Branding isn't just about the images around us, our logos or colours, it's also about how we present ourselves to others as we promote our businesses.

This also means via forums like this one and many others.

Over the years it has concerned me to see many new VAs (or any business person on any forum) resorting to phonetic spelling or sms type chat on forums when chatting with their peers. It might appear 'cute' or 'modern' but the reality is it can give a wrong impression about your spelling and writing ability and if the VA services you provide depends on your writing ability, then it's important you take care with that, even when participating in forums.

I learnt to type the old-fashioned way back in the early 1970s (showing my age, aren't I? ) and so I talk with my fingers almost as fast as I talk with my mouth. But I still have to back up, or stop and check things periodically and even after posting a comment I might find a mistake and go back and edit it.

How I'm viewed online in the written word is important to me and I believe demonstrates some of my professionalism and my brand as a professional.

What do you think? Do you also think this is an important part of your branding? Open to discussion...

__________________
Kathie M. Thomas, VA Coach
A Clayton's Secretary, VA Blog

I absolutely agree with this post! I sometimes do make mistakes when typing, especially as right now in my prep phase I am often typing one-handed while nursing my baby! I hate typos though and I really do not like chat style typing or people who seem to have no grasp of grammar. I wonder if they will truly succeed as a VA, or if they are just careless with their grammar due to this being a less formal arena.

I went to school only about 12 years ago, but I actually learned on a typewriter, not a computer. I think in general in made me more careful, although I am grateful to have access to delete and copy and paste now!!

Thanks for the great post Kathie!

Laurie

p.s. I keep having to add my name - another thing that bothers me is when people don't sign their posts and yet I keep doing it!

Hi Laurie, there is a real difference between a genuine typo and a lack of discipline for typing properly. The former can simply be an oversight, a sign of busy-ness or distraction but the latter to me indicates a sign of laziness or lack of understanding.

Our industry is a professional industry and we need to be recognised as such. And yet I see so many on public forums (not even amongst their own peers) who become very lacksadaisacal in their approach and unfortunately it reflects on our whole industry - not just that one person.

People tend to generalise which is why it's so important we remember that we are on show 24/7 if we're running an internet-based business. There really is no slacking off - at least in a public or business type forum.

__________________
Kathie M. Thomas, VA Coach
A Clayton's Secretary, VA Blog

Originally Posted by lsmapp

Thanks for the great post Kathie! Laurie p.s. I keep having to add my name - another thing that bothers me is when people don't sign their posts and yet I keep doing it!

Re your name, I believe you should be able to set up your own signature now you've done over 25 posts - or you can simply copy and paste it from a saved file to help you.

__________________
Kathie M. Thomas, VA Coach
A Clayton's Secretary, VA Blog

I think this is a very interesting thread. I've spent a lot of time over the past several days thinking about the success of a VA who lacks good quality writing skills.
From the research I have done, it appears that SEO is very important for an online business's success. I had never even heard of SEO until I came to this forum. From what I understand about SEO is that blogging and newsletters increase traffic on your website. It also encourages (hopefully) guests to come back. So what does that mean for someone who doesn't like to write?
Personally, as I have mentioned before, I don't really care for structured writing. As a child growing up in the city, proper grammar wasn't significant. As a matter of fact a majority of the students didn't even speak english. For us it was important to show up to school, try to avoid gangs and stay out of trouble. When I entered college I was in for a rude awakening. Granted I passed all of my Composition classes with A's and always got A's on essays, I disliked writing very much. I still cringe when my daughter has to write a paper because I know I have to help her. Formal writing literally gives me a headache!
On the other hand, I'm great at informal writing. I could pour my feelings onto paper all day long. But I'm sure I may misuse words or write incorrect sentences.
In conclusion, I agree that being professional in an informal environment such as a forum is indeed important. The more knowledge I gain from Veteran VA's and the books and articles I'm reading, the more I learn and the better I will become.
I do not really offer any writing or editing services. I prefer to do work on MS software. Thank goodness for spelling and grammar check! Although it's not always 100% accurate, it helps A LOT! I only wish it could correct sentence fragments. But overall, I believe I am professional and can succeed without being a professional writer.
I have also decided that I may try to write my own blog and/or newsletter and maybe outsource the editing to another VA. I have been brainstorming different solutions. I still feel very confident that this will work out for me.
Thank you all for your guidance.
Dawn

I always try to be aware of how my written words can be interpreted (or misinterpreted) by another and so while I may use abbreviated language with close friends on Skype, you won't see it in my forums posts, website or blog (at least I hope I don't!!). I network online and just as I wouldn't use inappropriate language in a networking or chamber meeting in real life, I wouldn't use anything but correct language, grammar and spelling online. (Must be the school teacher in me!)

__________________
Kylie Short
Tilda Virtual Services - Making virtual personal

Don't get me wrong Dawn, I wasn't saying you have to be a formal writer by any means. Some of us enjoy writing and other's don't. But it is important to portray yourself professionally and it was more the slang and SMS type chat that I often see on various forums that make me cringe as I feel it could disadvantage those who use it, when others might look to them for assistance.

I've seen some type in all CAPS, which portrays yelling online, but probably more likely signifies either lazy typing or an inability to type; sms chat and phonetic spelling which again could mean laziness or inability to spell, and so on.

