire document and then having it reviewed. Here the stress builds to a maximum at the hand-in and evaluation time. You never know — until the end — if you’ve made a fundamental mistake.

DEALING WITH REVIEWS OF YOUR WRITING

You will have each component reviewed by others on the product project. Consider their suggestions and criticisms of your writing. However try to leave your ego out of the equation. If a reviewer says “you got this wrong,” you should hear “this is incorrect.” Ask what is incorrect, and get the correct information. Correct the inaccuracies. Don’t be defensive.

If you can overcome your fear of criticism, you will be able to write more and write better. This fear will diminish as you produce (and have reviewed) each of the components.

Learn as much as you can about the product, its environment, and Users. If you are expected to be an expert and are not one, then use the excuse for any naive questions you may ask: “I am just simulating our product’s Users with this question.” (Use this technique sparingly.)

TWO MORE POINTS

Nobody writes the perfect User Document. Don’t strive for perfection. Doing so will prevent you from getting anything done.

Read. Read all sorts of published materials, especially other User Documents (especially for products similar to the one you are writing about). Learn from that writing. Be critical of it from the USER’s point of view.

FIRST THINGS TO DO

Learn as much as you can about the product that you have to write about, its users, and the product’s environment, before you ask questions (other than where to get information).

Visit the links in the “Resources” or “About the Author” section of this article. There you will find articles and resources to help you through this exciting task.

As a writer you may have ever felt overwhelmed by a blank sensation when trying to write an article. To eliminate the problem you may try to follow the tips in this article. Ok, let’s start it. I don’t want to waste your invaluable time.

First, if you have a collection of private label contents, take a look at them. Try to find an article that covers similar subject with the article you want to write. For example if you want to write an article about badminton you can look for an article about tennis. Both have many similarities. They are games that require racket and net to play. In addition they can be played single or double. Just change the word “tennis” to “badminton” and change any inappropriate words. For example you may have to change the word “tennis ball” to “shuttlecock”.

Another example is if you want to create an article about restaurants in your city you can use an article about restaurants in Kuala Lumpur or New York or any other cities. The key here is the more similarities exist the easier your writing task will be.

What will be easier if you want to create an article about “web writer”, using an article with title “Hire a Web Designer” or “Hire a Broker”? I believe you are agree with me to choose the first one because compared with a broker there are more similarities between a web writer and a web designer. Both of them, a writer and a web designer, normally serve people who are running a business on the internet which means their customers are more likely have similar problems.

In case you can not find an article that cover similar subject like that just open one of your private label articles. There are common titles which can be used for various subjects. Here are some of them:

How To Find …

The Secret To …

The Basics of …

The Benefits of …

Mistakes To Avoid When …

and so on…

Just open one of them no matter whether the subject is related with yours or not.

Now you can alter the article. For example, below is a private label article about cigar:

—– START —–

4 Tips for Lighting a Cigar

For new smokers, lighting a cigar can seem as daunting as learning to choose a good single. Here are four tips to guide you in lighting a cigar for the first time.

—– END —–

If you want to write an article about web hosting you can alter the article above so it becomes:

—– START —–

Several Tips For Finding a Reliable Web Hosting Provider

For beginners, choosing a reliable hosting service can be difficult because there are a huge number of hosting companies with different hosting plans in the market right now. Here are some important factors you should consider in deciding which one to choose.

—– END —–

After you have finished several first sentences like that you should be able to finish your article easily. You can do this method again and again for any subjects. Collecting many private label contents can also be very beneficial to you because besides you will have good quality contents to get the creative juices flowing you will be able to take some sentences from here and there.

Finally although you can just “search and replace” for some words it is advisable to take it a step further in order to make your article really unique. Do not forget also to check your article to make sure it does not contain wrong information.

When you offer articles for free reprint, you are allowing the person or persons to use the article in emails, websites, and other various forms of publications. The stipulation is of course that they keep your name the author, where the article originated from and follow where you allow the article to be used. Articles for Free Reprint can help small businesses whether on line, on paper, or in person free information to help keep their business motivated, client’s returning, and your business in the Search Engines.

The Pros

There are quite a few Pros to offering Articles for Free Reprint, one being the coverage and exposure for both your website and Articles. Another benefit is the fact that you can find articles on just about anything out there, from writing articles, to web hosting, website design, and many more. Something else to consider is the fact that if you cannot write or do not then I am sure if you look hard enough you will find the article, you are looking for. I could go on about the pros but with every good thought, you have about free, articles, reprint you are covering the Pros of this great method of advertising.

The Cons

There are a few cons when it comes to articles for free reprint, one you have to make sure the entire article is what you are looking for and not just the title. Another is repetitiveness, with so many articles out there and covering all types of subjects, you want your articles to be fresh and not a duplicate of something else.

Summary

How can you summarize something as large as Free Articles for Reprint, I guess to start i should mention that offering free articles for reprint means at no point and time are you allowed to ask for compensation for you work. You are however setting your work up for more exposure, free exposure at that. Another benefit is you can showcase yourself and your work as being both professional and if you do your job right accurate. The professionalism is important it shows you can do the job to their specifications and do it right, the accuracy is equally important if not more so, because then people know you do not do gossip and speculations, but actually write the truth. These two things can make or break you, so be careful, honest, and patient when looking for that next Articles free Reprint.

