Archive for About Blogs – Page 38

3 Rules for Writing Content for Your Business Blog

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, April 3rd, 2009

Nib_tip
I just read a great post over on the Marketing Professor blog by Travis Campbell, 3 Rules for Using Twitter for Business. These same three rules should apply to all of your content marketing, but they are particularly relevant for writing content on your business blog.

(Travis must be doing this right, because I found him on Twitter and I'd never heard of him or his excellent blog before today.)

1. Have a Strategy. Here are some strategy points to consider:

Give them a reason to read: Is your content useful to your target market? Do your blog posts give readers insight into you as a person, as well as useful information?

Show them you care: You have to be more than a lecturer or teacher. Get real. Be human.

Mix it up: While building a profile for business, remember people ultimately do business with with people. Feel free to mix up your updates with some of your own questions, observations, and your personality.

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

Content Marketing Pioneers: The Dawn of a New Era

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

Evolution
"Content Marketing" is the Buzz-du-Jour among marketers everywhere, both on and offline. But it really isn't anything new.

Smart marketers have been using these "new" writing techniques and content strategies for decades. Direct marketers, in their long sales letters, are expert at this. The "advertorial" has been around and used on the Internet for more than a decade. Aren't we just renaming copywriting techniques?

Why the big hullabaloo now? Why are so many experts rushing to get a Content Marketing book published? (5 Content Marketing Books You Need to Read) Why all the blog posts and Twitter Tweets … Content Marketing Top Blogs, Content Marketing sites?

Something's a-foot!

…I've always had a nose for shifts and major upheavals. Here's what I think is happening on a big picture level:

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Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Online Marketing

The BS Bailout: Free Better Business Blog Writing Program Bonus

By Patsi Krakoff
Monday, March 30th, 2009

Splatted-tomato
I absolutely hate using my writing blog to promote a sale, so I ask your indulgence just this one time. Don't throw tomatoes.

Actually, you may love me for this, especially if you want to get your business blog spiffed up AND get a valuable bonus program on Better Blog Writing.

Now that I think more about this, you'll have a chance to learn about the 10% nuances that make a blog get results or not. Because that's often the difference between a blog that works and one that doesn't…it's often just the little nuances.

One of the best programs I ever did with Denise Wakeman as The Blog Squad was our Better Business Blog Writing Program. Here's how you can get it for free…

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

The Blog Squad Bailout: Last Chance to Get a Blog Squad Blog or Makeover

By Patsi Krakoff
Sunday, March 29th, 2009

Blogger-with-community
What do smart professionals do when they decide to start a business blog? They call The Blog Squad to set up their blog, and learn how to use it for business results. Or they get a Blog Squad Makeover for an existing blog.

However, you won't be able to do that after March 31, 2009.

March 31, 2009 will be the last time you can get blog set up and training with our personal attention. The Ultimate Business Blog Set Up Program is being taken off the market. That means you've only got a few more days to get your blog with our help. After that, we're outsourcing to other resources.

If you're smart, you'll take advantage of this last special offer, a 25% discount for this service. You'll save $500.

Even if you already have a blog, and especially if you're not getting results with it, you should read more about how our special coupon can be applied to an Extreme Blog Makeover as well:

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Categories : About Blogs, Blogs We Love, Content Marketing, Online Marketing

Edit Your Content: A Checklist of 12 Things Not to Miss

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Journalist_writers_block
Here's a checklist for rereading your content before you publish. For anything important, i.e. that's being sold or delivered to clients, I use Barbara Feiner, a professional editor. She not only corrects errors, but evaluates for clarity and flow.

But for blog posts and everyday content creation, I put on my editor's visor and those green sleeve thingys, and act like a detached newspaper editor with a red pencil. Here's what I look for:

  1. Common typos like theirs for there's, your for you're, that or which for who, and all those pesky things a spell check won't pick up.
  2. Grammar goofs: My most common are when the verb doesn't agree with the noun, as in "Here's my mistakes…"
  3. Review for commas, semi-colons, ellipses and em dashes. The important thing is for it to read well, read clearly. Helps to read it out loud.
  4. Review for paragraph and line spacing, since I like to break up long blocks of text.
  5. Review for bolded words and insert subheadings where needed.
  6. Separate a blog post after 2-3 paragraphs so that it goes to the extended post feature ("read more…"

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Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, E-Books, On Writing Better

My, my, my! MyAlltop Rocks, here’s why…

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

AlltopGuy
 Guy Kawasaki has done it again. He's made it so easy to set up your own page on Alltop.com. Now, instead of poking around the Web, taking hours to get a general "feed feel," I can go see all my favorite blogs and get a quick read about what's buzzin'.

