I started tweeting ‘free daily edits’ for a laugh. To my surprise and delight, they generated enormous interest. To help you honour audience members who care about good English, here are my top tips to date:

1. [ ] = Delete. Ditch redundant words [in order] to clarify your message [in order] to take and hold reader attention.
2. Change 'revert back' to 'revert'. It's a tautology.
3. Next time you write something, remove every 'that'. I guarantee [that] you won't put more than 25% back!
4. However vital they may seem, corporate words like Client, Company, Project and Team rarely need capital letters.
5. You're = You are. Your means ownership. Avoid 'Thanks for you're email' and you'll be ahead of the pack!
6. Change 'utilisation' (or 'utilization') to 'use'. One syllable good, five syllables BAD!

Enjoy!

I can be a little lazy when it comes to typing apostrophes. In fact it's a regular occurrence for me to receive emails from readers who notice that I've either used one incorrectly, placed it in the wrong position or even missed it completely.

The following is Paul Hassing's definitive explanation of when and how to use apostrophes in your website copy. Try not to be alarmed by the language in the examples, they are couched in classic "Aussie" vernacular just to make sure the rules stay firmly implanted in your hippocampus.

Rule 1

If you join words, the apostrophe replaces the missing letters.

• It's crap = It is crap
• You're dead = You are dead
• I've spewed = I have spewed

This is a guest post from Paul Hassing from The Feisty Empire . It's a follow up to my interview with him from last week. After reading the interview back again I thought there were a ton of questions that were begging to be asked so I figured I would just start with one: What are some tips for people starting to write for the web?

1. Know your audience & speak to them.

Online readers give you far less time to get their attention. If you don’t immediately tell them something interesting and relevant, they’re gone. Cut the waffle and cut to the chase. Or you’ll simply be a traffic sign to your competitor’s better-written site.

2. Use short words, sentences & paragraphs.

Big text blocks are hard to read online, especially if they’re justified (i.e. not left aligned). Use short words in short sentences. Keep your paragraphs under six lines. Read your copy aloud to find and kill every redundant word.