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Every business needs marketing, and it's almost always the last thing to get done.

In my last Op-Ed, I defined marketing as who, what, where, when, why and how your organization interacts with others in order to meet your business goals. It's part of what I call the Do-it-Yourself Under-Complicated Marketing Plan. I recommended you start by setting some of what I categorize as "SMART" goals. For the next step, it's important to define the "who."

No, your target is not 'everyone'

Think about the sneaker business. It's a pretty wide market. Practically everyone needs a pair, right? But the most successful sneaker companies know better. They focus on very specific targets.

Take a look at Nike's website. It's all about fitness, sports and winning. Converse, on the other hand, is about making a personal identity statement. Their Google ad says, "Shoes are Boring. Sneakers are Iconic." Who would have thought they'd make Chuck Taylor All Stars with a studded collar? Even if nearly everyone needs sneakers, these companies help us know exactly which sneaker fits our personal needs, whether we are uber-competitive or ultrafashionable.

Target even more than big-budget players like Nike

No matter what product you sell or service you deliver, more targeted marketing gives you a better return. Targeting a specific audience gets you in front of them more often, with messages that touch them emotionally. If you try to be everything to everyone, your message becomes vague and less impactful. Branding expert Todd Friedman writes:

"The more you can define not only the demographics - like age, gender and household income - but also the type of person (psychographics), including attitudes, tendencies, and preferences, the more you can directly speak to your audience. Owning a specific market's mind share is the key."

But who is your 'ideal' customer?

Here are two methods to identify your target.

First, create a fictional buyer whose needs your product meets perfectly.

In the last 10 years, it has been trendy to create "buyer personas." A buyer persona is a character who represents your target customer or client. Creating a fictional person named Suzie or Sammy with specific wants, needs and desires makes it easier to design marketing campaigns these ideal customers will respond to. They're typically created using a great deal of research and data about current customers. Some find this process valuable. But it costs time and money, which you may not have.

Second, think about your best clients, most profitable customers or most reliable donors.

Ask yourself:

Who has bought before and returned to buy again?

Which client has been the most profitable or referred their friends?

Which donor has given when you really needed them and brought others to the table?

Now look at these people and figure out who they are, so you can find more like them.

Are they male or female? How old? Married or single?

How educated are they? What do they do for a living?

What's their outlook on life - are they optimistic? Realistic?

Where do they get their news? What do they do for fun? What do they care about?

Why do they do business with you? How would they describe your company?

Janet Kyle Altman is the marketing partner at the accounting firm Kaufman, Rossin & Co.

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To Market Successfully, Your Customer Can't Be 'Everyone' (Op-Ed)

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Every business needs marketing, and it's almost always the last thing to get done. In my last Op-Ed, I defined marketing as who, what, where, when, why and how your organization interacts with others in order to meet your business goals. It's part of what I call the Do-it-Yourself Under-Complicated Marketing Plan.

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Credibility comprises the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source or message. Credibility dates back to Aristotle theory of Rhetoric. Aristotle defines rhetoric as the ability to see what is possibly persuasive in every situation. He divided the means of persuasion into three categories, namely Ethos (the source's credibility), Pathos (the emotional or motivational appeals), and Logos (the logic used to support a claim), which he believed have the capacity to influence the receiver of a message. According to Aristotle, the term "Ethos" deals with the character of the speaker. The intent of the speaker is to appear credible. In fact, the speaker's ethos is a rhetorical strategy employed by an orator whose purpose is to "inspire trust in his audience." Credibility has two key components: trustworthiness and expertise, which both have objective and subjective components. Trustworthiness is based more on subjective factors, but can include objective measurements such as established reliability. Expertise can be similarly subjectively perceived, but also includes relatively objective characteristics of the source or message (e.g., credentials, certification or information quality). Secondary components of credibility include source dynamism (charisma) and physical attractiveness.

Credibility online has become an important topic since the mid-1990s. This is because the web has increasingly become an information resource. The Credibility and Digital Media Project @ UCSB highlights recent and ongoing work in this area, including recent consideration of digital media, youth, and credibility. In addition, the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University has studied web credibility and proposed the principal components of online credibility and a general theory called Prominence-Interpretation Theory.

According to the Society of Professional Journalists' code of ethics, professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility. A journalist's number one obligation is to be honest.

According to Gallup polls, Americans' confidence in the mass media has been consistently declining each year since 2007.

In 2013, a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that credibility ratings for major news organizations are at or near their all-time lows.

"As audiences lose confidence in traditional news outlets, many see great promise in the Internet as a response to this crisis in journalism."

The widespread use of the internet has helped motivate journalists to become more credible. The reason for this is because the competition of providing news increased when consumers had the chance and ability to choose the media that they consume through online sources. The internet has provided a chance for anyone to report news. In order to increase credibility, and therefore increase readers of their articles, journalists should be objective, accurate, trustworthy, and reliable.

Three aspects of credibility: clarity (how easily the article can be understood), accuracy (how well documented the information is), and trustworthiness (how believable the information is).

Students perception of instructors has great importance and possible consequences. Instructor credibility, which is defined as "the attitude of a receiver which references the degree to which a source is seen to be believable", consists of three dimensions-, competence, character, and caring. Competence focuses on his or her expertise or knowledge in a subject matter. Character refers to the "goodness" (i.e., honesty, trustworthiness) of an instructor. Caring focuses on whether the instructor shows concern or empathy for the students' welfare or situation. Although an instructor may show one or two of these qualities, the best and most respected exude all three qualities. A study done by Atkinson and Cooper revealed that students who are taught by an instructor they perceive as credible, results in extreme allegiance to those instructors.

Generally, instructors who are perceived to have credibility are associated with effective teaching skills. Instructors who demonstrate competence, character, and/or caring are perceived to engage in a variety of effective instructional communication behaviors such as argumentativeness, verbal and nonverbal immediacy, affinity seeking, and assertiveness and responsiveness. Moreover, credible instructors are perceived to be low in verbal aggressiveness and less likely to use behaviors that interfere with student learning.

Unlike instructor competence which centers on instructors' perceived expertise, instructor character and caring are rooted in students' perceptions of their instructors' interpersonal communication behaviors. Students can feel more connected to the material being taught and have the information stay in their mind, if the instructor sharing the information has credibility. According to studies, when instructors exemplify the qualities of character (i.e., kind, virtuous, good) and caring (i.e., empathetic, understanding, responsive), students report a greater likelihood of communicating with them.

Teachers who are concerned with whether students communicate with them, either in class or out of class, may want to reconsider the role their own in-class communication behaviors play in students' willingness or likelihood to communicate with them. Instructors who are interested in how students perceive their competence, character, and caring should examine how their in-class communication behaviors contribute to these perceptions. They can evaluate themselves, go back over their lectures, scores that students give them at the end of the semester, and seek advice and training from their peers. By doing so, instructors may find students are more willing, likely, or interested in communicating with them.

Scientific credibility has been defined as the extent to which science in general is recognized as a source of reliable information about the world. The term has also been applied more narrowly, as an assessment of the credibility of the work of an individual scientist or a field of research. Here, the phrase refers to how closely the work in question adheres to scientific principles, such as the scientific method. The method most commonly used to assess the quality of science is peer review and then publication as part of the scientific literature. Other approaches include the collaborative assessment of a topic by a group of experts, this process can produce reviews such as those published by the Cochrane Collaboration, or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The general public can give a great deal of weight to perceptions of scientific authority in their decisions on controversial issues that involve scientific research, such as biotechnology. However, both the credibility and authority of science is questioned by groups with non-mainstream views, such as some advocates of alternative medicine, or those who dispute the scientific consensus on a topic, such as denialists of AIDS and of evolution[citation needed ].

People rely on doctors' expertise to respond to issues relating to their health. Trust in a doctor's credibility is essential to a patient's health: depending on the patient's trust in the doctor they will be more or less willing to seek help, reveal sensitive information, submit to treatment, and follow the doctor's recommendations. According to numerous studies, done over 15 years we can conclude that we see a doctor's credibility as having five overlapping characteristics: Fidelity, which is caring and advocating for the patient's interests or welfare and avoiding conflicts of interest; competence, which is having good practice and interpersonal skills, making correct decisions, and avoiding mistakes; honesty, which is telling the truth and avoiding intentional falsehoods; confidentiality, which is proper use of sensitive information; and global trust, which is the irreducible "soul" of trust, or aspects that combine elements from some or all of the separate dimensions.

In general, it is easy to see what patients are looking for when it comes to a trustworthy doctor and the best way they can have their needs satisfied. There does seem to be a growing discontent with the medical field, however, because of for-profit drug companies that are influencing money behind the medical field. In 2002 a doctor attended the hearings of a drug company that was on trial for the death of adolescents who committed suicide while taking their antidepressants. Before the hearing studies had been filed with the FDA under the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act of 2002. These studies reflected a congressional effort to motivate drug companies to study the effects of medications on children. Since children are a much smaller market for new drugs, the pharmaceutical industry was suspected to not study them as much. The Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act of 2002 was meant to strengthen drug companies credibility by rewarding those that performed pediatric studies. The law, however, did not require these pediatric studies performed to be publicized or published

According to a New England Journal of Medicine study, 94% of American doctors have some relationship with a drug or medical device company, including payments but also drug samples and industry lunches, for example. Such alarming evidence is what has prompted a growing mistrust in medical professionals credibility. Despite the studies conducted intended on finding out how to increase doctors' credibility, the findings are inconclusive. It is a strong general consensus that increased visibility of the relationship between doctors and pharmaceutical companies is the first place to start.

We are seeing some progress towards transparency. The US Open Payments Act (Physician Payments Sunshine Act) has from October 2014 required drug companies to disclose payments to doctors, but it's still does not give total transparency. There is a long way to go in establishing trust and credibility behind what the doctors recommend to patients. Being honest and showing that they are acting off their expertise instead of motivated by incentives given by pharmaceutical companies.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it.

In case of the Web pages, vast majority of researchers identifies two key components of credibility:

Trustworthiness - related to well-intentioned, truthful, unbiased information and perceived goodness or morality of the source.

Expertise - connected with such terms as knowledgeable, experienced, competent and captures the perceived knowledge and skill of the source.

Street credibility or "street cred" is the degree to which someone's word can be believed by a typical person, the "person on the street". Corporations have gone through their own ways of getting street credibility; however, it goes by a different name: branding. This is a process in which companies spend billions of dollars a year and it is meant to convey information about a product, who is using it, and why others should also. They are targeting certain individuals as to increase their ability to grow their "street cred" so that the sales growth does not end. From clothing like running shoes and jeans to food and alcoholic beverages, branding is used to assist companies improve their street cred and better sell a product.

The CEO of the company is the face of what the public sees. A CEO helps illustrate the organization's internal and external shareholders. CEOs are spokesmen who are actively visible and shape the corporate image. The role of the CEO is to influence employees' attitudes, perceptions, and performances through example of leadership and support.

CEO credibility is made up of two factors: knowing what one is talking about, or expertise; and being able to be trusted, or trustworthiness. One of the ways that a CEO's expertise is measured is by the way his/her employees perceive them. If the CEO is seen as someone to whom the senior employees can go to for knowledge and help, this goes to show they have confidence that the CEO holds the skills necessary to help, and is thus valued in their position as such. The extent to which the employee gives their confidence to the CEO determines the CEO's trustworthiness. An employee may totally embrace or quietly set aside the message of the CEO, these results measure the degree of trustworthiness there is in the CEO. The whole reputation of the organization represented by the CEO is built mainly by the experience of the employees as time passes. This reputation is carefully built by many factors experienced by the employees such as the actual services or products sphere, social aspects related to work and the overall foresight and ability to lead in a successful manner.

There is a natural connection link between the CEO and the organization. A CEO's credibility affects how employees view the organization's image. Employees who perceive the CEO as more qualified, competent, knowledge, possessing more expertise, and skills tend to view the organizational reputation more positively. Employees who view the CEO as more honest and trustworthy tend to evaluate the organization in a positive manner.

The employees view of the organization completely intervenes the positive relationship between the CEO credibility and the employee's involvement of engagement. Although the CEO's credibility positively affects employee engagement, the actual impact is exercised by the employee's view of the organization's reputation.

Social media credibility is dependent on cues and heuristics. Cues used to assess credibility online are Authority cues, Identity Cues, and Bandwagon cues. Authority Cues are the most influence source credibility. Authority cues are cues that let the viewer know that it is an expert source such as a University or Government Institution. Identity cues are peer information. Users trust information more if they can identify the person that published it the publisher is not anonymous. Users view information as more credible if a peer shared it than a stranger. Bandwagon cues triggers credibility processing based on the logic that "if others think it's good, so should I.

Jürgen Habermas in his theory of communicative action developed four validity claims ( truth, sincerity, appropriateness and understandability) leading to the concept of credibility.

In a different study researchers empirically validated the claims and derived a two-phase model of "reporting credibility", where first of all understandability needs to be reached. Only then the three other validity claims make a difference and may lead to credibility in the Habermasian sense.

1. ^ Elizabeth Mendes (19 September 2013). "In U.S., Trust in Media Recovers Slightly from All-Time Low". Gallup.

2. The Pew Center for the People & the Press, "Amid Criticism, Support for Media's 'Watchdog' Role Stands Out," The Pew Center for the People & the Press, Aug. 8, 2013, ^ http://www.people-press.org/2013/08/08/amid-criticism-supportfor-medias-watchdog-role-stands-out/

3. ^ McCroskey, J. C. (1998). An introduction to communication in the classroom (2nd ed.).Acton, MA: Tapestry Press.

4. ^ Frymier, A. B., & Thompson, C. A. (1992). Perceived teacher affinity-seeking in relation to perceived teacher credibility. Communication Education, 41, 388-399.

