Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

I Don’t Hate Public Speaking Anymore!

By Patsi Krakoff in Coaching/Personal Development, Teleclasses & Seminars

Here’s news: I don’t hate speaking anymore! Sometime earlier this year I wrote a post called "I HATE Public Speaking!" I’ll have to eat my words.

Last night Denise and I delivered the Blog Squad message to 40 women and 5 men at the Westside Women’s Networking group, a part of the L.A. Chamber of Commerce. And I loved it…what happened?

Maybe it was because the topic, 4 Reasons Every Business Owner Should be Blogging, is one we both know so well, it was more like talking about the family pet cats. Since Denise and I now have 9 blogs between us, we know and love our subject, no need for notes.

Maybe it was because there were two of us, and we played off each other. The laptop and LCD projector worked perfectly, no tech worries. And the audience all seemed eager to learn, all independent professionals in need of our information. John Trosko of OrganizingLA fame took pictures, here is one…

Maybe it is because after "a certain age", one just "gets over it!" I don’t worry so much anymore about appearances. (Just want to be sure there’s no spinach on the teeth.) The focus is more on creating value and having fun at the same time!

So maybe The Blog Squad can come to a neighborhood near you sometime soon? Just call or email our booking agents!

Or, be smart and register for our 6-week teleseminar, www.boostyourbizwithblogs.com and learn how to blog the right way!

A Conversation with Jerrold Jenkins

By Patsi Krakoff in Teleclasses & Seminars

Books are Marketing Tools

Conversation with Expert Jerrold Jenkins, The Jenkins Group
Wednesday Sept. 28, 8:30 p.m. ET

Once upon a time books were the primary source for sharing and storing information. Valued for their ability to entertain, educate, inspire and persuade, books were considered timeless references for an ever-changing society. Though times have changed, books continue to hold intrinsic values and much more.

Today, books are a key marketing tool that reaches targeted groups of people with information relevant to their needs, interests, and lifestyles. Leading marketers are turning to books as a unique and enduring medium to deliver messages in a way that communicates value and brand relevance.

In this Conversation, learn how publishing a book can creating branding opportunities, customer loyalty, consumer education and product sales. Learn how book marketing creates publicity and credibility for you.

Conversations with Experts: How to Build Your Business On and Off-line Hosted by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff.

Conversations with Experts is sponsored by Build a Better Blog System: www.BuildaBetterBlogSystem.com

The Blog Squad Appearance in LA

By Patsi Krakoff in Teleclasses & Seminars

If you’re in the Los Angeles area, Denise Wakeman and I (aka The Blog Squad) are speaking to a group of smart women professionals on blogging. Oh, men are welcome to come as well.

4 Reasons Business Owners Should Start Blogging Now!
Presented by The Blog Squad: Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman

The Westside Women’s Network
The Olympic Collection
11301 West Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2005
6 to 8 p.m.
Information and registration:
www.westsidewomensnetwork.org

Blogs are the wave of the future on the Internet. Learn how you can use a blog to build your business with very little expense. Blogs are being used in big, small and micro businesses as a dynamic vehicle for communication between business and customers to build trust, credibility, awareness and attract new clients.

But not every blog gets results. What makes a blog effective for business? Find out 4 reasons why you need to implement this powerful new marketing strategy now, and 5 ways to get started quickly and get the best results.

The Blog Squad
www.fixmyblog.com
www.buildabetterblog.com

Are You Smart at Love?

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs

The Blog Squad is doing a month-long blog makeover at http://smartatlove.typepad.com/annieweblog/. The site is authored by Ann Dennison, an intelligent expert in helping singles find the right relationship.

Ann is "smart at marketing" because she realizes the power of blogging to get more clients. She already has a great web site, and gives away a free ebook to visitors. Stay tuned for how she learns to maximize her blog.

P.S. If you want to get smart, you’ll join Denise Wakeman and I (The Blog Squad) and Adam Urbanski on Oct. 6 for a 6-week teleseminar on how to get results from your blog. Visit www.boostyourbizwithblogs.com for info and registration.

