Archive for About Blogs – Page 4

6 Easy Blog Posts You Can Write to Attract Readers

blog-postsOne universal truth about blog readers is that fresh content will keep them coming back and reading your blog again and again. But there are so many kinds of blog posts that attract readers that it’s hard to choose. Too many choices lead to blog blocks. Here are six types of blog posts you can write easily and quickly.

We’ve talked endlessly about what to do when you’re in a blogging slump and how to come up with new content. So now, let’s talk about some types of blog posts that your readers might like to see: Read More→

How to Make Yourself Blog When You Just Don’t Feel Like Blogging

boomHere’s a tip for how to make yourself write a blog post when you’re totally uninspired. Use other people’s inspiration to motivate you.

For example, take a look at what you’re reading on the Web right now. If it’s good enough to catch your interest, maybe you can use that spark to create something new for your readers?

Here’s how I went from barely awake blog procrastination to publishing this morning.

You can tell a lot about a person just by reading the titles of the web pages they’ve got open. Right now I’m reading posts on Harvard Business Review:

  1. “How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want to”
  2. “The Daily Routines of Geniuses”
  3. “Stop Trying to Control People or Make Them Happy”

And one on Hubspot: “12 Inspirational Writing Tips from History’s Greatest Authors.” Read More→

Better Blog Writing: Getting Hooked by Your Own Hook

Social engineering conceptIt must have been the coffee. But there I was at 5 a.m. looking for a “hook,” a magnetic headline that would draw readers into my client’s blog like bees to honey. The client needed a post that day, and I needed to write and edit what she’d given me quickly. After all, my morning tennis partners were waiting for me.

Eureka! I cried as I found a cleverly compelling hook, saved my post as a draft and ran off to the tennis courts. Only, when I returned to the office two hours later, my client had a left a message, “Uh, …it’s great except for the headline and lead. Call me back.”

I blame it on the coffee. The hook was indeed inspiring, only it had little to do with the message my client was trying to convey. But a little caffeine and dopamine in the brain can fool you into thinking your writing’s great – and never mind it’s missing the point. Read More→

Creative Work, Blogging, Writing and Resistance

Blogging-Creative-Work-ResistanceEver get stuck? Everyone encounters resistance when it comes to blogging, writing, and creative work. It’s so easy to give in, isn’t it? When it comes to doing work – putting words on the page… or electrons on a screen – you can’t escape getting stuck.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a scientist, blogger, CEO or rock star. Work requires you to actually do something. When you sit down to do it (or stand up, whatever), you experience stuckness – a state of mental morass punctuated by mind chatter and an inability to move. Read More→

Bloggers Block? How to Get Your Creative Writing Mojo Back

Beautiful woman with thoughtful expression and blog words aboveEver get stuck with blogger’s block? Can’t get a spark of creativity going? Fingers just lay there on the keyboard like wet noodles… How can you get your creative writing going again?

Finding yourself in the horror of a creation-less void is never good. Your mind empties of anything that seems worthy of being said, and you feel helpless.

Writer’s and blogger’s block is a completely natural event experienced by writers, usually as a side-effect of writing for a deadline. Everyone has experienced it, and it’s not uncommon to panic a bit when it happens.

Here are some suggestions from a writer who’s been around the block…

Read Read More→

Your Business Blog Year 10: Is It Still Worth It?

Business-bloggingDoes blogging still make sense for your business? Is a business blog worth the time you need to research, write, format and publish quality content?

Some busy professionals ask me if it’s worth it to blog or would keeping in touch with people through social media sites work just as well? It’s a good question, particularly for small businesses, coaches and consultants who don’t have staff and a lot of time.

Publishing a quality blog requires time and effort. The average person needs at least two hours to complete all the tasks necessary for one blog post, and should be publishing 2-3 times a week.

Ten years ago, when I first started blogging I declared a blog to be “The best darn marketing tool on the planet!” It was if someone had handed me a microphone and people across the globe started hearing what I had to say. I started getting found online and boosted my business revenues exponentially.

But ten years later, there are a lot of ways to spread your word and publish quality content online. Communication is possible everywhere. Clients can be reached through Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter – the list goes on. Read More→

Should Thought Leadership Content Be Ghostwritten?

Ghost-writerAn interesting post from Hubspot author John Hall: “Why Ghostwriting Thought Leadership Content Doesn’t Work.” He contends that busy executives who outsource their thought leadership content are missing out on quality elements.

As a ghostwriter of leadership content, my first reaction was to tell him he’s all wrong. But his article was an excellent outline of what happens when thought leaders try to outsource blog writing and other leadership content to unqualified contract writers.

“Ghostwriting content is not inherently bad. The problem is that not all content should be ghostwritten.

“Consider your end goal of producing thought leadership content: brand awareness, reengagement, loyalty, credibility, conversions.

“Now ask yourself: Should this business-building tactic be delegated to someone who knows very little about you or your industry? If you lean toward the idea that it’s worth the time you save, then know that your content will lack these not-so-minor details.”

Hall lists five elements that end up being neglected in ghostwritten leadership content: Read More→

Easy to Make Ebook and Blog Writing Mistakes

Writing-Pen

Here’s why it’s so easy to make these common ebook and blog writing mistakes:

Many small business professionals with a business blog are keenly interested in getting their message out there, and don’t care so much in writing “properly.”

Younger people, in particular, like to write like they talk. Speech can be a great way to convey personality. It’s more like jazz rather than a sonata.

When people use a lot of verbal expressions in online content, however, their readers have to work harder to understand the message.

Blog writing with a conversational tone is good for connecting with people, for sure. You should, however, make a concerted effort to follow grammar and writing rules that make your blog easier to read. Read More→

A Checklist for a Good Blog

Blog-checklistAfter I got home from our Publishing at Sea cruise, I checked out the good blogs of our amazing group of authors, including those of our experts, like Judith Briles! Of course, as writers, they all had important things to say on their blogs. But some weren’t really optimized for best results.

Here’s what I look for in an optimized, good blog (one that gets Google search and reader results):

  1. A good blog title with a tag line that says what people will find on this blog (benefits to reader)
  2. An email subscription sign up button such as an RSS icon
  3. A good blog post title that makes me want to read the full post
  4. A compelling image with each post
  5. Hyperlinks – at least one per 120 words so that posts are identifiable to search engines.
  6. Recent posts or no date on them: If posts aren’t at least once a week (twice is better) then I don’t want to see a date on the posts -which alerts me to the fact you haven’t posted in a month … or six! Read More→

Write an Ebook: How Are Books
and Blogs Alike?

ExpertEbooks-StuartMilesHow do business bloggers write an ebook? The same way a chef creates a gourmet meal or a singer delivers a concert. One step at a time.

Anytime I think about starting a large project, however,  I start to put it off because – well, it’s just so huge! One way to go around this is to break it down to simple chunks. That’s why it’s easier for me if I think of it like blog writing…

Blog writing (and ebook writing and cooking and concerts) starts with passion, connects with an audience need, involves planning and revision, collaboration with technicians, and finally the project is delivered.

To me, writing a blog post is a micro version of ebook writing. It looks like this:

  1. As a professional, I feel a passionate drive to broadcast an important message to my readers
  2. I know the people in my audience tell me they are frustrated about something
  3. I usually write a list of solutions that help with this problem
  4. I research to find out more about this
  5. I write a new post, optimize it for keyword phrases, format it, add an image and write a catchy title
  6. I publish the blog post
  7. I update my social media sites, usually by asking people an evocative question and linking back to the blog

So what’s holding you back from writing your expert ebook? I know you have the passion, most of you have clearly defined purpose… so where do you get stuck? Read More→