It is said that English is the most powerful language ever created, because it is constantly evolving. The relentless march of evolution continues, even as we speak. So wouldn’t it be fun to take a peek into the future and see the shape of English to come?

We were offered just an opportunity like that a few days ago…

The weeks preceding the Beijing Olympics saw a heady amount of activity in China. Yes, it is to be expected when a city is going to be the stage for such an exalted global event. True, but those weeks were also witness to an activity which would seem more suited to an English language class. This was the removal or correction of all signs that displayed bad English.

Sample some examples:

“Deformed man lavatory” - This was trying to refer to a toilet for the physically challenged people.

“Don’t forget to carry your thing” – That was on a train, advising people not to forget their belongings.

“Slip and fall down carefully” – A standard sign to warn visitors to walk carefully, lest they slip and fall.

So what do you make of the above? Bad English? Then again, what if it is English of the future? Considering that Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world, it is highly possible that the future may see a hybridized version of Chinese and English, or Chinglish.

This is not necessarily something to be worried about, because this is the way all languages develop. Consider Latin, which over hundreds of years broke into many distinct languages like Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Romanian among many others. Consider the number of non-native speakers of English who speak in the language on a daily basis, and it is a foregone conclusion that English will change radically in say, the coming hundred years.

The English language is the tool with which Pi Business Research works. We believe in evolution and change, and match our steps to keep up with the times… resulting in the unmatched experience and expertise that our clients have come to depend on.

With the World Wide Web at her fingertips, your target reader has no dearth of information. Actually, she’s inundated with it! To catch her attention while promoting your products and services, you have to provide something that stands out from the clutter. In other words, you have to match your content to the needs of your audience.

So how do you go about writing Content that Converts?

Come to the Point

Time is of the essence. We’re living in a world of micro attention spans. Good commercial content should be able to convey information immediately. It should be able to reach out to the potential customers who would be benefited by the product or service, and make them realize its advantages.

Trash the Typos

Sounds pretty clichéd. But even otherwise excellent content often have grammatical and spelling errors. It betrays a lack of professionalism and diminishes your reputation as a content producer. So screen your content before sending it out to ensure that it does not have any oversights.

Max your Impact

Using active words in your writing would help grip the readers’ interest. Active words are those words that ask the readers to take action. They literally force the readers to stay with the content, and have the power to convince them.

Include a call to action towards the end of commercial content. If the readers love your articles, then they may be more than willing to listen to your suggestions at that point.

Think Small

There is just too much information on the Web, and too little time in our lives. So what are the chances of your content getting read?

Your best approach would be to hook your readers once they are on your page. Make your content easy to read. Break it into small chunks. Write short paragraphs, use headings, sub-headings and bullet points. Ensure that you highlight the main points. This way, readers would be able to get the essence of your content just by skimming… and if it’s interesting enough, they’ll stay for more.

Focus on your Target

Make sure you know who you are talking to. Focus on the end user. Create content that talks to the readers about their wants and desires. Try to see things from their point of view and inform them how the product or service would be beneficial. Give them exactly what they want, and they’ll love you for that.

Don’t beat around the bush

Elaborating on the features is a roundabout way of conveying the benefits of a product to your prospects. It may end up confusing, boring or irritating them. Remember that whoever reads your articles would do so because he/she has some need or desire. So go for the kill directly. Let the readers know about the benefits of the products upfront, and you will have a better chance of conversion.

Optimize, not Over-optimize

It is necessary to optimize content for search engines, but what’s the use of optimized content that is not easy to understand? Content stuffed with keywords are difficult to read, and most readers give up on them. So you need to strike a balance between the density of keywords and readability of your content.

Want to know more about Content that Converts? Please visit us at www.pibusinessresearch.com and we’ll be happy to help.

Languages have a life of their own. Every language starts with a few sounds that grow into a full vocabulary. Then, depending upon usage, a language may die out… starting with individual words falling into disuse; or it may evolve into an entirely new language.

Something on these lines has been happening to the English language as well.

Think about it, when did you use the word “Relax” instead of “Chill”, “Fine” instead of “Cool”, or said “Don’t irritate me” instead of “Don’t bug me”? When did you refer to someone who appears happy, as “gay”?

These are just a few examples of how some words are falling into disuse as others replace them. And as in the case of “gay”, a particular meaning of the word assumes so much prominence that the other variations are completely forgotten.

