Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

The REAL Reason I Love Blogging

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Ezine & Blog Classes

Just got off the phone with Adam Urbanski, the Marketing Mentor guy, and Denise Wakeman. We hosted a 2-hour teleseminar which was a mini "everything you want to know about blogs" class. When people signed up for the class they were given a $48 discount if they asked us a question, meaning they attended the call for only $1. (An interesting marketing strategy of Adam’s)

The questions, over 200 of them, were great, and got me to thinking about some of the deeper reasons I love to blog. It has to do with this funny little side-benefit that I’ve accumulated in the full year since I’ve started posting onto my 3 blogs.

Here it is: Because I try to come up with new and different content to post 3-5 times a week, I find that I am researching and reading more resources on the Web than before. The side-benefit? I’ve become better informed about my targeted niche of coach ezines and newsletters.

I know more this year about my profession thanks to the fact that I am writing frequently for my blog. My clients are better served for it. It makes my work more fun, because I know more and can handle all the little aspects that can make a big difference for the clients I serve.

[Shameless Self Promo:] If you’re still on the fence about starting a blog for your business, here is an opportunity to peek over Adam’s shoulder as we take him through a 6-week blog training teleseminar:

www.boostyourbizwithblogs.com.

Not that I know it all; there is plenty I still have to learn. But blogging keeps me on my toes, and I am a more knowledgeable professional because of it.

A Conversation with Philippe Matthews

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

Philippe Matthews, from The Philippe Mathews Show, will be our guest expert on our weekly Conversations with Experts on Wednesday Sept. 14, at 8:30 p.m. ET

Philippe Matthews The SHOCKphilosophy ™: Manifesting Success, Wealth and Happiness

Philippe Matthews, the host of The Philippe Matthews podCAST & vCAST Show and author of several books and coaching programs on producing quantum achievement, will discuss The SHOCKphilosophy™ and The Shock Wealth System™ — spiritual technologies and transformational methodologies that identify and neutralize deep-seated, unconscious beliefs and behaviors that stifle or sabotage success.

You will learn how to break through the invisible comfort zone that keeps you from reaching the next level of wealth, achievement and success in life regardless of how many books you read and seminars you attend.

To attend, please register at www.conversationswithexperts.com.

Conversations with Experts is sponsored by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff of The Build a Better Blog System.

The Truth About Blogs & Your Business

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

Do you have a burning question about blogs?
Do you have 90 minutes and $1 to spare?

Are you blogging yet for your business? Or, if you are, are you getting the results you want with your blog?

The reason I ask is because I know many of you have heard all the hype about blogging and may be wary to jump in because it is the latest marketing fad.

You’re too intelligent to believe emails that promise you a $10,000 income per month from blogging.

But, make no mistake. Blogs are great for your business… and they can be a big waste of your valuable time if you don’t know how to set one up and use it effectively. Anyone can start a blog, but the fact remains, if it’s not bringing in clients, if it’s not building your business, why bother?

Maybe you don’t know a few key secrets to making your business blog work for you… Here’s your chance to ask.

Next Monday, September 12th, we’ve made special arrangements to get you private 90-minute phone access to the Blog Squad for only $1. On this call we’re going to help Adam Urbanski get started with blogging, and you can peek over his shoulder and learn with him.

* * * Who Is The Blog Squad? * * *

Denise Wakeman and I have teamed up to form The Blog Squad. We have answers to blogging questions you don’t even know to ask yet! We have been blogging for a year, and have 9 blogs between us. We’ve written a how-to guide and work with clients all over the world, helping them set up effective business blogs. We will have the answers you need to get started blogging now.

Can you make it?

All you need to do to get in for $1 is ask your question on how you can make a blog work for your business, and if you’re one of the first 96 people to register, you’re in!

If this sounds like a fair trade, just click the link below…

Click this link, ask your question to get in for $1:

http://www.askadamurbanski.com/aboutblogs/

P.S. When you register you will also get the audio transcript and mp3 audio file for the teleseminar. This is a $1 investment you can’t afford not to make!

