Author Archive for Patsi Krakoff – Page 136

Resource Boxes & Bios

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, November 10th, 2006

Do you need to update your resource box on articles you submit to directories, as well as your bio/marketing blurb for your newsletters and press releases? I am still reading many bios that read like an abridged resume: a history of the writer’s education, job experiences, and hobbies. I can’t help myself from saying, "Who cares!"

First tell readers what you can do for them. What problem do you solve for them? Then tell them why you are qualified to help them. It is still and always will be a ‘what’s in it for them’ world out there. Readers first, then you get to tell them something about you.

Here’s some more advice on resource boxes from Jinger Jarret, from an article "4 Article Writing Mistakes Every Writer Makes," posted on the Ezine Articles blog:

"’I have children. Now I have grandchildren. I don’t have any pets, but one day I may just buy a couple of Rottweilers as pets because I love them.’

Are you bored yet? Although you may find these facts about your life interesting, readers don’t. When I read a resource box about a 34 year old car enthusiast who owns her own auto parts shop, I yawn and then click away.

The bottom line is: readers don’t care about the details of your life. They want to know what you have to offer, and what you offer in your resource box had better be the next logical step in your article. Your article gives readers a taste; your resource box had better contain the next course. If it doesn’t, readers will click away and you’ve lost them."

Categories : Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Online Marketing, Writing Great Press Releases

Personalize Your Email Messages

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, November 9th, 2006

Studies show that email messages and newsletters are more effective when you use the recipient’s name in the subject line and content. You can do this if you are using Kick Start Cart or 1Shopping Cart as your email broadcast delivery method. Other list providers like Aweber.com also offer this feature.

Chris Baggot references an article, "Personalization, Frequency and Relevancy: the Email Success Trio," by Morgan Stewart, director of Strategic Services, ExactTarget, published by the Technology Council of Southern California:

"Studies consistently show enormous lift in response rates when emails are personalized. Messages with personalized content in both the subject line and email body average nearly twice the click-through rate of messages sent with no personalization. Moreover, MarketingSherpa published research indicating that more than two-thirds of consumers are willing to provide additional personal information in exchange for more personal, relevant and timely emails."

Read More→

Categories : Email Marketing Tips

Writing Mistakes Your Spell Checker Won’t Catch

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, November 8th, 2006

I make these all the time, and even the best spell checker won’t catch them, because the words are actually spelled correctly, but used incorrectly. This usually happens when I’m typing too fast. It’s not that I don’t know the grammar rules, it’s my fingers…it’s their fault.

For example, I’ll type you when I mean your, and your when I mean you: "Be sure to catch these mistakes by reading over you blog post before your save it."

Here’s a great review of Ten Common Writing Mistakes Your Spell Checker Won’t Find over on Judy Rose’s Writing English blog. It’s a good review of what to look for before you save and publish.

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

Better Writing: How Blogging Improves Your Writing

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, November 7th, 2006

Ted Demopoulos is guest author this week over on Build a Better Blog, and he writes about how to improve your writing. It’s worth reading.

Recently Denise and I contributed 2 chapters to his new book, What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting: Real-Life Advice from 101 People Who Successfully Leverage the Power of the Blogosphere. One was on common mistakes bloggers make, and the other was about the interplay between blogs and ezines and how they work together.

If you’ve read other books about blogging, there comes a point when you’ve heard it all. Well, guess what? This book really does live up to its title! I have learned several very important things from the blogging and podcasting experts in this book. Buy it, it’s worth it.

Categories : Writing Better Ezines, Writing Great Blog Content

More Traffic, More Readers: More Work!

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, November 7th, 2006

Here’s a fact: traffic to this blog doubled this week, according to my SiteMeter stats. Of course, I did a little jig and tossed the cat into the air. And that wasn’t easy since I’m still recovering from back surgery and Dewey the cat weighs over 15 lbs. I’m thrilled.

What happened? Well, I wrote every day on the blog. I wrote significant pieces about writing great ezines, which is in fact the purpose of the blog. Then Denise gave my 17 Resources for Content post a boost over on her Next Level Biz Tips blog, which created a huge spike in visits.

What else happened? I used a provocative title (okay, I maybe got a little vulgar even). And that’s about all I can think of that was any different last week, which may have contributed to the increase in traffic.

Denise and I always recommend that new bloggers post at least 2-3 times a week, otherwise readers forget you and don’t get into the habit of coming back. (Many blog readers haven’t yet understood that they can subscribe to your blog and get updates either through RSS feeds or a subscription service that delivers updates to your inbox – if you need to, go to the Feedblitz subscription form in the upper right top and subscribe now.)

And if you want to increase traffic more, then write more often. Oh, and it helps if you have something valuable to say, and you are making a contribution to your readers by helping them to be a success.

The other thing you need to do is keep at it for a long time. Not everyone wants or cares about writing great ezines, so it has taken time to build up a significant number of readers. This blog is now 2+ years old. I care enough about the topic to write to an audience of 1. Many bloggers give up too soon.

Categories : Getting Read

Bad Language, Borat and Our Culture

By Patsi Krakoff
Monday, November 6th, 2006

Yikes! I can’t believe I really used the a-word in my previous blog post title! I did it to stir things up a bit, and I felt it was significant that a Stanford business professor (Dr. Robert Sutton) would use that a-word in the title of his new book. I didn’t get any reaction from readers. But my own face is red every time I see that post title in one of my feed readers!