English, which is the second most spoken language of the world, is evolving so fast that probably in a hundred years or so, it will become unrecognizable. This is because being it is spoken by so many different people in so many countries, many of whom have a different native language. In fact, English is spoken in many different ways even among its native speakers.

The World Wide Web has hastened the evolution of English as it allows people from all over the world to communicate with each other freely. It has led to a free flow and exchange of words across various languages, with English serving as the bedrock on which other languages play.

The Oxford English Dictionary has included Indian words like adda (informal conversation), Bhagwan (God) or Desi (local) among others. Similarly, Feng shui, kung fu, yin and yang are some Chinese words that are very commonly used by English speakers. And this is only a tiny fraction of the changes that are happening in the English language.

Researchers predict that by the year 2020 around 2 billion people would be speaking English, and out of this only 300 million would be native speakers of the language. So probably a hundred years into the future we would have an entirely different English language spoken globally!

Maybe by then people would even stop calling it English!

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Progress in information technology has been a boon to mankind. Granted.

There’s no doubt that it has bought in stupendous changes in the way we live, work and relate to each other.

But there’s a dark side to it too. While on one hand the Internet has enabled us to communicate instantly and ceaselessly across the globe, it has also driven people to become obsessed with information.

“Infomania” is a word coined by researchers to describe the habit of frequently checking text messages and emails. Many believe that this obsession is having a detrimental effect on the IQ of those afflicted. Some psychologists even state that continuous tapping on a computer keyboard or mobile keypad can temporarily reduce IQ by 10 points.

Compare this with marijuana, which may reduce the IQ by just 4 points.

This drop in IQ due happens because such people are constantly distracted by incoming mails and messages. They scatter their concentration on jobs other than what they are supposed to be doing. Their productivity is diminished because they exhaust their mind by constantly jumping between work and messages.

This is aggravated by the constant state of readiness. Employees have been observed to check mails and messages and reply to them even when they are taking a break. This can be highly detrimental in the long run. Unless people make a conscious effort to stop overloading themselves with information, they are going to get trapped in a vicious circle.

And since this a very modern affliction, nobody knows how it affects the human mind and personality. Whatever little we know is not very encouraging. It has already been observed that those who regularly answer mails and messages during meetings frequently act rude with their colleagues.

The only way out of this quagmire is to be aware of the damages of the “always on” syndrome… and to make a personal commitment to focus on the work at hand, setting fixed times for checking and answering messages and mails.

Communication drives the world. Only the dead do not communicate. We communicate through words or signs; words can be written whereas signs can be drawn. Even though humanity has been communicating since inception, a major part of the population still consists of ineffective or bad communicators.

The Internet has radically changed the way we communicate with each other. Communication on the Net is largely driven by written content. So in order to be an online success, one needs to develop excellent writing skills.

But how do you do that? Read on…

Avoid Clichés

That sounds like a cliché itself. But it seems people don’t get it, else we wouldn’t be coming across phrases like “Good old days”, “back to square one”, “toe the line”, “beat around the bush” and many, many others repeatedly.

These phrases have been used so often that people have become too comfortable with them. The result? They no longer evoke the emotions they may have evoked when they were originally used. The solution… put your imagination to work and try to come up with fresh phrases that evoke the emotions you desire.

Don’t write “verbose” when “wordy” will do

Never use long or highbrow sounding words when want you want to say can be conveyed by simple ones. The most obvious result could be that your intended reader would not understand you; and if you don’t understand the right usage yourself, then you may goof up big time and use it in a wrong context.

Avoid verbosity

Don’t use three sentences to write something that can be conveyed in one. Practicing this habit would fill your writing with maximum meaning. On the reader’s end, it would take less time and effort to comprehend. The result… more people would read it completely.

The literary master Faulkner once accused the renowned novelist Hemmingway of having a limited vocabulary. Hemmingway countered by saying, “Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.”

The same goes for the use jargons and foreign phrases. Your mantra should be “simplify”.

Keep it moving

Use active verbs whenever you can. So instead of writing “The computer was switched on by John”, write “John switched on the computer.” Get the picture?

Nothing is perfect, not even the above rules

Use your common sense. If everybody followed these rules to the T, we would have unending piles of content that would be like beautiful dead bodies. Once you understand the tricks of effective writing and get a feel for it, don’t be afraid of breaking them once in a while.

Happy writing.