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Copyright
Copyright 2016 by Veronika Palovska. All rights reserved.

You are welcome to print a copy of this document for your personal use. Other
than that, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
Requests to the author for permission should be addressed to the following
email: veronika@doyouspeakfreedom.com.

Limitation of liability/disclaimer of warranty: While the author has used her best
efforts in preparing this guide, she makes no representations or warranties with
respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this document and
specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for
particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales
representatives, promoters, or written sales materials.

The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your
situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. The author
is not responsible for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages,
including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Due to the dynamic nature of the Internet, certain links and website information
contained in this publication may have changed. The author makes no
representations to the current accuracy of the web information shared.
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About This Guide

Ive created this brief guide for non-native English speaking online
entrepreneurs who need English for things like:

Writing web pages, blog posts, newsletters, product

descriptions, brochures, and bios

Creating worksheets, checklists, workbooks, or e-books

Communicating with clients through emails and social media

Writing social media content

Marketing products and/or services

Networking with other business owners on social media

Ive included tools that I use and that will help you to:

Work with software that makes it easy to write, share,

collaborate on, export, and organize longer pieces of content
(Part 1)
Keep your words safe (Part 2)
Come up with the right English words and make sure they
mean what you want them to mean (Part 3)
Make sure your writing is clear and easy to read, and doesnt
contain spelling mistakes and major grammatical errors (Part 4)

I hope you love it!

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Introduction
Have you ever made a funny writing mistake?

Okay, Ill go first.

At high school, I wrote an epic essay on the narrative structure of

Wuthering Heights. Well, looking back, it probably wasnt as epic as I
thought it was, but I was particularly proud of it and I didnt want to
ruin the impression by a typo, a misspelling, or a grammatical error.

So before I submitted it, I reread it a thousand times and run it

through a spell and grammar check to make sure everything was
perfect.

When the teacher handed it back to me, I skimmed through it to see

if there were any problems. There was just one.

In one of the first paragraphs, I wrote something like this: The

narrator isnt reliable; theres a chance that he added or vomited some
facts.

Yes. Vomited.

Of course, I meant omitted. But I couldnt see the mistake, because I

had read it so many times, and the spell and grammar check
couldnt see it, because it wasnt a spelling or grammatical mistake,
but a contextual one.

The teacher didnt cross or underline the word. She drew a smiley
face at the end of the line with an arrow pointing at the word and
gave me an A.
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This wasnt the biggest or the only mistake Ive ever made, but Im
telling you about it here to illustrate the following:

1. Tools are useful, but not almighty. Dont rely on them. A

fresh pair of eyes whether its your own eyes after several
days (or at least hours) of not looking at what youve written,
or someone elses eyes can see much more than any
software.

2. No matter how hard you try, you will make mistakes

anyway. Theres no such thing as a perfect piece of writing.

3. The best reaction to a mistake is to smile. But I dont mean

smiling in a youre-so-stupid way. I mean smiling with a kind,
understanding, and relieving smile.

Because mistakes mean that we are all human beings, and

we are all in this together.

Thank you for putting your trust in me. Im grateful youre here.

Veronika
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1. Write it Down
Writing Software
My favorite writing software is Google Docs. I use it to draft, outline,
write, and finish my blog posts, newsletters, and so on.

I love using Google Docs because:

Its free
Its safe: it automatically saves all changes, and keeps my
precious thoughts backed up, no matter what happens to my
laptop
Its always with me: I can access it from my laptop, smartphone,
or any other device, anywhere I am
Its well-organized: I can organize my documents into files, and
sort them by name, date, or recent modifications
It makes collaboration easy: I can send a link to an editor,
proofreader, or a friend, and see their comments and all the
changes they make; and we can even collaborate in real time
It makes exporting easy: I can export my writing into a Word
document, a PDF, or send it directly to WordPress and publish
it on my blog (to do this, you need an add-on see the next
page)
It has built in spell check and word count
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Useful Google Docs functions:

Word count: go to Tools -> Word count

Document outline: go to Tools -> Document outline

Export to different formats: go to File -> Download as

Revision history: go to File -> See revision history

Share document: click Share and enter email addresses or get a

sharable link

Add-ons: Add-ons are extra functions you can add to your Google
Doc. For example, you can add a thesaurus or a dictionary. (I prefer
to use external ones, though. More on that later.)

