Keep it simple and relevant

Simplicity is the key to success of web writing. Unless your message is well comprehended by all, the whole purpose of writing will go in vain. Keep it simple yet strong, crisp yet impactful, creative yet relevant. No one is interested in reading pages after pages, so keep it short but powerful, including all important things you wish to communicate to your visitor. You can’t beat around the bushes and for the sake of creativity commit the mistake of losing focus. Stick to your topic, stay relevant.

It should be informative

Often web contents are seen repetitive, vague, and lacking concrete substance. But if a website is not informative, doesn’t convey anything meaningful even a good style of writing can go wasted. So, know what all to be included, what are the important points and include them all. Don’t beat around the bushes.

Make it tightly knit and avoid disconnection

Structure your write up properly, in a smooth flow moving from one thought to another. One sentence should be well connected to the next, but shouldn’t convey the same thing. A well-knit writing with a smooth flow will make reading pleasurable and beneficial for the reader. There shouldn’t be any disconnection. Many writers often use too many conjunctions to make the write up well-knit. But conjunctions show writer’s weakness. Instead, you may change paragraphs to convey different things.

Next time keep these few simple tips in mind while writing web content. It will be easier for you to craft captivating and effective web content.

Before leaving for any unfamiliar place do enough of research on the destination. You can take help of travel book and magazines, travel portals, travel guides or travel agencies. But make sure you know everything about the distance, climate, society, food, means of transport, rules and regulations, currency etc.

Passport, visas are definitely not to be forgotten. Rail, flight, bus, ship tickets should be kept in the hand bag or briefcase a day before the journey.

Don’t forget to take your identity proofs. Put your name tags on your luggage too.

Money, cheque books, drafts, visa cards should be placed in the hand bag or briefcase at least few hours before leaving your house. Without these essentials you will reach nowhere. Keep your insurance documents handy.

Don’t forget to carry your mobile phone, laptop, i-pod/mp3 player, e-book reader and whatever gadgets you consider to be essential part of your daily life. If you are about to travel for long duration carry a worldwide SIM card.

Travel maps are not to be forgotten. If you are travelling to a country of different language try to carry a localized travel guide and phrase books. They will be of immense help.

Then start with the clothes. Carry clothes as per the climate and societal restrictions of the destination. Consider the dress material as per the month of visit and weather of the land. If you plan to shop clothes at the place you are visiting, keep your luggage minimum. If you are approaching a land where monsoon is about to strike don’t forget to carry raincoats, umbrella.

Flip flops, cap or hat, sunglasses, watches enabled with alarming facility or a separate alarm clock (so that you don’t miss your midnight flight or train), a torch and batteries, chargers and plug adapter, zip-close plastic bags, water bottles, condoms, sleeping bag, swiss army knife or tool kit are among the small essential things that you will require in your journey.

Keep yourself entertained even in the long boring train journeys. Carry a novel you wanted to finish long back, games or playing cards, mp3 player, video and still camera.

Take enough of skin and health protections. It’s only when you stay healthy you can make the maximum of your travel. Keep yourself prepared from all adversities. Carry UV ray protection lotion, hand disinfectant, toilet paper, pain relief spray, bandages, antiseptics, insect and mosquito repellent, water purification tablets or liquid, prescribed medicine, diarrhea medicine, body lotion, soap, toothbrush and paste, deodorant, lip balm, hair shampoo and conditioner, hair dryer, shaving kit, mini mirror, towel.

That’s it. Now sit back and wait for the time to bid adieu.

General guidelines

• A CV has to be typed in word-processor, well formatted on a piece of A4 good quality paper. Print should be clear. Do not use too many variants of font sizes and styles. Make the headings bold/underlined. Don’t hesitate to leave plenty of white space around. It should look neat and professional. Use bullets wherever subsections are required.
• Use spell-check command after completion of writing. Accurate spelling and grammar are essential.
• A CV should not be more than 2 pages long. Be concise yet informative; as CV is appetizer not the main course of food. Just put relevant and important things on paper. Each page should be printed on a separate sheet of paper.
• Don’t write ‘Curriculum Vitae’ on top, that’s quite obvious.
• While applying for a specific job, bring your relevant skills on paper. Don’t unnecessarily add irrelevant skills in your CV.
• Be honest and truthful. Don’t omit information (which you don’t want employer to know) and neither communicate inaccurate and misleading information. Addition and deletion of information may actually drag you into problems.

