Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

Blogging for Your Business: Radio Show Posted

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Teleclasses & Seminars

The audio from Episode 3 of Blogging and Beyond is now posted. You can listen online or download the mp3 file. We’re working on getting the show set up as a podcast so you can get automatic downloads to your iPod or mp3 player. In the meantime, you can listen on our site or download our free desktop player and listen live or at your convenience.

Childrens Books & Blogs at the Old Santa Barbara Mission

By Patsi Krakoff in Teleclasses & Seminars

Denise and I are featured presenters at a retreat this weekend for the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators. Which means, we’re in Santa Barbara tomorrow for 3 days. And we’re staying at the Mission, one of California’s historical (1786) Spanish buildings. Sure hope they’ve updated the heating system. For sure, they don’t have Internet connection, so this blog will be on snooze until Monday.

Naturally, we’re talking about blogs and how to market your book with a blog. For the presentation, Denise created a short tour of blogs by childrens book writers. If you’re interested, here’s the video. It’s just under 6 minutes.

Blogging Is IT! Boost Yourself Into the Blogosphere

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Teleclasses & Seminars, Writing Great Blog Content

Blogging truly is a way to connect with the world. It opens doors, and sends potential clients to you without spending a lot of marketing money. But if you’re going to do a blog for your business, do it right. No free blogging stuff that leaves your blog looking like your next door teenager’s personal diary.

As The Blog Squad, Denise and I recommend Typepad, or if you are more of a techie, WordPress. Either way, you have to optimize your blog for business, otherwise you end up working for your blog, instead of the other way around. Your blog should work for your business to attract interested people into your realm.

This Thursday, January 25, at 8 a.m. PT (11 a.m. ET) on our 3rd radio show on VoiceAmerica channel, Blogging and Beyond, we are talking about the important elements of a good business blog. Here’s the info on the radio show. If you have questions you want answered on the show, submit them on the show blog, www.BloggingandBeyond.com.

The Blog Squad Famous in Ajijic

By Patsi Krakoff in Fun and Irrelevant Things About Patsi

An American woman stopped me the other day and asked if I wasn’t from The Blog Squad. I’m not kidding. Now Denise and I aren’t exactly famous, but our picture is on the Internet in many places. Turns out, Elliott Joachim is a fun person, who learned how to blog from our classes and reports. But I wasn’t really expecting to get noticed in Ajijic, Mexico…

I was so excited I posted about it over on Build a Better Blog.

Parking Horror Stories: Read the Parkazine Newsletter

By Patsi Krakoff in Ezines We Love

I hate cars and I hate traffic. I work from home, and only ever have to drive one mile to the tennis courts and the grocery store. But Erik Feder writes a good ezine about parking your car, mainly in Manhattan where some parking fees rival apartment rentals in other cities.

Erik is The Blog Squad’s Ideal Client who is being coached live on the air during our weekly radio show Blogging and Beyond. I subscribed to his weekly Parkazine newsletter to review it.

Here are three things I like about Erik’s e-newsletter, the Parkazine:

Database Marketing System of the Stars: Tom Antion Explains

By Patsi Krakoff in Online Marketing, Teleclasses & Seminars

Episode two of Blogging and Beyond is now posted, if you missed it. We interviewed Internet Marketing expert Tom Antion about database marketing systems. Be sure to listen; Tom gives a very clear explanation of why a database marketing system is so important to the success of businesses that use the Internet. Find out why all the successful Internet star use Kick Start Cart- or a version of it.

Here’s a post from Denise about shopping carts, with a free downloadable PDF on How to Pick a Shopping Cart.

(Update from Mexico: We left the Puerta de Hierro Hospital Wednesday without The Hubby having to have any surgery. This is good news. But the internet connection was down for 12 hours. Hopefully, I can now get back to work.)

Heart in Mexico

By Patsi Krakoff in Fun and Irrelevant Things About Patsi

One of life’s hiccups…I’m taking The Hubby back in to Guadalajara today. His 3-year heart attack anniversary revealed some funny exam results. The good news is that the angiogram procedure he will have today will reveal what’s really going on in his arteries. If needed, they will put in more stents and he will get another 10,000 mile warranty.

The cardiologist is excellent, and the hospitals are, well, hospitable. They let the family stay overnight with the patient, so I probably won’t be back online for a few days.

Mysterious Mexico Connections

By Patsi Krakoff in Fun and Irrelevant Things About Patsi

I’ve been deprived of Internet connectivity for the last 36 hours. And I didn’t die, although I felt severe frustration at not being able to stay in touch with clients and our new mentor group.