Here’s How You Can Start Blogging the Right Way

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Teleclasses & Seminars

Boost Your Biz with Blogs – 6 Week Teleseminar

Here’s how you can get set up with your own business blog and do it the RIGHT way. Denise and I, along with our colleague Adam Urbanski, are offering a 6 week teleseminar on setting up and optimizing a professional business blog. If you’re one of the first 10 to register, we’ll even throw in a bonus to submit your new blog to the 120+ blog directories and search engines (a $95 value). Here’s the info:

Boost Your Biz with Blogs: For Coaches, Consultants and Other Solo-Professionals
$497***
Led by Adam Urbanski, Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman
Thursdays, October 6 – November 10, 2005
8:30 p.m. ET, 90 minutes

"Build a Successful Blog That Gets More Traffic to Your Website and Turns Lookie-Lous Into Paying Clients…"

You don’t have to be a techno-buff, a marketing genius, or a writer. It’s OK if you don’t have a website, an ezine, or a large list of subscribers. You don’t need to invest much more than a pocket change to get started, and can have your first blog in minutes and then quickly turn it into a traffic and client magnet – without ever again being held hostage by your webmaster!

Having a successful blog can boost your web traffic, build trust with prospects and clients, increase the size of your email list, and make you money online – even if you don’t have your own information products – we’ll show you how in 6 short weeks.

Step by step, you’ll learn how to create an effective blog for your business. Through live teleclasses, video screen casts, audio recordings, and using the Build a Better Blog ebook, you’ll set up a professional business blog that gets results. From proven tips for driving traffic, getting subscribers, organizing your content and how to use your blog as a marketing tool, you’ll learn everything you need to know to make your blog successful.

** $100 discount if you refer 3 colleagues when you register!

Class details and registration: http://www.boostyourbizwithblogs.com

Check BEFORE You Write

By Patsi Krakoff in Writing Better Ezines, Writing Great Copy

Here’s an interesting 10-point checklist to consider BEFORE writing for your ezine, blog, or web pages. It comes from Marketing Profs and is written by Jonathan Kranz for copy writers and marketers, but could also apply to newsletters and blogs.

Before You Write: Your 10-Point Checklist
by Jonathan Kranz
September 20, 2005

1. Gather your proof points. These are all the tangible pieces of physical evidence, such as research statistics, customers satisfied and performance figures that reinforce your promises.

2. Answer, "What do you want readers to do next?" There’s no point in communicating, whether through a Web page or a direct mail piece, if you don’t have a clear idea of what you want prospects to do as a consequence of reading your work. Do you want them to buy something, register for an event, attend a workshop, remember a brand, shop somewhere, order an item, request more information… or something else?

3. Make an offer. Tell customers to do "x" to get "y": That’s an offer.

4. Listen to your customer’s voice.

5. Look for testimonials and endorsements.

6. Maintain brand identity.

7. Focus on one thing.

8. Anticipate objections.

9. Understand your limitations.

10. Set your benchmarks. What are you aiming for? Responses? Sales? More Web visitors? Requests for more information?

In sum: Ready, set… stop. Before you write a single word, make the advanced preparations that make marketing magic possible.

To read the full article, go to MarketingProfs.com.

How Get Known Now

By Patsi Krakoff in E-Books, Getting Read, In the News..., List Building Tips, Promoting Your Ezine +/or Blog

What You Need to Attract National Publicity & Major Publishers – The Inside Scoop
Wednesday, September 21, 2005, 8:30 p.m. ET
Guest: Suzanne Falter-Barns, www.GetKnownNow.com

These days, if you want to book national TV, get quoted in magazines, and make megabucks on major-publisher book deals … or even if simply attract more business … you need platform. That’s media-speak for your position in the marketplace, and how many people know about you. Join best selling author Suzanne Falter-Barns as she takes you on a platform tour of the Web, and explains the inside scoop on what you really need to get known now. (To get the most out of this class, you’ll want to have ready access to the Net during the call.)

You’ll learn

What all branded websites must have
The key to creating a successful brand for yourself
What media and publishers expect to see on your site
A free Web tool that gives you major inside information
Why blogs matter to the media
How to get started building platform right now
To learn more about Suzanne’s work, and to download her free database of 50 Top Media & Publishing Contacts, drop by her site at http://www.getknownnow.com

For nearly twenty years, Suzanne Falter-Barns was a copywriter, marketing consultant and freelance writer in New York. Her articles and essays have appeared in More, Fitness, Self, The New York Times, Prevention and Writer’s Digest. Her consulting clients have included Hearst, Conde Nast, and The New York Times Company. She is also the author of two self help books, including How Much Joy Can You Stand?, a One Spirit Book Club Main Selection featured in more than 100 radio and TV shows. Suzanne’s website, http://www.getknownnow.com, teaches anyone how to build platform effectively and establish themselves as a recognized expert in their field.