Both writing and delivering a eulogy are emotional, but at the same time a step towards healing. It’s never easy to put into words what someone’s life meant to you and to summarize their life in just a few minutes. By following the seven steps below you’ll be on your way to creating a memorable and heart felt eulogy.

Step One: Gather information. Jot down as many personal notes about the deceased as possible. Look at photos. Flipping through photo albums may remind you of important qualities and memories of the person who died. Answer a few questions: What made your loved one truly happy? What inspired you to write this eulogy? What were your loved one’s passions? What will you remember most about this person? Keep in mind that a eulogy is not a biography but more your personal thoughts and remembrances from your point of view. You may want to ask co-workers, friends and others for their stories and memories. You should see some repetition in your notes and this will lead to the main theme.

Step Two: Begin to organize your content. Outline the eulogy in these steps:

I. A beginning to establish your theme.

II. A middle section to build on your theme with personal stories, information, quotes, comments, sayings, poems and other content. This information should make up 90% of the eulogy.

III. A short conclusion to summarize your thoughts and restate your theme.

Step Three: Work first on the middle section (Part II). Once you have this part the beginning and summary will be easy. Develop the outline by grouping similar themes from your notes from Step 1. For example, you might want to gather all the achievements together. Merge the comments about the deceased’s philosophy of life.

Step Four: Organize the conclusion (Part III). A conclusion reminds the listeners of the theme and imprints the strong feeling you have about the loss. The key is to conclude effectively and quickly. Here is an example:

“We will all miss Jackie’s sense of humor, her talent for knowing what is really important in life and her famous chocolate chip cookies” (a little humor doesn’t hurt as long as it’s not offensive to anyone).

“Her example lives as an inspiration for all of us to follow.”

Step Five: Write the beginning of the eulogy (Part 1). This usually starts with an attention getter. It will set the theme and can be in the form of a short story, a poem, a saying, lyrics to a song. It will introduce the goal and theme you used when you began the process.

Step Six: Polish it up. Your best bet is to walk away from it for a few hours or overnight if possible. Work on it so it sounds like a conversation. You want to talk to the audience as naturally as possible.

Key tips: Keep it short, 4-8 minutes long, 3-7 typed pages.

Type it out using 14 pt type so it’s easy to read.

Vary sentence length.

Number the pages.

Practice the eulogy aloud and time yourself.

Read it to friends and family and get their feedback. Edit where necessary.

Keep the content in good taste and keep it positive.

Step Seven: Delivering the eulogy.

While normally speakers do not read word-for-word, because you are more than likely going to be emotional, don’t be afraid to read word for word. This way you won’t leave out any key points you or others wanted said.

If making eye contact with members of the audience will make you emotional, either try and keep your eyes on the page or look just over the top of the audience to the back of the room.

Feel free to pause, take a deep breath and drink some water. Everyone will understand. They are emotionally distraught also.

Speak as naturally as you can just as if you were telling someone about your loved one. Speak up. It’s very important that you speak clearly and loudly so that everyone can hear you.

Keep the written eulogy as a memento. You can add it to your memento chest and share it with others who may want a copy.

By following these steps, writing and delivering a eulogy will become less stressful and more of a healing process.

You know the secret to a long-term, and profitable, client relationship is delivering effective communication tools. But you may not realize that the impact of your writing has more to do with your skill as a writer than with your knowledge of the subject.

And unless you help your clients understand the value of your skills, you limit your opportunities to sell those skills again and again.

Every business has its own specialists, people who know more about their products and services than you’ll ever know. So why can’t they produce great marketing copy, clear user guides, or truly effective training for their employees and sales reps?

Because they don’t have the skills that you do, the talent for communicating with impact to achieve specific results. We’ve all met experts who “know their stuff” but can’t share their knowledge — perhaps your math or physics or French teacher, or an engineer or programmer in a company you know, or even your doctor, lawyer, or insurance agent.

At some point, a company realizes they need help communicating, educating prospects, customers, and their own employees about the benefits and best practices associated with their products and services. They go looking for outside help . . . and then they forget why!

Your long-term success depends on reminding them of that need for communication skills. Most of these experts, whether clinicians or programmers or engineers or legal experts, are more comfortable talking to people just like themselves, rather than creative types like artists and writers.

Left to themselves, they’ll hire someone who knows a lot about their area, but perhaps writes only a little better than they do. And a year or two later, they’ll be looking for someone else to help them when they realize that all the copy and training content and documentation they have churned out has produced mediocre results.

Help yourself and help your clients.

When you get an opportunity to talk to a prospect about creating effective communications for them, keep pushing the conversation toward the skills they need to pull it off. Make sure they understand their own need for someone different from the resources they already have in house. Help them recognize that your skills complement their knowledge, that it is that combination that produces results in the form of higher revenues, more customers, or enhanced employee performance.

Even if you know their subject matter well, your skills are more important. After all, should their product line change, or new markets open, they may be dealing with a new body of knowledge in a year or two.

But their need for effective communication will remain, and, if you’ve positioned yourself as the “communication expert” of their team, you’ll continue to have opportunities for business from existing clients even as their business practices and markets change.