How to find and add Add-ons in Google Docs:

Go to Add-ons -> Get add-ons and enter the word or phrase you want
to search for (e. g. export to WordPress).
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Apple Pages

Pages is a word processor developed by Apple and used on their

devices. It has all the basic functions to make your writing as easy as
possible a spell check, a word count, collaboration tools, and many
others.

Also, in Pages, creating visually appealing documents and exporting

them to PDF or epub formats is much easier and less frustrating than
in Microsoft Word. Its a perfect solution for anyone who creates e-
books, workbooks, worksheets, and so on.

You can use an online version if you arent a Mac user. Just create
an Apple Id, and you can start creating. (Note: the online version
doesnt work in some browsers and operating systems.)

Microsoft Word

Word is classic. Microsoft Office isnt free, but Word is very popular
because its relatively easy to use and it has many functions, such as
a spell and grammar check, a thesaurus, a translator, a readability
test tool, and collaboration tools. Plus, it exports documents to
various formats.

The PDFs sometimes dont work out well, though. An elegant

solution is to use a different tool to export the file to PDF. I use
CutePDF to export (print) documents to PDF and PDFescape to edit
them (add links, make the file fillable).

If you use Word, the documents exist only on the device where you
create them, so make sure you use a backup tool - well talk about
this in the next part.
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Useful Microsoft Word functions:

Spell and grammar check: Change language in Review tab ->

Language.

(This differs depending on your version of Word. Look at this page

for further information.)

Word count: The number of words in the document is displayed at

the status bar at the bottom of the work space.

You can see the details by clicking at Review -> Word count (or
similar, depending on your version).

Track changes: When you cooperate with someone, you can turn
Track changes on (by clicking at the button) to see all the changes
the other person has made. Then you can choose if you want to
accept or reject them.

This function is especially useful when you work with an editor.

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2. Keep your Words Safe

A File Hosting Service
Google Docs does this job for you. Your documents are safely
placed in their cloud and nothing can happen to them unless
something happens to Google.

Or unless someone steals your password and deletes everything.

Or unless well, I could make up tragic scenarios forever, Im really

good at it.

Thats why I also use Dropbox to back up everything; you should,

too. Especially if you write in Microsoft Word (or equivalent), and the
only place where your files live is your laptop.

Dropbox is a free service (with a paid plan possibility) that saves all
your docs in the cloud. You can then access them and work with
them from all your devices. They sync automatically, so you always
have the latest versions of your documents accessible from all your
devices.
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3. Find the Right Words

And now, the most important part: writing in English.

I cant stress this enough: if you want to publish anything in English,

write it in English. Do not write it in your mother language and
translate it, and never, ever let Google Translate translate it.

I know its hard to write when you dont know all the words you need,
and you arent always sure if the words you use are the correct ones.
But resist the urge to write, or even think, in a language other than
English. If you cant think of a word, look it up in a dictionary, and
continue writing/thinking in English.

You can train your brain to switch into English, and as soon as you
get used to it, your writing will get much better.

Also, writing for your business and inside your niche means talking
about similar things over and over. The more you write, the faster
youll be able to come up with the right expressions in English.

Here are some tools that will help you:

A Good Bilingual Dictionary

This is obvious. You need a good dictionary to translate unknown
words from your language to English and vice versa (if you need to
check the meaning).
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The dictionary you choose depends on your mother language. I use
bab.la and its very convenient. It works for 28 languages, so theres
a good chance youll find your language there, too.

Now, if youre about to use an unfamiliar expression, you need to

make absolutely sure it means what you want it to mean.
Sometimes, the dictionary suggests a word that can be translated in
a certain way, but a native speaker would never use it in given
context.

Some dictionaries involve example sentences, which is a good start.