Conversations with Experts: How to Build Your Business On and Off-line
Hosted by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff.

Conversations with Experts is sponsored by Build a Better Blog System

Writing Tips for Blogs & Ezines

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Writing Better Ezines

This is a great reminder of how to write good blog posts, and can apply to ezines, from Parias Kelly, a PR blog:

1. Use catchy titles
2. Be unique
3. Make sure to credit your sources
4. Think before you post
5. Stay on topic
6. Link, it’s polite
7. Be conversational in tone
8. Respond to comments
9. When to post
10. Be controversial
11. Blogging is not email
12. Assuming makes an ass out of u and me

It’s worth jumping over to this blog to read the complete article.

Build a Better Blog 2nd Edition Released

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, E-Books

Whew! Writing an ebook is work, but so is revising one! We’re finally finished! Ta-Da!! (Fanfare, horns, and a rousing chorus of Whoopees, please).

When Denise and I finished our how-to book on blogs for professionals in April, we promised our readers life-time updates. Things change so quickly in the blogosphere, that we had to update the ebook after only 5 months.

Here’s what you should do: buy the revised edition of the Build a Better Blog ebook now. Over the next two days, we’ll give you a $10 coupon off.

Here’s what’s new in edition #2 of the Build a Better Blog book:

90% new screenshots
More tips on creating and writing content
More tips on how to make money on your blog
A new and improved way to deliver blog updates to your readers
More design options
Tips about keywords and titles
How to protect your intellectual property
How to avoid 17 mistakes most biz blogs make

Here’s what you get when you order, as far as bonuses:

Access to our private Blog-Revolution blog with tons of resources, Q&A, ongoing updates and tutorials, and 5 hours of audio training. (Value – $97)
6 audio programs: Interviews with Blogging Experts (Value – $30)
A valuable ebook explaining RSS feeds and how they can work for you (value – $25)
Coupon for a 90 day free trial on Typepad.com (value – up to $45)
Lifetime updates. (Value – priceless!)

Remember to use this link right here, to get the $10 coupon off, only good for the next two days.

If you’re on the fence about starting a blog, don’t worry about all the hype. Blogs are a fad, but a good fad. They aren’t going to go away. They are just too darned easy to use, inexpensive, and blogs bring results for your business.

Don’t waste your time setting up a free blog, because it will look just like everyone else’s. Do it right, the professional way, and follow our steps. We show you how to set it up right, AND, how to optimize it to drive business your way.

That’s the whole point, isn’t it? Blogging for business.

P.S. If you’ve bought the book, and still need help in optimizing your blog for business, you might want to participate in our 6-week intensive blog training teleseminar with Marketing Mentor Adam Urbanski. You can peek over his shoulder as we teach him how to blog and use a blog to get clients.

Frequently Asked Questions About Blogs

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs

Over 200 questions about blogs were submitted by professionals who are curious about this tool for growing your business online. In the next few days, I’ll share them with you, along with my answers.

Denise Wakeman and I were interviewed by Marketing Mentor Adam Urbanski last night, and we start a 6-week intensive blog training teleseminar with Adam on Sept. 22. We’re going to walk him through the steps for setting up his blog and participants in the program will peek over his shoulder and see video screen shots. This is a great way to learn as you go through this program.

One of the biggest fears of professionals about blogs is not having enough time to write for it. This makes sense. There are hundreds of blogs started each day, and then abandonned. Here’s the deal:

Don’t start a blog if you don’t like writing or communicating with prospects and clients. When I say ‘writing’, I mean the sort of writing you do when you respond to an email.

Blog postings are short and to the point. There are three things you want to do each time you post a new article:

Share your expertise
Show people who you are, be personable, use the pronoun "I"
Ask them a question, stimulate their thinking, ask for feedback, a call for action (create interaction and response from readers so they can become a community)

Do start a blog if you are an expert in your field and you want to create trust and credibility with readers, get them to like you, and buy your services and informational or other products.

Want to know how you can set up and then optimize a blog to grow your professional services business? I thought you’d never ask! Go here: www.boostyourbizwithblogs.com.