Archive for Writing Great Blog Content – Page 18

Pathway to Profits: Blog First

Stairway_concept_ii_opening_doorThe first thing we recommend for any professional or business that wants to go online to grow business is to set up a business blog.

What about a website? Well, you can put up a website if you want, but if you want to get results (get published, get found, get clients) right away, then starting a blog is the best bang for your buck.

A blog is your first priority. Because a blog will get you found quickly on the Web by the people who need you, we recommend starting a business blog even before a website, if you don’t have one already.

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Pathway to Profits: The Content Journey Begins with a Map

Pin_in_mapIn our Blogging and Beyond Mentor Group, on the private membership site, we expose our students to many different tools that can accelerate online marketing success.

Writing content that attracts readers to your business is essential. It can seem overwhelming at first when a professional is told that to market successfully online, he or she must produce quality content and publish in 3-4 sites using multiple tools and media distribution.

You need a Content Plan, a map of what you will write about, and where you will publish each type of content. You also need to cover several content categories. No matter what your business or niche, you will have several topics you need to cover.

This is the first of several suggested pathways to start your journey for successful online marketing.

We suggest sitting down to make a plan. Write it down. Map out where you want to go, and then make a list of how you’re going to get there. You will need to set up a blog, a shopping cart and database management system, maybe a website (or use your blog as a website), a newsletter, and other information products (teleseminars, podcasts, ecourses and ebooks).

Step One – Get clear on your business. Write out the answers to these questions:

  1. What business am I in? (General category, industry, and service or product you provide)
  2. Who is my ideal client/reader? (Describe in as many details as possible)
  3. What am I passionate about? (What is my specific expertise?)
  4. Why should readers believe what I say or write (what makes me an expert?)
  5. What are the 3-5 biggest pain points/challenges my clients experience?
  6. What 5 problems do I solve for my clients and customers?
  7. What are 5-7 sub-topics that I need to write about to establish my expertise and credibility?

Once you are clear on your purpose, only then can you decide which tool to use to distribute your content: blog, ezine, email, teleseminar, ebook, etc.

Next: Step 2 – Blog First?

3 Deadly Marketing Mistakes You Can Avoid

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I just wrote about 3 Worst Online Marketing Mistakes and realized all three can be avoided by good writing skills…

I was composing copy for our Blog Squad(tm) Mentor Program, and wrote this:

3 Worst Online Marketing Mistakes

  1. People aren’t finding you easily online – your website or blog is not updated frequently enough, there’s not enough content with keywords, or you may have poor website design that makes search engine indexing and capturing visitors difficult if not impossible.
  2. There’s no way for people to try out your services or products for free before buying; no information products available; no way for you to capture email addresses for follow-up marketing. Even when you do have a system in place, you aren’t following up with leads like you should.
  3. Your emails, web pages, blog posts, ezine and other content lack benefits-driven reasons why visitors or email recipients should read, care, and act on your messages. You’re not persuading anybody to do anything. You wish you could hire an expensive copywriter, but you’re the one in charge of your marketing and web writing.

Each of these common online marketing mistakes can be avoided when you have good writing skills. You don’t have to have a Ph.D. or even be good at writing like they teach you in school. You do have to be able to communicate clearly what the benefits to readers are.

That means putting yourself into the mind of a potential prospect, and writing with their needs in mind. When you address the problems of your readers, you’ll be using the keywords they use in search directories to find solutions to their problems.

You write about them, they search for solutions, they find you (your website, your blog, or your landing pages), and everybody goes home happy.

You can’t find good clients online without good writing skills.

Want to learn more? Click here to read about the advantages of joining the Blogging and Beyond Mentor Program. We teach you the writing skills you need to grow your business online.

Gimme the Bad News First: Copywriting Tips

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Sooner or later, as a small business professional, you’ll have to write copy that persuades. According to our poll, readers find persuasive writing the most challenging.

Here’s a post by Copyblogger Brian Clark about 10 Timeless Persuasive Writing Techniques:

      1. Repetition
      2. Reasons Why
      3. Consistency
      4. Social Proof
      5. Comparisons
      6. Agitate and Solve
      7. Prognosticate
      8. Go Tribal
      9. Address Objections
      10. Storytelling

I don’t believe this list is in any particular order. If it were, Brian would have started the list with Agitate and Solve. Nobody’s going to read your copy unless you get their attention. And like newspapers, you’ve got to use bad news up front in your headlines.

It’s hard wired in our brains to pay attention to pain. Yet many clients we work with struggle with finding the real pain of their market. Some write their blogs, newsletters, and copy with the same up-beat optimism that makes them successful and fun to be around.

When it comes to writing copy that persuades, however, take off those rosy glasses. Go for the pain. Agitate it and make it worse. Get readers to remember how bad it feels. Then you can talk about solutions to their problems.

