You have to edit. There’s no way around. If you’re lucky enough to have a professional writer in your office, then you have it easy. Send your stuff along to him or her and get on with your other tasks. But, if you’re like many of us, self-editing is your only option.

Here’s a few tips I’ve learned in my own self-editing adventures.

1. Take your time. Give yourself as much time as possible between writing and editing. Maybe you only have a few hours. Write and then go to lunch or write something else. Then go back to your first piece and edit. If you have a few days, even better. A little time away from your writing will help you see it with fresh (and more critical) eyes.
2. Don’t edit on the fly. Writing is writing, and editing is editing. Write first, then edit. If you try to edit as you write, you’ll just have to edit again later, and you’ll frustrate yourself with over thinking what you’re writing.
3. Use your voice. And I don’t mean your writing “voice” I mean the voice you sing with. Read your work aloud. You’ll catch awkward phrases and all those misplaced homonyms that spell check will miss.
4. Share the load. Give officemates or even family members an opportunity to look over what you’ve written. This should help you improve clarity and catch remaining problem phrases.

What about you? What methods do you use, and what tips can you share for making self-editing more effective and efficient? Let us know in the comments!

Common grammar blunders to avoid.

I won’t lie. Affect and effect still trip me up sometimes. I’m guessing I’m not alone.

In general, the easiest way to remember if you should use affect or effect is to first figure out if your word is a noun or a verb. Affect is generally used as a verb, and effect is usually used as a noun. Not sure? Try this: If you can replace the word with the noun result-and your sentence works and has the same meaning-you should use effect. Otherwise, you should use affect. Unfortunately, sometimes, effect is used as a verb and affect as a noun. No wonder we all still have trouble!

99% of the time, in your own writing, you’ll be using effect, the noun, or affect, the verb. Learn to tell the difference between those two parts of speech, and remember that effect is a noun and affect is a verb, and you really should have very little trouble. But how do you remember which is which?

Here, I bow to the superior knowledge of Grammar Girl. Click here to visit her Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing on effect and affect.

One of those unpleasant situations you’ll face when you write your own copy.

It happens to the best of them, so I’m told. Writers block. That moment when you sit down to write and nothing comes to mind. You can’t think of a single thing to write. Or maybe you can think of a line, but a single line won’t do.

One tip for overcoming writers block is to simply start writing. It’s easier to fix something that’s not well done than it is to fix nothing. So, just sit down and start writing that property description or homepage copy. Just make sure to take time to edit your work later.

Another tip is to unplug your internet and turn off your phone. Now, you don’t want to be completely disconnected; as a real estate agent, you need to be available when your clients need you. But, if you’re struggling with writers block, one of the best things you can do is to take away distractions.

Did you leave that one line on the page last night when you left the office? Start back in on it first thing in the morning, when your mind is at its freshest and you haven’t had to begin reacting to the incoming tasks and distractions of the day.

Take a walk! Walking will give you a change of scenery, some fresh air, and get your blood pumping. You’ll come back to your desk refreshed and recharged, and while your body was engaged, your subconscious mind may have solved a few of your conundrums.

Well, that’s about it for my tips. What about yours? Do have other methods of overcoming writers block? Share your tips in the comments. I’d love to learn some new tricks!

Common grammar blunders to avoid.

Try as I might, I couldn’t come up with a silly near-homophone to throw into this exposition on its and it’s. Were yurts and tutus as good as it gets? Perish the thought!

Small as they are, its and it’s are rather difficult to learn to use properly, and as a result, quite commonly misused. Let’s see if we can remedy the situation a bit, shall we?

Its and it’s have the same root word: it. It is a gender-neutral singular pronoun used for objects, groups, a concept or abstract idea, activity, animals whose sex isn’t known, or as an impersonal subject of the verb to be, especially to refer to time, distance, or weather. You might not believe me, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. It is yet another word for which there are many, many entries in the dictionary. I encourage you to look it up yourself

The most likely reason that its and it’s are so difficult is the fact that they’re in reverse of the normal grammatical rules and conventions. Normally, to pluralize a word, we add an s, and an apostrophe-s to show possession, and an s-apostrophe to indicate plural possession. But it is always singular, so no need to make for plural or plural possessive.

So what to do when it owns something? Under normal grammatical rules, we’d just go with it’s, but it is a grammatical black sheep. When it owns something we add the s with no apostrophe and get its.

For example: That dog is angry and baring its teeth. Its hair is standing on end.

So what does it’s mean? It’s is a contraction or shortening of two words, the phrase it is.

For example: You can tell by the clouds that it’s about to rain.

An easy way to remember the correct usage of its and it’s is to replace them with it is. If it is works, use it’s. Otherwise, it must own something and you’d use its.

