Patsi Krakoff | Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

Author Archive for Patsi Krakoff – Page 42

Twitter: the little bird that grew up strong

By Patsi Krakoff

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Why Twitter Is Such a Powerful Social Media Platform, this week’s guest post by Phyllis Zimbler Miller,

When I first heard Twitter mentioned two years ago – in a teleseminar with the BlogSquad! – I checked it out because I valued Patsi’s advice.

At the time the Twitter home page question was something such as: “Let your family and friends know what you are doing now.” I thought to myself: Why should they care about this and why should I join the site? Thus I didn’t join.

But because I trusted Patsi, I went back to the site a few days later and signed up, getting the username @ZimblerMiller. Another few days later I got my business partner Yael K. Miller to get the username @MillerMosaicLLC to tweet under our company name.

And then something happened! I began reading about how to use Twitter and observing what was going on – and I got it! I saw the power of Twitter and embraced it wholeheartedly. Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media Stuff

Tags : Attracting Clients, blog marketing, blog traffic, business blogging, Content Marketing, content marketing with blogs, Online Marketing, social media marketing

WordPress Beats Out Typepad 4 to 1 in Poll

By Patsi Krakoff

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Two-thirds of readers of this blog use WordPress as a blogging platform, according to results of the poll set up 6 days ago. If you haven’t voted yet, please do so here.

Typepad users make up 14.5% of my blog readers, and the other platforms are in the single digits. Of WordPress users, 25.3% use a platform hosted by WordPress.com, 44% use a self-hosted WordPress blog.

Because of the overwhelming majority who use WordPress, my next teleseminar will be designed for WP users. Specifically, I’m going to interview an expert about how to create a sales page using WordPress. Stay tuned for a date, and… of course, a WP sales page where you can sign up for the free class and learn more WordPress tips.

As you probably know, I switched from a Typepad hosted blog a couple of months ago to self-hosted WordPress, with a Headway theme. So far, I’m very pleased with both the ease of posting, the design and widget features, and the SEO results. Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Online Marketing, Pathway to Profits, Promoting Your Ezine +/or Blog

Tags : blog formatting, blog marketing, blog traffic, blogging, business blogging, business blogs, Content Marketing, content marketing with blogs

Blogging for Blind Users: See What They See

By Patsi Krakoff

Friday, June 11th, 2010

I just got a phone call from Jacqueline Fernandez in New York City. She called because she wanted to know why a comment she left on my blog hadn’t yet been approved. I had been out of the office for several hours. What she said after that, blew me away.

Ms. Fernandez is a blind person who’s trying to navigate the Web, read blogs and leave comments. Here is her comment left on my blogging poll post, and I’ll share it with you because she deserves to be heard. If any of you out there have a suggestion to help her, please leave a comment, or go to her site and connect with her.

“I’m so frustrated and I’m about to throw in the towel with Social media. I am a blind person trying to make it on the internet for over two years now, but its been a total nightmare for me due to the lack of accessibility [for blind people] on the ‘Net.

“At the moment I’m using Posterous. This is the only blogging platform that works with my screen reader, but I am noticing that they are adding new features [graphics] and that means that I have to pack up my bags full of my content and find another Blogging site.

“I would love to be on the cutting edge and use WordPress so I can get indexed by Google and get traffic, but its so hard for me to set WP up with all the plugins and themes.

“For all those taking this poll try this little experiment. It can open your eyes a little bit into an unfamiliar world & hopefully you will understand the importance of having [enhanced] accessibility in your web sites.

“Are you ready? Here you go: take the test & experience my world of darkness . http://j.mp/9JYHHm”

Thanks, Jacqueline, for opening our eyes to your world. I’m glad you were able to read my posts, and to respond to the poll. You’ve given me, and others, something to think about…

Categories : About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Ways to Build a Better World

Tags : blind Web users, blog accessibility, blog usability, blogging, business blogging, sight impaired

Click, Read, Learn: B2B Marketing Zone Is
Fast Food for the Brain

By Patsi Krakoff

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Are you staying informed with the latest marketing tips and trends? If you’re in any kind of business trying to use the Internet to get found, get known and get clients, you know you can easily get overwhelmed with information.

Why? Marketers are particularly vociferous and the Web is a perfect platform to gather and write, speak, and film. The problem is, it’s too much. Too much information, too many tips, too many fads, and it’s hard to sort out what’s important.

Where can you go to get the best, most important marketing tips written by easy-to-read experts? Let me introduce you to B2BMarketingZone.com. This is a topic hub, aggregating blogs posts from a group of 48 best business-to-business marketing blogs.

I’m happy to have been added as a contributor. When you go to B2BMarketingZone, you’ll be able to quickly scan what other marketing experts are blogging about. You pick which posts are relevant to you and your business.

Click, read, learn. I like that. It’s like a snack for your mind. Fast food for the brain. Would you like fries with that?

I recently had a conversation with creator Dr. Tony Karrer, CEO of TechEmpower. First, let me share how this blog aggregator site works, and why it’s important for you to subscribe and bookmark it… then I’ll tell you some ideas Tony and I discussed.

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Online Marketing

Tags : Attracting Clients, blog marketing, blog traffic, business blogging, Content Marketing, content marketing with blogs, Online Marketing, writing on the web

4 Time-Saving Tips for Social Media Marketing

By Patsi Krakoff

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

What’s the least you should be doing to extend the reach of your online content marketing through social media sites?

