Editor's note: Welcome to the thirty-sixth in our regular weekly series of PowerBlog Reviews of business weblogs.


You've seen the ads -- maybe even gotten an email or two: "Free Cash Grants." Ever wonder if those programs are worthwhile?

Well, Deborah's Proposal Writing Blog says "don't waste your time."

And that advice is just one of many good reasons to read this blog.


"Deborah" is Deborah Kluge. And she is a professional proposal writer. If your company is responding to a Federal or State Request for Proposal (RFP) for a government contracting opportunity or applying for a grant, for instance, her business can step in and write the proposal.

Deborah began blogging back in July, and sees providing information that is not easy to find elsewhere, as a primary goal of the blog.

The blog is an integral part of Deborah's overall web presence, but has a personality all its own.

On her commercial website she has a tremendous amount of useful content. There are FAQs and comprehensive sections on a variety of topics. The website includes sections on proposal pointers, doing business with the government, and government loans. There's even a really useful Proposal Writing Checklist.

The blog is juxtaposed with Deborah's commercial website in an interesting way. She uses the blog in a more conversational, story-telling style. The conversational style and the stories help emphasize the lessons very clearly and memorably. This post, on debriefing, is an example of Deborah's story telling and instructive posts:

"Today was a sad day for one of my long-time clients. She received a letter from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) which said that another firm had been awarded a contract for which she had submitted a bid way back in March (yes, it took that long for the contract to be awarded). My client was pretty sure that she had won this contract -- the government auditors had paid her a visit and reviewed her books, she had done well during oral discussions, and she had a sense of "good vibrations" in subsequent discussions with the Contracting Officer. But alas, it was not to be. She came in second.

So she has requested a formal debriefing on her proposal from CDC. The Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) which governs contracting procedures for the federal government, provides a mechanism for such debriefings. Basically, if you lose a contract, you can request a debriefing. ...."