One rule I learned early on from my teachers is to never use contractions in writing. This was drilled into me during university as I wrote book reports and research papers. In fact, most formal writing abhors contractions. But there’s one place that loves contractions: web writing.
Author: Kim Siever
I am a copywriter and copyeditor. I blog on writing and social media tips mostly, but I sometimes throw in my thoughts about running a small business.
Follow me on Twitter at @hotpepper.
Hot Pepper Hot Picks: 29 May 2015
Here are the 20 most popular (listed from most popular to least) social media and writing articles I shared this week, based on the number of likes, comments, and reshares they received.
Why evergreen content is critical to your blog’s success
If you’ve been following my writing lately, you’ll notice I’ve given out a few tips on how to drive more traffic to your old blog content. I didn’t mention, however, that one thing ties all those tips together: evergreen content. Evergreen content is content that doesn’t expire. Evergreen content isn’t based on trends, recent events,… Continue reading Why evergreen content is critical to your blog’s success
10 stuffy phrases and how to fix them
If you’ve ever read a contract you had to sign, an academic paper, a court brief, or some similar document, you likely came across language that seemed difficult to understand. You may have found yourself rereading words to understand sentence meaning, or you might have even started dozing off. As my long-time readers know, I prefer… Continue reading 10 stuffy phrases and how to fix them
Hot Pepper Hot Picks: 22 May 2015
Here are the 20 most popular (listed from most popular to least) social media and writing articles I shared this week, based on the number of likes, comments, and reshares they received.
3 dead simple ways to drive more traffic to old blog posts
This summer marks 12 years that I’ve been blogging. I’ve learned a few tricks along the way to generate traffic and create awareness of old content. Here are 3 particular tricks I like to use that work particularly well on blogs with a lot of content.
It’s okay to use “they” as a singular pronoun
If you hang out with anyone who’s a grammar snob, you’ve probably heard them correct someone using “they” as a singular pronoun. I was actually doing some research on this usage recently, and I discovered some interesting tidbits.
How to use Insights to find the best time to share on Facebook
You’ve likely seen blog posts, social media content, or infographics recommending when the best times are to share on social media. The problem with these is that they are often general and may not apply to your company or even your industry. In this tutorial video, I take you through Facebook Insights to see which… Continue reading How to use Insights to find the best time to share on Facebook
Difference between defence and defense
One of the challenges of living in Canada is trying to know what spelling to use. For some words, we use the American spelling (e.g. analyze, tire), and for others, we use the British spelling (e.g. metre, catalogue). In some cases, either is acceptable (e.g. colour and colour, theatre and theater), and yet in some… Continue reading Difference between defence and defense
Hot Pepper Hot Picks: 8 May 2015
Here are the 20 most popular (listed from most popular to least) social media and writing articles I shared this week, based on the number of likes, comments, and reshares they received.