I'm playing around with video creation, using a free service called Animoto, pretty cool tool. Let me know what you think. I just experimented with a few photos I had taken on a recent Sunday, relaxing at home.
Archive for About Blogs – Page 33
I had the best grilled salmon last night in one of my favorite restaurants here in Ajijic…which got me thinking about fishing…
I view business blogging as an attraction strategy, rather than an activity that earns income via ads. A blog is like a fishing net that you throw out onto the World Wide Pond to catch new leads, who nibble on your words like fish on bait.
I believe a blog is a powerful client magnet when done the smart way. It reverses the client chase. But few bloggers have a grasp on how to write effective posts on a business blog and what kinds of content make sense for their readers.
Content is key, of course. It’s the bait that beckons a fish to the hook. Your words — when you’re using keywords right — will attract the very people who are looking for the solutions you write about on your blog.
The tricky part is this: asking for business. You can do a bang-up job of attracting readers, but at some point you must ask for action. Otherwise, your blog is a catch-and-release system:
"Hi, thanks for stopping by my blog, here's some great information to solve your problem, have a nice day!" ;-0
I hate to be a purveyor of gloom, there's too much of that around these days. But I've been thinking about this and want to share my thoughts with you.
Here are some reasons content marketing is getting more challenging. There exists:
- A shift away from focusing on your products and services (what you know well)
- A shift towards the reader/customer and their needs (what you may not know very well)
- A business environment that is changing rapidly (what is unknown)
- More people online in your field writing about the same things (some better, some worse)
- A huge volume of content about everything possible, creating information overload for readers
I'm a skimmer. In the 20 minutes since I got my coffee and opened my email, I've learned what happened to these friends and colleagues:
- Kathleen Gage broke her ankle training for the Portland marathon
- What Sherman Hu had at his barbeque for dessert
- That an internet marketer made $21,365
- How to avoid throwaway lines in article writing
Which of these messages or posts do you think I opened first? Which got my attention the most? The least? (I sound like Keith Olbermann's MSNBC opening line, "Which of these stories will we be talking about tomorrow?"
Easy, I put them in the order I remembered them, and that's the order in which they got my attention.
Here's why, here's the lesson you need to pay attention to if you're writing blog posts or sending email messages to make an impact.
I hate it when a perfectly intelligent and super person lets her blog die out because she hates writing. So when one of my favorite clients admitted she hasn’t posted in, well, let’s just say a few weeks, I tried to find a way to show her an easy, alternative way to blog. ‘Cuz every professional should find a way to have an Internet presence that works, no matter what.
I work with a lot of coaches, writers, and consultants. Some of them are doing well, in spite of the recession. Others are struggling. I often wonder what the difference is between those that stay afloat in a downturn and the others. I think it's their marketing savvy more than their talent or education, but who really knows?
One of my favorite clients, a successful executive coach with a Ph.D., emailed this week to say how frustrating it is in the coaching field these days. It seems everyone's a coach. People take an Internet coaching course and market themselves by giving away free sample coaching sessions.
As a trained organizational psychologist with licenses and years of experience, he doesn't feel he should be giving away free sessions. I don't blame him. And yet, I was thinking…
The problem is universal. How do you attract new clients without standing on the sidewalk like a carnival barker, begging people to come into your tent?
I guess this is why Chris Anderson author of The Long Tail, has written a new book called Free: The Future of a Radical Price.
I'm a nice person and I'm highly educated. As a result, my writing can really stink. I'm not kidding. There's nothing worse than writing nicely, except maybe writing intelligently, if you want to get read and make an impact.
I've been trying to write a post about this idea for some time. Then along comes this person I'd never heard of before, Pace Smith, over on Copyblogger, and she writes a brilliant post much better than I ever could.
Go there, go read it now. I'm not going to be nice about it, I'm telling you, you must read this post now…She gives really good examples of writing samples that are wishy-washy and shows you how to be bold.
Why You’re Too Qualified and Respectful to Produce Great Content
by Pace Smith
If you’re like most bloggers, you’re making two huge mistakes with your content. You’re suffering from both qualification and respect when you write.
You’ll need to leave both of those behind if you want to be a successful writer with high conversion rates. The only way to write powerfully is to be bold, and to write boldly you must stop qualifying yourself and being overly respectful. Read the rest here…
I have a secret Internet crush on Havi Brooks. Everything she writes I wish I had written. I have a serious case of Content Envy.
It's all I can do to not steal her stuff. Well, that's not true, I got the "Internet crush" phrase from her because she said she has an Internet crush on Naomi Dunford of Itty Biz, whom I also admire but for other reasons. Naomi swears like I think, only she says those words out loud and writes them on her blog too.
For my series of occassional blog interviews about Content Marketing, I snagged an email exchange with Havi. Not easy, since she's on email sabbatical and I had to go through her assistant "can-do-ologist," Marissa, and then there was her duck Selma, and it's just tough these days getting to these blogging celebrities.
Fortunately I still have some clout in the blogosphere, and it helps that I recently rubbed elbows with Havi at Jen Louden's Writers Spa in Taos, NM.
Are you ready for this? I love Havi's responses, and I hope you do too. It inspires me to write bettah.
Havi Brooks and her duck Selma write about "biggification" (growing the cool thing you do) and "destuckification" (working on the stuff that gets in the way). You can hang out with them on the Fluent Self blog.
1. What does Content Marketing mean to you in your business?
It means not having to sell stuff.
Newt Barrett on Content Marketing Today recently reported what I have long suspected: visitors to company websites spend a lot of time reading the people or team member pages, you know the ones that describe "who we are"? It's common knowledge that one of the most clicked on blog pages is the About page, where authors showcase themselves.
But how much thought and time goes into writing bio pages? In my opinion, not enough. In fact (horrors!), I've seen company websites that don't even bother putting up a people page. No way to get to know the people running the show.
News Flash: People do business with people! Personality counts!
There's a reason new tools for social networking and online interacting are working like gang-busters. We're social animals and enjoy getting to know people, especially before hiring or buying something from a company.
So it's worth it to make your people pages the best you can.
How should you write your About page or your website Team/ People page? I see many professionals use their resumes. ("Dr. Smith has 20 years experience in strategic planning and holds an MBA from Harvard, etc.") But really, this is pretty boring and very old-school.
Here are 6 key questions to ask yourself every time you review your online content that markets you and your business:
- What problem do you solve?
- Who are you writing for?
- Why should anyone read this? Does the headline compel people to read more?
- How are you different from your competitors?
- If your ideal clients were to search for solutions to their problem, what keywords would they use? Are these keywords in the headline, first paragraph and repeated in the body?
- What key piece of content do you give away to visitors that showcases your expertise and engages with readers on a really human level?
These review questions apply to all your content: blog posts, emails, e-newsletters, special reports. What else should you ask yourself before you publish content? What am I missing that needs to be considered?
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