I’m working from our home in Ajijic, near Guadalajara, in Mexico this week. (That photo is our front door viewed from inside.) And even though we have high speed DSL connected to the house, and a Vonage U.S. phone number, the connection stopped all of a sudden. Nothing we did would help.

I did a bit of work from a cyber cafe yesterday. Then when we came home last night, we saw the three green lights on our router and fell to our knees. We’ve been saved!!! Finally we are connected again.

There is something strangely upsetting about not being online. I’m seeing a psychiatrist about this. Does anyone else have heart palpitations and severe anxiety when this happens? Or am I the only nut that can’t live without being connected…

It’s like this deep feeling of losing control over my destiny, like "they" are taking away my ability to work, manage my work flow, and stay in touch with my clients. "They" are the DSL gremlins who want to make my life miserable. I’m sure of it…

Blogging Isn’t IT! The Blog Squad Reveals Blogging and Beyond

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Ezine & Blog Classes, Online Marketing, Teleclasses & Seminars

We launched our Internet radio show Blogging and Beyond yesterday on the VoiceAmerica channel, and told listeners why having a great blog may not be enough if they want to grow business and leverage the power of the Internet. You can listen to the show here.

(I was afraid my voice might get squeeky as it sometimes does, so I kept sucking on a lemon between breaks. I hear all the opera singers do that.)

I suggest you listen in to the show: we tell listeners what else they will need to leverage the power of the Internet to grow business. And, we interviewed our fabulous Ideal Client contest winner, Erik Feder. Erik already has a unique business and is using the Internet, and we will be coaching him live on the show each week to improve what he’s doing. Learn more by subscribing to our Blogging and Beyond blog.

Of course, if you really want to get more involved, you can still join the Blogging and Beyond Mentor Group that will be implementing simple online tools to grow your own business: www.BlogSquadContest.com/mentor.

10 New Rules for Writing Successful e-Content

By Patsi Krakoff in Newsletter Nuggets Ezine

Newsletter Nuggets – January 11, 2007
…tips and tricks for writing great ezines and blogs

Table of Contents

1. A Note from Patsi – Blogging and Beyond Kicks Off
2. 10 New Rules for Writing Successful e-Content
3. February 07 Featured Article: A Leadership Checklist – 7 Questions
4. What’s New on the Blogs?

A note from Patsi –

You may be reading this before or after our Internet radio show Blogging and Beyond debuts on VoiceAmerica.com, I don’t know. Either way, the beauty of the internet means you can either listen in real time, or afterwards.

You can download a free desktop audio player for the Blogging and Beyond show.

Go to the page for our show and download the player in the upper right corner of the info page where it says "Download Desktop Icon". Follow the setup instructions to install the icon on your desktop. Then, you’ll be able to click the icon and listen to current and archived shows.

The Blogging and Beyond Show is live every Thursday morning starting January 11 at 11 a.m. ET,. “Blogging and Beyond” is produced on VoiceAmerica™ Channel.

Our goal is to show our listeners how someone can have a real marketing presence and start leveraging the Internet using simple online tools, in a relatively short time.

You can register for the Blogging and Beyond Mentor Program to get directly involved in your own Internet marketing plan at www.blogsquadcontest.com/mentor.

Denise and I have lined up a few excellent guest experts, as well as our Ideal Client, Erik Feder, who will benefit from live coaching on the air. You can stay up to date by subscribing to the blog www.BloggingAndBeyond.com.

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10 New Rules for Writing Successful e-Content

What are the new guidelines for writing ezines and emails that will help get them opened, get read, and get results?

The key to writing good e-content is to make the most sense in the fewest possible words, while making an impression/connection with potential clients, to the point that they respond to your call to action.

Here are a few “new rules” shaping effective email content today:

1. Keep an eye on headlines (they’re more crucial than ever). A cleverly crafted headline (or subject line for email) will determine if your email is opened and read or not. Headlines appealing to reader’s desires on an emotional level will be more effective. “Insider secrets,” “5 tips you can apply now to save time/money/energy,” and “What they don’t want you to know,” are examples of titles that work because they are compelling. They offer a promise to solve a problem. They leave the reader with great curiosity. They seduce the reader to open and read the email.

2. Use keywords in the headline. Use them again in the first paragraph, and repeat several times in the body of the content. When somebody types keywords into a search engine looking for information they need, will your content be found?

3. Keep content length short and to the point. Once you write your message, review it and delete as many words as possible. Ask, “So what?” to each sentence. Keep the focus on your core intention for that email message.

To continue reading, see the complete article over at www.CoachEzines.com.

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