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Entries Tagged as 'Business'

How to Fix Corrupt & Damaged Microsoft Word Documents – Part 2

September 8th, 2010 · View Comments · MS Word

Post by Ivan Walsh. Follow me on Twitter. Last week we showed you how Bullet Lists can crash MS Word. We outlined some techniques to reduce the file size, mostly by creating pre-formatted bullet lists in advance. But what happens if you’re given a User Guide that’s already bloated to massive proportions. It’s too late [...]

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Getting Started: 37 Business Proposal Writing Tips

May 31st, 2010 · View Comments · Proposal Writing

Post by Ivan Walsh. Follow me on Twitter. This short course on proposal writing reminds us that our business proposal does not stand alone. It is process of a larger process that involves planning, research, writing, editing, proofing, submission and acceptance. This list gives 37 ways to improve your next proposal. Scroll through it and [...]

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14 Questions For Interviewing Proposal Writers

April 26th, 2010 · Comments Off · Proposal

Here are some tips for interviewing tech writers, for example, if your company needs to hire a contractor to complete some documentation. I’ve worked on both sides on the fence in the past, (i.e. interviewed and been interviewed) and picked up a few things in the process. Hopefully, these will be of some help.

A Proposal Writer, as the name implies, writes business proposals. They write text that is accurate, readable, accessible, and helpful to its intended audience, usually end-users or developers.

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Proposal Team Roles and Responsibilities: What is a Bid Manager?

March 16th, 2010 · View Comments · Proposal Writing

What are the roles and responsibilities of the Bid Manager during the proposal development process? The Bid Manager’s role is like that of the Project Manager on an IT project. Their role is to coordinate the team members, analyze the Request For Proposal, allocate resources, define the schedule, keep the deliverables on target, and ensure [...]

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Proposal Writing: 7 Mistakes to Avoid

March 16th, 2010 · Comments Off · Proposal

What’s the main mistake that business writers make when writing their first proposal? The target audience is not clear, the format is incorrect and the tone is wrong. And, the solution doesn’t align with the requirements. So, how you can improve your proposals and win more projects that you bid on? Here are some guidelines [...]

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18 Guaranteed Ways to Improve Your Case Studies

March 1st, 2010 · Comments Off · Proposal, Tips

You’ve never written a case study before, right? You wish there was some nice, easy way to get a handle on this. So, wouldn’t it be very nice if someone –guess who! – put together fifteen of the best articles on case study writing? Well, you’re in luck, we have!

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Case Study Part 3: How to Structure your Case Study

February 11th, 2010 · Comments Off · Proposal, Tips

Case studies and white papers are very effective marketing tools if you want to promote the benefits of your product or services. Case studies are the first most popular device used to promote the business. If you plan to write a case study, this article will give you a better understanding  about this type  of [...]

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Case Study Part 2: Why You Must Focus On a Single Issue

February 10th, 2010 · Comments Off · Proposal, Tips

As mentioned earlier, a case study is a soft-sell sales document. Its role is to highlight your abilities without resorting to market-speak and sales clichés.

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How Many Hours Per Week Do Actually Spend Working?

February 10th, 2010 · Comments Off · Proposal, Tips

How much time do you spend working every week? I don’t mean being in the office, but actually working. You have 37.5 hours every week, but how much is actually spent doing what you’re paid to do? When I say working I mean developing real outputs (e.g. content); this includes illustrations, diagrams, publishing etc – [...]

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Posterous Tip: How To Add Tags When Blogging by Email

February 9th, 2010 · Comments Off · Proposal, Tips

Do you use Posterous to update your site? I prefer to use Yahoo and Gmail to update the site rather than thru the Posterous site. Why? It’s easier to add images. You can add tags to your posts when you blog by email. Here’s how.

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5 UK-Based Technical Writers You Should Follow on Twitter

February 9th, 2010 · Comments Off · Proposal, Tips

From Shakespeare, Graham Greene, JK Rowling to Colum McAndrew, Ellis Pratt, David Farbey. All have all one thing in common – great writing! As my career started in the Baker Street, London in the 90s, I’ve always carried fond memories of my time in England. Here are some UK based technical writers you might want [...]

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5 Reasons You Should Leave Facebook and Join LinkedIn

February 9th, 2010 · Comments Off · Proposal, Tips

I’ve started to use my social networks, such as Facebook more strategically rather than adopting a ‘shotgun approach’. In other words, I try to leverage each site by seeing the opportunities it offers and then using these. Recently, I’ve started to shift away from Facebook and moved to LinkedIn.

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Using Google Wave to Write Technical Documentation in Real Time

January 18th, 2010 · Comments Off · Proposal, Tips

Maeve asks on LinkedIn how we can use Google Wave to write technical documents. Well, the first consideration is that Google Wave is not designed as a tech authoring tool but for collaboration and ‘almost’ real-time information exchange. Saying that, it does offer many benefits if you need to plan/coordinate/review documents in a networked environment. [...]

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How To Differentiate Yourself As A Technical Writer

January 12th, 2010 · Comments Off · Proposal, Tips

Tom Peters says, “the value of services will continue to fall” and that the only way to survive is to differentiate yourself from the competition. Is this true? How do you as a technical writer make yourself stand out from the crowd? If you don’t, what impact could this have on your career? How to [...]

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4 Technical Writers I Love + Betsy at Techsmith

January 11th, 2010 · Comments Off · Proposal, Tips

Who are the technical writers you respect most of the web? These four people helped me in 2009 and id like to share them with you. Some you may know, others you may not. The point is that while I’ve worked with many people in the last 12 months, these folks, have reached out and [...]

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