5. ^ Myers, S. A. (2004). The Relationship between Perceived Instructor Credibility and College Student In-class and Out-of-class Communication. Communication Reports, 17(2), 129-137. doi:10.1080/08934210409389382

6. ^ Bocking, Stephen (2004). Nature's experts: science, politics, and the environment. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. p. 164. ISBN 0-8135-3398-8.

7. ^ Alkin, Marvin C. (2004). Evaluation roots: tracing theorists' views and influences. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage. p. 134. ISBN 0-7619-2894-4.

8. ^ Bocking, Stephen (2004). Nature's experts: science, politics, and the environment. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. p. 165. ISBN 0-8135-3398-8.

9. ^ What is a Cochrane review The Cochrane Collaboration, Accessed 5 January 2009

10. ^ Agrawala, S. (1998). "Structural and Process History of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change". Climatic Change. 39 (4): 621-642. doi:10.1023/A:1005312331477.

11. ^ Brossard, Dominique; Nisbet, Matthew C. (2007). "Deference to Scientific Authority Among a Low Information Public: Understanding U.S. Opinion on Agricultural Biotechnology". International Journal of Public Opinion Research. 19 (1): 24. doi:10.1093/ijpor/edl003. Lay summary.

12. ^ O'callaghan, F.V.; Jordan, N. (2003). "Postmodern values, attitudes and the use of complementary medicine". Complementary Therapies in Medicine. 11 (1): 28-32. doi:10.1016/S0965-2299(02)00109-7. PMID 12667972.

13. ^ Epstein, Steven (1996). Impure science: AIDS, activism, and the politics of knowledge. Medicine and Society. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 1-466. ISBN 0-520-21445-5. PMID 11619509.

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Credibility comprises the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source or message. Credibility dates back to Aristotle theory of Rhetoric. Aristotle defines rhetoric as the ability to see what is possibly persuasive in every situation.

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You already know how to write a resume. You put your contact info at the top and then list your jobs in reverse chronological order, with your education at the end. Done! What's the big deal?

The big deal is that if you write your resume the way countless books and articles have instructed you to, you're going to sound like a Star Wars Battle Drone or a zombie. Standard resume language like "Results-oriented professional with a bottom-line orientation" brands you exactly like every other banana in the bunch. It's excruciating for a hiring manager to read a resume that sounds like it was the written by a robot rather than a human being. So why not try something new, and put a human voice in your resume?

You're thinking right now "But I have to please Godzilla, Liz! I have to stuff my resume full of stupid corporate boilerplate and keywords so that I'll make it through the Applicant Tracking System a/k/a Black Hole." Here's why you're not going to worry about that - two reasons:

1. You can write a Human-Voiced Resume and still stuff keywords into it (we'll get there). Applicant tracking systems don't care whether you describe yourself as a "Results-oriented professional" or any other way.

2. I don't want you wasting your time with Black Hole recruiting sites in any case. They're a waste of time. You can reach your hiring manager directly through the postal service, and I recommend that you try it, because people around the world are dramatically improving their job-search results that way.

How do you write a Human-Voiced Resume, or revise your current resume to put a human voice in it? Follow these ten steps.
Create Your Basic Career History
Make a list of your past jobs, starting with your current or most recent one. If you've already got a resume, use that as a starting point. For each job in your history, list the job title(s) you held, the dates you had the job and the company name. Title this document "Career History" and save it -- you'll use it later.
Pick a Career Direction
Now, stop and think about what you want to do next in your career. You're going to pick a focus area for your job search. A Human-Voiced Resume is specific - it appeals to a particular set of hiring managers. You're not going to brand yourself a Marketing, PR and Customer Support Leader in one resume -- split out those facets of yourself (we call them 'prongs') into three different versions of your resume. If you've identified a set of hiring managers that is looking for a combination Marketing/PR/Customer Support Leader, go ahead and create a consolidated prong just for that group of managers, but in general, the more specific your brand, the better.

Why is a specific brand better? It's because a Human-Voiced Resume, like a Pain Letter, is oriented around pain. Hiring managers have specific kinds of pain. They're not excited to talk to someone who says "I can do everything!" because that's not a believable message. When a manager has customer service pain, s/he's looking for an ace customer service person. When the manager has IT security pain, s/he'll be looking for an IT security pain relief specialist - like you!
Write Your Human-Voiced Resume Summary
Once you have your focus area firmly in mind (we call it A Place To Put Your Canoe in the Water), write a Human-Voiced Resume Summary that describes you and the pain you solve. Give us a feel for yourself as a person. Tell us how you got into the field, for instance:
Since I started writing business stories for my college newspaper, I've been a zealot for business storytelling and its power in shaping audience behavior. As a PR Manager I've gotten my employers covered by CNN, USA Today and the Chicago Tribune.
This Public Relations job-seeker gives us a lot in two sentences. He tells us how he got into PR - as a kid writing stories for the college newspaper. In our minds we can see him flying across campus to interview somebody for a story. The PR job-seeker knows why he does what he does, and he tells us about the results he's had doing it: he's obviously skilled at getting national media attention.

Notice that the PR job-seeker doesn't use his precious resume real estate to say "I know how to get national media coverage." He doesn't say "I'm strategic" or "I'm smart." Those aren't his judgments to make. He just tells us what he's done, and lets every reader decide whether he's smart, strategic or anything else.
Frame Your Past Jobs
Here's the part where you're going to use the Career History you wrote and saved earlier. As you add your past jobs (and your current job, if you're working now) to your Human-Voiced Resume, you're going frame each assignment for the reader, by telling us what the company is all about (you can't assume we know) and what your job is or was all about:
Acme Explosives, Phoenix, Arizona

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You already know how to write a resume. You put your contact info at the top and then list your jobs in reverse chronological order, with your education at the end. Done! What's the big deal? The big deal is that if you write your resume the way countless books and [...]

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Join Judy Steiner-Williams for an in-depth discussion in this video Making your writing credible, part of Business Writing Principles

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If you are having trouble locating a specific resource please visit the search page or the Site Map.

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This resource provides an introduction to community engagement and writing for both students and instructors.

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Personal letters are used in certain contexts as a means of personal communication. This may include, but is not limited to, letters of complaint and holiday letters. Personal letters, when compared to emails, may give the reader a stronger feeling of personal connection with the author.

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Customers will sometimes tell me that they want to reach everyone with their products or services, and I will tell them that it is impossible for anyone to succeed without a specific target audience, as saying that everyone is your target audience implies that your product or service appeals to no one specifically at all. As a business, you definitely cannot speak the same language to a wide range of people, and if you try to reach everyone with the same marketing message, you will end up with a brand that nobody can engage with. Let me explain why.
Your Target Audience Is the One That Is Most Likely to Buy with Your Marketing Budget
It only makes sense to narrow y our audience to one which you think will most likely respond to your products and services, as every company will have a set of marketing budget that is set aside per year. For instance, if you have $1,000 to spend on Facebook ads a month, choose up to 2 or 3 target audience profiles to run your ads, test and then put your remaining budget into the target sector that gives you the best conversion rates.
There Are Some Sectors Who Will Never Buy From You At All
Truth is, no matter how much you market to some sectors, they will never buy from you. They might not have the money, or they might not understand how your products or services can help them, or their features, or how they can help save them time and money.
Defining Your Buyer Persona
There could be indeed some businesses whose products or services appeal to everyone, but if that is the case, you still need a customised solution or message that talk to each of your target audience. At this stage, you need to define your buyer persona, which is basically a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers. Hubspot has a great template for you to create your buyer persona.

How then do you create your buyer persona? Here's a simple list that will help you.

How old are my customers?

Are they male or female?

Are they married or single?

What are their income?

What are their occupations?

What are their hobbies?

Where do they usually hang out?

What are their goals in life?

Where do they live?

What are their educational levels?

What magazines, books, or websites do they like to read or browse?

Do they drive or commute via public transport?

There are more questions that you can think of, and the more detailed you are, the better.

And again, you cannot please everyone, nor should you try to do so. Spending your resources and marketing dollars on people that are not interested and will never be interested in your products or services is a waste of your money and efforts. By defining your target market, you will be able to focus your marketing budget where it matters.

Contact us for a chat using the form below - we'll be able to offer some tips to increase your revenue!

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Why "Everyone" Is Not Your Target Audience - MagicHoth

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Customers will sometimes tell me that they want to reach everyone with their products or services, and I will tell them that it is impossible for anyone to succeed without a specific target audience, as saying that everyone is your target audience implies that your product or service appeals to no one specifically at all.

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It's a piece of necessary wisdom that will be shared with countless college students this fall by nervous parents: Tell a story at a party, and it's heard by a handful of people, whose reactions you perhaps have some ability to predict. Tell it on the internet, and it will be heard by the people you know and the people you don't - and the latter outnumber the former by several orders of magnitude. Don't put your picture on Facebook flashing the camera or looking drunk or kissing someone you might later regret kissing.

But for people trying to break into some kind of a creative field, the ability to broadcast your work is a blessing. Perhaps your stand-up video on YouTube will be the one that goes viral, or your blog post will be the one everyone reads. There are a million opportunities to be seen, and the best part is that you don't have to deal with so much "no."

"No, we won't publish your piece." "Okay, I'll put it on my blog."

"No, we won't give you a record deal." "Okay, I'll make YouTube videos."

"No, we won't publish your book." "That's okay; I can do it myself for e-readers."

The development of online writing and performance exposes new voices and lets those voices experiment with provocative, enormously creative content, and there are a thousand good things to say about that. Gatekeepers have traditionally been similar to each other in sensibility and demographics, often to the detriment of diverse content.

But who you are talking to no longer has anything to do with who you think you're talking to. You can tell a story to your narrow circle a hundred times and have nobody bat an eyelash, but the minute you step outside that circle, everything is completely different. And that can underscore the way that a sudden explosion of your audience can give what you say a completely unexpected reception.

At an improv comedy show on August 14, audience members were invited to step up to the microphone and tell a story that would inspire an improv set. Partway through the performance, a man who identifies himself as "Eric" begins to tell his story. He explains that he was working as a host/cook at Second City in Chicago, and a drunk woman from out of town hit on a friend of his, but the friend had a girlfriend, so he effectively passed her number off to Eric. (Like ... a baseball card? If you already find this story creepy, rest assured that it's only getting started.)

In Eric's version of events, he goes to the woman's hotel room, and she tells him he's not the guy she invited. "Yeah," he says, "but I'm the guy who showed up." [Huge audience applause.] She tells him to leave, but he persists (with charming lines like "my friend said this was a sure deal"), and when that doesn't work, he asks to borrow her cell phone, telling her it's so he can get a ride and leave. When she goes into the room to get her phone, she leaves the door open. As he describes it, this made him think, "Bingo." (Be aware before you watch the video, where Eric begins speaking at about the 38-minute mark: It's upsetting and crude.) (And "Yowie.com," which hosts the video and offered it as an embed, has written to us to make sure we tell you that that's where the embedded video came from. So now you know: Get all your incredibly uncomfortable monologues from "Yowie.com.")

So he goes into the room and closes the door behind him. She tells him again that he needs to leave, and at that point - again, quoting Eric - his thought is, "It's now or never." So she asks him to leave again, and he says he doesn't think she really means it, and then they "end up on the bed ... making out." How exactly they "ended up on the bed" when she was just telling him to leave repeatedly is left unstated, but to cut to the chase, he winds up having sex with her, after which she tells him to get out. Asked if she was attractive, he gives a noncommittal "eh."

[I'll wait here while you take a hot shower and wash off that story.]

[EDIT: It's been pointed out to me via e-mail that something I left out because I found it confusing and perhaps unfairly damning if you didn't hear his weirdly ambiguous version of it for yourself actually makes the story less damning to other people, so it would be better to describe it, and I'm happy to do that. Basically, at one point, after they're on the bed, Eric describes the woman pinning him down physically and repeating that he needs to leave. But the next thing he says, without much explanation, is that they continued making out. So on the one hand, he says that she physically resisted, but on the other, he says she was stronger than he was. So take that addition to the story for what you will. Given that he doesn't describe physically overpowering her and that wasn't my objection to the story, I didn't find it enormously significant one way or the other, but perhaps you do.]

Predictably, the question arose pretty quickly, as Jezebel asked it, "Is This Comedy Monologue A Rape Confession?" Since then, there's been extensive discussion in various comment sections of the fine points of consent and law and intoxication, and since The Second City tweeted from its official account that it had "alerted the proper authorities," those questions will have to be answered by people who can figure out what really happened and whether all or any of this story is true, or whether it's just a story - a bit he's doing for the crowd.

Here's the thing, though. In the best case scenario - in the absolute sunniest way you can possibly look at this story - Eric is telling a story that he thinks is really funny about how he used an anonymous woman like a blow-up doll, doing whatever he had to in order to get in the door, ultimately persuading her to go along, caring not at all that she didn't want to have sex with him, having sex with her, and then leaving. He treats her like she's inhuman and valueless and gross and nasty but still fine for having sex with once, and he thinks he's the hero of this story.

What has stuck with me ever since I saw this video - what has really kept me restless and bothered - is that he has no idea it might bother anyone. He has no idea that anybody would object to this at all, while I'm over here barely being able to listen to it because it's so upsetting and it pings every instinct I have about creeps and The Gift Of Fear and RUN RUN RUN YELL FOR HELP. He told this story thinking maybe that it would get on YouTube and everyone would think it was hilarious ("No, but I'm the guy who showed up!"). He had no idea that Second City would wind up saying, in effect, "Uh, yeah, we ... called the cops."

