PUT YOURSELF IN THEIR SHOES

If you are a small business owner or small proprietor or freelancer trying to decide what words you should use to promote or market your business, change your shoes. Rather than being the service or product provider, put yourself in the role of customer. Visit an independent bookstore, buy a cake from a local bakery, hire a contractor, or find a real job or product you need which you may normally take care of on your own but hire it done or buy it somewhere else. And then use what you learn in your promotion and marketing.

In addition to the obvious of paying attention to how your competitor actually performs the work or to the quality and price of his or her product, concentrate on the whole process. How were you treated? How did you feel? What bugged you about the process? Was there not enough communication or too much? What made you a little nervous? What were your biggest concerns – that it be done on time, that the price was right, or that the quality was good enough? Would you have liked more personal advice or connection? What satisfied you? What could have been done better?

Use your observations and answers to these questions to amp up your competitive advantage. Can you incorporate any positive aspects of the experience into your own way of doing business? Avoid repeating the negative aspects of the experience in your own business dealings. For example, did you wish you would’ve received more status updates on work progress? If so, make sure you are providing adequate updates to your customers. If you’re not sure how many updates your customers want, ask them. After all, meeting customer needs is one of the objectives of doing business under the goal umbrella of making a profit.

Want more Wordsy Woman tips about marketing, click here and request my free publication, 10 Tips for Reaching Today's Consumers.

MANUAL MAP APP

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the historical museum in Humboldt, Iowa, and found this unfamiliar configuration of lines and words on the blackboard in the old school. Now, I don't know if this was not taught to me in school or if perhaps I was sick that day because although I didn't remember it, my kids and my husband did.

According to this website sponsored by the  Capital Community College Foundation, sentence diagrams are depicted here. Since the device hasn't been used for thirty years, it is possible it was not taught in my English classes. Diagramming sentences was developed over 100 years ago by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg; it is a way of visually breaking down sentences. Fascinating!

I won't try to explain it here for fear of totally slaughtering it, but, basically, you write the main words in the sentence like the subjects and verbs on horizontal lines and then you use connecting slashes to write your modifiers like adjectives and adverbs. For an explanation of the basics, visit this website; for instructions on how to diagram compound sentences, visit this one.

I'm thinking this might be a good technique to use when editing as the Wordsy Woman. It may help in boiling down sentences for tightness and logic. Happy mapping!

P.S. If you are a history buff, the museum has a ton of artifacts and architecture, especially for such a small town. Plus, since it is not crowded, you get a personal tour! Plan to spend at least two to three hours.

IT'S YOUR CALL...

Your and you're are cousins to the previously blogged-about its and it's. To decide which is appropriate in your sentence, follow the same advice. Read your sentence substituting you are for you're; if it sounds right, you're is the correct word. You're is the contraction for you are.

According to Dictionary.com, your shows a possession owned or possessed by you, one, or, informally, all members of a group as in your clothes, your best best, or take your average Joe, for example.

If you are doesn't make sense in your sentence, your is your best bet.

Now you're a former you're misuser from yore.

And just in case you're tempted, yur is just a text-message abbreviation and is never appropriate in prose.

ORDER MATTERS

I drove by a sign on the wall on the side of a bar a couple of weeks ago and, unfortunately, I didn't have time to snap a picture. Here is what the sign said:

"Have a beer and stop in."

Hmmm... Does that mean I should have a beer before I come to the bar? Isn't that why they'd want me to stop in the first place - to buy a beer?

I think they meant "Stop in and have a beer." The moral of the story? Sometimes order matters. Make sure you are not telling people to do the opposite of what you actually want them to do. Click here to see another similar blog post on this topic.

By: The Wordsy Woman

THE WORD BATTLES - ITS vs. IT'S

A little bit easier to deal with than the triple threat of they're, there, and their are several two-word conundrums. Today, we'll talk about its vs. it's.

It's is the contraction for it is or it has. To test to see if it's is correct, read your sentence substituting it is or it has for it's. If it sounds right, it is. Keep it's.

Its, however, is a pronoun and signifies possession; it owns something. If it is or it has doesn't make sense, chances are you want to use its. To confirm this, think about whether your sentence is talking about something belonging to it or owned by it. If it does, its is correct.

For more information, see Dictionary.com's definition of its and its discussion of how it's confused with it's.

THEY'RE OVER THERE WITH THEIR WARES - The Triple Threat

One of the biggest writing errors one can make and one of the easiest to correct is the proper usage of the words they're, there, and their. Even though I know how to use these words properly, mistakes still show up in my writing. Apparently my typing fingers have minds of their own...

An easy way to correct these mistakes in Microsoft Word is through a "Find" search. In Word 2007, it is on the "Home" tab under "Editing" - to the far right on my computer. Search each of they're, their, and there separately to double check if the correct word was used. If you can't tell, try these tricks.

They're is the contraction for they are so read the sentence substituting they are for they're; if it sounds right, keep they're. If it doesn't, try there or their.

Their shows possession for the group they or them. If your sentence is describing something owned by they or them (like their wares), then their is correct.

There is a little bit trickier. According to Dictionary.com, there can mean “in or at that place; at that point in an action, speech, etc.; in that matter, particular, or respect; into or to that place; or used by way of calling attention to something or someone.” In my mind, there refers to a place or location but not necessarily a physical location. If the sentence isn't talking about possession and they are doesn't make sense, chances are you want there. To triple-check, decide if the Dictionary.com explanation applies. 

Happy their, they're, and there hunting!

I ACCEPT THE EXCEPTION or DO I TAKE EXCEPTION TO YOUR ACCEPTING?

A couple of months ago I saw a story on the ten o'clock news about private social clubs in our area. It was a continuing story so they showed the same video over several nights: a sign on one of the club's doors that said, "Donation Excepted."

According to Dictionary.com, "Excepted" means excluded or left out...

What I think the club probably meant to say was "Donations Accepted."

According to Dictionary.com, "Accepted" means "generally approved" or "usually regarded as normal, right, etc."

The moral of the story? Make sure you use the correct word or you just may actually discourage people from doing what you want them to do.