Archive for Writing Better Ezines – Page 3

Suspense: Is this the missing ingredient in your ezines?

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, April 4th, 2008

Crutches_3d
I’ve been in an unsubscribing fury this week. If your newsletter bored me, not only did you get deleted, I took myself off your list entirely. And there you go…

I realize it’s not easy to capture my attention and get me to read all the way through to the end. I’m a tough customer. So I got to thinking, what makes the difference between a fascinating newsletter that I actually read, and one that puts me to sleep or makes me hit the delete key faster than a dog can salivate?

Stories will get me reading, for one thing, but they’ve got to have the "curiously thing" going. There has to be some suspense…

Now I know this is all subjective and in the eye of the beholder, so the best way for me to teach you what I’m talking about is to send you over to read Michael Katz’ latest ezine, "I’ve Got a Crutch on You."

He hits a home run every time with his newsletter, but this one is full of great tips you may be able to copy – er- I mean, model and learn from. This is just one great newsletter, entertaining AND educational at the same time. It just happens to be about writing great newsletters and you all can do this better, I know you can.

Categories : Content Marketing, Getting Read, On Writing Better, Writing Better Ezines

Ezine Success Stories: Newsletters still get results for business

By Patsi Krakoff
Sunday, March 2nd, 2008

Business_news
Blogs haven’t replaced ezines. Even though you may be tempted to put all your time and energy into maintaining your business blog, you would be wrong to ignore your newsletter.

Don’t take my word for it. Ask other professionals if they’re getting results from sending out an emailed newsletter, and then judge for yourself if it’s worth the time and effort (and money).

LIsten to these success stories, and you’ll find out why ezines are not dead…

Patsi,

Just this morning I had another woman say to me, "It’s great to hear from you each week through your ezine. It helps me stay connected to you, your work and it (the ezine) provides me with thought provoking ideas, and useful tools to be successful in my life."

Read More→

Categories : Content Marketing, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Online Marketing, Writing Better Ezines

Ezine Success: No, the ezine is not dead

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, February 29th, 2008

On_line_press_review
Ever since blogs became such a powerful marketing tool for communicating, people have been asking about newsletters:

  • Should I keep doing my ezine?
  • How should the content that I email be different from my blog content?
  • If I’m new to online marketing, which is more important, a blog or an ezine?

I’ve been asked to contribute to a book about networking tactics for business success, in particular for a chapter on newsletters. The author, Liz Lynch asked me for some examples of ezine success. So I asked people on my list.

Wow, did I get a barrage of emails from colleagues and clients who claim huge successes due to sending out a newsletter. I think we can clearly state:

Ezines are alive and thriving!

Here’s how a few people answered my question, "Have you had success with your newsletter?"

Read More→

Categories : Content Marketing, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Online Marketing, Writing Better Ezines

Core Message of this Blog: Writing Great Ezines & Blogs

By Patsi Krakoff
Monday, August 20th, 2007

Keyboard_world
Writing for your online business is one of the
most important tasks you have. The style of writing is always evolving for the
Web, and it’s important to learn how to write effectively for your
business. No other marketing task will involve you as much as writing
for your business.

One of the things we teach in our blogging and online marketing classes is to know your audience and know your core message. I am student for life and have always found the best way to learn something is to teach it. So I am always learning these things over and over and each time I go a little deeper.

When I started this blog (September 4, 2004), it was to have a platform to write content for an ebook, Secrets of Successful Ezines. Since then, I discovered the power of blogs for professionals who want to get their message out to people. Blogs or ezines, blogs AND ezines – it doesn’t matter if you do one or both, as long as at least one is a blog!

In the next phase of evolving an online business, I realized the importance of interesting, relevant, keyword-rich content: articles, information products such as special reports, tips, white papers, and ebooks.

Online marketing must include other pieces of writing for the web: landing pages, sales letters,

Read More→

Categories : Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, On Writing Better, Writing Better Ezines, Writing for the Web, Writing Great Blog Content

Got a New Subscriber? 7 tips for writing a great first message

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, August 16th, 2007

Sign_up
What do you say to a new subscriber to your ezine? That first email may be one of the best times to communicate to a new prospect. It’s certainly one time they open and read your message.

My advice? Skip the canned and expected confirmation message that everyone sends and write in an original voice. Be friendly and clear about what they can expect next, and give them an unexpected bonus.

Here are 7 other tips from the Email Experience Council:

1. Use a recognizable "from" line and a subject line that includes the brand name.

2. Fulfill email subscriptions quickly.

3. Be clear on "what comes next" in terms of content and frequency.

4. Ask them to add your address to their address book.

5. Offer something of value for signing up.

6. Use a series of onboarding emails to introduce them to your offerings.

7. Don’t be afraid to include promotional content in welcome emails to capitalize on the high read rates.

Categories : Email Marketing Tips, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Writing Better Ezines

Business Writing: Are You Using Gobbledygook?

By Patsi Krakoff
Saturday, August 11th, 2007

David Meerman Scott updated his Goobledygook Manifesto this week. He proves his point: news releases from company and pr writers use the same old worn-out empty phrases … worse than a teenager’s annoying talk, like totally inane.

I’m reprinting David’s graph here just so you can see the catch phrases to avoid in your next piece of writing for the web.Gobbledygook_us_2007_5

The words mentioned most often were similar to last year’s analysis. In North America – next generation (10,427 mentions), robust (8868 mentions), flexible (8515 mentions), and world class (7887 mentions) were the leaders.