If Eric thought telling this story in public would open up a serious public back-and-forth about whether this is a story of sexually assaulting this woman, he wouldn't have done it. He thinks he looks cool in this story, and indeed, a certain number of people in the audience keep laughing the whole time.

This is the curse and the blessing of the instantly multiplied audience, I suppose. Whoever has heard this story before apparently thought it was funny. They don't seem to have found it creepy, anyway. And it seems to be far from the first time he's told it, considering that at one point he actually says he's speaking "the way I tell this story to my friends."

Maybe it's not true. Maybe it's part-true. That certainly matters to the police, and to the woman, and to him, and presumably to his family and friends. But whether he considers this a true story where everyone will be on his side or a comedy routine that will strike people as some kind of a hooray-for-the-underdog narrative, I find it profoundly upsetting. Having it be true is awful, but having it be something he would invent or embellish, either as comedy or as image management, also crawls across my skin like an entire army of cockroaches.

Certainly, the fact that he told this story may be a good thing if it gets somebody to deal with whatever is going on here, whether there's a crime to prosecute or not. But the idea that somewhere, there is a guy who thinks this story makes him look good, who apparently had no idea that it would make him look to a lot of other people like a criminal or at best a revolting heel, makes me wish the always-on video had never been invented, because part of me just didn't want to know.

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Your Friends Are Not Your Audience: A Disturbing Internet Lesson In Perspective

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A man recently stepped up to a microphone to tell a story he thought was about a really funny thing that happened to him. Others think he confessed to sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room. Still others suspect the story isn't even true.

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If you have a look at the title of this article you will see that some letters are capitalized and some are not. Although the capitalization of titles can sometimes depend on the particular style of a writer, institution or publication, there are some general rules to keep in mind.

Style Guides

The rules for capitalizing titles not only of articles, but also books, papers, speeches, etc, can vary according to a particular style guide, such as Associated Press Stylebook (AP), Chicago Manual of Style, and MLA style. This is known as title case. While you will find similarities between each guide, it's important to pay attention to their differences.

Style guide similarities:

In all three styles, always capitalize the first and last word of any title.

In all three styles, capitalize nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Visiting Beautiful Ruins (noun)

As She Ran Away (pronoun)

The Importance of Learning Fast (verb)

The Poky Little Puppy (adjective)

She Quietly Waits (adverb)

In all three styles, do not capitalize articles, prepositions, or coordinating conjunctions.

To Catch a Thief (article)

One Year in Paris (preposition)

Magic and Daybreak (coordinating conjunction)

Style guide differences:

In the AP Stylebook, all words with three letters or less are lowercased. However, if any of those words are verbs (is, are, was, be), they are to be capitalized.

In the Chicago Manual of Style, all prepositions are lowercased, even the lengthier ones (between, among, throughout).

In MLA style, words with three letters or less are always lowercased.

So, which one should you choose? Well, it all depends if a certain style is required by your teacher, course, or subject/field. For example, MLA style is commonly used in the liberal arts or humanities. AP style is popularly used in journalism, Chicago is often used in business. A suggestion is to choose one style, or check to see what style is required by your teacher or editor, and stick to it.

The General Rules for Title Case

As we can see, there are some exceptions to the general rules for title case set forth by each style guide, but they mostly follow a similar pattern. We know to capitalize the first, last, and important words in a title. Important words include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and more. So, generally, these parts of speech are capitalized in titles:

Nouns - man, bus, book

Adjectives - angry, lovely, small

Verbs - run, eat, sleep

Adverbs - slowly, quickly, quietly

Pronouns - he, she, it

Subordinating conjunctions - as, because, that

"Short" words, those with less than five letters, are lowercase in titles, unless they are the first or last words. Generally, we do not capitalize:

Articles - a, an, the

Coordinating Conjunctions (fewer than five letters) - and, but, or, for, nor, etc.

Prepositions (fewer than five letters) - on, at, to, from, by, etc.

When in doubt and you do not have a reference guide in front of you, here is one general rule recommended by The U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual:

"Capitalize all words in titles of publications and documents, except a, an, the, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, up, and, as, but, or, and nor."

What About Sentence Case?

Now that we know some of the ins and outs of title case, let's take a look at sentence case. In sentence case, the title is written as if it is a sentence. This is considered a more casual style and is commonly used in newspapers and on the web.

Only the first word has a capital letter:

Budget wedding invitations

Best technology blogs

However, proper nouns within the title are also capitalized:

Top 10 things to do in Paris

Hiking at the Grand Canyon

Whether you're writing in title case or sentence case, every style guide is just a little bit different. You might discover that some publications are moving toward sentence case. There are a couple reasons why writers choose this over title case.

First, one could argue that capitalized words slow down a reader's ability to scan. A title written in sentence case could be perceived as having an uninterrupted flow. Next, some publications prefer this style simply because it's more likely to preserve consistency. With sentence case, there's no nitpicking over the capitalization of a three-letter preposition.

You might notice an overall trend toward this style. Many heavy hitters in the publishing industry use sentence case, including The Boston Globe, LA Times, and USA Today. However, if you pick up a copy of The New York Times, you'll see they stick with Title Case.

Advanced Rules to Note

One of the beautiful complexities of the English language is that, for every rule you learn, there's probably an exception. Here are some advanced rules for title capitalization:

Hyphenated Titles

Let's take a look at the Chicago Manual of Style's guidelines:

Capitalize the first element.

Capitalize subsequent elements unless they are articles, prepositions, or coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor).

High-Quality Web Services

First-Rate U.S. Lawyers

Bed-and-Breakfast Options in Savannah

Capitalize the second element in a hyphenated spelled-out number.

Do not capitalize the second element if the first element is a prefix that could not stand alone by itself (anti or pre).
Anti-inflammatory Dieting

Open Compounds

An open compound comes to life when a modifying adjective is used in conjunction with a noun. This creates a new noun. Hopefully warning bells will signal in your mind, as nouns are almost always capitalized.

Salad Dressing Recipes

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year

The First Word Following a Colon

Let's take a look at both the Chicago and AP Style guidelines:

Capitalize the first word after a colon.
Feminine Poetry: Ten Women Writers from Around the World

Capitalize the first word after a colon if it begins an independent clause.
I know who you are: You are my friend

Do not capitalize the first word after a colon if the clause cannot stand alone.
I know who you are: nobody

Prepositions That Belong to a Phrasal Verb

Prepositions often find themselves on the 'do not capitalize' list. However, when a preposition becomes an important part of a phrasal verb, it does need to be capitalized.

How to Back Up a Computer

Turn Down the Heat to Save You Money

Following the Rules

If you are debating how to capitalize titles in research papers and articles, your professor or editor will most likely delegate a certain style. In that case, make sure you visit the handbook on that style guide's website. There will be ample guidance and examples. Aside from that, there are a wealth of other resources and handy tools out there. As you craft your titles, pay careful attention not only to the type of word, but also the length and placement of each word.

Furthermore, no matter your personal preference, make sure you write the exact titles of books, newspapers, journals, etc. as they are written on the original document (even if they do not follow common capitalization rules).

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Rules for Capitalization in Titles of Articles

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If you have a look at the title of this article you will see that some letters are capitalized and some are not. Although the capitalization of titles can sometimes depend on the particular style of a writer, institution or publication, there are some general rules to keep in mind.

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Diagramming sentences makes it easy to see how the parts of a sentence are related, and creating each diagram is like solving a little puzzle.

When you understand sentence diagramming, you'll feel more confident about your grammar, and it will positively affect your speaking, writing, and teaching.

Use this page as a reference to see how to diagram anything. You can get all of this information and more in the Sentence Diagramming Reference Manual if you'd like. It will knock your socks off.

action verbs, adjectives, adjective clauses , adverbs, adverb clauses, adverbial nouns, appositive phrases, appositives, articles

B bare infinitives

clauses, commands, complements, complex sentences, compound sentences, compound-complex sentences, conjunctions, coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions

declarative sentences, dependent clauses, determiners, direct address, direct objects, direct quotations

elliptical clauses, exclamatory sentences, expletives

imperative sentences, independent clauses, indirect objects, infinitive complement, infinitive phrases, infinitives, interjections, interrogative sentences, intransitive verbs

negatives, nominative absolute, noun clauses, nouns, nouns of direct address

object of the preposition, objective complements

participial phrases, participles, participle complements, parts of speech, passive verbs/passive voice, phrasal verbs, phrases, "please," possessive nouns, possessive pronouns, predicate adjectives, predicate nouns, prepositions, prepositional phrases, pronouns

R relative adverb, relative pronoun

simple sentence, skyhooks, statements, subjects, subject complement, subject of infinitives, subordinate clauses, subordinating conjunctions

People love diagramming sentences. I promise.

I often hear from people who have discovered the joys of diagramming sentences. Here are just a few of the notes that I've received through this website. We'd love to have you join the grammar revolution.

I have all your materials, and I think it's all superb. It is a great way to make grammar tuition more dynamic/interactive and less didactic. It also appeals to visual learners.

- Terry, Literacy Program Coordinator

Many thanks for your extraordinary work. I am new to teaching, but I think your approach is just splendid.

I am so glad I joined the Grammar Revolution. You bring spice to our English department!

I live in England and teach my fourteen-year-old daughter at home. Your website is wonderful, and we are so grateful you have created it. It is an inspiration.

I love your website! Your helpful tips and upbeat attitude are a breath of fresh air. Grammar definitely needs a champion like you!

- Kristin, Elementary School Library Tech

What are you waiting for? It's your turn to enjoy grammar! Learn more about diagramming sentences.

Other Helpful Resources

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Diagramming Sentences Index: Everything You Need To Know

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Diagramming sentences makes it easy to see how the parts of a sentence are related, and creating each diagram is like solving a little puzzle. When you understand sentence diagramming, you'll feel more confident about your grammar, and it will positively affect your speaking, writing, and teaching.

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It's also the most fun.

Don't be afraid to put a significant amount of mental energy into your headlines...

Your title is what audiences recall, even more so than the content itself.

It's what's displayed in the search results and their bookmarks menu - setting the stage for the entire blog post.

I invite you to create a word document with about 100 headlines for inspiration and reference it anytime you're creating new post titles. Alternatively, you could just use the 110 headline templates in Traffic Domination.

Straight up, if your headlines sucks, your posts won't get viewed and your site won't keep as many visitors.

10 Post Titles Guaranteed to Get YOU Results

A lot of popular blogs and websites have discovered formulas that deliver results every time.

One headline formula that's been incredibly effective for more than a century is the classic how to. This is a great way to increase engagement, just be sure to deliver on your promises.

They don't even necessarily need to start with the words "how to" to be a how to headline.

2. Identify and Solve a Problem

One of best ways to get new readers is to Identify and solve a problem with trigger words.

The top companies use emotional triggers in nearly every headline - another classic style that's withstood the test of time.

You'll notice major companies like Cosmopolitan, DailyMail and Yahoo using this style often:

Sometimes we get writers block and can't think of a clever headline... This is where making a direct statement is the easiest and most effective way to engage your reader.

4. Strike A Note Of Controversy

Blog posts that have controversial titles grab more attention.

Riding the wave of controversy is good for blogs that want to pull audiences in, get them emotionally involved and commenting on your site.

It's a very effective tool for generating attention. Just try not to land on the wrong side of an issue or be disrespectful.

You don't want to offend your primary audience unless of course you're trying to not make money.

Remember, you want to pull readers in not push them away.

5. Shorter Titles Are Great

Concentrate on keeping your headlines to the point.

People like short and sweet and have limited attention spans - especially online!

Try to avoid wordy headlines as they dilute your message and distract from the point of your post.

Using a question as a title is an excellent opportunity to get people to click through to your post.

When people spot a question in a title, they'll automatically think of a response. It's natural...

Increase the chance the question resonates with your audience by being certain it's relevant to your demographic.

An easy way to do this is by installing a survey plugin like YOP Poll or FluidSurveys and asking what type of posts your readers want to see more of.

7. Use Headlines That Offer Explanations

Explanatory headlines make things instantly clear to readers by doing exactly what the name suggests, explaining something...

Sometimes it pays to have breaking news in the title itself.

When you turn your news into explanations, your audience knows exactly what they're getting into before they ever start reading.

Write a headline that makes people do kind of a double take when they read it.

Make them wonder and ask if it's even possible.

National Enquirer is notorious for this...

Another way to generate interest is by using finality style (power) words like ultimate, best, exclusive, only, guaranteed et cetera.

If you can deliver after somebody clicks the headline, you'll almost certainly earn a new reader.

This is one of the simplest formats to follow, and it's ideal for SEO and getting ranked in the search engines for the more competitive terms.

Put the topic first, ideally optimized for popular search terms, and then use a "emotion-provoking" description.

Numbers grab attention and tell your audience you're an authority. It lets them know you have something specific, concrete and real to offer them.

Want help writing articles?

We don't have the time to write articles. That's why, ever since 2009, we have outsourced the majority of our article writing. From as little as $25 we have got someone else to do the writing for us. And the results? Several posts have gone on to attract over 1million visitors each.

If you want someone else to write your articles for you, then hire someone today on Fiverr.

Remember, headlines are a critical element because they're what draw the reader into the body of your post.

Recognize what posts captivate you and start a list of the headlines that compelled you to click - I bet you'll notice something strikingly similar about each.

Identify that "something" and use it to your advantage.

If you want to learn more about how we get millions of visitors to our sites every year, I recommend you read the following posts:

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10 Article Headline Examples That Got Us 10,000,000 Readers

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It's also the most fun. Don't be afraid to put a significant amount of mental energy into your headlines... Your title is what audiences recall, even more so than the content itself. It's what's displayed in the search results and their bookmarks menu - setting the stage for the entire blog post.

