Archive for About Blogs – Page 5

6 Easy Tips to Be a Better Blog Writer

By Patsi Krakoff
Saturday, January 25th, 2014

BlogWritingHow can you get to be a better, faster blog writer?

Did the job of blogging or writing fall into your lap? Or have you been a professional writer for some time, who’s now transitioned into blogging for yourself or a business?

Bloggers come from all walks of life, that’s one thing that I know for sure.

Whether you’re a professional writer or not, here are some tips on how to be more productive and efficient when it comes to writing. No blogger is safe from the pitfalls of writers’ block or lack of inspiration.

Here are a few ways that you can work on becoming a faster and better blog writer, which will in turn free up your time:

  • Set yourself up for success.  Are you easily distracted? Clear your writing space of anything that might take your mind off of the task at hand. All I need to write is my PC, a notebook, and a pen. I have to keep everything else away if I hope to get anything done.
  • Plan your content before you start. Even if it’s just jotting down a few ideas before you get started, you’ll be happy you planned ahead when it comes time to start writing. Sitting down to a completely blank canvas can be stressful. Try to come up with some ideas about what you’ll write about ahead of time. Read More→
Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Writing Great Blog Content
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How to Blog without Boring Readers in the Holiday Season

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, December 11th, 2013

HoidaySeasonsHow do you blog about the Holiday Season – without boring your readers?

It’s no secret that the holidays are upon us! With one less week between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and Hanukkah already in full swing, the holidays have arrived.

So what does the holiday season mean for your blog? Several things! The holiday season provides a lot of opportunity for keyword-rich blogging.

  • Put your own spin on popular topics and it will help bring traffic to your site.
  • You can use this seasonal opportunity to feature charities that you support.
  • You can expand topics beyond your core business services to what truly matters in life. Read More→
Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Writing Great Blog Content
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Smart Business Blog Linking:
Top 25 Content Marketing Blogs

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, November 27th, 2013

Blog-LinkingIf your business blog needs to get inbound links, here’s a prime example of how to do it. Pay attention to this tactic, it’s easy, it’s smart blog marketing and a great way to get other blogs linking to you, thereby improving your search rankings.

I’ve talked about creating your own Top 10 lists before, and it still makes sense, even more so given the way SEO works today.

Recently our blog here, WritingontheWeb.com showed up on a list of the Top 25 Must-Read Content Marketing Blogs. Well, we’re listed as #24, but hey! Who cares?

Author Jennifer Barry, who writes for Hubspot as well, says on the Writtent.com blog:

“The marketing industry is diverse and ever changing, and one of the easiest ways to stay on top is to read the most relevant and pertinent blogs. There are thousands of marketing blogs out there that focus on different aspects of the marketing industry from optimization, conversion, advertising, and content.” Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Promoting Your Ezine +/or Blog, Writing Great Blog Content
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Ghost Writers Needed: For Business Blogs Everywhere

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, November 20th, 2013

Ghost-BloggersMany professional business blogs need ghost writers. How else can busy professionals maintain quality content and frequent publishing schedules?

What about you and your blog? How can you consistently publish on your professional business blog and never have to worry about coming up with ideas, researching facts and stats, and writing compelling, quality content that solves problems for your readers?

I’d like to tell you an easy answer, like, “All you need to do is outsource!” But it’s not at all easy to find quality ghost blog writers who understand your business and clients, is it?

Here are some other objections I hear from my blog consulting clients about outsourcing to ghost writers, along with my responses: Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Coaching/Personal Development, Content Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content
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Why You Should Write Quality Blog Content

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, November 13th, 2013

Best-Business-BlogQuality blog posts are key to your business getting found on the Web. While that may sound obvious – (“Of course, why would I write something ho-hum boring?”) it’s harder than you might think. Not everyone agrees on what quality content is.

Quality content scores high with readers, your target clients, and with search engines. If you want to get found, get known and get clients online, you need to write and publish quality blog posts that resonate with your readers.

There’s a lot of emphasis on publishing frequently. Most professionals and small business owners are told that once or twice weekly is a bare minimum. But none of that matters if what you write is boring, mediocre, confusing or poorly written and formatted.

What is quality content? Sure, you know it when you read it, but what are the essentials? It depends on who you’re writing for. As writer Ginny Soskey at Hubspot blog points out:

“There are lots of concrete principles of writing that can help determine the “quality” of a piece of content. Verb usage, spelling, sentence structure — these all have defined rules that, for the most part, have stayed pretty constant. It’s black and white. That is wrong; this is right. 

“Then there are the gray areas in writing. Stylistic preferences. Imagery. Storytelling.” Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content
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How to Find Great Blogs for Better Business Blogging

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, November 6th, 2013

Reading-blogs.jpgWriting quality content is key for your business blog. Never stop focusing on  better business blogging. But what about reading great blogs yourself? It’s a great way of getting ideas and topic inspiration from other writers who have different views and perspectives.

Why do you need to find great blogs to follow? If you want to build a better business blog, this is key: you must read the other great blogs in your field, and some others as well. Why? It’s not only for inspiration.

  • You need to know what your readers might be reading.
  • What else is being published that can help solve their problems?
  • What else do your clients need to make their lives better?

When you find good info that’s helpful to your readers/clients, you’ll want to share that on your blog. In turn, this creates good blogger relations which can lead to reciprocal projects and posts.

