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 63

Most Influential Content Marketing Leaders List +
101 Great Blogs You Should Be Subscribing To

By Patsi Krakoff

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

As if toothaches and root canals weren't enough to keep me down, I've been attacked by a cold. No, not the flu, but a good old-fashioned cold, sniffles and coughing included. Instead of whining, let me just blow my nose horn for a few paragraphs…

Yesterday the lovely Ambal Balakrishnan, co-founder of ClickDocuments (@Ambal) announced a great list of Most Influential Content Marketing Thought Leaders. I'm so proud to be among such good company. This list has all the content marketing leaders on it.

Plus, it's a share group so you can follow all of them on Twitter with just one click, how cool is that! The share group of twitterati is on a site called TweepML, and it's easy to use. Go check it out. But wait, there's more!

This morning I awoke to the news of being on a great list, Kevin Muldoon's 101 Great Blogs You Should Be Subscribing to.

This is a super list of great business blogs in different categories, and I am on the section that lists writing blogs. I highly recommend you find the blogs that can help you in your quest to become better at marketing what you do on the Internet.

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Online Marketing

Content Marketing with Blogs:
When Blogging is Like a Toothache

By Patsi Krakoff

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Is writing on your blog a pleasant and easy task for you? Or is it sometimes worse than getting a tooth pulled? If so, I'm thinking of you this week.

The tooth fairy turned into a wicked witch and sent me to the dentist's for two root canals over the weekend. I don't write well on pain meds and antibiotics. I forgot a friend's birthday party. And I'm barely getting my work done. Fortunately, two root canals in Mexico cost under $250, a far cry from US prices. But even so, it hurts!

Here's what's new: If you haven't downloaded Content Marketing with Blogs, do so now. I've added a bonus report 5 Questions for Writing Web Content that Gets Results. Here's what this free ebook provides:

4 reasons blogs fail
Why good content isn't enough
4 keys to having a great blog
7 step formula for online marketing success
The new shift in content marketing focus
What's required for the 21st century

If you want your blog to work as the most powerful marketing tool on the planet, (which it is, or should be!), then you need to know a few things. This report is the latest information and summarizes it all into simple steps.

Don't struggle with your blog any more. Make your content marketing writing tasks easy. No more pain.

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content

5 Content Marketing Questions:
Getting readers to take action

By Patsi Krakoff

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Here's a final note in my blog post series about writing good content on the Web that gets results. In Maria Velosa's 2009 edition of Web Copy that Sells, she suggests 5 questions your copy should answer: (Photo Credit: Shutterstock)

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?

As you answer these questions, you lead readers down a path towards action. Good content on the Web, when it's well written, should:

Educate
Entertain
Engage readers
Enrich lives

If at all possible, you should strive to enrich the lives of your readers as well. Try to make their lives better by showing them how they can save time, energy or money.

Question #4: What is different now?

How will your product or service make your readers' lives different? This is where you explain who you are, how you know what you're talking about, how your product or service can help them, and what's different about your product or service that will eliminate their problem.

Categories : Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content, Writing Great Copy

Content Marketing Questions: What’s Possible?

By Patsi Krakoff

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Question #3: What is 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 is possible?
What is different now?
What should you do now?

First answer question #1, what's the problem. Then, answer questions
#2, why hasn't the problem been solved? Then answer question #3, what's
possible?

As you write out several sentences to answer these questions, you'll lead your readers through a path that leads to action. Action is the goal for all good content designed to market your business on the Web.

Categories : Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Writing Great Copy

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

By Patsi Krakoff

Friday, September 25th, 2009

I'm reviewing Maria Velosa's Web Copy that Sells, 2nd Edition, recently released. Her 5 simple steps for writing on the web are:

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 problem been solved? This is a great opportunity to address the challenges your readers and potential customers face.

You have a chance to show you understand your readers well, and you have an expert's understanding of the subject matter. You can delve into the history of the problem, providing insights they may have never thought of.

Categories : Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content, Writing Great Copy

5 Questions to Ask for Writing Great Web Content
#1: What’s the Problem?

By Patsi Krakoff

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

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?

As you write your copy, you should cover each of the answers. This will keep you on task, and lead your readers through to action. I suppose it depends on what you're writing, but I can't think of many web pages, blog posts, newsletter articles where these 5 questions wouldn't be appropriate.

I've been re-reading Maria Velosa's Web Copy that Sells this week. Her blueprint for creating simple copy that works to market your products and services is clear. There's a reason it's organized this way.