But sometimes you need more than three sentences to be sure.
Bab.la shows you many context sentences, and thats why I like it so
much.

But theres also a different way to see how the new expression
works in real-life context:

Google Search
For concrete nouns, use Google Images: when you put the word in
the search bar and search by images, youll see exactly what native
speakers imagine when they hear it. This simple trick can save you a
lot of misunderstanding. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand
words.

Here I searched for trunk:

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You can try it even for abstract phrases, sometimes it can give you a
good idea of what the expression means.

Anyway, if youre checking longer phrases, abstract expressions,

idioms, or anything else, Google has another cool hack that will
make your life easier. When you put the words in quotation marks,
youll get results containing that exact phrase:

Here I searched for the phrase I used earlier in this chapter, resist the
urge:

This way, not only can you see the phrase in real-life context, you
can also compare two or more versions, and see which one gets
more results (and therefore is more common): lets say you arent
sure about a collocation or article usage. You can experiment with
different versions, and see how many results you get for each of
them.

This may not be the best example ever, but Ill use the same
expression to show you what I mean:
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(1) Resist an urge vs. (2) resist urge vs. (3) resist the urge:

(1) no (2) probably not

(3) probably bingo

Of course, millions of people all around the globe use the Internet,
and Google doesnt filter the correct usage for you. In other words,
the fact that you can Google "make me a favor" and get 325,000
results doesnt mean its correct. It just means its a common mistake,
and people talk about it a lot in forums.

Always pay attention to the results and where they come from, and
check the phrase and its meaning in a reliable monolingual
dictionary, like Merriam-Webster.

Now, I cant resist the urge to show you how this phrase looks in
Google Images, because its such a cool example of how an image
can tell you more than words:
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A Collocation Dictionary
Ozdic is a collocation dictionary, and by far my favorite online tool. It
gives you everything you need to express yourself not just correctly,
but in a natural and interesting (but not extravagant) way:

Heres an example with the noun trust:

meaning

adjectives that collocate

with the noun

verbs to use before and

after the noun

example sentences
everywhere

prepositions! SO useful

phrases

different meanings

and more - this was just a small part! Go check it now.

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A Thesaurus
A thesaurus is a dictionary of synonyms. Microsoft Word has a built
in thesaurus. When you highlight a word and click the button, it will
show you synonyms.

You can also use an online thesaurus like this one: thesaurus.com.

A thesaurus can make your writing more interesting and clear, but it
can also ruin it and make it incomprehensible, or even funny.

Sometimes, you can feel that the word you used doesnt fit, or you
used it for a fifth time in one paragraph. This sounds like a good job
for a thesaurus. It may recommend a word that fits into the sentence
perfectly, adds interest to your writing, and pictures exactly what
you have in mind.

But dont go crazy and dont try to replace every second word,
usually the simpler the expression, the better. A rule of thumb in
writing for the web is not to use anything you wouldnt use in a
normal conversation. Of course, this advice doesnt make much
sense for non-native speakers, but a simple Google search can tell
you a lot about whats common and whats not.

As a non-native speaker, you have to develop a compass for whats

interesting, but natural, and whats too extravagant or just doesnt
make any sense. And you can only do it by reading and writing in
English.
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A Swipe File
A Swipe File is a tool you may never have heard of, but its also one
of the most powerful ones. Ive learned about it in a copywriting
course, and then again in Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon.

According to Wikipedia, a swipe file is a collection of tested and

proven advertising and sales letters used by copywriters. In your
case, it can be a notebook or a digital document where you put
everything that you like and may actually use: expressions, idioms,
new words, phrases, everything.

Organize it by topics of your interest if youre a graphic designer,

look for different ways other designers describe their work, how they
talk about their process and their clients, and how they talk about all
the tools and such they use all day.

Collect parts of blog posts, newsletters, social media posts, articles,

podcasts, quotes, and so on. Refer to your collection when you cant
think of the right words, or when you need inspiration.

Disclaimer: Im not suggesting that you should copy other people.