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"Why Headlines Matter." "Misleading Headlines Can Lead You Astray." "How What You Read Affects What You See." "How Bad Headlines Make Bad Memories." "Eleven Reasons Headlines Are Important." "You'll Never Believe How Important an Accurate Headline Is."

Those are all possible titles for this piece that I discussed with my editor. And, actually, the one that we picked may be the most important part of this article. By now, everyone knows that a headline determines how many people will read a piece, particularly in this era of social media. But, more interesting, a headline changes the way people read an article and the way they remember it. The headline frames the rest of the experience. A headline can tell you what kind of article you're about to read-news, opinion, research, LOLcats-and it sets the tone for what follows.

Psychologists have long known that first impressions really do matter-what we see, hear, feel, or experience in our first encounter with something colors how we process the rest of it. Articles are no exception. And just as people can manage the impression that they make through their choice of attire, so, too, can the crafting of the headline subtly shift the perception of the text that follows. By drawing attention to certain details or facts, a headline can affect what existing knowledge is activated in your head. By its choice of phrasing, a headline can influence your mindset as you read so that you later recall details that coincide with what you were expecting. For instance, the headline of this article I wrote-"A Gene That Makes You Need Less Sleep?"-is not inaccurate in any way. But it does likely prompt a focus on one specific part of the piece. If I had instead called it "Why We Need Eight Hours of Sleep," people would remember it differently.

As a result of these shifts in perception, problems arise when a headline is ever so slightly misleading. "Air pollution now leading cause of lung cancer," ran a headline last year in the U.K. paper Daily Express. The article, however, said no such thing, or, rather, not exactly. Instead, it reported that pollution was a leading "environmental" cause; other causes, like smoking, are still the main culprits. It is easy to understand a decision to run that sort of opening. Caveats don't fit in single columns, and, once people are intrigued enough to read the story, they'll get to the nuances just the same. But, as it turns out, reading the piece may not be enough to correct the headline's misdirection.

It's these sorts of misleading maneuvers that Ullrich Ecker, a psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Western Australia, was pondering when he decided to test how slight-and slightly misleading-shifts in headlines can affect reading. In Ecker's prior work, he had looked at explicit misinformation: when information that's biased influences you, no matter what you're subsequently told. This time around, he wanted to see how nuance and slight misdirection would work.

In a series of studies, out this month in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Ecker had people in Australia read either factual or opinion pieces, where the only shifting variable was the headline. (He had his subjects read a total of four articles-two factual, two opinion.) One factual article, for instance, talked about a change in burglary rates over the last year-a rise of 0.2 per cent-that ran counter to a ten-per-cent decline over the past decade. The slight rise, the article pointed out, was an anomalous side note; the longer trend was what was important. The accompanying headline highlighted either the smaller or the larger of the two trends: "Number of burglaries going up" and "Downward trend in burglary rate," respectively. The opinion pieces pitted the thoughts of an expert against those of a layperson-for instance, one piece contrasted a citizen's concerns about the safety of genetically modified food with the opinion of a scientist from the fictional company Organic Food Science Australia. The headline focussed on one of the two sides. In this case, it read either "GM foods may pose long-term health risks" or "GM foods are safe." Each participant read all four articles.

Ecker's goal was to test whether the degree of the slant would matter. With the factual piece, the misdirection was obvious-the entire piece was about a broader trend, with one tiny deviation. In the opinion piece, it was much more subtle. The article was, first of all, opinion, and each voice was given its own space; it was up to the reader to judge how the opinions should be considered.

After reading each article, the University of Western Australia students rated it on five different scales, to gauge things like interest and ease of reading. Once a student had read the complete set of pieces, she was given a surprise six-question quiz, with questions concerning both recollection and inference.

The headline, it turns out, had done more than simply reframe the article. In the case of the factual articles, a misleading headline hurt a reader's ability to recall the article's details. That is, the parts that were in line with the headline, such as a declining burglary rate, were easier to remember than the opposing, non-headlined trend. Inferences, however, remained sound: the misdirection was blatant enough that readers were aware of it and proceeded to correct their impressions accordingly. According to the study, "No matter which headline they saw, they predicted that, next year, the crime rate would go down."

In the case of opinion articles, however, a misleading headline, like the one suggesting that genetically modified foods are dangerous, impaired a reader's ability to make accurate inferences. For instance, when asked to predict the future public-health costs of genetically modified foods, people who had read the misleading headline predicted a far greater cost than the evidence had warranted.

Ecker and his colleagues then replicated the results in a second study-this time, the discrepancies were between the headline and the image, rather than between the headline and the text. Each headline would, or would not, match a photograph of a face that was prominently featured in the piece: it either mentioned the name of the person in the photo or of someone else. The pieces, sixteen in total, all dealt with a crime, and described one "good" person (the victim or a police officer or the prosecutor) and one "bad" (the culprit). The headline, in turn, mentioned either one or the other, for instance, "Man charged over Thornlie murder" versus "Grandfather killed in Thornlie." The photo would then be of either the murderer or the victim.

After the students read the articles, they were asked to rate the faces that they had seen based on attractiveness, trustworthiness, dominance, and aggression-ratings that are often influenced by initial perceptions of personality. Then, after seeing the faces a third time, the students had to simply rate them as "good" or "bad."

Here, too, Ecker found that initial impressions both mattered and were not easily corrected. When the photo matched the headline, the criminal received more negative ratings, and the victim more positive ones. If, however, the headline diverged from the photo, the victim was rated more negatively when the headline had been about the criminal, and the criminal was rated more positively when the headline had been about the victim. Initial expectations of who would be pictured affected subsequent ratings-even though, theoretically, the misperception had been corrected twice, in the text itself and in the caption.

For conscientious readers and editors, Ecker's findings across the two studies give cause for concern. First, misinformation appears to cause more damage when it's subtle than when it's blatant. We see through the latter and correct for it as we go. The former is much more insidious and persistent. It is also, unfortunately, much more likely to be the result of sloppiness or inconsideration rather than a deliberate effort to lead readers astray. Take this article from the Times in May. "Selling a Fake Painting Takes More Than a Good Artist," reads the headline. Alongside it: a photograph of a gallery owner who is not actually one of the culprits. A criminal implication is paired with a photograph, and the photograph may inadvertently be tainted as well.

Here's the other thing: almost every journalist has experienced the aggravation of having readers give aggrieved, enraged, dismissive, or, really, any other type of negative reaction to an article based solely on a headline. "Read the article!" the writer often wants to scream. What Ecker's work shows, though, is that with the right-or, rather, wrong-headline, reading the article may not be enough. Even well-intentioned readers who do go on to read the entire piece may still be reacting in part to that initial formulation.

If I had titled this column "Why Headlines Matter," I would be picking the broadest possible option. Next week, you might be able to remember that headlines are important but not be able to tell your friend exactly why. If I had called it "Misleading Headlines Can Lead You Astray," you might have forgotten the details of the study showing that we can actually overcome factually misleading headlines. "Eleven Reasons Headlines Matter"? More people might have clicked, but they might not have retained the information. It's not always easy to be both interesting and accurate, but, as Ecker's study shows, it's better than being exciting and wrong.

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"Why Headlines Matter." "Misleading Headlines Can Lead You Astray." "How What You Read Affects What You See." "How Bad Headlines Make Bad Memories." "Eleven Reasons Headlines Are Important." "You'll Never Believe How Important an Accurate Headline Is." Those are all possible titles for this piece that I discussed with my editor.

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It's one thing to write great content, but it's another thing to get it read and ranked -- which is where nailing the title comes in.

Titles are what sell the content. They represent it in search engines, in email, and on social media. It's no surprise, then, that some of the most common questions we get concern crafting titles.

How long should my headline be? What words should I use? What words should I avoid? Should I optimize it for search, or for social? Or both?

Luckily, we've come up with a simple formula for writing catchy headlines and blog titles that you can reference from here on out. So let's just dive right in, shall we?

A Foolproof Method for How to Write Catchy Headlines and Titles

1) Start with a working title.

Before you get into the nitty-gritty of coming up with a perfect title, start with a rough draft: your working title. What is that, exactly? A lot of people confuse working titles with topics. Let's clear that up:

Topics are very general and could yield several different blog posts. Think "raising healthy kids," or "kitchen storage." A writer might look at either of those topics and choose to take them in very, very different directions.

A working title, on the other hand, is very specific and guides the creation of a single blog post. For example, from the topic "raising healthy kids," you could derive the following working titles:

"How the Right Nutrition Can Strengthen Your Kids' Bones"

"A Parent's Guide to Promoting Your Child's Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Well-Being"

"X Recipes for Quick & Healthy Dinners Your Teenagers Will Gobble Up"

See how different and specific each of those is? That's what makes them working titles, instead of overarching topics. It's also worth noting that none of those titles are perfect -- they should just be specific enough to guide your blog post. (We'll worry about making it clickable and search-friendly later.)

2) Stay accurate.

Accuracy is critical when trying to finesse a title, because it sets clear expectations for your readers. While I'm sure lots of people would love to click into a post that said "10 B2B Companies Killing Facebook So Freaking Hard They Don't Need Any Other Marketing Channel" ... it's a little bombastic, no?

Unless, of course, you truly did find 10 B2B companies rocking Facebook that hard, and you could confirm that all 10 of them had stopped using other marketing channels. First and foremost, your title needs to accurately reflect the content that follows.

One way to ensure accuracy? Add bracketed clarification to your headline, like we did in this blog post:

In a study of over 3.3 million paid link headlines, we found that headlines with this type of clarification -- [Interview], [Podcast], [Infographic], etc. -- performed 38% better than headlines without clarification. Again, it's all about setting clear expectations. Thanks to the brackets, these readers knew exactly what they were getting themselves into before they even clicked.

So if you remember nothing else from this blog post, let it be this: The most important rule of titles is to respect the reader experience. If you set high expectations in your title that you can't fulfill in the content, you'll lose readers' trust.

Accuracy encompasses more than just hyperbole, though. With the example working title above, you'd also want to confirm all of the examples are, indeed, B2B. Or even that they're all companies -- instead of, say, individual bloggers that target B2B audiences. See what I mean?

3) Make it sexy.

Just because you have to be accurate doesn't mean you can't find ways to make your title pop. There are a lot of ways to make a title sexier.

Of course, all of this hinges on understanding your core buyer persona. You need to find language that resonates with them, and know what they find valuable. (Haven't created or refined your buyer personas yet? Download this free template to create your own buyer personas for your business.)

Once you're armed with knowledge of your buyer persona's preferred style, try testing out some of these tips for making your headlines a little sexier:

Have some fun with alliteration. The title and header in this blog post, for instance, play with alliteration: "Foolproof Formula." It's a device that makes something a little lovelier to read, and that can have a subtle but strong impact on your reader.

Use strong language. Strong phrases (and, frankly, often negative ones) like "Things People Hate," or "Brilliant" pack quite a punch. However, these must be used in moderation. As one of my coworkers likes to say, "If everything is bold, nothing is bold."

Make the value clear. As we mentioned above, presenting the format and/or contents to a reader helps make your content a little sexier. According to our research, templates tend to be particularly powerful for CTR: We found that adding "[Template]" to our titles got the most average views of all bracketed terms.

Make it visual. Is there an opportunity to include visuals within your post? Make that clear in the title. Our research revealed that headlines featuring the word "photo(s)" performed 37% better than headlines without this word.

Focus on the "whos," not the "whys". Want to intrigue your audience? Focus on the "who": Headlines including the word "who" generated a 22% higher CTR than headlines without it.

For example, let's say you're writing a post titled, "15 of Our Favorite Brands on Snapchat." How might we punch up our accurate-but-boring working title? Here are some options:

15 Brilliant Brands Who Are Killing It on Snapchat

Snapchat Success: 15 Inspiring Brands Who Just Get It

15 Must-Follow Brands That Are Seeing Snapchat Success

4) Keep it short.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to how long or short your title should be. It depends what your goals are, and where your headline will appear.

Do you want this post to rank really well in search? Focus on keeping the title under 70 characters so it doesn't get cut off in search engine results.

Are you trying to optimize your title for social sharing? According to our own analysis at HubSpot, headlines between 8-12 words in length got the most Twitter shares on average. As for Facebook, headlines with either 12 or 14 words received the most Likes.

Additionally, headlines with eight words had a 21% higher clickthrough rate than the average title, according to the folks at Outbrain.

The lesson? It's always a good idea to run a few tests to see what works best for your particular audience.

Let's say I was writing this blog post: "Think Social Media Is Just for Kids? Here Are 10 Statistics Guaranteed to Prove You Wrong." To shorten it, I would simply try to rephrase it and cut out extraneous words. For instance, I might do something like this:

Before: Think Social Media Is Just for Kids? Here Are 10 Statistics Guaranteed to Prove You Wrong

After: 10 Stats That Prove Social Media Isn't Just for Kids

See? It's that easy. Try sounding out the title in your head to make sure it's easily digestible for your readers. The less of a mouthful you can make your titles, the better.

5) Try to optimize for search and social.

I say "try" because, sometimes, trying too hard to optimize for these things can make your title sound strange. Remember: You want to optimize your title for your audience above all else, but if you can optimize for both search and social, that's great.

The secret to thinking about all three at once? Focus on keywords that you know your audience is already searching for, then look into the search volume for those keywords.

Once you have a keyword in mind, you'll want to be sure to place it as closely as possible to the beginning of your headline to catch your reader's attention. (Again, you should keep your headline under 70 characters so it doesn't get cut off in search engine results.)

