Author Archive for Patsi Krakoff – Page 122

Blogging Matters: A Whack Up the Side of the Head

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

Newsletter Nuggets – March 22, 2007
…tips and tricks for writing great ezines and blogs from Patsi Krakoff, Psy.D.

Table of Contents

1. A Note from Patsi – A Whack Up the Side of the Head- What Blogging Has Done  
2. April 07 Featured Article: Good Boss, Bad Boss: 20 Habits Leaders Should Stop Doing Now

A note from Patsi – This week Denise and I are in New York for BlogHer Business conference and as I prepared notes for our presentation, I couldn’t help but reflect on where blogging has taken our business in the 2 ½ years since we started writing on blogs.

It’s been phenomenal. I knew I wanted to have a platform to write and communicate to potential clients. In fact, coming from an academic background that includes psychology and journalism, that was my main interest in blogging: to write about the topics I loved.

I wasn’t prepared for what happened: huge increases in traffic, people finding and hiring us, being invited to give teleseminars and conferences, publishing chapters in 3 books, and earning five times more money than before blogging.

I share this with you not to brag or to beat you over the head with our blogging evangelism stick. You may not want to start blogging (and the only reason I can think of is that you don’t have ½ hour a day to write on it or read other blogs in your field). But if you want to get more clients, more speaking gigs, more book contracts, more traffic, more money… then you just might want to try blogging.

I’m a slow learner sometimes. So now I’m doing what I love AND earning good money doing it. Can’t beat that. Sometimes you need a whack up the side of the head before you “get it.” Consider yourself whacked.

To read more about business blogs, visit our blog here.

Top 10 Reasons to Do an Ezine and a Blog, read this. 

Are you ready for a blog? 20 question assessment, go here to take this test.
——————————————–

Featured Article for April 07:

No More Jerks at Work:
Preventing Desk Rage

It’s a sign of the times when a well-known Stanford professor and best-selling author publishes a book titled The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t (Warner Business Books, 2007). Robert I. Sutton argues that variations of terms like creep, jerk and bully don’t carry the same authenticity or emotional appeal.

Read More→

Categories : Newsletter Nuggets Ezine

Writers and Bloggers for Hire

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

Keyboard I’ve been researching ways to monetize your blog, in preparation for an Ask the Experts panel at Business BlogHer this week in NYC. And I’m discovering all these websites and lists where writers can find additional freelance work. Check out Anne Wayman’s AboutFreelanceWriting.com blog where there are 53 jobs posted.

I have my plate full, writing for The Blog Squad and Customized Newsletters, but if it wasn’t, boy, I’d sure send some emails out. Some of these writing gigs pay peanuts, but if you’re creative and a fast writer, you could have a ball. Think of all the learning you’d have while researching, for example.

There are ads on Craig’s list for bloggers to write for Hilary Clinton, the Dodgers and Angels, financial services, business plans, fiction and non-fiction books, and for nanny, mom and working mom blogs.

I see full or part-time blog writers having more work in the future, as companies and professionals wake up to the power of blogs and realize that they do take time to write and manage.

The Internet is truly making it easier for writers to make a living.

Categories : Writing for Others, Freelancing

BlogHer Business Conference: Things to Do in NYC

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

_big_apple Denise and I decided to spend the weekend just for fun in Manhattan. I haven’t researched yet, but on my list of things to do would be shopping, museums and a good play. I’m wondering what good plays there are to see, anybody have some recommendations?

We’ll be in the theatre district until Sunday. If you’re in the area, let us know. We’ve reserved a table for breakfast on Friday March 23rd at 8 a.m. for friends, just drop an email and let us know you want to join us.

Categories : Teleclasses & Seminars

Skimmers Need Subheadings and Lists

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

Making_notes  Michael Stelzner asks How Do You Capture Skimmers over on his Writing White Papers blog today, and it got me thinking. It’s true, everyone’s busy, and admit it, we don’t read things carefully, we skim. So what’s a writer to do?

Michael suggests using lots of good subheadings and short paragraphs. I’ll add this:

Use Bulleted Lists

Make a list. Bulleted lists, either numbered or not, make it easy for skimmers to read your paper, ezine, blog post. Case in point, here’s how you format for skimmers:

  • Break up your writing with subheadings
  • Break up your paragraphs into shorter ones
  • Use lists whenever you have more than three items
  • Be sure to identify your list with a subheading

Here’s another tip: I’ve seen writers put the number of words at the top of an article along with the minutes it takes to read it:

Writing for Skimmers
(c)2007 Patsi Krakoff, Psy.D.
163 words, reading time: 1 minute

This reassures people in a hurry that they have time to skim your work. What do you think about this technique?

Categories : Writing Better Ezines, Writing Great Blog Content, Writing Great Copy

TeleSeminars: Building Business the Low-Tech Way

By Patsi Krakoff
Monday, March 19th, 2007

Red_phone_ringing_and_moving Blogging and Beyond
March 22, 2007
8:00 a.m. PT (11 a.m. ET)
Blogging and Beyond with The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., and Denise Wakeman
With Guest Expert: Ellen Britt of Marketing Qi Intensive and author of Teleseminar Jumpstart

Low-Tech Promotion: Using TeleSeminars to Build Your Business

TeleSeminars are an easy, affordable way to attract interested prospects into your sphere of influence and grow your business. You provide valuable information, for a fee or free. You deliver the program on the telephone, record the event, get it transcribed and turn a one-time program into a profitable info product that generates income long after it’s over.