Things to be included in CV

1. Personal Details
• This would include name, address, phone number, email id, website.
2. Educational Qualification
• Mention names of institutes, names of courses, marks achieved and year of passing. Most recent one comes first.
3. Work Experience
• The recent work experience first. Name of the employer, designation, duration and year of working, job responsibilities, clients worked with – are to be included here. Even part-time jobs or summer trainings can be included.
4. Awards and Achievements
• If you have achieved any title in your career or academic span, feel free to flaunt it here in detail (title, year, cause, provider’s detail). Even small achievements, titles and awards earned can be mentioned.
5. Skills
• Languages known, computer-knowledge, driving skill can be included.
6. References
• It’s recommended to put names of two references – one academic (teacher or project supervisor) and one person from your employer (your ex-colleague/supervisor/manager). Make sure you take permission of the given people before including their names. With due permission give their names, contact information, work information briefly.

Remember that the purpose of this letter is to thank the interviewer for their time, not to try and sell yourself once more.  That part of the interview is long gone, and this is your chance to show your professionalism and appreciation.  Etiquette dictates that after an interview a thank you email should be sent within 24 hours, and a regular mailed letter should be sent within the first 2 days afterward.

In the actual formation of your letter you should make sure that it is business standard.  Type it up, make sure to use the interviewer’s name and company address, so as to refer to them professionally.  Then write a few paragraphs of thanks.  Don’t be afraid to re-outline your interest in working for that company.  But don’t get bogged down in mentioning your qualifications once again.  They have your resume, and you’ve given them an interview, they got a feel for you.  This letter is simply about thanking them for the opportunity given.  Don’t forget that, or push it aside to give them another personal sales pitch.

Taking the time to write a thank you letter could even be more effective than you might think.  So make sure you do, many people overlook the thank you letters and emails that they should be sending.  By ensuring you do this every time, you show your attention to detail, and commitment to getting the job.  Both are fantastic characteristics, and ones that you should use to your advantage.

No priority list: This is the first thing in the list because I wanted to tell you emphatically the importance of having a prioritized to-do list. In the absence of such list you will not know what is more important and what can wait till evening. Hence, what you end up doing first in the morning is the thing that was not at all important.

A pile of task: This is almost always unmanageable. A huge list of work to complete will just immobilize you and you cannot accomplish anything, so bite only what you can chew, and leave rest on the plate for others.

Wrong Timing: This is important. Do the critical work in the morning when you are fresh, and push the less important works for the rest of the day. Checking mail in the morning takes away the time in which you could have accomplished many important things.

Untidy Mailbox: This kills your time more than anything else. Too many mails in your mailbox will not boost your productivity; rather it will stamp it down. You need to organize your mailbox by filing important mails in folders and deleting the unnecessary ones.

No Do Not Disturb Sign: This is very important. In the office, being accessible to your subordinates, colleagues and bosses is considered professionalism. It indeed will win you many friends and support, but at times this will result in delayed reports and missed deadlines. Hence, you need to put “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door when you have important work with a tight deadline to finish.

Working Long Hours: If someone told you that working for hours in a stretch will fetch you great result then he was wrong. You need to take breaks at equal intervals to recharge your battery. The more relax you will be the better result will come out. Working continuously does nothing but worn you out.

Stand Up and Say No: Saying no is a good thing. It says you care and that you know the importance of the additional work that is going to get assigned to you. If you say no when you are caught up, this way you will not only save yourself from missing deadlines due to overload, but this will also help your organization get the work done through someone else who is free at that time.