Another important consideration? Make sure your headlines are tweetable: "The 120-130-character range is the sweet spot for high clickthrough rate, according to an analysis of 200,000 tweets with links," explains my colleague, Senior Marketing Manager Lindsay Kolowich. "This leaves enough space for people to include a short comment if they choose to manually retweet and cite you."

Here's an example: Let's say I'm writing a post titled, "X B2B Companies Using Facebook in Cool Ways." Looks like there's some wiggle room to optimize it without compromising clarity, right?

If the goal is to rank for the term, "Facebook Marketing," I'd recommend something like this:

"New to Facebook Marketing? Here Are 10 B2B Companies Doing It Right"

This new title works for a few reasons:

It's 56 characters long. This means that it's short enough to not be cut off in search engines and it's short enough to be retweeted.

The keyword is in the beginning. By moving "Facebook Marketing" to the beginning of the title, we're ultimately increasing the odds that we'll grab our audience's attention.

It's human. I wasn't kidding when I said you should focus on optimizing for your audience first. This title presents both a pain point and a solution all wrapped up in one.

( Download this ebook for more data-backed SEO strategies we recommend.)

6) Brainstorm with someone else.

Once you've refined your title using the tips above, it's time to come up for air and connect with another human. Title brainstorming is an essential part of the process.

Here at HubSpot, we spend a decent amount of time and brainpower coming up with our titles. The final step before scheduling a blog post is pulling another member of our team into a back-and-forth title brainstorm in a chat room. One member of the duo will post the title they recommend into the chat pane window. The other person will then refine that title even further, or suggest other angles. After several back-and-forths, the duo will agree on the title that's accurate, sexy, concise, and SEO-friendly.

Only when both parties agree on a title do we schedule our post for publishing -- which can take as little as five seconds and as long as ten or so minutes. While that seems like a long time, it's essential to put our best feet forward with each post we publish.
What's your process for crafting titles? Let us know in the comments. Editor's Note: This post was originally published in October 2013 and has been updated and for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

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How to Write Catchy Headlines and Blog Titles Your Readers Can't Resist

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It's one thing to write great content, but it's another thing to get it read and ranked -- which is where nailing the title comes in. Titles are what sell the content. They represent it in search engines, in email, and on social media.

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The Statement of Purpose is probably one of the most misunderstood aspects of graduate applications. Most students pass it off like it is just another essay about themselves, and naturally, write monotonous stuff that doesn't stand out. That is why, the university admissions committee puts a hefty weight on statement of purposes and their structure - they want to see whether you take the interest in letting them know how much you want to study at their university.
Most Statements Of Purpose Start Off Like This:
"I am applying to the Master of Science program in Something Engineering at the University of Example because I believe my technical skills will blossom at your program as it is a place where I will be challenged and where I can develop my scientific and technical knowledge."
Or Like This:
"I am honored to apply for the Master of Science program at the University of Example because for as long as I can remember, I have had a love affair with science. Since I was a kid in school, I have known I wanted to be a scientist/engineer."

Now, almost 99% of the statements are structured similarly, and often times, students copy-paste, and edit statement of purposes from their seniors or friends, making it sound even more generic or irrelevant to their applications. If you want to stand out from the crowd; if you want the admissions committee to remember your essay at the end of the day, even after going through hundreds of applications; if you want to gain that extra advantage by being somewhat special and unique, you will have to draft a great statement of purpose. Great, but original.

How Can Your Statement Of Purpose Stand Out From The Crowd?

How do you write a great statement of purpose that sounds original, but at the same time gives the admissions committee what they are looking for? Simple. Basically, every university expects a student to answer to some basic questions that the admissions committee has. They may not ask you openly, but these are generally what they expect you to answer:

What you want to study at graduate school?

Why you want to study only this degree?

Why do you want to study at this particular college? What do you like in us?

Why did you choose to study in this particular country? What do you like about it?

How much and what kind of experience you have in your field?

Is your experience related to you choice of degree?

If you are already experienced, what additional skills are you planning to gain from the degree?

What you plan to do with your degree after graduation?

Would you choose to end up with a job or take up research?

What are your expectations from both the graduate program, and the university?

Would you like to study or do research under any particular professor? If yes, why only them?

How can you contribute to our university and our program? What specific skills do you bring to the table?

Apart from work and education, what are your hobbies, interests, and habits? What are you like, as a person?

What do you understand about our student community and culture? Why do you think you will fit in?

What is that one unique aspect/characteristic about you that we should know? Why does it matter to us or to the fellow students of your class?

Now, these are the questions you will have to consider before starting off with your statement of purpose. Write down answers separately to each of the questions asked above, and try to build a story that the admissions committee would love to read. Remember, unlike an MBA program, you won't be having any personal interviews for a graduate program, so the only way to impress the admissions officers is by telling your story through the statement of purpose. You will have to convey your story in the best possible way, such that the committee finds you interesting enough. And if you are interesting enough to them, you will end up with not only an admission, but also a decent scholarship as well.

Strategies to Write a Powerful Statement of Purpose

It is important that you follow a specific strategy when it comes to drafting your statement of purpose. Though most students write whatever comes to their mind, or whatever they see on the internet, you are not most people. You would want your statement of purpose to sound brilliant, and original. And for that, you'll need some strategies.

1. Write Stories. Not Statements

If given a choice, would you prefer reading a novel or a newspaper? A novel, without a doubt. Do you know why? Because while a newspaper gives you mere news and some eye-catching headlines, a novel tells you a story; a beautifully written piece of literature that you will be emotionally connected to. It brings those humanly feelings out of you, and involves you in its storyline. You imagine yourself in place of the narrator/character, and understand why he/she has done that, or taken such decisions. We remember stories much easier than statements. Because stories connect to us, statements don't.
For example, most people say this:
"I used to work in a multinational software company in the development team, and I had to do the same job every day: code stuff. There was nothing new for me to learn at work, and there was nothing very exciting about going to the office. One day I decided that I had to get out of there, so I applied to college to study higher courses and get a better job."
Doesn't that sound like most stories? Albeit, a very normal story? Instead, how about saying this:
"Late in the night one Monday, I had found myself in the middle of a deserted office, and fifteen thousand lines of code. Full of caffeine in my bloodstream, and an empty life beyond office, I realized that the computers started coding my brain, and controlling my life. No longer wanting to let the machines feed on me, I decided that college would be my salvation."

Both the stories come to about four lines. But which narrative do you think will keep the admissions committee reading? Which story do you think will be remembered by them even after reading 5000 applications?

Think again. Do you want your statement of purpose to read like a novel or a newspaper? If the former is your answer, then you need to put in a lot of effort to tell your story. Think about 'why' you want to study what you want to study. Is there a strong reason behind it? Is the reason emotional, economical, or any other? Think hard, and you will find a connection. The reason might not seem obvious in plain sight, but when you think hard enough, you will understand that there is strong reason why you want to study a particular course/degree.

Now, when you have found this strong reason, tell it as a story. Write a short, but great narrative about what made you make this choice. About why you have chosen to study this course at this university. Impress the committee with your creative storyline, and you will reap the benefits big time.

2. Quantify Your Stories

Even though we asked you to write a story, you will have to remember that your story should not read like a thesis. It should rather serve as the best source of information about you. And when it comes to information, numbers play a key role. Your story should be not only qualitative, but also quantitative. Which means, your story must contain measurable quantities instead of just stories, so the reader can understand the depth of it.
For example, if you have worked for a local NGO teaching math to primary kids, you could say:
"During my engineering days, I helped a local NGO by joining as a math tutor, where I taught basic math concepts to school children."

Now even though this sounds really good, it doesn't give the reader the entire picture and they certainly do not know how much of an impact you made on those children. So, you could change that bit to something like this:

"During my second year of engineering, I joined 'Teach Math', a local NGO, where I was a part of the Math tutoring team. For a period of 10 months, I taught basic math like algebra, geometry and arithmetic to more than thirty 5th and 6th grade students. And every single student I taught to, secured an A in math that year. I've never been prouder in my life."

Do you see the difference? These numbers suddenly give a whole new perspective to the readers, and their respect for you is suddenly multiplied. That's the power of numbers; they add authenticity, and authority to your stories. If you can quantify your stories properly, and show the results instead of just actions, the committee will not forget your name. You can use the same strategy for the rest of your story, no matter what it is about. Whether it is a research project you did, or a college fest you organized, or a college sports team you led, whatever it is, add numbers to your stories, and make them sound more realistic, and more beautiful.

3. Be Specific

You have to make sure that whatever you say on your statement of purpose, you need to be very specific with it. Don't just say something because you think it will impress the admissions committee. Whatever you say, you have to really dig into details. Be introspective. Don't just say "I chose this degree because I love this field." Explain clearly why you love this field, what made you decide that you want to work in this field for the rest of your life, what skills you are trying to amass, why it completes you as a person, etc.

Don't beat around the bush like you normally would, when you talk to your friends. Don't use ideal sentences like 'I want to change the world' or 'I want to find my inner self' or any of chose cheesy lines. Just be straightforward and always to the point, but not so much as to come off as arrogant. Find your reasons and then find a nice, memorable way to say it.

Grad school admissions officers require the statement of purpose not just because they want to find about you and your dreams. More importantly, they want you to think for yourself, as to why you are taking such a life-changing step; why you think this is the best thing that can happen to you; and why you think you truly need it to succeed in life. The 'why' is always profoundly important, and also an extremely difficult question to answer, which is why, if you can find answers to all the whys, then you are almost in.

4. Customize Your Essay

One of the biggest mistakes students make is to prepare a basic template for their statement of purpose, and if they are applying to more than one university, they simply change the relevant names and details. But the rest of the statement is an exact copy. This is never a good idea, because though they might seem quite similar to each other, every university is vastly different from the others. Each of them has a diverse set of characteristics that define them, and their cultures, methodologies, visions, values, mottos, strengths, weaknesses, etc., vary greatly. These things are much more important than the departments, or university rankings, or number of Ph.D.'s or other materialistic qualities.

So, if you are applying to multiple universities, you need to factor in all these qualities of every university, and customize your statement accordingly. Mere changes in names and details won't suffice. You need to tailor your essay such that the admissions officers think you will fit in well into their community. Remember, every student community is like a family, and if you give hints that you cannot fit into a family or their culture, you may not be welcomed easily.

Speaking of cultures, different countries obviously have different cultures, but even a big country like the US has different cultures in different parts of the country. So, before you begin writing, try and research the general culture within the region in which your target university is, and learn something about it. It may also help in aiding your decision process; if a culture doesn't attract you much, then there's no point in wasting an application.

5. Use a Formal But Conversational Tone

Nearly all statements or essays come under two categories: The super formal, and the super friendly. The first category is when you write a statement of purpose that is so formal, it looks like you are writing to your lieutenant in the military. The second one, of course, looks like a casual email to a friend. Now, when asked which one seems like a better choice, most students say the formal way is the way to go, and super friendliness is a big no. And still, a minor set of applicants think they can outsmart the admissions committee by sounding friendly, welcoming, and funny.

But, on further reflection, you would understand that neither of the approaches is ideal. And you are right, neither of them is right. Like we talked about it already, your statement of purpose should read like a novel: slightly formal language, but still a tinge of fun and uniqueness. That is what you need. A conversational tone is the best and the safest way to go. Write like you are talking to someone, but avoid using casual language. Imagine you are talking to your dean, or the director of your college. What would your language be like? That's how your statement of purpose should sound.

Now, occasional humor is okay, but you shouldn't try to sound too funny or too smart. No intentional jokes or funny lines should find their way into your statement. After all, it's a statement of purpose, and the purpose is to pursue a graduate degree, not to impress people with your sense of humor. So, if what you write brings a smile on the readers face, then it's perfectly alright. But it shouldn't make them throw away your application because you didn't seem serious enough to them.

6. Decide How You Want To Portray Yourself. And Learn How to Portray Indirectly.

You must see that the statement of purpose serves as a medium to convey your attitude, your personality and your character. Alright, those are some heavy words, and it can actually be difficult to them on paper. So, what you can do is, learn what your statement of purpose should portray you as, in terms of a few criteria, which tell the admissions committee that you are:

1. Very passionate about the field of study you have chosen.

2. An Intelligent student who can withstand the academic workload of a graduate program.

3. Well-prepared academically and personally, and eager to study new courses.

4. Able to take on the challenges of studying at an international graduate school.

5. Able to build and maintain a good rapport with professors and fellow grad students.

6. Able to finish the graduate degree within time, and graduate with a good percentage.

7. A potential remarkable representative of that grad school in your future career.

8. A successful alumni of the grad school who in the future can help in recruiting graduates.

9. A responsible alumni who in the future will help raise funds for the grad school, to spend on research, infrastructure, facilities, student scholarships, etc.

These are basically the parameters that grad school admissions officers look at, when they decide who is joining their class. Now, I know that the statement of purpose can only be as long as 1000 words, and that there's quite a lot to cover in that little space.

This is where your writing skills should come in. You simply can't just go ahead and write "I am very passionate about the field of study I have chosen." That is the last think you would want to write. What you should instead write is, a sentence that indirectly means the same. You will have to choose your words wisely so as to indirectly communicate your "passion". You can use brief examples to show why you are so passionate about it. For example, you can say something like:

"My grandfather was a car mechanic. I remember when I was nine, he took me to his garage for the first time and showed me how he could repair my damaged bicycle so I could ride it again. When he passed away a few years later, he left me the entire garage. It was a turning point in my life. Some of my best days were spent inside the garage, where after coming back from school, I tried fixing various appliances in the house. That was what led me to choose to be a Mechanical Engineer."

The above paragraph speaks volumes about you as a person and your passion for Mechanical Engineering without you actually saying it. Any admissions officer in the world wouldn't reject an applicant with such a deep reason, and such a wonderful story behind him/her. Now, remember, you don't have to lie. Try and remember stories from your life that have shaped your decisions. And connect them beautifully to your goals and dreams.