This is a good question because many of my readers are busy professionals running a business who don’t have a lot of time. The big danger of sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn is that they can suck you in and spit you out hours later. … and time is money.

Even when you’re connecting and having a good time, you can spend time that isn’t productive. …Sometimes it’s hard to know if it’s time well spent or just a good time.

So for those of you who want the bare minimum effort and time, and still get results, here are a few tips I suggest. I’ll remind you I’m not a social media marketing expert, so please feel free to join in and add other tips in the comments section.

I will tell you I’ve gotten clients directly from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, so I must be doing something right. Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Online Marketing, Social Media Stuff

Tags : Attracting Clients, blog marketing, blog traffic, Content Marketing, content marketing with blogs, Online Marketing, online traffic, social media marketing, web marketing, Writing for the Web

Poll: What Blogging Platform Do You Use?

By Patsi Krakoff

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

I’m curious… what kind of blogging platform do you use? I’m going to offer some free teleclasses soon on blogging tools and best practices, and this information is necessary so I can know what’s needed most.

Please take the poll, or just leave a comment if you use something not mentioned here… thanks!

Online Surveys & Market Research

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks

Tags : blog marketing, business blogging, business blogs, Content Marketing, content marketing with blogs, Online Marketing

Why Use Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn for
Content Marketing?

By Patsi Krakoff

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

True confession time: I am not even close to being smart about using social media for online marketing. No big surprise for those of you who know what an introvert I am. But still, I am using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and I think you should too. Here’s why…

I am a psychologist who helps others get found online, get known in their niche, and get clients. If you’ve read my story, you know how I started using the Web ten years ago, as a complete techno-klutz. All that changed in 2004 and 2005 with the popularization of blogging platforms like Typepad and WordPress.

This ushered in new business success for me and my former partner as The Blog Squad. If you’ve been online for a few years now, marketing your business using the Internet, you probably experienced the same phenomena… all of a sudden you don’t need to be a computer geek to get a site up and start making money.

Around 2004, sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter came along, but they didn’t really pick up steam until 2006 and later. What happened is beyond comprehension on some levels… and totally natural.

Now Facebook boasts one of the highest web traffic numbers and Twitter has become a news source re-broadcast on network TV news stations. Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Online Marketing, Social Media Stuff

Tags : Attracting Clients, blog marketing, blog traffic, business blogging, Content Marketing, SEO, social media marketing

Don’t Jerk Blog Readers Around:
5 Tips to Keep on Track

By Patsi Krakoff

Monday, June 7th, 2010

What’s the most frequent complaint I hear about blogging? Next to “I don’t have enough time,” it’s “I don’t know what to write about.”

Guess what? The two questions are related to the same problem: not enough clarity about business blog goals. Here’s how I help my clients solve this problem of clarity:

Define your business Ps & Q – (3Ps + 1Q):
=> What Problem do you solve?
=> Who are the People you serve?
=> What Products and services do you offer?
=> What makes you uniQue??
Create a course outline or a table of contents as if you were writing a book or teaching a class on this problem, i.e., your expertise
Make a list of keywords, categories and topics you’re qualified to write about and that must be addressed to solve the problems of your readers
Make an editorial calendar for each day of the week you’re going to be blogging. Make sure you cover all the topics and categories, and that your keywords are repeated frequently in posts and titles (search engine optimization).
Make a weekly blog schedule to include writing the content, sharing it on social sites, researching and commenting on other blogs, and formatting, editing, linking, etc.

Don’t underestimate the time it takes for all the peripheral upkeep of blogging. Maintaining a successful blog takes more time than just writing a post. And it almost always takes longer than the 30 minutes required for writing.

Do you jerk readers around?

When I’m working with my clients on their blogs, I often find their content is all over the map. Quite often, they Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks

Tags : blog marketing, blog writing, business blogging, Content Marketing, content marketing with blogs, converting readers to clients, Writing for the Web

The 3 P’s of Content Marketing: What’s Your Position?

By Patsi Krakoff

Friday, June 4th, 2010

What’s your positioning for your business? How are you unique?

I write articles, newsletters and blogs for executive coaches, leadership recruiting experts, and consultants dealing with CEOs. I don’t write financial or health topics. My business site is at ContentforCoachesandConsultants.com.

I also help coaches, consultants, authors, and other smart professionals with their online marketing. My content marketing consulting blog is here, at WritingontheWeb.com, all about online content marketing.

All sorts of content on the web must be published in order to get found, get known and get clients. Most of it is done on your business blog, which is quite simply, “The Best Darn Marketing Tool on the Planet.”

This blog is currently ranked #5 in the Top42 Content Marketing Blogs. As co-founder of The Blog Squad, I am passionate about helping professionals find and unleash their core message and get it published on blogs, newsletters and social media.

This is what content marketing is all about… what’s your core message and how can you get it out to the people who need your products and services? How can you make your messages memorable? Read More→

Categories : Content Marketing

Tags : branding, Content Marketing, core message, Online Marketing, positioning

Author Archive for Patsi Krakoff – Page 42

WordPress Beats Out Typepad 4 to 1 in Poll

Blogging for Blind Users: See What They See

Click, Read, Learn: B2B Marketing Zone Is
Fast Food for the Brain

Poll: What Blogging Platform Do You Use?

Don’t Jerk Blog Readers Around:
5 Tips to Keep on Track

The 3 P’s of Content Marketing: What’s Your Position?

Content for Coaches and Consultants

Serenity Virtual Assistant Services

Social Buzz Club