7 business writing qualities

Business writing is all about being effective: clear, concise and compelling. According to Write for Business, effective writing exhibits seven qualities: ideas, organization, voice, words, sentences, correctness and design.

Ideas—The writing focuses on an important subject, has a clear main point, provides effective details and achieves its purpose.

Organization—The writing has a strong beginning, middle and ending, and orders information well.

Voice—The tone is appropriate for the subject, purpose and audience, reflecting well on the writer and connecting with the reader.

Words—The writing uses precise nouns and verbs, avoids slang expressions and colloquialisms, and defines technical terms as needed.

Sentences—The sentences read smoothly, varying in length, pattern, type and beginnings.

Correctness—Punctuation, capitalization, spelling, usage and grammar are correct.

Design—Typography, color, white space, lists, visuals and other elements convey the message clearly and suit the subject and purpose.

I agree with this assessment; these qualities offer a great jumping off place to guide your writing as well as diagnose and solve problems. You may even want to use them as a checklist  to ensure your content is as effective as possible. When all the boxes are checked, you can feel confident in releasing it to the public.

An inspiring read

I readily admit I wouldn’t choose to read some of the books I’ve edited, but this one doesn’t fall in that category. The Missing Peace, part memoir/part guide, is focused on inspiring people to live authentic lives with peace as the most treasured and indispensable ingredient. Nere Lartitegui, a first-time author in her 80s, has found the words to do just that. Check it out on Amazon.

Make the right choice

There are many times while writing when you must choose between two options and your decision should be based on context. Here are two such instances.

• Grateful for or grateful to—Use grateful for when referring to the thing that makes you grateful and grateful to when referring to whoever provided it.
• On board or onboard—Onboard is an adjective that means attached and a verb that means to acclimate new hires. On board is an adverb or prepositional phrase that means safely aboard a vessel or in agreement.