Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

Mentor Group Registration Discount Ending

By Patsi Krakoff in Teleclasses & Seminars

I got behind in blog posting over the Holidays, and I feel bad because there is a deadline tonight at midnight ET to get the early bird discount on our Internet marketing mentor group. If you haven’t heard about this, it’s still not too late to pay $97 instead of $197 for 13 weeks of mentoring with The Blog Squad.

Briefly, here’s the deal:

We are teaching simple online marketing tools you can use that will have a great impact on your 2007 business results. We aim to show you how to Attract, Sell and Profit using the same systems we have used to triple our business.

The Blogging and Beyond Mentor program follows along with our Internet radio show by the same name starting January 11.

Findability: Can Anyone Find You Online?

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

Corporate Blogging Guru Debbie Weil endorses The Blog Squad…

"Denise and Patsi, two of my favorite blogging experts, have pegged exactly why your business needs a blog: to get found online. Heck, if you don’t come up on the first page of search results, you don’t exist. Learn how to control your Google results with this fun, fast and super useful 13 week tutorial."

– Debbie Weil is a corporate and CEO blogging consultant and author of The Corporate Blogging Book (Penguin Portfolio 2006).

Ideal Client: Voting Ends at Midnight ET

By Patsi Krakoff in Online Marketing

Voting ends on December 30 for our Ideal Client contest. If you haven’t reviewed our awesome candidates and cast your vote yet, there’s still time. Go to www.bloggingandbeyond.com to let us know who YOU think should be our Ideal Client. Thanks!

P.S. If you’d like to get into our 13-week mentor program Blogging and Beyond, please visit http://www.blogsquadcontest.com/mentor/ …

Wonder Woman: My Secret Life…

By Patsi Krakoff in Fun and Irrelevant Things About Patsi

As Steve Rubel says, hopefully this will be the last blog meme of the year. I am not surprised to score as a Wonder Woman, but probably not for the reasons the test asks about…I will say no more. I’m just going to bask in merriment…

Your results:
You are Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman		95%
Superman		90%
Supergirl		85%
The Flash		80%
Spider-Man		65%
Green Lantern		65%
Batman		60%
Robin		60%
Catwoman		60%
Iron Man		60%
Hulk		55%

You are a beautiful princess
with great strength of character.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Big Merry Holiday

By Patsi Krakoff in Fun and Irrelevant Things About Patsi

All the best to you and your loved ones over this Holiday weekend. Have fun.

Content Sale: End of Year Discounts from Customized Newsletter Articles

By Patsi Krakoff in Buying Content

It’s becoming a habit: Every year I discount articles so that "starving consultants" can stock up on researched articles, and this year is no exception. At 30% off, that’s a good way to get articles you can use in your coach ezines, newsletters, and even blog posts.

I started writing articles like these in 1999. I printed and mailed the newsletters; then I began using the same articles for other consultants for a fee, and a whole newsletter service business was born: I called it Coaching Matters back then.

But enough about that, I was starting to go down Nostaglia Lane…Here’s how to get the discount.

Business coaching articles:

2000 words – normally $69/article, 30% off = $48
1000 words – normally $47/article, 30% off = $33
600 words – normally $35/article, 30% off = $24.50

Personal Development articles:

1000 word articles – normally $47/article, = $33
600 word articles – normmally $35/article, = $24.50

You must use this link to get your discount when you check out:
http://snipurl.com/Article_Sale_30

Sale prices are good through December 31, 2006.

Use the same link to browse the article site for topics.

I intend to write more articles for the personal development categories, and want to open this up to contributing editors. If you think you have articles you want to submit, let me know. Read the submission guidelines first though.

Blogging & Beyond Ideal Clients Found

By Patsi Krakoff in Teleclasses & Seminars

Finally, after a lot of discussion over The Blog Squad phones, Denise and I whittled our 100+ applicants down to five finalists for our Ideal Client contest. Boy was that hard to do! There were so many savvy professionals who applied, who would be great to mentor.

I was amazed at the niches and specialty products these people have established for themselves. And I know that with a little help with Internet marketing, most of the applicants will be successful in the months to come. We are priveleged to be able to work with a small group of them in our Blogging and Beyond mentoring group which will run simulataneously with our Internet radio show starting January 11. (More on that later!)

Want to know who they are and what they do? Please visit BloggingandBeyond.com and vote for your favorite!

Finding and Creating Great Content

By Patsi Krakoff in Writing Better Ezines

Here’s what to do if you struggle to find and create content for your e-newsletters:
Always keep the reader in mind. It helps to clearly define and describe your ideal reader. He/she is probably similar to your ideal client, so that step should be easy.

Determine what your ideal reader wants to know. You can probably estimate this pretty well, and you should also explore this with them. Ask. Ask in your newsletter, on your blog, through surveys, even on your website by creating an “ask” page whereby they can submit questions. You might also provide incentives to readers for submitting questions.

Remember to use your content antennae, scanning for these two criteria:

1. What do readers want to know?
2. What can your business do for them?

Next, you can turn to these resources to become inspired for content:

• Where is the pain?

• What current event ties in with readers’ problems?

• What client situation can you use as a case study?

Writing Better in the Morning: Warm Up Those Fingers, Eyes and Brains

By Patsi Krakoff in Writing Better Ezines, Writing Great Blog Content, Writing Great Copy, Writing Great Press Releases

Do you warm up before writing? Well, you wouldn’t start off your work-out without it, would you? There’s an interesting post over on Michael Stelzner’s Writing White Papers Blog that’s got people commenting on how they start their writing tasks.

Michael asks readers, "Do you immediately start writing with great quality and consistently? Or (if you are like me), do you need a little warm-up before those fingers start producing exceptional content?"

I like to play a few rounds of Majong Master while the coffee is brewing; this gets the hand-eye-fingers going on the keyboard and fires up the pattern recognition parts of the brain.

Then I try to avoid opening up email so as not to use fresh energy and brain power on mundane tasks. Once I have a good start on whatever piece I’m writing that day, then I’ll go see what those pesky clients want…(If you are a client, I’m just kidding! I love hearing from you!)

What are your writing rituals? Do you just dive in, or warm up with exercises first?