And, this means search engine marketing linking possibilities. But you can’t reach that point if you’re not reading other great business blogs.

What kinds of blogs or other Internet publications do you read? Some of my favorites include cooking and baking blogs, and news sites like Huffington Post and Mashable and occasionally The Onion.

How do you find great blogs? Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content
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Why Use Animated Videos on a Business Blog?

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, October 30th, 2013

animated-drawingsAre you considering creating an animated video for your business blog? Did you know that blog posts and articles with images perform 91 percent better than those without them (Skyword study, 2011)? Have you done a Google search lately that has video content that you can’t resist checking out? Oh yeah. I love video. You know what else I love? Animated videos!

Why is that? As a kid I always read the “funny pages.” I still do; I immediately locate the “strategic humor” in Harvard Business Review.

Apparently 90 percent of information transmitted through the brain is visual in nature. Visual content is processed 60,000 times faster than the written word.

Visual design is critical to every page you have, but never is it more important than helping your readers and customers understand your products and services. You can more easily explain the value of your business services in pictures than words.

Here’s an example from the clever marketing folks at wizMotions.

Animated videos aren’t something you can create at home, unless you’re a talented graphic designer. And most studios doing them charge quite a bit. I researched this and found a new studio with very reasonable prices: wizMotions.com.

Check out their services and portfolio to see if they might be able to create a short animated video that can spotlight your products and services. Tell them I sent you if you do. (I am not an affiliate, but I love their services!)

(P.S. This is not the first time I’ve used an animated video. I wrote about my first experience with this company when they were called Hypnovid. Interestingly, while researching “animated videos” on Google, my post “Get Blog Readers’ Attention with Animated Video” shows up on page 1 of search results. Now that’s what I call good performance for a blog post!)

What do you think? Have you considered using visual content for your business blog?

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Content Marketing with Videos
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Common Mistakes Made by Beginning Bloggers
…and 5 Tips to Fix Them

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, October 9th, 2013

How-to-BlogWhen you first start a business blog, it’s easy to make a few blogging mistakes. While it seems like nearly every business already has a blog, new blogs are popping up every day. If you’re just getting your blog up and running, here are a few common mistakes that can be detrimental before it gets off of the ground.

Seasoned bloggers are wise to take note of these tips as well; even the most professional of us can use a reminder every now and then!

Here are a few things not to do with your blog:

  1. Not making sure all of your content is original. While most of us understand the ramifications of plagiarism when it comes to writing papers in college, it can be more of a grey area when it comes to blogging. It is possible to get into legal trouble for stealing someone’s ideas and re-printing them word for word. Just be careful to keep your blogging original, even if you are taking inspiration from something that someone else wrote.
  2. Using recycled content. Many blogs do use the content of others, with due credit given. This is particularly true of things like news articles or announcements. While it’s fine to include things like this from time to time, don’t fill your site with outside content. Your readers will get bored quickly and abandon your blog for something better.
  3. Not writing about something you know. Picking a blog topic that is completely outside of your realm of expertise is unwise. Writing about something that you are interested in and are familiar with will come across to your readers as more natural. That’s not to say that you can’t explore new topics, just make sure that you understand that your blog readers want to see you as an expert.
  4. Not researching what you’re writing about. In addition to checking out your competitors, you can also see what topics in your planned area of expertise have already been beaten to death, so to speak. Coming up with a new spin on an old topic or touching on an issue in your field that hasn’t been covered much is more likely to gain readers for your blog.
  5. Not making sure your blog is visually interesting. A good layout is key to get people to come back and keep reading. Seasoned bloggers are wise to evaluate their visual interest occasionally as well. Another way to keep people interested is to use lots of images, graphics, and infographics.

(Photo Source)

About our Guest Author:

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Writing Great Blog Content
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6 Easy Tips to Write a Blog Post in 30 Minutes

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, October 3rd, 2013

Blog-WritingCan you write a blog post and publish in under an hour? How about 20 minutes? That’s my record. But as anyone who’s ever made love knows, fast isn’t always better. And sometimes it is.

There’s usually too much for small business professionals to handle. If you want to stay on schedule, you’ve got to learn to “just do it!” and do it fast.

Here’s how I research, write, add an image, compose a compelling title, and optimize for SEO and publish a blog post in under an hour. Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Writing Great Blog Content
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Epic Business Blog Content: 2 Questions Every Blog Owner Must Ask

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, September 25th, 2013

Epic-Content-Joe-PulizziIf you’re in business and have a business blog, you’re frequently challenged by what to write. There’s always a lot you can say about your products and services, but how many different ways can you write about them before your regular subscribers get bored?

In my ebook Content Marketing with Blogs, I suggest business blog posts should be written with the 4 E’s as a guide: What you publish on your business blog should:

  1. Entertain
  2. Educate
  3. Engage
  4. Enrich

As anyone who runs a blog knows, that’s a tall order, and if you score high in one or two of these qualities, you can feel pretty good. But is it enough?

I recently purchased Joe Pulizzi’s new book Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less. It’s full of examples from big businesses but all his advice is great for small businesses and individuals as well. Joe is known as the godfather of content marketing as he has been a long-time promoter of quality content for marketing purposes. He founded the Content Marketing Institute.

The book is a treasure of information about the value of content marketing throughout all channels (blogs, e-newsletters,  videos, podcast, and social media). Two questions stood out for me as key for any small business owner who wants to (needs to!) publish quality content on their blog: Read More→

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