Archive for How to…Tips – Page 16

6 Deadly Blog Branding Mistakes to Avoid

YourNameGoesHere Many professionals and entrepreneurs are brandless or under-branded. And so are their blogs.

They don't stand out from their competition, and on the Web, that's a disaster. As a result, the effort, time, energy and money spent marketing is twice as long and hard.

You've got to find a memorable brand that says in a blink who you are and what you do. And you've got to use that brand everywhere on the web, especially on a blog, on Twitter, Facebook, and other sites. (Photo credit: Shutterstock – now there's a great brand name!)

With a good brand and powerful Internet tools like a business blog, you get big results. Your name and your business stay top of mind when someone is ready to hire or buy.

Finding a great name is one of the hardest things to do. In my opinion, the best way is to brainstorm with a colleague or friend. You may have your nose too close to the blackboard and not see a great branding name.

The next hardest thing is to find an available domain name. 

Read More→

Who Are You? How to Write a Better People Page

Balancing-act 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.

Read More→

Conquer the “What Do I Write Next” Conundrum…

Blonde_with_laptop My hubby asked me the other day, "How do you keep coming up with ideas to blog about?" I'm going to be gone the last week in July for a writers conference, and just finished pre-publishing 8 blog posts which will appear during my absence. (I'll tell you a secret trick for doing this at the end of the post…)

One of the reasons blog authors get stuck for content marketing ideas is that they start blogging without any forethought or plan. I know this because I did this myself. But it's never too late to stop and make a plan for your business blog, including an editorial calendar.

  • At the very least make a list of keywords that your readers would use if they were searching for solutions to their problems.
  • Make a list of categories that define the topics you write about. It's smart if these are focused on solving problems and helping your readers.
  • Then make sure your blog  posts cover all these categories and that you use the keywords in titles and in the body of your posts.

Lee Odden is a favorite search engine optimization expert (even though I only understand half of what he says! 😉 He's got a great post called 5 Tips for Successful Blog Optimization. I particularly appreciate his tip #3:

3. Plan editorial and source content. Unlike traditional publications, blogs do not typically have editorial calendars, but why not?  Use categories as an indication for the topics the blog should be posting about. Category keywords should support the business goals defined in the blog’s objectives.

Read More→

5 Steps to Writing a Good Newsletter Bio

Show-off How should you write your bio for your newsletter? I see many coaches and consultants use their resumes for their sidebar bio. ("Dr. Smith has 20 years experience in strategic planning and holds an MBA from Harvard, etc.") But really, this is pretty boring and old-school.

Then there are those who, wanting to get with the program and use newly acquired copywriting techniques, go to the other extreme. They tell too much about their achievements and come across like an ego-maniac.

While everyone wants to know about who you are as the author of a newsletter, mostly they want to know "what's in it for me."

Last week a client asked me for some guidelines on how to craft the side-bar marketing message for his ezine. Here are my 5 steps for writing a good bio/marketing message for an e-newsletter (new school).

When you write your bio, pretend you are talking to someone. Use the pronoun ‘I’ and speak with your readers like you would a favorite client. Use the pronoun ‘you’ often. (Unless, of course, you're a large firm with multiple authors.)

1. What problem do you solve?

Start with a question or statement about the challenges and needs of your readers. This will draw them into reading your bio. It is better to lead with "what's in it for them" than to start off talking about you and your accomplishments.

2. Offer Help

Read More→

Copywriting for Twitter- How to say more with less


Are you on Twitter yet? You know I'm not someone to jump on the fad-du-jour. But when I see something that isn't a waste of time, that makes for smart marketing, I will tell you about it.

You need to be on Twitter. Why? Because top people in your field are there. You can find out what's going on, what research they care about, what the buzz is. If you like people, especially people in your niche, this is where you can meet them, and connect. It's content marketing in 140 characters or less.

Twitter folks will follow you back to your blog, and when there, are more likely to leave comments. It's a productive way to build readership, aka drive traffic.

It's not about "What are you doing?" Forget that. Use the 140 characters to ask a question, share a quote, share a thought, be funny or be profound.

I'm not a Twitter expert. Coach Deb and Warren Whitlock wrote the Twitter Revolution handbook. Nor am I a social media and networking maven. Denise Wakeman is.

Read More→

10 Ways to Write to Make Readers Think

Confused_mind
When it comes to content marketing, there are ways to write content so
it actively markets you and your business without being “in-your-face”
sales copy or boring product reviews or press releases.

