You’ve created a website for your business. You’ve read how-to-maintain-the-site articles, all preaching the critical importance of fresh content. The experts further insist: maintain eMail contact with current and prospective customers. This article details polishing tools for your writing endeavors. We also present a preferred method for keeping up with all those pesky login passwords.
The hustle of modern life sometimes inflicts mental skips while writing. And, we all know electronic auto-correct systems instill delight and blight in equal measure. Result: “oops” littering your content, defying notice despite diligent proofreading.
Grammarly plays Superman, flying in to rescue your reputation by pinpointing embarrassing grammatical errors. Examples best illustrate the problem:
- A mental slip produces “their” when you intended “they’re.”
- You mention actions by the head law enforcement official of several states. You write “Attorney Generals” instead of “Attorneys General.
- You write “more than she could bare” as opposed to “more than she could bear.”
- Auto-correct attacked “we’re going,” perverting the phrase to “were going.”
Proofing your own work devolves into a forest-for-the-trees syndrome. Your mind expects to see what you intended to write, causing missed errors. Grammarly pinpoints required tweaks overlooked in such instances.
You can add free extensions to browsers, including Google Chrome and Safari. Many of Grammarly’s features remain locked behind a paywall, unleashed via subscription. The annual $139.95 subscription shaves the monthly fee to $11.66. A quarterly subscription reduces the monthly cost to $19.98. Otherwise, you’ll pay $29.95 each month.
✧︎︎︎ Free Version
LastPass operates on a freemium model. In the free version, passwords follow the device, not the user. When you install LastPass on another device, you have the thrill of starting from scratch.
✧︎︎︎ Paid “Premium” Version
Paying the annual $12 subscription fee adds auto-syncing. The encrypted login credentials flow among all your machines—desktop, laptop, smartphone, tablet. The subscription follows the user, as opposed to a device. (“Enterprise” customers: $48 per year.)
✧︎︎︎ Usage
LastPass rules as a user favorite because it adheres to the K.I.S.S. principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. You create login credentials at a site. LastPass pops open a message. That message allows you to save the data in a preferred category you create (e.g. Social Media, Research). When you revisit the site, a login screen greets you. LastPass enters your credentials. Complications simply do not exist.
Within the LastPass app, you create one password to access its contents. The app defines convenience from that point forward. This app remains among the best bargains in Internet Land.
Bonus Section
Visiting Grammarly.com from a mobile device triggers a full-screen alert: “Grammarly Is Not Yet Mobile Friendly. Please try this link on a desktop computer.” Fact: mobile devices overwhelmed desktop machines as of November 2016. Underscoring the ubiquity of mobile devices: Google declared war on sites hostile to mobile users. Google adjusted its algorithm to penalize such sites. For these reasons, we present a polish-your-writing tool that smiles at mobile devices.
Usage involves copying your text and pasting it into the large text box provided at the site. The tool relies on color-coding to pinpoint errors. Yellow highlighting cautions: restate this in simpler terms, to promote comprehension. As you rephrase, the yellow highlighting disappears, replaced by the standard white background. In similar fashion, red highlighted text signals intense complexity, thwarting potential user engagement. Working your way to the white background confirms the “readability” of your article.
Harvard University explained the rationale. “The average reading level is at the 8th- to 9th-grade level.” Harvard’s study tapped a cross-section of “the average adult” population. Googling—average reading grade level of american adults—confirms Harvard does not stand alone in its conclusion. Therefore, wisdom dictates your content pass the iconic Flesch-Kincaid readability test. The test promotes comprehension and hence, reader engagement. HemingwayApp shields you from the technicalities of this underlying test. By honing in on the results, your focus remains on needed tweaking adjustments.
The entry fee for exploiting this wondrous tool? Free!
✧︎︎︎ Empowered Pulse ✧︎︎︎
Our premier consulting firm, Empowered Pulse, conjures marketing strategies. Implementation produces measurable ROI (Return on Investment) results. Our umbrella goal remains the same for every client: tailor the strategy to your product or service, laying the groundwork for your business dreams to soar into reality. If your interests target social media, video, or advertising online; reputation management; captivating website design; business coaching; or mobile applications, contact us to learn precisely how our skilled team can empower your business to pulse with enthusiastic customers and reach new heights.