The reason you do this, besides getting their attention, is to establish your credibility as someone who knows what they’re experiencing. You’re creating rapport through empathy.

3 More Quick and Easy Blog Writing Tips

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What problems and challenges do your readers struggle with? Problems and solutions are a great way to provide relevant content on your blog.

How do you know which problems are the greatest for your audience? Here are 3 ways to find out. These will provide you with great content ideas.

  1. 1. Run a reader poll using Vizu.com. This easy-to-use poll widget can be set up for free on your blog. (No tech skills required. I did this by myself without having to email for help!)
  2. Ask readers to comment on your blog and suggest major issues they want you to write about and why. (However, unless you have substantial numbers of readers who aren’t shy about commenting, this will bring fewer responses than running a poll.)
  3. Write a top ten list of great blogs in your field. Ask readers to comment and suggest other good blogs. (This is a great way to build links because people on your top ten list will post on their blog about being included in your list…) You will know by their suggestions, which blogs they are reading, and what kind of information they are seeking out.

What other ideas do you have for blog writing that is meaningful and relevant to readers’ needs?

Related Posts: 15 Ways to Find Blog Content
Writing Better – Lessons from Tennis
Writing Better Headlines – the Power of 3

Pillar to Post: Do you have 5 pillar articles on your blog?

This suggestion comes from Yaro Starak, on the Small Business CEO blog, by way of Henri Schauffler who writes at www.CeoCoachBlog.com. This suggested blog writing tip makes sense to me for any business blog, especially where there are several subtopics the author is writing about.   

Write at least five major “pillar” articles. A pillar article is usually a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice.

This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good “how-to” lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn’t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog the better.

I’ve been meaning to do this for some time for this blog: take the 4-5 main subtopics of writing great ezines, blogs, articles, white papers and sales copy (and maybe also news releases) and put them on stand-alone pages. That way anyone visiting this blog for the first time can immediately access core information on writing better for various online purposes.

What do you think? Would this be helpful to readers? And, have you done this for your own blogs?

Blog Writing: How to Avoid Negative Comments

Denise posted this week over at Build a Better Blog about negative comments. It’s amazing how many professionals express this fear. I’m reminded of the old Hollywood press agents’ response about "any press is good as long as they spell your name right."

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Of course, if you really want to avoid people saying anything negative about you or your business, all you need to be is bland. Or try to be perfect. Or never express a strong opinion. In other words, be boring.

On the other hand, if you want readers to pay attention to what you have to say, write with passion and purpose: be strong.  Take a risk and say something controversial.

Yesterday I expressed doubt about the effectiveness of email newsletters in today’s email environment, yet nobody responded.

So what? I probably don’t get hordes of vociferous commenters to this blog anyway, but that doesn’t stop me from making a strong statement that has many sides to it.

Lord knows, I love ezines and have built a business providing customized newsletters for consultants. I don’t want them to stop. But if blogging or white papers are more effective, then I want to be among the first to announce it.

Our business blogging clients often complain about lack of comments to their blogs, and I say: "When’s the last time you came out with a bold statement and dared readers to disagree or take a side?"

If you’re afraid of negative comments, then maybe you shouldn’t be blogging. Try to find a place where you can hang out and be perfect, or bland, or boring.

Here’s an excerpt from an excellent post I found on How to Avoid Negative Comments by British blogger Mark White:

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Core Message of this Blog: Writing Great Ezines & Blogs

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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,

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15 Ways to Find Content for Your Blog

Blog
Denise and I kicked off our first advanced blogging class yesterday, Better Business Blogging, with a select group of 10 professionals all eager to improve their blogs. It is so great working with a small group of passionate people, as opposed to spouting the blog gospel to the hordes on large bridge lines.

Each week we highlight several of their blogs and give suggestions for improvement. We’re following our CODA system for blog improvement: paying attention to Content, Outreach, Design and Action. Yesterday we worked on blog content issues.

Here’s my list of 15 ways to find content for writing your blog posts:

Finding Content for Your Blog

1. Set up Google Alerts for your topics and subtopics
2. Set up Technorati WatchLists
3. Monitor your blog feeds of your favorite blogs
4. Use other people’s blog posts as inspiration and jumping-off points to write your own post
5. Use a poll tool such as Vizu.com and set up a vote from readers on biggest challenges,

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Better Blog Writing: Deadline for Blog Squad Coaching Group

Chair
There’s one seat left for our small coaching group that starts in August; tonight at midnight the early bird discount and bonus offer is off the table. This is an exclusive group for advanced business blogging strategies.

Denise and I will work with you to make sure you get the maximum results for your business blog, whatever your blog goals are.

This is a home-improvement, get-your-keyboard-dirty workshop, no slackers allowed. If you put in the time to improve your blog, you will see results. For info: visit www.theblogsquad.net/BBB.