I wanted to share a story I just had published in the February issue of PR Tactics titled "Blog basics: Writing online is much easier -- and enjoyable -- than you might imagine."

In it, I address the concern of many businesspeople that blogging sounds like a great idea ... but they're worried about the writing process. Here's an except:

The point these folks are missing is that blog posts are not newspaper articles, magazine pieces or essays. Blogging is its own medium, less demanding in terms of the written word, yet perhaps more powerful in the conversations it can create. It's worth examining the differences.

You can read the whole story here (PDF).

Press releases. Blog posts. E-mail pitches. Podcast and conference call scripts. Speeches. PowerPoint presentations.

Writing is at the center of all the above -- and represents a critical skill for communicators, particularly now that the Internet era is solidly upon us. My podcast, Talking Communications with Farrell Kramer, examines the craft of writing in Episode 9 -- The Write Stuff, which has just been posted.

Mark Baker, a bestselling author and Senior Vice President at Robinson Lerer & Montgomery, talks on the podcast about how to write effectively for communications. He also assures us that good writing is hard work for even the most practiced professionals.

It's a worthwhile listen for anyone involved in communications.

With earnings season upon us again, it's a logical time to look at the issue of version control.  This phrase, which will make sense to anybody who's worked through draft after draft of press releases, scripts, op-eds and the like, simply refers to the mundane task of keeping track of edits.

Mundane, but terrifyingly important.   You only need to send out the wrong version of a press release once to understand the danger of poor version control.

What is good version control?  Ideally, it's a foolproof system to make sure you don't miss, skip over or otherwise misplace a set of edits as you draft and redraft critical documents.  This can be very hard to do when you've got edits coming in from 4, 5, 6 or more individuals.  I've had clients where the number rose to the dozens!

So, how is it done?  Let's first look at inadequate methods of version control:

Back in January, I posted my favorite tip for getting past writer's block: Craft a headline! 

Tonight, on a blog I like called ProBlogger, I came across a great post on the importance of headlines.  It also offers some nice suggestions for making the most out of just a few, choice words. 

Marketers know perhaps better than the rest of us the importance of headline writing.  The following from Copyblogger spells it out:

On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. This is the secret to the power of the headline, and why it so highly determines the effectiveness of the entire piece.

I've seen a number of stories/posts lately providing writers with basic "how to" advice. When I encountered the following concept, I read right past it:

Write what you know!

A no-brainer, right?

Well, I'm going to take the opposite position here and argue that if you want to improve as a writer, you should focus on those topics that you know do not know well.

Really.

The reason is this. If you know a topic very well -- so well that you can write about it with little or no effort -- then you're not being forced to think very much during the creative process. This leads to repetition of the same phrases and structures, introduction of jargon into the piece, and a subtle signal to readers that your work is only for people who are already well-versed in the topic.

It's no new phenomenon that newspapers are losing readers. I first heard about this ''problem'' when I was in graduate journalism school back in the go-go '80s.

The fact that this remains a puzzle to newspaper editors and publishers surprises me. I figured out the answer during my first week in j-school. And it is just as relevant today -- to both journalists and those who work with them.

Think back to your days as a student and you'll recall English teachers taught that the great writers were folks like Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Shakespeare. We were fed a steady diet of writing at this level throughout middle school, high school and, perhaps, college.

This fact jumped out at me as I was learning basic news writing, where we were taught to produce sentences like this:

''A young man in a purple jacket and cowboy boots allegedly beat and stabbed a nightclub owner shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday, leaving the businessman in critical condition, police said."

Few ever used simple words to convey ideas better than Ernest Hemingway.

Here's a quote cited in the "Thoughts" section of Forbes (Feb. 13), that shows he knew exactly what he was doing:

Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don't know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.
--ERNEST HEMINGWAY

Every so often, I come across some language that is so ... instructive that it requires no additional comment. The following is from the latest PRWeek, quoting a senior public relations professional: "... the firm's goal is

to provide clients a qualitative level of service that's value added.

I am not making this up.

It's no secret to anyone reading this blog that I like ideas. I love them! They're the center of all effective communications. Worth their weight in gold. ...

So, when you've got one -- a really good one -- why waste it?

Don't use it for one communication and then move on. Be a tightwad! Use it, and reuse it. Then use it again. These "leftovers" can actually be turned into meals that would make the world's finest chefs proud. You've already got the key ingredient -- your great idea.

Sounds good, but how does this work in practice? Simple. Lets say you've got a great idea for an op-ed or contributed piece. OK. Research possible placement venues, write it up and submit it. Voila, it's published. Now, we start reusing the material (I sometimes call this "repurposing").

Reflecting on today's holiday -- MLK Day -- I thought it might make sense to point out something particularly relevant to this blog: Martin Luther King, Jr., was a tremendous communicator!

His speeches were not complex in the words that they used or the structure that they grew from.  Their power came directly from ideas, and the way he made simple words work together. 

When we think of leadership -- in business or politics -- much of it is, in fact, communication.  Any great leader begins with specific plans, what he or she wants to accomplish, but then must communicate them in a way that motivates others to follow.  Absent strong communication, there is no leadership.  There may be management, but no leadership.