A Conversation with Arielle Ford

By Patsi Krakoff in Teleclasses & Seminars

Conversations with Expert

Arielle Ford, www.EverythingYouShouldKnow.com
Wednesday, September 7, 8:30 p.m. ET

Everything You Should Know About Publishing, Publicity, Promotion & Building a Platform

Arielle Ford, whose envied PR strategies catapulted the career of mind-body medicine leader Deepak Chopra and introduced the multi-million dollar Chicken Soup for the Soul series to the world, has helped launch the careers of hundreds of authors, including 11 who made it to No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. Her all-star client list include: Deepak Chopra, Mark Victor Hansen, Jack Canfield, Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, Don Miguel Ruiz, Dean Ornish, Louise Hay, and Gary Zukav.

In this conversation, she reveals what publishers are truly looking for these days when they sign a first-time author, and how newcomers can deliver it.

Arielle Ford has long been devoted to bringing the work of top transformational authors to the public. She is author of seven books including Everything You Should Know About Publishing, Publicity, Promotion & Building a Platform: A Step-by-Step Guide for Authors. (www.EverythingYouShouldKnow.com.)

She is a founding partner of The Spiritual Cinema Circle: www.spiritualcinemacircle.com and the Transformational Book Circle. www.transformationalbookcircle.com

You can register for the Conversation with Arielle Ford here.

Ways of Helping Victims of Katrina

By Patsi Krakoff in In the News...

The Reuters Foundation ‘Alertnet’ just has referred me to a very helpful resource for small business owners and entrepreneurs who want to provide help to hurricane survivors.

It’s a comprehensive web site that not only details what relief organizations are currently engaged in the Gulf coast region, but also describes the scope and scale of their activities.

I’d like to encourage you to go over this list, read about the missions each one of these groups is involved in, select one you feel an affinity towards and make a contribution today.

Recovery from this disaster will be a long, multi-stage process, but there is an immediate need right now to provide food, water, and medical attention to the people who have lost their homes and means of support.

This is the best list I’ve found of groups that are in the region and doing what needs to be done right now.

http://www.interaction.org/katrina

Please copy and paste this message to friends, family and colleagues. Time is of the essence.

This information comes from internet expert Ken McCarthy at: http://www.SystemFundraiser.com, a comprehensive source of fundraising advice for small business owners and entrepreneurs interested in helping hurricane relief efforts.

Blogs Are a Fad…AND They Are Good for Your Business

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs

I just got a Google Alert about a great article published Aug. 24 in USA Today about the fact that blogs may well be a big fad, but you shouldn’t ignore that they are still a great tool for building your business and getting clients.

(Does anyone else get these Alerts a week later, or is it just me?) I see Denise Wakeman has already written about this on Aug. 24 over at the Build a Better Blog site, but this article makes some very good points, as follows:

Steve Strauss in his Ask The Expert column expounds on the benefits of blogs for small business. There are 7 reasons a blog can be good from your business.:

• Build your brand: Your blog is your voice and your words. It allows you to directly convey the image you want people to have of your business without having to go through the cost and diffusion that advertising and marketing require. The values that define your business and brand can, and should, be incorporated into your business blog.

• Improve customer service: You can use your blog to keep customers informed of important events, sales, deadlines, and so forth. You can answer customers’ questions or provide valuable links to related products and services.

• Increase employee awareness: An internal blog can be used to post schedules, make announcements, crack a joke, etc.

• Build your reputation: Blogging is an inexpensive marketing tool that permits you to position yourself as an expert in your field. If your blog provides cutting-edge analysis or information for people in your industry, your reputation grows in direct proportion to that.

• Bump your search engine rankings: Blogs that allow reader responses (and many do) create Web pages with valuable key words. This in turn can increase your search engine rankings.

Let’s see. Is that it? No? Oh, right. There is one more benefit to blogging:

• Make money: You could sell ad space next to your blog. You could tap into affiliate programs and get paid for that.

*****

If you’re still wondering if blogging is for you, give me a call or an email and we can weigh the pros and cons. About the only reason I see to NOT do a blog is if you don’t want any more business.

And, yes, it does require some writing, about 10-20 minutes each time you post once you get the hang of it. But you probably spend that much time writing individual emails that contain good information you should be sharing to a larger audience (like, the World Wide Web, for example!)

