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Develop a Writing Style Guide for Your Company
Pick an existing style guide
You don’t want to start from scratch—just look how long this page is with only my exceptions. I recommend using Associated Press (AP) style conventions to most businesses and organizations. AP Style is the format used for news, and of course, you want good press. So, speak their language. If you send a press release in AP Style, you’ve done half their job for them and you’ve made it easier for them to plug your words right into a story.
Define your own style
You are welcome to use my list below to make exceptions to AP style that keep your content news friendly, but also make it concise, consistent, and reader friendly. Once you’ve picked a style and come up with your ex`ceptions, you should create a page like this on your company intranet to help your co-workers write consistently. You don’t have to use all the rules I list below, but they are good ones and usually keep your writing tight and easy to understand.
After you finish this article, check out my companion article, Develop a Web Style Guide for Your Company, where you’ll learn fun stuff about writing headlines for the web and judicious use of bold text.
AP Style resources
AP tips
Unsure of a specific style while writing about something?
- Ask your favorite chatbot what the rules of your chosen style say about the phrase in question.
- Search the news. Odds are that phrase has been used in a news story.
Bogie’s AP search tool
[on the operating assumption that AP writers are applying AP Style correctly]
Non-AP rules to live by
Use my list here or develop your own exceptions and points of emphasis. If you like most of AP Style but have good a reason to do certain things your own way, do it. But make sure you document it so others in your organization don’t just do it their own way. The goal is a consistency for your readers.
!
Never use more than one exclamation point in a page, postcard, ad, or any single piece. Save it for the spot where you need to most excitement. Just as I say of bold text, “the less you use it, the more powerful each instance of it is,” think of the exclamation point as the nuclear option for that rule.
acronyms
I hate acronyms*. They should be used only with internal audiences, and even then, frequent use of acronym jargon internally makes it likely those meaningless jumbles will end up on your website and in your conversations. Your regular customers are not considered an internal audience. They don’t want to hear about the TPS reports your GMV division wrote for the upcoming HIPS. Well-known global acronyms are OK, but only if your audience knows them. I use the acronym SEO on this site, but I introduce it as a parenthetical, search engine optimization (SEO).
Correct
Our global medical and vision department has their tele-provider survey reports ready to present at the Health Insurance Policy Summit in Atlanta next week.
Incorrect
Our GMV department has their TPS reports ready to present at the HIPS in Hotlanta next week.
addresses
Your address should follow this format:
Office, Department, or Employee Name, Company Name
99 Gretzky Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55100
612-224-4486
webstpaul.com
Spell out Avenue or Street.
Do not spell out “Saint”; do not use +4 postal code except in return address usages.
Use 10-digit phone numbers with hyphens. It’s easier to type than the parenthetical area code and doesn’t include a space.
Do not use “www” unless necessary.
and vs. &
Do not use “&.” Instead use “and.”
bold
Use bold sparingly. The less you use it, the more powerful each instance of it is. If more than 10% of your page is bold, you have too much bold. Use the headings in Microsoft Word for headings not bold. Those headings Heading 1 for the title of your page and nested Headings 2, 3, 4 within will make your content ready to paste into web pages.
business names
Use commas, “and,” and “&” as designated by the company but do not include “Inc.,” “LLC,” “Corp.” etc. after the name. If you must use this reference, do not use a comma between business name and this reference.
Correct
Wayne Gretzky works part time at Barnes and Noble.
Incorrect
Wayne Gretzky works part time at Barnes and Noble, inc.
capitalization
Be consistent, but unless you are writing in German, take it easy on capitalizing nouns unnecessarily. If you’ve got lawyers writing for you, I’m sorry. This will be hard for them, but they can still capitalize aggressively in contracts, complaints, and counterclaims.
capitalization of titles
Capitalize job titles if they precede a person’s name in text, but do not capitalize job titles if they follow a person’s name in text.
Correct
I had a meeting with Vice President Mario Lemieux.
I had a meeting with Chancellor of the Exchequer Neal Broten.
I had a meeting with Neal Broten, chancellor of the exchequer.
Incorrect
I had a meeting with vice president Mario Lemieux.
I had a meeting with Neal Broten, Chancellor of the Exchequer.
city, state names
If you are writing for a national or international audience, include the abbreviated state name for all Minnesota cities except St. Paul and Minneapolis. If your customers and clients are in the Twin Cities, go ahead and just say Mounds View. Follow the AP style guide to determine what non-Minnesota cities do not need state references. Also use the AP style guide to determine the correct state abbreviation. (Follow postal abbreviations in postal listings only.)
Correct
Todd Okerlund is from Burnsville, Minn. Herb Brooks was from St. Paul.
Todd Okerlund is from Burnsville (writing for a local audience).
T.J. Oshie played at Grand Forks, N.D.
Incorrect
Todd Okerlund is from Burnsville (writing for a national audience).
Todd Okerlund is from Burnsville, MN. Herb Brooks was from St. Paul, Minn. T.J. Oshie played at Grand Forks, ND.
co-director, vice president, etc.
When used as a title, capitalize both “co” and “director.” Do not mix capitals on the two parts.
Correct
Co-Director Brett Hull
Co-Pilot Mario Lemieux
Assistant-Director Bogie
Incorrect
Co-director Brett Hull
Co-pilot Mario Lemieux
Assistant-director Bogie
commas
Use a serial comma.
Correct
We sent an email message to all vendors, staff, and clients.
Incorrect
We sent an email message to all vendors, staff and clients.
copyright
Use a copyright statement like this on all marketing collateral and publications, except invitations and programs: “©2026, Bogie Branding + Websites + Communications + Advertising. All rights reserved.”