Part six in a multi-part series on improving your ad-writing skills.

While you can’t get to Action without building up to it with a great attention-grabbing headline and picture, building interest, and inspiring desire, it’s fair to say that Action is the lynchpin in your AIDA marketing. Without it, all the hard work you did with A, I, and D is pointless and fruitless. Don’t let your efforts go to waste! When your reader says, “You caught my attention. I’m interested, I want it!” tell them what the next step is.

Read on for 8 ways to more effective calls to action.

1. Give your name, your number, your email address, and your website. Seems simple, but just don’t forget to do it!

2. Online? Go beyond “click here” instead, try telling them why. “Click here to begin your voyage to home ownership!” “Click here to learn about the first-time-homebuyer tax credit.”

3. Imbue your calls to action with a sense of urgency. “Now”, “today” “hurry” “before it’s too late!”

4. Offer something in return. “Contact me for a free Comparative Market Analysis of your home.” “Click here for a free relocation packet.” “Visit my website to discover the value of your home.”

5. Make your call to action stand out. Use bigger, bolder text, and consider warm, bright colors when possible.

6. On your web pages, use bright, clear buttons rather than just text to elicit those clicks.

7. Place your calls to action in a clear location. DON’T bury them in the middle. Stick with the top or bottom (or both!) of your ad.

8. Make it easy! Don’t force your prospect to jump through hoops to respond to your marketing. That’s the principle behind at least half of these tips. Put that action on a silver platter and hand it to your prospect.

Thanks for sticking with me through this “treatment” of the AIDA principles of marketing. Here’s where you come in. Tell me what you think of AIDA. Do you have any unanswered questions about how to implement it? Share with me your unique perspectives on implementing it in your own business.

I’d love to hear how you’re using these and other marketing and writing principles in the real world. Share your thoughts and insights by leaving a comment below!

Common grammar blunders to avoid.

I like to give folks the benefit of the doubt, and assume that when I see the homophones too and to misused that it’s actually just a typo. Maybe I’m naïve. So, here’s a quick reminder on when to use too and to, two and tutu too!

Too is an adverb that means “also” or “excessively.”

To is a preposition with so many uses that it would put you to sleep to read them all.  There are literally 27 indications of its use on dictionary.com, and I invite you to read them all if you’re curious.

If that’s too much of a brain bender, or you simply don’t have the time, it might help to use this simple mnemonic, “too has too many o’s” or an excessive number of o’s. If you’re using too when you mean excessive or also (”in addition,” which is related to excessive) then you’d use too, otherwise use to.

It’s rare to see the noun two misused. It represents the numeral 2. And don’t forget that tutu is not a short form of “to too”, but rather a noun referring to the short, full skirts worn by ballerinas. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with that one.

Here are a few examples before I go.

Correct: He went to the zoo.

Correct: That shirt belongs to Sue.

Correct: They want to help

Incorrect: I’m to tired.

Incorrect: We’re going shopping to.

Correct: I’m too tired.

Correct: He spent too much.

Correct: We’re going shopping too.

Incorrect: I want too walk.

Incorrect: They went too church.

Correct: Those two girls took too many tutus to the show. (Am I good or what?)

Part five in a multi-part series on improving your ad-writing skills.

Are you still with me? Great, because we’re in the home stretch! The third part of AIDA: desire, can be tricky, but oh-so-worth-it! You’ve taken the time to create a powerful attention-grabbing headline, and you’ve assembled some great photographs to augment your headline. You’ve let the customer know “what’s in it for me?” by building on your headline with interest. Now’s the time to go deeper and appeal to the basic and fundamental needs and desires your prospective customer already has, by explicitly showing them how your product or service fulfills those desires.

Desire is about appealing to the emotions of your reader. What are some of those desires and basic needs you can appeal to? In real estate you actually have quite a variety of desires to “fulfill” with property. It could almost be said that you, as an agent, have it easy when it comes to desire.

How about the desire for physical safety and security? Gated communities, gated properties, secluded or off-the-beaten path homes, as well as those with pre-installed security systems all answer that desire. How about the desire for respect and admiration? Any luxury home or high-end property is going to easily fulfill that, as well as appealing to the desire for comfort or leisure. A desire for love, family and community can be fostered by any home sweet home. And this is definitely not an exhaustive list!

When working on the desire aspect of AIDA, consider common and prevailing human needs and desires, then consider how your property or service can help prospective customers to meet those needs and desires. Finally, communicate those desire-fulfilling aspects in your ad copy in simple, direct language. Make sure to name the desires as well as showing how they’re fulfilled by your “product” and you’re well on your way to a successful advertisement.

Check back soon for more on calls to Action!