Writing for the Web: What You Need to Know

Newsletter Nuggets – April 05, 2007
…tips and tricks for writing great ezines and blogs

Table of Contents

1. A Note from Patsi –   Writing for the Web: What You Need to Know
2. April 07 Featured Article: No More Jerks at Work: Preventing Desk Rage
3. What’s New on the Blogs?

A note from Patsi
Tomorrow I’m off to Mexico, but instead of going to Ajijic where my husband and I have a home, we’re visiting Loreto Bay in Baja, on the Sea of Cortez. They are developing a large resort with villas targeted to retiring baby boomers.

We’re always on the look-out for emerging paradise communities, although I suspect you really carry paradise with you in your heart and imagination more than anywhere else.

This week there were some great posts on other people’s blogs about writing for the web and I point you to them from my Coach Ezines blog post “On Writing: Stephen King’s Advice Extended to the Web.”

How much writing are you doing for the web these days? I didn’t know this when I first started writing newsletters in 1997, but writing for the web is different than for other media. If you’re online in any way -- ezine, website, or blog – you need to learn a few things.

To read about the importance of good writing to good blogging, read Lorelle Van Fossen’s post on the Problogger site.

And more about rereading and the importance of waiting before you save and publish from Glen Stansberry’s post on Problogger here.

To read excerpts from Stephen King’s book: On Writing:
37Signal’s Signal vs Noise blog

Are you ready for a blog? 20 question assessment to find out if a blog is right for your business: http://nextlevelpartner.typepad.com/bbab/2006/01/blog_assessment.html

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Featured Article for April 07:

No More Jerks at Work:
Preventing Desk Rage

It’s a sign of the times when a well-known Stanford professor and best-selling author publishes a book titled The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t (Warner Business Books, 2007). Robert I. Sutton argues that variations of terms like creep, jerk and bully don’t carry the same authenticity or emotional appeal.

Certainly, everyone knows what he’s talking about. We’ve all experienced the nastiness of a tormentor or unconstrained egomaniac who abuses power and intimidates others.

Jerks do not go undetected for long. Raging maniacs are easy to catch and discipline. More often, however, real damage occurs after covert backstabbing and hypocrisy. Comments are subtly demeaning. Some people couch their insults in humor and hide behind sarcasm.

Everyone’s a Jerk

The truth is, each of us has engaged in some of these behaviors. But a real jerk is defined by the frequency with which he is demeaning and destructive.

To qualify as a true jerk, one must display a persistent pattern and a history of episodes that lead others to feel humiliated and disrespected. And a boss who’s a jerk often causes anger, frustration, high turnover, absenteeism and, in extreme cases, violence.

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This is a brief synopsis of a 2000 word article suitable for consultants' newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences.

There are two versions of this article: 2000 words and 1000 words (approximate word counts). The full article covers the following sub-topics:

Jerk Behaviors
Everyone’s a Jerk
The Rise of Boss-icide
Secondhand Jerk Effects
The Costs of Harboring a Jerk
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
Top 10 Rules for Enforcing a “No Jerks at Work” Rule
Rules of Engagement for Non-Jerks

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