When using someone elses exact words, make it obvious by putting
it in quotation marks and link to the original source. When borrowing
an expression you like, mix it with your own words, and remix it with
what you already have.

You can learn more about ethical and creative stealing in Steal Like
an Artist.

Email Templates
How you communicate with your clients, potential clients, and fans
can make or break your reputation and therefore your business.
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The secret to always delivering fast, consistent, and friendly but
professional emails is having a set of email templates for standard
situations, such as:

responses to frequently asked questions,

onboarding a new client,
requesting further information (e. g. after sending a design
brief),
asking for feedback,
asking for a testimonial,
saying thank you,
dealing with a difficult client,
turning down a prospect that isnt a good fit,
raising fees,
and others.

This way, your dream clients and ideal prospects will always get an
immediate and warm response, which will make them feel
respected and appreciated.

People who arent a good fit at this moment will get a fast, friendly,
and useful response (you can simply send them a list of free
resources or refer them to someone else), which will make them
likely to recommend you or come back later.

And people who are not so awesome and, lets admit it, there are
all kinds of people on the Internet will get a professionally
sounding response with no emotional undertone (and you will save
time and energy for your dream clients).

I would also recommend having a script database for social media,

Etsy (or similar), and every other platform you use. Its not as time-
consuming and stressful as putting together and proofreading a
response every time someone reaches to you.
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4. Get it Checked Out

A Spell Check
This is an absolute must. Before you publish anything online, make
sure there are no spelling mistakes. Spelling mistakes are totally
unnecessary; its so easy to avoid them. All the writing programs we
spoke about in the first part of this guide have a built in spell check;
they underline or correct errors as you write.

A spell check cant see the context, though. Its suggestions arent
100% reliable, and frustratingly, the autocorrect sometimes
corrects a correct word and makes a mistake.

A spell check can only recognize spelling mistakes, so you need

more tools to make sure you didnt make other kinds of mistakes.
Some free proofreading and editing tools can do a great job in
detecting grammar, punctuation, and even stylistic mistakes.

Proofreading & Editing Tools

Grammarly is the best grammar checking app Ive tried. It checks for
grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes, and it also offers
explanations and possible solutions, so you can learn from your
mistakes and avoid them in the future. You can use it for free, or
upgrade to a premium plan to check for advanced grammatical
mistakes, get vocabulary enhancement suggestions, detect
plagiarism, and access some other features.
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But even the free version of Grammarly is useful. It checks your

writing directly in all kinds of online forms. This way, you can (to
some extent) avoid embarrassing mistakes in emails, on Facebook,
blog comments, and everywhere else:

This indicates the Grammarly is checking your spelling and

grammar.

If you are looking for a simple solution, try After the Deadline. It
checks spelling, grammar, and style. Its also free and you dont have
to install anything, just copy and paste your text (plus its also
available as an add-on for Chrome, Firefox, WordPress, and more).

But of course, no software can replace a human proofreader.

This is not really a tool and its certainly not free, but I have to include
it. You can hardly get better and build your confidence without
having someone read the text for you and provide feedback.

Hiring a professional to proofread and/or edit your text, especially

when its something important (like an e-book you want to sell), is
absolutely worth the investment.

A proofreader makes sure the writing is error free; an editor takes it

to the next level without sacrificing your voice. Its an investment into
your reputation, credibility, and self-confidence.
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Readability Tools
People who read online dont like complex writing. They want to
digest the information and move on, without having to think too hard
about what the author is trying to say.

To make sure your writing is easily understandable, use readability

software. Its a tool that tells you to what extent your writing is easy
to read. I like to use Readability Score. I aim at a score around 8 -
thats what most people find fairly easy to read.

Also, you can use the Hemingway app to make your writing simpler
and clearer. It doesnt just tell you if your writing is easy or difficult to
read, it highlights long sentences and passive voice to show you
exactly what to change.

Finally, make sure your masterpiece isnt full of overused phrases

with this online tool: Clich Finder. Simply copy and paste your
writing, and the tool will highlight clichs in red. If you find out there
are too many overused phrases, replace some of them with
something more creative. Itll make your writing more powerful and
fun to read.
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To Sum Up
When you write a longer piece of content, such as a blog post, part
of an e-book, or a newsletter, work in a writing processor that checks
your spelling as you write.