Add a copyright date in the footer of your website. WordPress and the Genesis theme make this easy. As soon as you’ve created something novel and published it online, copy the page URL and go to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. THere you’ll find a tool to Save Page Now. Paste your URL there and click SAVE PAGE. On that next page, select Save outlinks and Save screenshot, then click SAVE PAGE again. This will put a timestamped archive of your new creation with your copyright at the bottom of the page.
dashes and hyphen
The hyphen is the shortest of the dashes. Use it for compound adjectives, to split words, and for phone numbers. Example: She took an advanced-level training; 612-224-4486.
The en dash is slightly longer than the hyphen but not as long as the em dash. (It is, in fact, the width of a typesetter’s letter “N,” whereas the em dash is the width of the letter “M”—thus their names.) The en dash means, quite simply, “through.” Use it most commonly to indicate inclusive dates and numbers: July 9–August 17; pg. 37–59; 7–9 pm
The em dash is significantly longer than the hyphen. We use the em dash to create a strong break in the structure of a sentence. Em dashes can be used in pairs like parentheses—that is, to enclose a word, or a phrase, or a clause—or they can be used alone to detach one end of a sentence from the main body.
No space should be placed before or after a hyphen, en dash, or em dash.
dates
Do not use ordinal designations in dates, for example: “rd,” “st,”or “th”
Correct
The event is Nov. 3.
Incorrect
The event is Nov. 3rd.
degrees
Use periods when listing a person’s degrees.
Correct
Matt Boldy received his J.D. from Boston University Law School.
Taylor Heise received her B.A. from the University of Minnesota.
Incorrect
Matt Boldy received his JD from Boston University Law School.
Taylor Heise received her BA from the University of Minnesota.
If degree names are spelled out, do not capitalize or italicize.
Correct
Matt Boldy received his juris doctor from Boston University Law School.
Taylor Heise received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota.
Taylor Heise received her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Minnesota.
Incorrect
Matt Boldy received his Juris Doctor from Boston University Law School.
Taylor Heise received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota
Do not hyphenate.
full time/part time
Hyphenate full time and part time only when they are used as adjectives.
Correct
Part-time employees usually work evening shifts
Employees who work part time, are on site mostly in the evening. Dino Ciccarelli is a full-time employee.
Bobby Smith works full time.
hyphenated names
When alphabetizing names, if a name is hyphenated, alphabetize by the name prior to the hyphen. If a name is not hyphenated, alphabetize by the last name.
Correct
Joel Eriksson Ek (alpha order by “E”—OK, that’s a bad example, but alphabetize by the second “E”)
Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson (alpha order by “K”)
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (alpha order by “N”)
internet
Do not capitalize.
last names
Use last names on second reference unless the context calls for a more personal tone (e.g., award bios, letters of nomination).
Latin
Do not italicize Latin words.
Correct
The Neil Sheehy filed an amicus brief.
Incorrect
The David Tanabe filed an amicus brief.
Minneapolis-St. Paul vs. Twin Cities
In marketing materials distributed outside of the region, use “Minneapolis-St. Paul” instead of “Twin Cities.” For brevity and search engine purposes, use “Twin Cities” interspersed with “Minneapolis-St. Paul” on the web.
online
One word.
Correct
She conducted online research when writing her research paper.
Incorrect
She conducted on-line research when writing her research paper.
phone numbers
Use 10-digit phone numbers with hyphens.
Correct
612-224-4486
Incorrect
(612) 224-4486
612.224.4486
ranges
Only use the descriptor once in each range.
Correct
$25,000–50,000
7–8:30 pm
Incorrect
$25,000–$50,000
7 pm–8:30 pm
St.
Alphabetize St. as if it were spelled out as Saint.
St. Paul
Abbreviate “Saint” as “St.” Do not spell out “Saint.”
spacing
Include one space between sentences, not two.
times
This format for time of day is neat and clean. It reads well online, in apps, and in large formats while being concise.
- Do not use the colon if the time is on the hour
- Do not use periods on “am” and “pm”
- Use noon for 12 pm and midnight for 12 am (always lowercase)
- When using “from,” do not use the en dash, use ” to “
Correct
7–8:30 pm
noon–3 pm
9 pm–midnight
from 4 to 6 pm
Incorrect
7:00–8:30 p.m.
12:00–3:00 p.m.
9 pm–12 am
from 4–6 pm
If your organization has constituents outside the Central time zone, list all times as Central time, as follows or add a sentence above a list of many times stating the time zone. Do not indicate daylight savings status as this gets especially confusing when you have a list of events across the bi-annual change where you would need to identify the date and add the CST/CDT designation to every item before and after the date. Let the change happen outside of your page or document. Come the day of the event, people will know when 7 pm is.
Correct
8 pm Central
5:30 am Central
Incorrect
8 p.m. CST
5:30 a.m. CDT
Note: I used the search tool above to decide what style to use when writing Central time zone here.
web address
Do not include “www” when printing a web address (unless necessary for site to work).
Correct
nhl.com
Incorrect
www.nhl.com
website
One word. Do not capitalize.
words ending in –ly
Never place a hyphen after words that end with an –ly.
Correct
a carefully worded phrase
Incorrect
a carefully-worded phrase
years
Use a starting year instead of saying a number of years.
Say, “We founded Spacely Space Sprockets in 2023” rather than “Spacely Space Sprockets has been in business for three years.” This keeps your content accurate without having to update annually. Once you are talking about decades, go ahead and say things like “for over two decades” or “for almost forty years.” You should get around to revisiting the content within five years.
ZIP +4 code
The full, nine-digit code should be used only on all return addresses.
Foot note
* I know! I used an acronym in my logo. It’s great to come up with a strong set of rules to live by, then when you break them, you know exactly why it was a good idea to make an exception. BWCA is an iconic set of letters in Minnesota, and the four areas of my business align with those four letters.