Tip #1: Understand the language.

Yesterday I finished a case study about how a Dutch company brought broadband to businesses in south Limburg.

The company website was in Dutch.

Falling back on five years of high school German, a vague recollection of word derivations, and a free translation tool, I pieced together the puzzle of what the company did and who they did it for -- filling in gaps in the information that was provided in English.

I also researched several terms that I was unfamiliar with, such as "dark fiber," "ring network," "service layer," and "provisioning." I could have dropped these into the copy in the context they were used in the background materials, but I would not have understood what I was saying.

When you're writing on deadline, it's tempting to shortcut the research. But if you don't understand the language you're using, it's unlikely that your readers will.