Are we getting so accustomed to bad language that it loses its shock value?

Yesterday The Hubby and I saw the film Borat. Sasha Cohen is a comedic genius; his series on HBO, The Ali G Show, was brilliant. Borat was the #1 box-office hit this weekend, in spite of opening in only a few theatres. People loved it, and it is at times vulgar.

Is our culture getting more vulgar? is toilet humor really that funny? Has bad language lost its shock value and become accepted into our culture? What are your thoughts on this?

Categories : Writing Better Ezines

Ouch! Where’s the Pain?

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006

Newsletter Nuggets –  November 2, 2006
…tips and tricks for writing great ezines and blogs

Table of Contents

1. A Note from Patsi – Pain Sells
2. Featured articles for November: How Do You Develop Leaders?
3. What’s New on the Blogs?

A note from Patsi –

Thanks to all of you who sent get well messages and cards after my back surgery. I am truly blessed to be connected to such a wide group of great professionals who are so kind and thoughtful.

I am particularly grateful for those of you who told me stories of your own successful back surgeries. Those stories are very important to me for keeping a positive outlook while still in pain (which, by the way, gets better every day as I approach the 4-5 week recovery time).

When you go online to research most health situations, there are many blogs and sites dedicated to telling horror stories of surgery failures. There are very few who report their success. This is normal; bad news sells and attracts! People who are no longer in pain lose their motivation to write or post online. 

Which got me to thinking about your newsletters: do they appeal to your readers’ pain? Or are they focused on success? Not surprisingly, open rates are higher for newsletters that speak to readers’ pain and offer a solution to their problems or challenges.

Ezine Tip: What are your readers’ biggest pain points? Write an ezine using that topic, and then give readers 5 tips, or 3 essential keys, or insider secrets. Be sure to back up your ideas with some research, and include a personalized story or case study that shows you know what you are talking about, and can help them with similar problems.

Reminder: check out the new article available for your November newsletter on leadership Development. Plus, be sure to read the series of articles on finding inspiration for your ezine at CoachEzines.com.

——————————–

Featured Article for October: How Do You Develop Leaders? Practice, Practice, Practice

http://snipurl.com/LdrshpNov06

Categories: Leadership, Coaching, Careers

Leadership isn’t just for leaders anymore. Top companies are beginning to understand that sustaining peak performance requires a commitment to developing leaders at all levels. Management experts Drs. Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard have defined leadership as “working with and through others to achieve objectives.”

To meet the demands of today’s fast-paced and competitive business environment, people at all levels are being asked to step up and assume leadership behaviors. As retired Harvard Business School Professor John P. Kotter explains in the Summer 2004 issue of strategy+business, this means we must “create 100 million new leaders” throughout society.

Read More→

Categories : Newsletter Nuggets Ezine

Hey Asshole! Read My Book!

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006

My apologies for the title. I’m not one to use profanity or slang that is so common these days. Occassionally, I’ll use the a-hole word as a term of endearment for my husband. Funny how easy it is to get his attention when I call him that…

Thenoassholerule Robert Sutton is a great author of business books and a professor at Stanford. I’ve read most of his books, and I’m sure many of you have too: The Knowing Doing Gap, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense, and Weird Ideas That Work: 11 1/2 Practices for Promoting, Managing, and Sustaining Innovation.

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t is his latest book. I suggest you read about it on Bob Sutton’s blog, Work Matters. He discusses why he used the strong language in the title and in the content. I think he has a good point. The a-word will sell more books and get the attention of people who need to read his ideas.

Read More→

Categories : Getting Read, Writing Great Copy

E-Newsletters: Getting Started and Getting Revised

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, November 1st, 2006

This last week I’ve published a variety of articles on how to do an ezine so that your emailed messages get opened, get read, and get results. What’s the bottom line here, if you want to get started publishing an e-newsletter for your business or practice? What should you pay attention to if your current ezine isn’t getting results, and your list of subscribers isn’t growing?

Writing on blogs has taught me a lot about writing short and sweet, but I still tend to go on and on. Like right here, I am fighting a tendency to tell you all about the way newsletters used to be written, and how they should be written today. They have evolved, have you? Okay, I’m over it… back to my points:

Whether you are starting a new newsletter or revising your current one, you need to:

  1. Decide on who your target audience of readers and customers is
  2. Decide on the purpose of your ezine (or blog)
  3. Decide the best format for your ezine, considering the reading habits of your subscribers (PDF, plain text, HTML?), along with length (600-800 words ideal), and frequency (monthly, bi-weekly, weekly?)

Read More→

Categories : Writing Better Ezines

17 Sources for Content Inspiration

By Patsi Krakoff
Monday, October 30th, 2006

In researching info for a chapter we’re contributing to a book on email marketing, Patsi put together a list of 17 sources to get inspiration for creating content for your ezine and blog.  Here goes…

1. Where is your readers’ pain?

2. What current event ties in with readers’ problems?

3. What client situation can you use as a case study?

4. What unusual or unique story could benefit your readers?

5. How do you differ from your competitors?

6. What Web or blog resources would your readers love to know about?

Read More→

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