Not all VAs provide services that require them to be an excellent writer, however if they are providing transcription services, or formatting of a Word document or Powerpoint, or even working on a website, they do need to be able to tell when the wrong words are being used or if they are spelt incorrectly. The amount of times I've seen 'their' instead of 'there' and 'loose' instead of 'lose' for example.

I simply want to encourage everyone to consider that even in writing, your business can be 'branded' by your ability or inability to present yourself in the written word.

__________________
Kathie M. Thomas, VA Coach
A Clayton's Secretary, VA Blog

Great thread Kathie - thanks for opening up discussion on this important facet of a VAs professional presentation.

Dawn, SEO can be impacted positively by maintaining a blog and publishing articles, but it's much more extensive than that, so don't worry - you're not totally out of luck when it comes to SEO even if you dislike writing ) Check the SEO section on the boards for more info about things you can do to increase your search engine rankings without writing a daily novella

__________________
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Thanks for these thoughts, Kathie. As a writer and editor, I'm often dismayed that there's little respect for these disciplines. Often you'll see a blog that's obviously written by a professional and knowledgeable person, but the grammar is so bad that their expertise seems compromised.
We hire people to make our logos and websites look great, why not go to the minor expense of using an editor to make sure your content is as skilled as your services. This is not necessary for every post, of course (though one quick proofread can save you much embarrassment on anything you write); but your website copy, press releases, articles, ebooks, etc. really should be letter-perfect.

__________________
Mary H. Ruth/Virtual Writing & Communications
http://www.writingVA.com

Originally Posted by kathiemt

Branding isn't just about the images around us, our logos or colours, it's also about how we present ourselves to others as we promote our businesses. This also means via forums like this one and many others. Over the years it has concerned me to see many new VAs (or any business person on any forum) resorting to phonetic spelling or sms type chat on forums when chatting with their peers. It might appear 'cute' or 'modern' but the reality is it can give a wrong impression about your spelling and writing ability and if the VA services you provide depends on your writing ability, then it's important you take care with that, even when participating in forums. I learnt to type the old-fashioned way back in the early 1970s (showing my age, aren't I? ) and so I talk with my fingers almost as fast as I talk with my mouth. But I still have to back up, or stop and check things periodically and even after posting a comment I might find a mistake and go back and edit it. How I'm viewed online in the written word is important to me and I believe demonstrates some of my professionalism and my brand as a professional. What do you think? Do you also think this is an important part of your branding? Open to discussion...

Very good point. One of the largest parts of a VAs job is typing and using words wether you're creating presentations, reports, business letters or what have you. You're a representative of your business and the industry as a whole, so I think you should keep that in mind whenever you're sending writing of any sort. I will read emails over, several times in many cases, to make sure that I don't have any mistakes and that what I'm trying to say is coming through ok even if I'm just writing to a friend or family member. These forums are fairly open as far as reading goes. What would a potential client think if they see tons of poor spelling and grammar? It may make them think a little less of the professionalism of hiring VAs. I think that, even if you're just chatting or goofing off, you can still use proper spelling and grammar to do so.

Originally Posted by Dawn~AtUrServic

I have also decided that I may try to write my own blog and/or newsletter and maybe outsource the editing to another VA. I have been brainstorming different solutions. I still feel very confident that this will work out for me. Thank you all for your guidance. Dawn

That's one of the exciting things about being a VA. You don't have to do anything that you don't want to or don't feel comfortable doing.

I have learned that I have a lot of good things to say, but it is sometimes hard for me to get that out on paper the right way. My best advice for people like me is to work with an editor. Another thing that I do is take a break from whatever piece that I am working on and come back to it with "fresh eyes". I catch a lot of things that way and it also forces me to s l o w down a little too!

__________________
Doreen R. Patrick, MVA, ACS, CIVA
www.virtualbusinesspartners.net

I guess the main message here is just to keep it professional, not sloppy, and it doesn't have to be complicated, you can keep it simple.

I bet many of you with websites have had emails from 'wannabe' VAs with the most appallingly written emails begging for work from you. I know I have and sometimes I write back nicely explaining that even if I wanted to give them work, I couldn't because their written email didn't give me confidence in their abilities. I had one guy get really upset and email me back saying he already does work for doctors and it's good enough for them - seems he does a lot of copy typing. But the others have usually thanked me for my comments in their well written replies, simply because they've taken care in what they've been doing the second time around.

Kind of like - do you turn up for an interview dressed in your worst clothing or do you turn up looking your best to make a good impression?

Writing emails, participating in business type forums, etc should be viewed the same way.

__________________
Kathie M. Thomas, VA Coach
A Clayton's Secretary, VA Blog

I agree Stephanie. There are so many VA's with different specialties that we can outsource our mundane business needs. That is the whole point, right?
But I do see Kathie's point about maintaining professionalism in business type correspondence. If we don't take pride in our work, why would anyone want to outsource their clients to us?
Thank you Tess. I have been slowly but surely trying to get through the SEO threads.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this forum is probably indexed in Google(it is). So whatever you post here can be seen by the world. It is part of your SEO. Your business name is now public and your picture if you include one.
In my VA business all work is checked by a outside proofreader before released to the client. Just to make sure that the client will be satisfied.