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content, Writing Great Copy

Content Strategy Map: This Pic’s Worth 1,000 Words

By Patsi Krakoff

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

I love this graphic about Content Strategy.

It's creator is Mark Smiciklas, Intersection Marketing Blog:

Based on Six Steps to a Successful Small Business Content Marketing Strategy in ContentMarketingToday, by Newt Barrett, one of my favorite content marketing experts. Don't you think Mark does a nice job of summarizing graphically what CM's all about?

Categories : Content Marketing, Online Marketing

A Simple Blueprint for Writing Web Content that Gets Results

By Patsi Krakoff

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

The rules haven't changed, but it's surprising how many people start writing on the web 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 because marketing people like new buzzes, and it sure beats writing advertisements that get ignored. But smart marketers know the rules and never forget them. Even if the Internet changes at lightening speed, the writing basics for copy are the same.

I'm a newbie, I've only been writing marketing copy for ten years. Before that, I was a journalist and a psychologist so I wrote feature articles and academic papers. Writing content for marketing is different. It's designed to produce an action, most often sales.

Every once in a while, I go back to the basics. A standard learning tool for many copywriters is Maria Veloso's Web Copy that Sells, originally published in 2004. The 2nd edition is now out and I've been reviewing and re-reading it. Good stuff.

Here's a recap of some really key nuggets from this book:

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Writing Great Copy

Boring, Banal and Full of Bull-shitake:
How to Write Better than That

By Patsi Krakoff

Monday, September 21st, 2009

I spent the weekend doing research…well, not entirely, I played tennis, went to the movies, watched HBO and laughed a lot with my hubby. But work wise, I've been visiting a lot of blogs and sites lately, researching what makes for good content marketing and bad.

Newt Barrett does a terrific job of highlighting sites that get Content Marketing right as well as those who miss the boat over on his Content Marketing Today blog. I always learn better when I can see samples of what works and what doesn't work. I'm sure you do too.

However, I am a little stymied in my quest to find bad samples of content marketing on blogs. Why? It's not that there aren't bad sites and bad content on the Web. There's a lot of garbage. But mostly what I find is mediocrity.

Many bloggers are writing reasonable content. And they're probably getting some results. Most blog writers are just barely scraping the surface of what needs to be said. I believe most of you can do better than that.

Mediocrity Sucks

I hate mediocrity, because you can't really disagree with it or get excited, or anything. It's just a waste of my time to read the same old things. With mediocrity, you can't quite put your finger on it, but you know it stinks.

Okay, let me be frank. I think there are a lot of boring blogs that could be much better. People are regurgitating what others are saying. Sometimes they add their own perspectives, sometimes not. But mostly they're trying to post as much content as possible, without really saying anything new.

Boring, banal and bull–shitake, is what I'm really thinking. In fact, I know for sure that one professional is merely copying and pasting posts from other people (me!) and republishing them as her own. Besides being borderline illegal, and not very Kosher, it's boring. Been there, read that. Please don't bore me with old news.

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content

The Mysterious Case of the Hidden Blogs

By Patsi Krakoff

Monday, September 21st, 2009

I am really proud when dear clients take to blogging and regularly post good content and become passionate voices in the Blogosphere. But I've just got to vent a little here. One of my pet peeves just got me going again.

Here's how this went down this morning…I set off to visit two of my favorite executive coaches who've started blogging. My intention was to highlight their good work, you know, show off what two intelligent yet busy professionals were doing about their content marketing.

So I went to their websites because I couldn't quite remember the names or the URLs of their blogs. No problem, found their websites easily. Even without knowing their exact business names or site URLs, these two come up all over page one when you do a Google search for their names. I expected that and that was the easy part.

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Online Marketing

Author Archive for Patsi Krakoff – Page 63

Most Influential Content Marketing Leaders List +
101 Great Blogs You Should Be Subscribing To

Content Marketing with Blogs:
When Blogging is Like a Toothache

5 Content Marketing Questions:
Getting readers to take action

Content Marketing Questions: What’s Possible?

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

5 Questions to Ask for Writing Great Web Content
#1: What’s the Problem?

Content Strategy Map: This Pic’s Worth 1,000 Words

A Simple Blueprint for Writing Web Content that Gets Results

Boring, Banal and Full of Bull-shitake:
How to Write Better than That

The Mysterious Case of the Hidden Blogs

Content for Coaches and Consultants

Serenity Virtual Assistant Services

Social Buzz Club