What's a "feed feel?" It's waking up in the morning, going to your computer and instead of opening up email full of junk and worky-type things, I can read what other people are writing about. That and a cup of coffee will get me buzzin' and feelin' good.

What's so cool about this? For one thing, all my favorite people have their own pages too. So if I want to know who Pam Slim reads, or Guy, or other people, I can peek at the blogs that inform them.

And the other thing is that participating in the Blogosphere is just about the swiftest way to connect with other geniuses in your playground and get into trouble with them. So much fun…;-)!

What's the down-side? Well, instead of writing or educating myself about really important things, I can easily fall into an information junkie coma. I don't really need to know why everyone's writing about Skittles on Twitter…

See what you think. Go to my Alltop page. I haven't finished yet adding all my favorite blogs yet, but Alltop makes this really easy to do. Go get your own page. You'll love it. Check out the little video, it'll tell you how to add blogs to your myalltop page.

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Promoting Your Ezine +/or Blog

How to Improve Your Writing the Ben Franklin Way

By Patsi Krakoff
Monday, March 16th, 2009

A+mark
Are you good at what you do? Really good? If you make a living at your craft, you must be good. You probably have customers who think you're great. AND… you know you could be better, don't you?

Being good at what you do is a major source of deep fulfillment, not to mention a prerequisite for keeping employment and earning a paycheck. Let me ask you this, then:

What are you doing to improve your writing skills?

No matter what business you're in, especially if you're using the Internet as a marketing tool, you've got to improve your writing. Especially if you don't outsource your content marketing, you must learn to write interesting content that showcases your expertise and value to readers on the Web.

Yet very few professionals spend practice time to improve their writing skills. You can't assume that even if you got an 'A' in college English you write well for the public, the people who are surfing the web to find solutions to their problems.

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

3 + 1 Bonus Content Marketing Posts You Don’t Want to Miss

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, March 12th, 2009

Doh
Have you ever worked too hard? And finally, finishing a project, find out you could have made it far simpler?

The other day I struggled for over an hour to come up with something interesting and relevant for you, my dear readers of this blog. I couldn't figure out a topic that appealed to me. (If it doesn't interest me and it isn't on topic for Content Marketing, how can I expect you to get excited, right?)

Well, two hours later, I came up with something, then saved and published. As soon as I did, I clicked over to Michael Martine's post on Remarkablogger:

Ten Ways to Crank Out Killer Posts in Ten Minutes or Less

Fist to forehead, I figure Michael owes me at least 50 minutes of time. If I had read his blog post first, I would have followed his great advice. I'm doing so now.

His first tip is #1: Pick  three blogs you respect and introduce your readers to them.

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Categories : About Blogs, Blogs We Love, Content Marketing, On Writing Better

How to Improve Your Writing: an uncommon truth

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

Winner
How do you improve your writing? There's no question that there's money to be made selling information online.

You only have to look at people like Brian Clark and Darren Rowse to know that you can wake up one day, start blogging, and end up rich and famous!

There's a clear path from your brain to your fingertips on the keyboard that leads to creating written materials on the computer screen. Those words published on a blog can reach millions of people world-wide since there are 1.4 billion people connected to the Internet.

So what do you think the difference is between the big guys and you? Don't tell me you think they're brilliant and you're not because I'm not buying it. Talent is overrated. It's an excuse to hide behind.

For every gifted person I've seen on the Internet, I've seen a hundred who aren't making any money. Plenty of average intelligence people are.

Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, On Writing Better

Top Blog Lists: Top42 Content Marketing & 9 Best Blogs for 2009

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

Top42
Who are the top bloggers in your field? You need to know them and read them and leave comments. It's one of the top ways to drive traffic back to your own blog and get new readers. It's what The Blog Squad calls blog Outreach, part of the CODA blogging program which we teach in our Build a Better Blog Learning System.

Of course, it helps if you have pioneers in your niche like Joe Pulizzi (aka JuntaJoe) and his Top42 Content Marketing Blog list. Joe brings out a fresh list of blogs in content marketing every quarter.

Here's where I shed a tear and feel sorry for myself and this blog, because Writing on the Web slipped on the list from #3 to #12…but frankly, I'm just glad to be on the list in such good company. Joe has rigorous selection principles and isn't swayed by bribes.

Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Promoting Your Ezine +/or Blog
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