Now similarly, your "intelligence" can be conveyed by how you write. The quality of the statement of purpose, the organization, expression, etc. of your statement tells how intelligent you are. Demonstrating knowledge of the field, and using related jargon shows that you are "well-prepared". Showing what you have done already describes your ability "to take on the challenges of grad school". Your grades and your previous performance prove your ability "to finish the graduate program in time". Being a "future remarkable alumni" can be implied by your being a commendable representative of your previous institutions, like your high school, or undergraduate school. Similarly, you will have to try and represent all the qualities mentioned above in an indirect, but powerful way.

7. Don't Create Stories. Be Yourself

Because we asked you to write stories, there would naturally be an inclination to "create" stories out of thin air. Do not do this at all. Write great stories only if you have great stories. Some people might come from normal backgrounds, who had normal lives, and probably didn't achieve anything spectacular. It's completely okay. If you don't have anything great to write, don't write it. Be normal, and write normal stories. It is better to be normal than to pretend to be someone you are not. The admissions officers are expert psychologists, and they can spot a true applicant from a false applicant with just one reading.

So, you will badly hurt your chances of getting into your dream school if you try to be someone else. Just be yourself, and write only about the things that have happened to you, and the things that you are passionate about. Saying "I love research" just because you think they will like it, isn't going to help you a lot. Whatever you say just for the sake of it, won't appeal much to the committee, as they would look for relevant evidences in your stories and in your past. So, don't even think about fooling the committee with a false storyline. Try and be yourself throughout the essay.

8. Address Your Problems

The Statement of Purpose is a great opportunity for you to address some of your problems. If you have had any problematic academic background, or a gap year in your career, or if you had any work-related problems, you can address them on the statement of purpose in order to reassure the admissions committee. You must try and be as honest as possible, and talk about your problems in a matured manner. Instead of trying to defend yourself, you can point out the actual reasons that led to the problems, but more importantly, you should highlight 'how' you overcame the situation, and 'what' you have learnt from the experience.

For example, let's say that you got all C's or all D's in one semester. This normally isn't the kind of academic profile a good grad school would want from you, unless there is a strong reason behind it. So, take some time and dedicate a few lines to explain whatever happened. If you had a health problem during your semester exams, or if you faced any emotional setback during that time, if you experience any personal loss, or if you had to take up additional family responsibilities other than studying, you can mention that in your statement.

But, more importantly, you should not forget to demonstrate how your grades have been steadily improving since then, and that you now have a decent grade-point average in the discipline. If you can spin this story well enough for the committee to empathize with you, then your story will enhance the admissions committee's image of you as a matured student, with the abilities to "take on additional challenges" and "to finish on time", even when things are against you.

9. Do Your Homework

This is one very important point you should exercise while you are writing a statement of purpose. You should be thorough with the details of all the universities you are applying to, and list down all the things you like about each university, before you write the essays. Most students simply write generic sentences like "I am impressed by the importance your university gives to research" or "I would like to study here because you have 100 Ph.D.'s and 20 Nobel prize winners." etc. No, that is not how you do it. The admissions committee knows how great their college is; you don't have to remind them again and again. But, you should let them know what exactly you like about them, that you so badly want to be there. The specifics are really important. For example, you could say something like this. (Excuse the random jargon, it is only to give you an idea.)

"I would fully utilize the resources that the Wallenberg Hall provides, as I am particularly interested in the field of molecular chemistry. The special 24/7 laboratories provided for student research on molecular processing is exactly the kind of opportunity I am looking for, as I could totally see myself working in the labs day and night."
And something like:
"I especially want to study under Dr. Mark Adams, Ph.D., as I have been an avid follower and admirer of his work in the field of quantum chemistry, which is not only the field I would choose for my research study, but also is a topic that I am zealous about, personally. I would be more than honoured if I can earn a spot in his research group."

Do you see how professional it sounds? Such things show how well prepared you are, and how eager you are to study at that university. Now, to write something like this, you obviously need to do lots of research both online and offline, and be very thorough about the college, its facilities, courses, and professors. Yes, it is very difficult, but believe me, it is completely worth all the hard work.

10. Proofread, Edit, and Re-edit. Ask Friends and Family To Grade Your Essay

Another mistake students make is, they try and keep their essays to themselves. Maybe they are shy, or maybe they think their friends and family aren't necessarily experts on the subject. So they think there's no point in asking friends and family to critique on their essays. Wrong. Your statement of purpose speaks about you as a student, as an individual. Yes, there is technical slang involved, and yes your family members may not be experts on that. But, they sure are experts on 'you'.

Which is exactly why you should approach them. They can not only give you additional points to add, but they can give you valuable stories about your childhood or schooling days, which you probably won't remember. Plus, it's very easy to say something about others, but at the same time, it's painfully difficult to describe yourself to someone. Which is why someone very close to you, like friends and family, can describe you accurately. You will get new perspectives on your stories, which sometimes are better than your own versions, and including them in your statement of purpose will do you a lot of good.

Also, remember to proofread your statement time and again, and keep on re-editing content until you, your family and friends think you have the best statement in the world. Remember that your statement of purpose is a literary picture of 'you' as a person, and it is representing on your behalf. So, make it a top priority to avoid typos, misplaced commas and semicolons, overused quotes, being too wordy, using too many complex words and sentences, and being too straightforward. Be careful. Be a perfectionist when it comes to writing. It shows how much you care about going to a particular college. And, once you are done with everything, do not forget to ask your friends and family to grade your statement of purpose, and ask them to criticize it accurately, so you can avoid submitting a less than perfect copy of your statement.

11. Take Advice From Professors.

If you know a professor at your undergrad institution, don't hesitate to approach him/her for advice regarding your statement of purpose. They are of course very experienced prospects, and they might have seen thousands of statement of purposes and students in their careers. So, it wouldn't hurt to ask for their opinion. Plus, since unlike your family, they are technically sound, they can also provide you valuable insights on how to project your technical expertise and project works in the statement.

After all, a professor knows what another professor looks for in a prospective student, so it would only help if you approach your college professors. And, if they are really close to you, you can also ask them for a really good letter of recommendation. So whichever way you look at it, there are only benefits for you.

Checklist for a Powerful Statement of Purpose

Here's a basic checklist designed to help you draft a flawless Statement of Purpose. Make sure you write in an organized manner, and cover your points in a proper order. We have given this checklist so that you can write your statement of purpose without confusing yourself and the readers. Following a meticulous order like this will make your statement of purpose a lot better to read and understand about you and your story. Feel free to add anything else to the list if you think it will boost your chances, but remember to not write too much because you would then be exceeding the word limit.
Organization:

Introducing yourself in a unique manner.

Demonstrating your passion for the field.

Story about your background or experience in the field you've chosen.

Description of your academic background in the field you've chosen.

Specific classes or special courses you have taken, that are related to your field of interest.

Some of the professors you have studied under, especially if they are well-known in that field.

Co-curricular and Extracurricular activities in the field of you interest.

Publications or other professional accomplishments in the field (perhaps conference presentations or public readings)

Any community service or leadership experience while in college.

Explanations about problems in background (if needed)

Explanation of why you have chosen the specific grad school and other related questions as discussed in the beginning of this article.

Mention what you like about the university you are applying for, and why: facilities, infrastructure, etc.

Mention names of one or two professors in that school and what you know of and appreciate about their work, and why you want to study or work under their guidance.

Specific features of the grad program and the university, which attract you personally. And why.

Get advice from several of your professors, family, and close friends. Ask for stories about yourself.

Proofread and edit; ask friends and family to proofread for you as well.

Now Its Your Turn

So, those are some strategies and tips for you to write a powerful statement of purpose, impress the committee, and thereby ace the admissions process. Make sure you do every one of these things, and you won't be far away from the college of your dreams.

Do you have any strategies that worked well for you? Do let us know in the comments section.

We almost forgot! We are giving away a sample Statement of Purpose for download, so you can get an actual glimpse of how the aforementioned tips and strategies have been incorporated in a real Statement Of Purpose. But remember, this should serve only as an inspiration to your own Statement of Purpose, but not a source to copy from. Close to 10000 students check this space regularly, and if every single one of them uses the same phrases in their own statement of purposes, very soon, everyone will be held for plagiarism. So, try and copy only the framework and the organization, but not the actual content. Happy Writing!
Download your free sample SOP now:

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11 Tips for Writing a Powerful Statement of Purpose [Sample SOP Included] - CrunchPrep GRE

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The Statement of Purpose is probably one of the most misunderstood aspects of graduate applications. Most students pass it off like it is just another essay about themselves, and naturally, write monotonous stuff that doesn't stand out.

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A popular topic of conversation in my leadership work with women is this: "Is it true that women say three times as many words as men in a day?"

In my research, I've found a wide array of statistics - some support that question, others outright refute it, and still others conclude that it depends on the context.

My take is this:

What matters more is not the number of words you use, but how you organize and articulate your thoughts in professional situations. Much of our leadership credibility hinges on how well we're able to do that. This isn't necessarily gender-specific, but since I work primarily with emerging women leaders, I do notice it as a common issue.

Dr. Lois Frankel, Ph.D., my mentor and author of Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office, dedicates a chapter of her book to this concept, titled How You Sound. There are two common mistakes she covers and calls "lethal" in combination - using preambles and over-explaining.

Let me explain, without over-explaining.

Do you ha ve a junk drawer in your house? Of course you do, we all do! It's messy, jumbled, and you can never find the one thing you're looking for.

Now think of that junk drawer in terms of communication. Preambles and over-explaining are the junk in the drawer, hiding the one thing your audience is looking for - your reason for communicating with them, our point.

To define a preamble - that's the lengthy setup we sometimes use before getting to anything resembling a point. It might contain substantive words, but it's also non-words like " You know," " I mean," " You might consider," or " I was thinking."

To define over-explanation - once we finally get to our point, we continue with all kinds of extra information that isn't necessarily needed to support our point.

Using preambles and over-explanations hurts our leadership credibility. How?

Too many words obscure our message, ultimately robbing it of its power. We can appear to be less knowledgeable and confident than we are.

We lose our audience because they can't follow our message.

We've all had times where we've used preambles and over-explaining. But it's when we use these crutches as part of everyday habits that it can become a leadership liability.

If you want to add power and punch to your communication, below are some tips to help you clear the junk drawer:

Think of every interaction as an opportunity to practice - written and verbal messages, in-person or virtual.

Before you speak, pause and take a breath. Decide on the one key point you'd like to make. (That pause will feel like an eternity to you, but your audience won't notice.)

Once you've made your point - add only a couple of concise supporting points. Concise is the key here. If someone would like more information they will ask, or you can follow-up. The human brain can only hold a few pieces of information at a time in short-term memory. So make sure the pieces you share are the meaty ones!

When writing, use bullets and short sentences.

To quote Dr. Frankel, "Let your mantra be: Short sounds confident."

Ready to learn more?

Visit http://impactinstruction.com for more information about custom training solutions and professional development services offered by Impact Instruction Group. Amy Franko works with emerging women leaders, teaching concepts from the international best-seller Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office to many national companies and organizations.

© 2011 Impact Instruction Group
You are welcome to reprint this article. Please include the article in its entirety along with the bio and copyright.

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Leadership Credibility - Women & Words | Impact Instruction Group

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A popular topic of conversation in my leadership work with women is this: "Is it true that women say three times as many words as men in a day?" In my research, I've found a wide array of statistics - some support that question, others outright refute it, and still others conclude that it depends ...

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Over the past decade, I've helped tens of thousands of entrepreneurs and business owners write their business plans, either through my business plan template, or our business plan consulting services.

However you expect to write your business plan, keep these five points top of mind:
1. Put Your Audience First
Most business plans are written for an audience. The most common audience is investors and lenders. Another audience might be your employees.

Make sure you write your plan with your key audience in mind. For example, if you are writing for venture capitalists (VCs), make sure you cater to their needs. For instance, VCs are very time constrained. So, make sure the first paragraph of your plan clearly states what you do and gets them interested. Likewise, VCs generally only fund companies who have the ability to scale to revenues of $100 million or more in five years. As such, your business plan must show how your company can attain such as feat.
2. Keep Your Business Plan Brief
Your business plan can never, nor should ever, answer every question your reader might have. Such a plan would be too lengthy, and no one would want to read it.

Rather, your business plan should cover the main points of your business, interest the reader, and show you have fully thought through the opportunity. One of the key goals of your business plan is to create enough interest for the investor to schedule a meeting with you. During that meeting they'll ask you all the specific questions they have, some of which will not be covered in your plan (which is fine).
3. Sell, But Don't Oversell
When used as a tool to gain investor and lender interest, your business plan is essentially a sales or marketing document. As such, it should get the investor excited, much like a brochure for a new automobile gets the right consumer to want to learn more and/or purchase it.

Now, while your plan should excite the reader, be careful not to oversell and particularly not to load your business plan with superlatives. For example, saying we have the best technology, a world-class management team, incredible employees, etc., can often take away from the credibility of your plan. Unless of course, you can provide hard facts supporting each of these claims.

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Writing A Business Plan: 5 Keys To Your Success

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Over the past decade, I've helped tens of thousands of entrepreneurs and business owners write their business plans, either through my business plan template, or our business plan consulting services. However you expect to write your business plan, keep these five points top of mind: 1. Put Your Audience First Most business plans [...]

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Your resume is the most financially important document you will ever own. When it works, you work; and when it doesn't, you don't. Unfortunately, technology has revolutionized corporate recruitment, and you may not know what it takes to build a killer resume for today's job search.

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- line from the movie Django Unchained
Many of us grew up doing "Show and Tell" in elementary school.