Stay tuned for a blogging intensive 6-week teletraining coming up in September. Our ebook The Build a Better Blog System Revised Edition will be included in the tuition and you will be walked hand in hand through Blogdom by the Blog Squad gals, yours truly and Denise Wakeman, along with Adam Urbanski, the Marketing Mentor guy.

Biggest Mistake in Coach Ezines

By Patsi Krakoff in Writing Better Ezines

In this ongoing series of how to write profitable coach newsletters, Milana Leshinsky reinforces what I have often said in reviewing hundreds of coach ezines:

The number one mistake coaches and consultants make in newsletters is omitting a call to action. Here is an excerpt from Milana on the 4th element necessary for a great ezine.

Success Factor #4: Action. This is the biggest most common problem I see in coaching newsletters.

Great topic, great information, plenty of personality and unique voice… …but no call to action! A call to action is a step your readers can take to implement the ideas you shared with them.

Ideally, you want to tie everything your write into a coaching program or a product you sell. For example, going back to the relationship coaching, an action step could be:

– Take a self-assessment on marriage readiness

– Sign- up for a communication for couples
tele-seminar

– Register for an upcoming group coaching
program for couples

– Attend a live event on love and dating

– Purchase a book or an audio program on family
budgeting

– Send a question about your relationship situation

All of these calls to action prompt either a purchase or further interaction with you, getting your reader one step closer to becoming a coaching client.

Without a call to action, your subscribers will read your stuff, thank you for the great information, and file it away.

So make sure that ever issue you send out has a call to action.

Ezine or Blog? Which & Why

By Patsi Krakoff in Promoting Your Ezine +/or Blog

An interesting article comes from Dr. Ralph Wilson who writes an excellent ezine called Web Marketing Today:

Where Blogs and E-zines Overlap

"Could you give me an example of when it is appropriate to implement a corporate blog (with RSS feed) in addition to an opt-in email list?? It seems like these two functions are redundant." — Ryan DeShazer, NOEINK, LLC

Traditionally, e-zines would include well thought out, comprehensive articles, while blogs tended to feature shorter, more focused thoughts. While e-mail newsletters and blogs with RSS feeds do seem somewhat redundant, redundant communication is probably more realistic these days than expecting everyone to prefer and read the same communication channels.

One way to combine these might be to use a blog for frequent ideas and responses to industry news during the month. Some people will follow your blog because it is up-to-date and stimulating. But for those who don’t follow your blog, send out a monthly newsletter made up of the most important or enduring blog entries, carefully edited, with URLs to other important entries in your blog. For news junkies, a blog provides frequent information. For less intense customers with whom you still want to retain top-of-mind status, send your e-mail newsletter.

I agree with Ralph Wilson, especially where it comes to sending out an email notice to your list updating them on blog posts. Most readers don’t yet have a system for getting blog updates through a free service like Bloglet or Feedblitz, and don’t use RSS news aggregators.

So you have to tell them through email to go over to your blog if they want to read about your current topics, current postings.

Success Factor #3: Focused Newsletter Topics

By Patsi Krakoff in Writing Better Ezines

This is the 3rd excerpt from Milana Leshinsky’s article on writing newsletters that get results.

Success Factor #3: Focus. I see many newsletters that consist of bits and
pieces of information. I found that focusing on one topic per issue is most effective.

You can include tips and resources, but there should always be a single focal topic in every newsletter you publish.

If you do have to include several unrelated topics, we recommend using a short table of contents at the top of the ezine so readers can find what they are interested in and get to that quickly.

Success Factor #2: Coach Ezines

By Patsi Krakoff in Writing Better Ezines

This is Milana Leshinsky’s success factor #2 in writing an effective newsletter that gets results. Here’s an excerpt:

Success Factor #2: Relevancy. The core content of your newsletter must be on a topic you normally coach your clients on.

Let’s say you’re a relationship coach. There is a GAZILLION things you can write about!

– Choosing a perfect partner
– Step-family issues
– Conflict resolution
– The in-laws issues
– Going to school while married
– Having a first child
– Budget and sharing finances
– Social life after getting married

…and this is just to scratch the surface!

Plus, when a topic is relevant to what you coach your clients on, you can use real life examples, case studies, illustrations and tips!

Publishing a newsletter that’s highly relevant to your expertise will not only increase and retain your readership, but will get prospects to approach you directly!