Category Archives: On Writing Better

A Checklist for 2012 Content Marketing Plans

2012 Content Marketing – how did we get here so fast?  I’ve been reviewing my 2011 blog posts, email broadcasts, videos, and taking stock. I hope you’re doing the same, so you’ll get an idea of what’s needed for your own business in 2012. (Photo courtesy Rawich/FreeDigitalPhotos.net) Here’s a checklist for reviewing your 2011 content marketing results…

Why Writing Like You Talk
Works Better for Your Brain

Today’s guest post is by Barb Sawyers: Many experts who try to write their own content need to rewire their brains, to abandon the lessons drilled into them at school in favor of the more conversational approach that works better online. The good news is that they can evolve. Think about the conclusions of Dr….

Basic Human Motivation: 4 Ways to Engage Readers

If you are writing content designed to persuade and influence, you need to know what makes people tick. (photo courtesy of digitalart/FreeDigitalPhotos.net) There are universal drives that are common in all human beings, across cultures, across the globe. When you create content that appeals to either of these four basic drives, you can’t help but engage the hearts…

The Homer Simpson Guide to Neuromarketing

Content marketing experts and the people who write marketing messages ought to understand how consumers’ brains work if  they want to engage and create trust and loyalty. The problem lies in assuming people are in charge of their own choices… Everybody thinks they are in control of their behaviors and decisions. We think we are…

Writing Compelling Content:
What Drives Your Readers?

In a recent blog post, Compelling Content:  What Are Your Readers’ Hot Buttons?, we explored the top 10 hot buttons and the use of emotional words and phrases to tap into these issues.  Here’s another model based on only 4 drivers. 4 Drives in a Nutshell Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices (Jossey Bass, 2001),…

5 Content Marketing Questions:
#3 What’s Possible?

In Maria Velosa’s Web Copy That Sells book, there is a 5-step blueprint for writing on the Web. This is really what content marketing is all about. When you answer the following 5 questions, your writing tasks are simplified and your copy becomes clear. What is the problem (pain, predicament)? Why hasn’t this problem been solved? What…

5 Content Marketing Questions:
#2 Why Hasn’t This Problem Been Solved?

In a previous post, 5 Content Marketing Questions: #1 What is The Problem?, I reviewed the content marketing questions that help you organize and simplify your Web writing by asking 5 important questions: What is the problem (pain, predicament)? Why hasn’t this problem been solved? What is possible? What is different now? What should you do now? Question #2, Why hasn’t this…

Writing Web Content that Gets Results: Questions

The rules haven’t changed, but it’s surprising how many people start writing web content without regard for the basics. Many people focus on the medium, the latest shiny tool: the blog, the Twitter tweets, and Facebook updates, without regard for the basic rules of writing copy for the Web. Content marketing is a buzz word not just because…

Compelling Content: What Are Your Readers’ Hot Buttons?

How do you write compelling content that attracts and engages readers? Ahhh, that question again…(followed usually by how do you turn readers into buyers?) First, let’s deal with the compelling content thing. Your content isn’t going to market a thing if you don’t reach inside the heads and hearts of your readers. Obviously it’s all about your…

Top 10 “Ego” Blogs: Get Inspired, Write Better

I’ve been using Alltop.com to find blogs in niches. And I really enjoy their aggregated lists* of top blog personalities, or as they call them, Ego Blogs. I have no idea what their requirement is to get listed as an Ego Blog, but looking at the individuals who are included, I’d say these are all big names…