A premise of INTRIGUE is, "It's smarter to ask than tell. And it's even smarter to show and ask."

Why? Showing and asking verbally and visually engages people. It's a way to create curiosity and get people's favorable attention.

Entrepreneur Cari Carter is a shining example of this.

Cari was participating in a pitch competition sponsored by Springboard Enterprises ( https://sb.co/) at the California Women's Conference.

Springboard calls their competition The Dolphin Tank, (because it's a kinder version of the TV show Shark Tank where entrepreneurs pitch their startup to a panel of investors to win funding.)

As a judge, I had an opportunity to review Cari's business plan in advance. She had created a hook, called Cargo, you put in your car to hang your purse on.

I thought, "Really?! You're building a business around a hook that holds a purse?"

However, Cari intrigued us in the first minute. She carted a full size car seat to the front of the room, set it down on the floor next to her and put a purse on it. She stood up, faced the group, wrapped her fingers around an imaginary steering wheel and started "driving" while saying:

"Have you ever been driving along and you had to STOP all of a sudden?

Your cell phone falls off the passenger seat onto the floor. You're scrabbling around trying to retrieve it with one hand while driving and trying to stay on the road with the other hand?

Imagine never having to worry about that again. Imagine having a hook that you ..."

At this point, a man in the audience stood up and said, "I'll take two. One for my wife and one for my daughter."

Wow. Cari went from a skeptical "Really?!" to an enthusiastic "I'll take two" in sixty seconds. That's the power of showing and asking.

Cari did several smart things that contributed to her creating curiosity and getting our attention.

She asked instead of told. Have you been taught to start communications by telling people what you're going to tell them, telling them, and then telling them what you told them? That's terrible advice. Do you know anyone who likes being told what to do?

It's more engaging to ask "Have you ever ...?" questions that involve people instead of inform them. Now they feel like you're talking with them instead of at them.

She "made us look" by using a prop. I'm sure it was a hassle to haul that car seat into the Long Beach Convention Center. However, it was worth it because it gave us something interesting to look at. Cari must have known our attention is where our eyes are. If we're not looking at a speaker, we're probably not listening to that speaker. Instead of being another "talking head," Cari had our attention before she even said hello.

Cari acted out a situation we've all experienced. Instead of describing her startup with an elevator pitch (boring), she demonstrated a real-life situation where something went wrong. We remembered a time that happened to us or a loved one, and voluntarily decided we wanted her product so we can prevent that from happening again. She wasn't selling, she was showing.

Bill Gates said, "I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions, they will be moved to act."

I agree. Next time you want people's attention, don't "tell and sell" your product or service, "show and ask."

Act out a frustrating situation with a prop while asking "Have you ever...?" questions.

It is a more effective way to win buy-in because people will think, "Been there, done that, don't want to do it again." People will be more motivated to act when you act out the problem.

You'll know you've succeeded when people say, "That just happened to me last week," "I want/need that!" or "You're talking to me!"

Those responses are a sure sign you've connected, and mutually-rewarding connections are the goal of every communication.

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"You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention." - line from the movie Django Unchained Many of us grew up doing "Show and Tell" in elementary school. A premise of INTRIGUE is, "It's smarter to ask than tell. And it's even smarter to show and ask." Why?

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Millennials and Gen Xers increasingly identify as liberal Democrats; more Boomers, Silents identify as conservative Republicans

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Graphic: Millennials and Gen Xers increasingly identify as liberal Democrats; more Boomers, Silents identify as conservative Republicans

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What Is Capitalize My Title?

Capitalize My Title is an easy, smart title capitalization tool that uses title capitalization rules published by leading professional organizations to ensure your titles and headlines are capitalized correctly. We analyze your titles and headlines using a combination of logic and artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning to determine which words in your heading should be capitalized.

How to Use Capitalize My Title

1. Select your title capitalization style above by clicking on a tab. If you have questions, read our title capitalization rules below.

2. Enter your title in the text box.

3. Watch your title convert case and be automatically capitalized!

4. If you want to, you can press "Enter" on your keyboard or click the Copy button next to the text box to copy the text to your clipboard.

5. Capitalize your next title.

Bonus: We have some great shortcuts to make your life easier.

Case Converter Options

You have multiple options to capitalize and change the case of your titles, headlines, song titles, book titles, email subjects, and more. Below is a description of the ways you can use our case converter.

Top Tabs

The top tabs allow you to select which style of capitalization you want to use. You can learn more in the Title Capitalization Rules by Style section.

APA: Capitalize using the APA style guide.

Chicago: Capitalize using the Chicago Manual of Style capitalization rules.

AP: Use the Associated Press Stylebook capitalization guidelines.

MLA: Use the MLA Handbook title capitalization rules.

BB: Use the Bluebook title capitalization rules.

AMA: Use the AMA Manual of Style capitalization rules.

NY Times: Use the NY Times style guidelines.

Wikipedia: Use Wikipedia's capitalization rules.

Email: Use proper capitalization rules for email.

Bottom Buttons

The buttons at the bottom let you choose specific case conversion options for the various styles.

Title Case: Capitalize only the words that should be capitalized according to the top tab style guide.

Sentence Case: Capitalize only the first word of each sentence.

Uppercase: Convert your title from lowercase to uppercase.

Lowercase: Convert your title from uppercase to lowercase.

First Letter / Proper Case: Capitalize the first letter of every word.

Alt Case: Capitalize every other letter of your text starting with the first letter being capitalized.

Toggle Case: Change the case of every letter in your string. Similar to the Microsoft Word feature.

Other Options

Straight quotes: Curly quotes (",",',') are used in good typography. If you need to use straight quotes, enable this feature.

Get Headline Score/Get Email Subject Score: Find out how strong your headline or email subject is by using our convenient tools.

Common Case Converter Uses

Title case converter

Quickly convert your title or text to title case by simply clicking the "Title Case" button in the tool above.

Sentence case converter

Quickly convert your title or text to sentence case by simply clicking the "Sentence case" button in the tool above.

Uppercase to lowercase converter

If you left caps lock on accidentally, you can quickly convert your title from uppercase to lowercase by selecting the "lower" button above. This will uncapitalize your text. You can also use this tool to do it automatically.

Lowercase to uppercase converter

Alternatively, you can use our tool to convert text from lowercase to uppercase by clicking the "UPPER" button. You can also use this tool to do it automatically.

Uppercase to title case converter

If you want to change your title from uppercase to title case, you can select the "Title Case" button above.

All caps converter

You can quickly convert your text or title to all caps by selecting the "UPPER" button on the tool. This will convert your text to uppercase.

What to Capitalize in a Title

Understanding what to capitalize in a title is important to make sure that your titles and headlines look correct. If you're confused about what words to capitalize in a title or headline, we recommend using our title capitalization tool above, but if you want specific capitalization rules, they are as follows.

First, it is important to note that there are four main title capitalization styles: Chicago style, APA style, MLA style, and AP style. Each of these capitalization styles has slightly different rules for which words are capitalized and each of these styles can be written using title case capitalization or sentence case capitalization.

What Is Title Case Capitalization?

Title case is the most common form of title and headline capitalization and is found in all four major title capitalization styles. Title case is also commonly used for book titles, movies titles, song names, plays, and other works.

In general, the following capitalization rules apply across the four styles in title case:

Capitalize the first word in the title

Capitalize the last word in the title

Capitalize the important words in the title

Important words in that last bullet generally refer to:

Adjectives (tiny, large, etc.)

Adverbs (quietly, smoothly, etc.)

Nouns (tablet, kitchen, book)

Pronouns (they, she, he)

Subordinating conjunctions (when fewer than 5 letters)

Verbs (write, type, create)

Title case is the most common title capitalization for book titles, headlines, articles titles, etc. When multiple letters in a title need to be capitalized, use title case capitalization.

Words Not Capitalized in Title Case

While the above words are generally capitalized in titles regardless of style, there are some words that are generally not capitalized when using title case. Again, these will depend on the specific style you choose (see Title Capitalization Rules by Style section). These include short words and conjunctions:

Articles (a, an, the)

Coordinating Conjunctions (and, but, for)

Short (fewer than 4 letters)

Prepositions (at, by, to, etc.)

What Is Sentence Case?

The other major type of title capitalization standard is sentence case. Sentence case simply means you capitalize the first letter of a sentence, proper nouns, and nothing else as opposed to capitalizing almost every first letter in title case. It is the same across all of the four styles.

For more specific title capitalization rules, you can see the following sections which cover each style of title capitalization rules or check out our FAQs for common capitalization questions. Our tool lets you convert the case of your text easily into sentence case.

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Title Capitalization Tool - Capitalize My Title - Title Case Tool

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Making title capitalization easy. Automatically capitalize & convert case of text to Title Case (in AP, APA, Chicago, MLA), sentence case, UPPERCASE, lowercase, and more.

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Whenever consumer spending is slowing down, you need to defend your market position and maintain your competitive edge. Tom Whitney shows you how to stay ahead of your rivals

1. Know the competition. Find out who your competitors are, what they are offering and what their unique selling point (USP) is. This will identify the areas you need to compete in, as well as giving you a platform for differentiating yourself.

2. Know your customers. Customer expectations can change dramatically when economic conditions are unstable. Find out what matters to your customers now - is it lower price, more flexible service, the latest products? Revise your sales and marketing strategy accordingly.

3. Differentiate. It's essential to give your customers good reasons to come to you rather than a rival. Your USP should tap into what customers want and it should be clear and obvious - no-one should have to ask what makes you different.

4. Step up your marketing. Make more effort to tell people who you are, what you sell and why they should buy from you. It doesn't have to be expensive; marketing can range from posters in your window and leaflet drops through to advertising campaigns in local media.

5. Update your image. Simple steps such as painting the front of your premises can make your business look more modern and inviting. But look also at business cards, stationery, your website, branded packaging, clothing and so on. Does your image reflect your USP?

Editor's note - looking to save money on web development? Compare quotes with our partners ApprovedWebDevelopers - fill in the quick form to get started.
Find out more

1. Look after your existing customers. They will be your competitors' target market. Provide better customer service by being more responsive to their needs and expectations. If feasible, consider offering low-cost extras such as improved credit terms, discounts or loyalty schemes - remember, it's cheaper and easier to keep customers than to find new ones.

2. Target new markets. Selling into a greater number of markets can increase your customer base and spread your risk. Consider whether you can sell online or overseas, for example. Are there groups you've never targeted before who might be interested in your offer? Don't waste time marketing to people who won't be interested, however.

3. Expand your offer. What related products or services might your customers be interested in? You might even consider diversifying into another area - many cafes have successfully offered Internet access, for example.

4. Be the best employer. Skilled, motivated staff underpin vibrant, growing businesses. But attracting them means more than paying a competitive wage - people are often more impressed by a good working atmosphere and benefits such as flexible working and structured career development.

5. Look to the future. Businesses that plan for growth are more successful than those that are happy to stay still. Keep up with developments in your sector, follow consumer trends, invest in new technology and - crucially - have a clear idea of where you want to be in one, three and five years' time.

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Ten ways to keep ahead of the competition

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Whenever consumer spending is slowing down, you need to defend your market position and maintain your competitive edge. Tom Whitney shows you how to stay ahead of your rivals Know the competition. Find out who your competitors are, what they are offering and what their unique selling point (USP) is.

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We've all created our own personal histories, marked by highs and lows, that we share with the world - and we can shape them to live with more meaning and purpose.

We are all storytellers - all engaged, as the anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson puts it, in an "act of creation" of the "composition of our lives." Yet unlike most stories we've heard, our lives don't follow a predefined arc. Our identities and experiences are constantly shifting, and storytelling is how we make sense of it. By taking the disparate pieces of our lives and placing them together into a narrative, we create a unified whole that allows us to understand our lives as coherent - and coherence, psychologists say, is a key source of meaning.

Northwestern University psychologist Dan McAdams is an expert on a concept he calls "narrative identity." McAdams describes narrative identity as an internalized story you create about yourself - your own personal myth. Like myths, our narrative identity contains heroes and villains that help us or hold us back, major events that determine the plot, challenges overcome and suffering we have endured. When we want people to understand us, we share our story or parts of it with them; when we want to know who another person is, we ask them to share part of their story.

An individual's life story is not an exhaustive history of everything that has happened. Rather, we make what McAdams calls "narrative choices." Our stories tend to focus on the most extraordinary events, good and bad, because those are the experiences we need to make sense of and that shape us. But our interpretations may differ. For one person, for example, a childhood experience like learning how to swim by being thrown into the water by a parent might explain his sense of himself today as a hardy entrepreneur who learns by taking risks. For another, that experience might explain why he hates boats and does not trust authority figures. A third might leave the experience out of his story altogether, deeming it unimportant.

People who believe their lives are meaningful tend to tell stories defined by growth, communion and agency.

McAdams has been studying narrative identity for over 30 years. In his interviews, he asks research subjects to divide their lives into chapters and to recount key scenes, such as a high point, a low point, a turning point or an early memory. He encourages participants to think about their personal beliefs and values. Finally, he asks them to reflect on their story's central theme. He has discovered interesting patterns in how people living meaningful lives understand and interpret their experiences. People who are driven to contribute to society and to future generations, he found, are more likely to tell redemptive stories about their lives, or stories that transition from bad to good. There was the man who grew up in dire poverty but told McAdams that his hard circumstances brought him and his family closer together. There was the woman who told him that caring for a close friend as the friend was dying was a harrowing experience, but one that ultimately renewed her commitment to being a nurse, a career she'd abandoned. These people rate their lives as more meaningful than those who tell stories that have either no or fewer redemptive sequences.