The Blog Squad interviews Ellen Britt who started with a few fans last year, increased her database by 2000 and made $9000 within two weeks of launching her teleseminar series Marketing Qi. 

In the second half, we check in with Ideal Client Erik Feder and brainstorm how he can implement this marketing strategy for his business.

Categories : Online Marketing, Promoting Your Ezine +/or Blog, Teleclasses & Seminars

Customized Newsletter Articles You Can Use

By Patsi Krakoff
Monday, March 19th, 2007

Attention executive coaches, management consultants: If you want help finding good material for your newsletters, Customized Newsletter Services has a catalog of articles you can buy and rewrite for your purposes. The research is already done for you, based on leading business books, Harvard Business Review, strategy + business.

May 07: Great Expectations: The Boss/Direct Report Tango. Read a synopsis at www.CustomizedNewsletterArticles.com 
 

Categories : Buying Content

5 Phrases to Close the Sale on the Phone or by Email

By Patsi Krakoff
Sunday, March 18th, 2007

Telephone_1 I hadn’t heard the term "presale closing phrase" before I read it on Mitch Harpz’ blog this morning. It’s when you get an email or call from someone asking questions about a product or program. Sometimes I get the feeling that people pick up the phone and call just to see if a real person will pick up the phone. Their questions aren’t often that complicated, but it’s sort of like they are just checking to see if someone’s there that really cares.

Here are 5  ways to end the conversation or email that can help increase sales:

"Does that help? If not let me know which part doesn’t make sense."

"If you have any more questions please let me know. I’ll be more than happy to help in any way I can."

"I hope I’ve answered your question for you. If not just let me know and I’ll be happy to address any outstanding concerns."

"If I haven’t answered your question just let me know and I’ll do my best to clarify."

"Does that make sense?"

When you think about it, these are great phrases to use at anytime and make for good customer relationships.

Categories : Email Marketing Tips, How to...Tips, Online Marketing

Writing Better- Lessons from Tennis

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, March 16th, 2007

Nadal Yesterday I was a few minutes late to our Mentor class call. My trusty partner Denise asked what happened. My only excuse was watching Rafael Nadal play tennis on TV over at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells. A poor excuse, I admit, but look at it this way: you can learn a lot about writing for your blog, articles, and white papers from the game of tennis.

  1. Keep your eye on the ball. "See" the lines, the net and your opponent, but always keep your eye focused on the ball. When writing you must "see" your outline, your stories, and your structure, but keep your focus on the purpose of your writing project.
  2. Serve with force into the server box. If your serve is superior in speed, power, and accuracy, you won’t have to worry about your ground strokes. The same goes for writing a strong headline. If you craft a powerful compelling headline, you don’t have to struggle so much with the content.
  3. Hit the ball to where they are not. If the opponent comes to net, lob the ball high and deep. Or, make them run from side to side. Same with content: keep them guessing, use variety, and give them information or a perspective they don’t already have.
  4. In tennis, he who hits the ball within the lines last wins the point. That’s it. It doesn’t have to be pretty. You just have to outlast the opponent. In copywriting, it is often he who gets the most clicks or responses from the reader. That’s it, results count. Your writing doesn’t have to be pretty, just effective. Persist.
  5. Follow through with your strokes. Forehand or backhand, that usually means from low to high. In writing for the web, you also need to follow up with people who respond. In blogs, thank them for participating in the conversation. For sales copy, make sure your autoresponder confirmation is personable and clear about next steps. Follow through with subsequent messages to ask for feedback.

I could go on and on, but I’d like you to have a try at this fun game. How is writing like…[your favorite sport]?

Categories : Writing Great Blog Content, Writing Great Copy

Headline Makeovers with Wizard Clark

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, March 16th, 2007

More headline wizardry from Copyblogger Brian Clark. If you’re like me, you learn a lot when people explain the options and decisions. I picked up a couple of tips on writing stronger headlines by using more powerful words.

1. The Secret Selling Power of Color
Original Headline: Colors for Marketing

Reasoning: In this case, the original headline communicated what the post was about, but I thought it could use a bit of jazzing up. I went with the old stand-by “The Secret of…” format since this information is not generally well known, and employed more vivid wording. While you want to avoid hyperbole, understatement is often not the most effective approach.

Lessons I learned: Think jazzy, vivid wording, avoid hype yet do not understate.

2. Discover New Music That’s Perfect for You
Original Headline: Discovering Music That You Like

Reasoning: It’s hard to go wrong when you start a headline with the word “discover,” but discovering is a bit too unassertive here. Also, while “new” is implied, the headline gains a bit of momentum by its express inclusion. Finally, music that you “like” seems less than earth shattering. Speaking to the individual tastes and preferences of the reader in a general sense seems to be the best approach given that we don’t know what those tastes and preferences are.

Lessons I learned: avoid non-assertive words, go for earth shattering.

If you missed lesson one, go here and to Brian’s original post here.

Categories : Writing Great Copy

Info Products Rule: Listen Up!

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, March 15th, 2007

Blogging and Beyond: Episode 10
"Promoting Your Business with Information Products"
with guest expert Paulette Ensign of Tips Booklets International.


MP3 File
There are dozens of ways to create info products quickly and without a lot of expense.  Check out Paulette’s programs and her blog at www.booklettips.com. She’s the Queen!
Categories : Online Marketing, Teleclasses & Seminars
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