To come up with the right words, use different kinds of dictionaries

(a bilingual and monolingual dictionary, a collocation dictionary, and
a thesaurus), Google search and your swipe file.

Before you hit publish, make sure there are no serious problems:

run it through advanced proofreading tools to check grammar,

style, punctuation, and readability,
check the meaning of the words in dictionaries and on Google,
when possible, get it checked out by a human proofreader.

When writing something short, like a social media status or a quick

response to a client, make sure there are no spelling mistakes and
major grammatical errors (if you dont have a spell check that works
directly in your browser, copy and paste it to a writing processor with
a spell check or an online spell check).

And finally, dont stress too much about making mistakes. Let go of
perfectionism and give yourself permission to enjoy the freedom
that English provides you, even if you arent always 100% correct.
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Here are all the links again + alternatives to the tools mentioned in
this guide:

Name Link Free?

WRITING SOFTWARE

Google Docs https://www.google.com/docs/about/ Yes

Apple Pages https://www.icloud.com/ Yes
Microsoft Office -> Word https://www.microsoftstore.com/ No
Alternatives
OpenOffice http://www.openoffice.org/download/index.html Yes
Atlantis http://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/en/nova.htm Yes

EXPORT + EDIT PDF

CutePDF http://www.cutepdf.com/ Yes

PDFescape http://www.pdfescape.com/ Yes
Alternatives
Small PDF https://smallpdf.com/ Yes

FILE HOSTING SERVICES

Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/ Yes/No*

Google Drive https://drive.google.com/drive/ Yes
Alternatives
Box https://www.box.com/ Yes/No*

DICTIONARIES

http://bab.la/ Bilingual
http://www.merriam-webster.com/ Monolingual + synonyms
http://www.ozdic.com/ Collocations
http://www.thesaurus.com/ Synonyms

PROOFREADING + READABILITY SOFTWARE

Name + Link Checks for Free?

https://grammarly.com/ Spelling, grammar, style Yes/No*
http://www.polishmywriting.com/ Spelling, grammar, style Yes
https://readability-score.com/ Readability Yes
http://www.hemingwayapp.com/ Readability, style Yes
http://cliche.theinfo.org/ Overused phrases Yes
Alternatives
http://www.gingersoftware.com/ Spelling, grammar, style Yes/No*
https://www.readability.com/ Readability Yes

*free version + paid upgrade

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This is Just the Beginning

The tools can help you a lot to find the right words and write without
major grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, but marketing your
online business isnt just about writing correctly.

You need to create content that is readable, clear, and engaging, but
at the same time, you have to think about keywords, search engine
optimization (SEO), and the bigger picture of your business strategy.

Another challenge is to avoid marketing speech and use your

authentic voice, because in online business, your voice is your brand.

Thats why Ive created programs for people like you non-native
English speaking creative female freelancers and entrepreneurs.

My language coaching programs arent just about English grammar

and vocabulary.

We cover things like writing social media bios, creating email scripts
for easier client communication, writing product descriptions, and
other stuff you need in order to look and feel like a pro, delight your
clients, and manage your business without losing your mind.

Interested?

Click here to view my current packages

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About the Author

Hi! Im Veronika Palovska.

Im an online English teacher who helps creative female freelancers and

entrepreneurs with lower intermediate to advanced levels of English
communicate with confidence and clarity so they can create an authentic online
presence and build the location independent or home business of their dreams.

I do it through my blog doyouspeakfreedom.com and the packages and

products you can find there.

You can contact me any time through email or Twitter:

veronika@doyouspeakfreedom.com // twitter.com/veronikapalo

Lets connect: Twitter = Pinterest = Instagram => @veronikapalo

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 Cover Photo: Karolina // kaboompics.com

Cover Design + Document Design: Veronika // doyouspeakfreedom.com

Copyright 2016 by Veronika Palovska