The opposite of a redemptive story is what McAdams calls a "contamination story," in which people interpret their lives as going from good to bad. One woman told him the story of the birth of her child, a high point, but she ended the story with the death of the baby's father, who was murdered three years later. The joy over the birth of her child was tainted by that tragedy. People who tell contamination stories, McAdams has found, are less "generative," or less driven to contribute to society and younger generations. They also tend to be more anxious and depressed, and to feel that their lives are less coherent compared to those who tell redemptive stories.

Redemption and contamination stories are just two kinds of tales we spin. McAdams has found that beyond stories of redemption, people who believe their lives are meaningful tend to tell stories defined by growth, communion and agency. These stories allow individuals to craft a positive identity: they are in control of their lives, they are loved, they are progressing through life and whatever obstacles they have encountered have been redeemed by good outcomes.

Even making smaller story edits to our personal narratives can have a big impact on our lives.

One of the great contributions of psychology and psychotherapy research is the idea that we can edit, revise and interpret the stories we tell about our lives even as we are constrained by the facts. A psychotherapist's job is to work with patients to rewrite their stories in a more positive way. Through editing and reinterpreting his story with his therapist, the patient may come to realize that he is in control of his life and that some meaning can be gleaned from his hardships. A review of the scientific literature finds that this form of therapy is as effective as antidepressants or cognitive behavioral therapy.

Even making smaller story edits can have a big impact on our lives. So found Adam Grant and Jane Dutton in a study published in 2012. The researchers asked university call-center fundraisers to keep a journal for four consecutive days. In one condition, the beneficiary condition, the researchers asked the fundraisers to write about the last time a colleague did something for them that inspired gratitude. In the second condition, the benefactor condition, the participants wrote about a time they contributed to others at work.

The researchers wanted to know which type of story would lead the research subjects to be more generous. To find out, they monitored the fundraisers' call records. Since the fundraisers were paid a fixed hourly rate to call alumni and solicit donations, the researchers reasoned, then the number of calls they made during their shift was a good indicator of prosocial, helping behavior.

After Grant and Dutton analyzed the stories, they found that fundraisers who told a story of themselves as benefactors ultimately made 30 percent more calls to alumni after the experiment than they had before. Those who told stories about being the beneficiary of generosity showed no changes in their behavior.

Grant and Dutton's study suggests that the ability of a story to create meaning does not end with the crafting of the tale. The stories the benefactors told about themselves ultimately led to meaningful behaviors - giving their time in the service of a larger cause. Even though the fundraisers knew they were only telling their stories as part of a study, they ultimately "lived by" those stories, as McAdams would put it. By subtly reframing their narrative, they adopted a positive identity that led them to live more purposefully.
Excerpted from the new book The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters by Emily Esfahani Smith. Published in the United States by Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. Copyright © 2017 By Emily Esfahani Smith. Reprinted with permission.

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The two kinds of stories we tell about ourselves

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We are all storytellers - all engaged, as the anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson puts it, in an "act of creation" of the "composition of our lives." Yet unlike most stories we've heard, our lives don't follow a predefined arc. Our identities and experiences are constantly shifting, and storytelling is how we make sense of it.

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Good writing is a masterpiece - you either have the talent for it or you learn how to do it from scratch. Either way, these good writing rules are for you!

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This free DISC personality test lets you assess your DISC type and profile quickly. Find out how the DISC factors, Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance explain your behavior towards others and everyday things you do.

This DISC assessment is designed to test personality by calculating your personal DISC profile based on your everyday typical behavior. Simply fill out the inventory like you would with other online personality tests. It's quick and without any obligations. The DISC test is, together with a MBTI test, career test and Big Five personality test, one of the most well known personality tests.

In the detailed report you will find a graph depicting your DISC type and a concise textual characterization of your personality profile. Additionally you can even upgrade to an extended report if you like.

DISC assessment instruction

This assessment contains 28 groups of four statements. Answer honestly and spontaneously. It should take you only 5 to 10 minutes to complete.

Study all the descriptions in each group of four

Select the one description that you consider most like you ()

Study the remaining three choices in the same group

Select the one description you consider least like you ()

For each group of four descriptions you should have one most like you and only one least like you.

Sometimes it may be difficult to decide which description to select. Remember there are no right or wrong answers in this DISC personality test, so just make the best decision you can.

Frequently asked questions

What is DISC?

The DISC Personality Test is a behavioral assessment tool designed to help individuals gain insight into their natural behavior preferences and tendencies. It's based on the DISC theory developed by psychologist William Marston, which categorizes behavior into four primary personality traits: Dominance (D), Influence (I), Steadiness (S), and Compliance (C).

What is a DISC assessment?

A DISC assessment is a self-assessment tool or questionnaire designed to evaluate an individual's behavioral tendencies and personality traits. It typically includes a series of questions or statements that respondents answer based on their preferences and reactions to various scenarios. The assessment results are used to create a DISC profile.

What is a DISC profile?

A DISC profile is a personalized report or summary that is generated after taking the DISC personality test. It outlines an individual's specific personality traits, indicating their dominant traits and any secondary characteristics. These profiles provide valuable insights into a person's communication style, work preferences, and behavior in various situations.

What DISC personality types are there?

The DISC model identifies four primary personality types, each associated with its own set of characteristics:

Dominance (D): Individuals with dominant traits tend to be assertive, decisive, and results-oriented. They are often seen as confident and competitive.

Influence (I): People with influential traits are typically sociable, outgoing, and enthusiastic. They excel in interpersonal relationships and communication.

Steadiness (S): Steadiness traits are associated with a calm, patient, and cooperative nature. Individuals with these traits value stability and are excellent team players.

Compliance (C): Those with Compliance traits are detail-oriented, systematic, and methodical. They focus on precision and quality in their work.

Most people have a combination of these traits, with one or two being more dominant in their personality.

Can I take a free DISC personality test?

Many websites offer free or limited versions of the DISC personality test. These free tests can provide a basic understanding of your personality type. However, for more comprehensive and accurate results, it's often recommended to invest in a professional DISC assessment. Paid assessments usually come with more in-depth analysis and personalized feedback. Remember that DISC assessments are a valuable tool for self-awareness and personal development, and they can also be useful in team building and organizational development.

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DISC Personality Test. Free DISC Assessment for Everyone

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The 123test DISC personality test determines your personality profile, based on the DISC types. Find out how you score on dominance, influence, steadiness and compliance by taking the free DISC test at https://www.123test.com/disc-personality-test/. If you enjoy your result, you can upgrade to an extended report afterwards.

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An op-ed is an opinion piece that a freelance writer may find themselves writing on behalf of a client, such as a nonprofit or business. The op-ed is a chance for the organization to garner some publicity for themselves and to perhaps sway public opinion about an issue. It is one kind of article or piece that freelance writers who specialize in journalism writing or PR writing may find themselves producing.

The Purpose of an Op-ed

The op-ed is usually longer than a regular letter to the editor is. It is often written by a subject matter expert (so this might be an instance of ghostwriting for the freelancer). In addition to a freelancer writing this on behalf of an organization, they are frequently written by a PR writer within the organization or other staff employees- such as a staff writer.

They are written in answer to a piece of news or to another opinion within the newspaper. For example, new immigration laws may push nonprofit immigration advocates to write an op-ed in favor of the new laws. An op-ed is anywhere from 300-700 words long, and sometimes a biography line and/or a photo of the "writer" (or subject matter expert) runs with the piece. Here are some tips on how to write an op-ed.

Own the Opinion

This will generally come from the client unless you've written for them a long time and are familiar with their stances.

Know what the end outcome of the op-ed is. Know what you want the reader to come away thinking and believing.

Start With a Hook

Just like in any other piece of writing, your reader is going to make a decision within just a few seconds whether or not they will continue. I like to start with a story that is personalized to the issue- but a brief one.

Be careful with this-I'm not telling you to pad your beginning with too much work-up.

The hook should be relevant to the issue. For example, I once began an op-ed about immigration law with a couple sentences about a woman who was waiting for her husband to return from Syria, where he was getting his papers in order, right when the recent violence broke out. It was brief but relevant.

Aim Correctly

Again, this will sound familiar, as it's true with many kinds of writing: Know your audience. Think of who reads the paper, who reads that section of the paper, and who reads about that particular issue. Then, aim for them. This might mean decisions about what levels of words you use, or what kinds of stories you tell. It means avoiding industry-speak. Another point when talking about aim is timeliness. Hopefully, your client is initiating this oped at a good time- such as when the issue is making news, or when someone else has written an (opposite) opinion about that matter to which you can respond.

Back It Up

Opinions necessitate reasons and support. What are yours (or your clients')? Work them in there. Do I really need to tell you to massage stats and other figures and items that may be boring?

Nah, you're a writer-you already know this!

Follow the Rest of the Rules

As a writer, you know the basics, right? Don't use passive sentences because you think they sound special. Cut your darling words. Stick to one subject. These are especially true when it comes to pieces that have to compete for limited space. You can please your client and be hired again if you can write work that gets them published.

End With Action

Don't leave your readers saying So? Tell them to support something- even if you can't give them an explicit action such as "go vote." This is also important because your readers will skim and scan, even if they're not reading on the internet. End it well.

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Learn How to Write a Great Op-ed Article with These Helpful Tips

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An op-ed is an opinion piece that a freelance writer may find themselves writing on behalf of a client, such as a nonprofit or business. The op-ed is a chance for the organization to garner some publicity for themselves and to perhaps sway public opinion about an issue.

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I often go out and talk to people who are interested in getting Op-Eds published in The Times. I do it because we need you, the reader, the writer. People certainly don't write for us for the money; the payment, frankly, is peanuts. They write for the influence, for the chance to reach an audience, to say something that's been bothering them, driving them crazy, something that no one else seems to be saying.

We appreciate that, and we need you. We need a diversity of voices and opinions about a range of topics. Anything can be an Op-Ed. We're not only interested in policy, politics or government. We're interested in everything, if it's opinionated and we believe our readers will find it worth reading. We are especially interested in finding points of view that are different from those expressed in Times editorials. If you read the editorials, you know that they present a pretty consistent liberal point of view. There are lots of other ways of looking at the world, to the left and right of that position, and we are particularly interested in presenting those points of view.

As we become more international, we need you more than ever. Not long ago, Op-Ed meant just the two or so articles by outside writers that ran each day on the print page. Now, Op-Ed includes Sunday Review, a section with longer reported, opinionated pieces, and Opinionator, one of the most popular blogs at The Times and home to series like The Stone, on philosophy, Disunion, on the Civil War, Draft, on writing, and Private Lives, personal perspectives of universal matters.

We get a flood of submissions, but there's never too much good writing in the world. There is always room for more. So what makes the cut? That's what people always ask me, so I'll try to explain the process. Most pieces we publish are between 400 and 1200 words. They can be longer when they arrive, but not so long that they're traumatizing. Submissions that are reacting to news of the world are of great value to us, especially if they arrive very quickly. Write in your own voice. If you're funny, be funny. Don't write the way you think important people write, or the way you think important pieces should sound. And it's best to focus very specifically on something; if you write about the general problem of prisons in the United States, the odds are that it will seem too familiar. But if you are a prisoner in California and you have just gone on a hunger strike and you want to tell us about it - now, that we would like to read. We are normal humans (relatively speaking). We like to read conversational English that pulls us along. That means that if an article is written with lots of jargon, we probably won't like it.

We don't just wait for articles to arrive. Every day we have a meeting to discuss the news, to toss around ideas, to think about which writers might be good on which subjects. Whether we then reach out to a writer and ask for a piece, or take on something that was submitted to us, all articles are written on spec - no article is guaranteed publication. But once we have accepted a piece, we will do everything we can to make sure it runs on one of our platforms. Sometimes, that happens months after a piece is written, an occurrence that must be absolutely maddening to writers. We wait for what seems like a good peg, the moment when the greatest number of readers are likely to find a piece relevant and interesting.

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I often go out and talk to people who are interested in getting Op-Eds published in The Times. I do it because we need you, the reader, the writer. People certainly don't write for us for the money; the payment, frankly, is peanuts.

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1. What makes you feel powerful?

2. What makes you feel calm?

3. What makes you feel in control?

4. How do you encourage yourself when you're trying something new?

5. What's a choice you can make this week based on your needs?

6. How do you shift your mindset if it isn't working for you?

7. How do you recharge?

8. How can you celebrate yourself today?

9. What does your situational best look like today?

10. What helps you slow down and feel more present?

11. What can you do today that you didn’t think you could do a year ago?

12. What's a goal you want to accomplish and why?

13. How do you put yourself first without feeling guilty?

14. How do you practice self-acceptance?

15. How do you stay focused and steer clear of distractions?

16. How do you trust yourself to make big decisions?

17. How do you set boundaries and avoid absorbing someone else's emotions and stress?

18. How do you savor the time you get alone?

19. How do you notice when you're nearing burnout?

20. How do you share your feelings with the people who care about you?

21. How do you swap envy for joy when other people accomplish things?

22. How do you advocate for yourself?

23. How do you forgive yourself when you make a mistake?

24. How do you ask for help or support when you need it?

25. How do you practice self-love and self-kindness?

26. How do you calm your nerves in a difficult situation?

27. How do you make the time you spend with people more intentional?

28. How do you embrace your authentic self, even if it looks different from what others expect?

29. How do you set and protect your boundaries?

30. What new opportunities have come out of challenges you’ve faced?

31. How can you step outside your comfort zone to grow?

32. How do you remind yourself that you're enough?

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Ready, Set, Journal! 64 Journaling Prompts for Self-Discovery

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One great way to learn more about yourself is to write your thoughts in a journal. If you’re not sure where to start, these prompts (and tips!) could help.