I’m reminded of an excellent book on creating effective website design called Don’t Make Me Think.
The premise is that a customer searching for products and services
online shouldn’t have to figure out how to find what they’re looking
for on your website.

When it comes to reading your blog, however, please, please DO make me
think
! Your blog posts should have meaty content that stimulates
readers to ask questions, to comment, to agree wholeheartedly, or
disagree vociferously.

How can you do that? Ahhh, let me think about that a minute here… Wait! I’ve got an idea. I’ll build a list of ideas to make readers think. And, YOU can contribute to the list!

Read More→

Word Up on Wordle: Word Cloud for this Blog

WordcloudwordleIf you want to get a ‘word cloud’ or a visual idea of what words you use most often on your blog, try this tool from the folks at Wordle….

I’m not sure what practical applications there are for such a tool, but I thought it would be fun anyway…

Video Promo Clips: Content Marketing Comes Alive

Clapboard
People buy from people they know, like, and trust. Video clips will shortcut
the process of connecting with people quickly. Viewers can more easily
decide if they like and trust you when they can see and hear you.

How do you write a script for a video clip to promote a program or event? Posting video clips has become popular and easy to do. This is another promotional step you must include in order to boost your sales.

Video promotional clips are part of the various writing tasks necessary for making money online. It doesn’t matter if you’re presenting a teleseminar, publishing a book, or promoting a coaching or consulting program. You’ve got to get the word out to as many potential participants in many different ways, on Web landing pages, blog posts, email messages, ezines, and audio and video.

Marketing with content isn’t only about writing text. If you’re not using video yet, It’s fairly easy to get a Flip video camera and get started without any tech skills or expensive equipment. But be sure to write out a short script before recording so you don’t forget any essential details.

In the example we’re writing about here, Denise and I and Kathleen Gage promoted a free teleseminar on our blogs through posting a video each day, outlining each of The 5 Traps of Internet Marketing. Kathleen and I each wrote out a script for these, presenting 5 Traps and 5 Truths, and then the information for registering. Each script was 2-3 minutes long. Here is the outline we used:

Read More→

2 + 5 Formula to Improve the Quality of Your Writing

Writer_s_desk
There are two things that will guarantee success with your writing, even if you don’t consider yourself a professional author:

  1. Expertise
  2. Passion

You can even make a typo or a grammatical error and most readers won’t mind as long as you deliver valuable information readers can use with enthusiasm and conviction. (I don’t suggest you ignore these blights; get them quickly edited out.)

But if you are writing with energy, and you know what you’re talking about, don’t sweat the rest. You can’t fake expertise and passion, but you can certainly find it within yourself and learn to bring it out onto the paper or screen.

Those two things, expertise and passion, will guarantee you a home
run blog post, article, or newsletter. Nevertheless, here are five additional things that will improve the quality of your piece:

  1. Include some statistics (use the web to do a little background search)
  2. Include a quote from a well-known author or expert
  3. Include a paragraph from a book you’ve read on the topic
  4. Include historical background that affects your clients today
  5. Include a prediction about this topic and how it will affect your clients in the future

Quick and Easy Blog Writing Tips

Keyboard
When Denise and I teach business blogging, professionals often worry about finding the time for writing on their blogs. We understand and struggle with this challenge ourselves. With 10 blogs between us, you know there are a few neglected ones…

So here are some tips to save you time and effort, and maintain a posting frequency of 2-3 times a week.

  1. What are you doing in your business this week that you could post about that would make your readers’ lives better? (Example: we’ve started a 4-week teleseminar on Branding and Blogging, and for the class, I wrote an outline about blog writing tips; so I’m sharing that with readers here.)
  2. Look at that idea for a post and see how you can make a list of 5-7 tips. Don’t post the entire list in one blog post. Break it up into a series of posts for the whole week.
  3. You can write the series all at once and post-date the publications; or write them up individually and post each day, whichever suits your schedule. (Stay tuned: over the next few days, I’ll post 11 tips for writing easily and quickly so you can save time, energy and money.)

You should be able to post on your blog in 20-30 minutes. That’s not a lot of time to spend on a marketing task that will bring you great results.

Writing on your business blog should always contain information that is relevant and valuable to your readers; you have plenty of that in your head right now, so get it out into a list and start posting. Your readers will appreciate that and your business will grow.