Others are easy to use, scalable, cutting edge, well positioned, market leading, mission critical, turnkey, groundbreaking, industry standard, user friendly, enterprise class, best of breed, enterprise wide, interoperable, extensible, and breakthrough.

Categories : On Writing Better, Writing Better Ezines, Writing for the Web, Writing Great Press Releases, Writing Great White Papers

Confessions of a Serial Writer

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, May 15th, 2007

Check_boxes
I’m not sure when it began or who’s to blame, but at some point in my writing career I got lazy. Or maybe I got smart. I started skipping the long research on a topic and reading up on its history. I just started making a list of main points and then writing out a couple of sentences on each item.

I think I got the idea from Jeff Herring, The Article Guy, who said if you can write a 7 item grocery list, you can write a good article. Now Jeff teaches article writing for people who struggle with writing and have a hard time coming up with stuff.

That’s not my problem. I love writing – but my problem is writing too much. Anyone with a doctorate suffers from the same disease. Dissertation-itis. Nobody has time to read all those words anymore, especially not online.

That’s when I fell in love with the "Make a List" writing school. Their theory is anything worth reading can be written in a list of bulleted points.

I confess, I’ve taken the list building approach to an extreme. I’ve become a serial writer.

I wish I could say that it’s the cure for writer’s block, or that it’ll turn your work into Internet gold. I will proclaim it to be a rousing success for saving you time and energy whenever you’re faced with writing for your ezine, blog, web pages, press releases, and even white papers.

Here’s how to start a serial writing project: (in list form, of course)

Read More→

Categories : Article Ideas, On Writing Better, Writing Better Ezines, Writing Great Blog Content

Telling Stories = Stronger Connections with Readers

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, April 19th, 2007

"Now just the other day, I…" As soon as someone starts telling me a story, I listen up. Why? Because I am sure they are going to deliver something with impact – otherwise why would they be telling me? And most of the time it’s true: I get to laugh, or be outraged with them, or in some way feel emotionally in tune with the person telling the story.

The same is true for really good copy. I read a good post today over on Scott Young’s blog about 4 things that go into telling a good story. I am always amazed when I read wisdom on an 18-year-olds blog, but never mind that. Here are his 4 points, but if you’re interested, go read the whole post, it’s worth it, campfire picture and all.

1) Start with a Hook
2) Keep it Concise
3) Know Your Point
4) The Purpose of Stories is to Create Feeling

Read More→

Categories : Writing Better Ezines, Writing for Others, Freelancing, Writing for the Web, Writing Great Blog Content, Writing Great Copy

Reading = Good Writing, Good Blogging

By Patsi Krakoff
Monday, April 16th, 2007

Coffe_book_session
What are you reading right now? Chances are, your reading influences your writing. I read a great post today over at Darren Rowse"s ProBlogger site, who along with Karen Andrews of Aussie Mom blog wrote about how reading can improve your blogging.

One tip from this post is to unplug yourself. Get away from your computer. Read a magazine or a book unrelated to your work, but connected to other parts of yourself, other interests you have. This will help you see more of your strengths and can help reunite the scattered parts of yourself.

Right now I have several books open: The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon, The Power of a Positive No, by William Ury, Clear Blogging by Bob Walsh, and Bidding in the 21st Century (about bridge). I also am reading bits and pieces of A User’s Guide to the Brain, by John J. Ratey.

Admittedly, these are all work related, except for the bridge book, but they are topics for which I have a great passion. If I were to really "unplug," I really should get away from work-related books and pick up a good novel. This would expand my brain  neural pathways even more, leading to better writing and richer use of vocabulary.

What are you reading this week? Can you suggest any good novels that you think I might enjoy?

Categories : About Blogs, Grammar & Common Usages, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Writing Better Ezines, Writing Great Blog Content, Writing Great Copy

Writing Online: a Few Differences

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, April 13th, 2007

The Basics Of Writing For Web Readers
by Debra Simpson, www.magicinwords.com, guest author

Web_design
We’ve all written before, for school, work and maybe even for a print publication. But writing for your online audience is somewhat different than writing for print. While some of these differences are readily apparent, some aren’t.

Here are some basic, basic guidelines to follow when writing for your web site readers:

• Keep your words simple. Do not use technical jargons.  The point is to make your piece as accessible to as many people as possible. You are not writing for a select audience.  You are writing for everyone.  And people have differing levels of reading comprehension.  As such, you need to use words that will be understandable to everybody.

• Keep your sentences and paragraphs short. When writing for print publications you tend to write in compact and lengthy paragraphs. On the web we don’t have that luxury.  Our readers will read from their monitors, which is more stressful on the eyes.  If you keep your sentences and paragraphs short, you’ll be making good use of negative space – the empty space in between characters – which will allow your readers’ eyes to rest.

• The first paragraph is important. Our readers are impatient and easily distracted by what’s offered on the Web.  They can move to another website very easily, so it is essential that you keep them interested from the very first words of your piece.

Read More→

Categories : Writing Better Ezines, Writing for Others, Freelancing, Writing Great Blog Content, Writing Great Copy
« Previous Page
Next Page »

Content for Coaches and Consultants

Serenity Virtual Assistant Services

Social Buzz Club

get your bright idea known