Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

How is Playing Tennis Like Blog Writing?

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Article Ideas, Content Marketing, On Writing Better

One of the concerns professionals ask me about when they’re starting a new blog is this: “What if I run out of things to write about?” They’re concerned that they’ll start repeating themselves and become boring or bored.

This is not something to worry about and I’m going to prove it this week. There are 1,001 ways to write the same thing over and over again, and have fun with it!

For example, as I write this post it’s 6 a.m. and I’ve got the French Open on TV. I’ve set out to write another post about… how to write better blog posts. This is something I’ve written a million times. How can I make it different or compelling?

A quick search of previous posts and I’ve found a couple of other blog posts about blog writing and tennis:

5 Blog Writing Lessons from the French Open Tennis Championships
French Open Tennis: More Business Lessons
Writing Better – Lessons from Tennis

Maybe I’ve said it all using tennis metaphors, but I don’t think so. The point I’d like you to take-away is that no matter what your main message is, there are many ways to frame it using different themes and analogies.

What sports or hobbies do you know that ties in with the business blog you’re writing? Use your imagination. Have fun with it. Chances are, your readers will enjoy it also.

Tags : Attracting Clients, blog writing, business blogging, Content Marketing, content marketing with blogs, tennis, Writing for the Web

How to Start Blogging Today:
It’s never too late to be a noob

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Content Marketing

Ever wished you could start over? Take everything you’ve learned and pretend to be a “noob’… a newbie blogger? Start with a fresh blog, and see what happens?

Okay, maybe not trash everything, but start afresh, with your current know-how, with a fresh design, a new focus, and improved clarity.

Sort of like when you move and unpack everything, sort it out, get rid of unnecessary stuff…

You can. There’s a great new blog training program that’s launching today: Start Blogging Today. I’ve been give access to their private membership site. I wanted to find out if this program is something I can recommend to some of my clients who are just starting out with a business blog.

It is. Drumroll, trumpets and confetti, please. I highly recommend Start Blogging Today. If you’re new to online marketing, or just starting a blog for your business, don’t waste time and money. Read More→

Tags : blog marketing, business blog training, Content Marketing, content marketing with blogs, how to start blogging

Traffic Optimization: SEO’s come a long way, baby

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing

What did you think about the Ultimate Traffic Formula workshop yesterday with Michael Martine of Remarkablogger? I was amazed, quite frankly, and I don’t say that because I’m a big fan of his blog or think he’s just a down-to-earth nice guy who’s smart about business blogging.

I was impressed because he made me think. He opened up the windows about what traffic optimization is about.

(P.S. If you missed this workshop, you’ll have a chance to buy the recorded audio file and get access to the 3 ebooks in a short while.)

SEO used to have a bad name in the sense that new web site owners and innocent small businesses could fall prey to guys who promised to put you on page one of Google using hidden keywords, etc. Smart SEO tactics have come a long way.

In fact, the best traffic optimization techniques are common sense marketing tactics. It’s all about marketing and content and social media. It’s linking your message to the people whose problems you solve. It’s getting connected with the maximum people interested in your topic and expertise. Read More→

You Don’t Have a Traffic Problem

By Patsi Krakoff in Content Marketing

Ever since I put up my first website in 1999, I’ve heard people talk about SEO (search engine optimization) and how to drive traffic to a site.

There’s a ton of stuff posted about “traffic secrets,” as if there were some sort of magic formula and once you knew it, you would be making Internet millions.

In preparing for the Ultimate Traffic Formula workshop I’m doing today with Michael Martine of Remarkablogger, I came across a post or an email he wrote where he admits that calling our workshop The Ultimate Traffic Formula probably sounds a bit presumptuous. Read More→

Tags : Attracting Clients, blog marketing, blog traffic, Content Marketing

3 Drivers of Blog Traffic: The ICE Effect

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Teleclasses & Seminars

It doesn’t really matter if you call your online efforts content marketing, online marketing, blog marketing, or a chihuahua. What matters is results.

Are you getting results from the Web? If not, where do you need to improve? The minute someone lands on your blog, do they say, “Hey, a chihuahua I could really love!” Or, “This blog’s for me!”

What’s your challenge when it comes to using the Internet to attract clients, sell them your products or services, and profit in your business? For many of my clients, the problem is how to stand out and how to get found.

You may be unique, but unless the right people are finding you on the Web, your efforts are wasted. There are really two challenges, as I see it:

Branding: you need to clearly and quickly identify your uniqueness in a memorable way
Visibility: you need to be easily found in multiple places on the Web

When good branding is combined with good visibility, you get great findability.

This Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 4 p.m. ET, I’m presenting a workshop on how to get more blog traffic. Read More→

Tags : Attracting Clients, blog marketing, blog traffic, Content Marketing

The Psychology of Content Marketing with Blogs

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

Why do business blogs work so well to attract new clients? For that matter, why is it I’ve declared them to be “The Best Darn Marketing Tool on the Planet!”

When it comes to writing on the Web, a blog is a great way to get found, get leads and get clients.

There are a couple of reasons blogs work. For one thing, there are over a billion people connected to the Internet looking for information.

According to Technorati, there are over 170 million blogs… maybe more, but then a lot of those may be abandoned.

When search engines do a good job of indexing content on the Web, they match up search requests with published content. Since blogs are content-rich and frequently updated, they provide fresh keywords for search engines to index.

Someone looking for a solution to their problem, or answers to their questions, clicks on links that are offered up on a page of search results. Those links could be to web pages, blog posts, videos, or podcasts, it doesn’t matter. Read More→

Tags : Attracting Clients, blog marketing, blog traffic, Content Marketing, online traffic

What’s Your Search Story? Patsi Krakoff’s Google Video

By Patsi Krakoff in Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Fun and Irrelevant Things About Patsi

Wanna have a little ego-strokin’ fun? Here’s a video creation tool provided by Google and YouTube… try it out, I swear it only took 5 minutes to create.

Recently YouTube debuted a video creation tool called Search Stories. The idea is that every search tells a story. It’s super simple to use and outputs a 35 second video – with sound track – that tells your story via Google search results.

It’s not perfect… I have no idea why there’s a photo of someone else and a pic of the forest in there… but then that’s what makes searches interesting.

Here’s mine…

Get More Blog Traffic: the Workshop

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Teleclasses & Seminars

Here’s a quick video clip from the folks at iFlashVideo.com, my favorite video service. And no, it’s not really my voice, I hired a professional with really smooth delivery…;-)

The workshop registrations are open. Attend The Ultimate Traffic Formula live next Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 4 p.m. ET and get your questions answered for your own blog with Michael Martine.

Tags : blog marketing, blog traffic, content marketing with blogs

What Makes You Mad?

By Patsi Krakoff in Pathway to Profits, Patsi's Story

In a previous post about What Drives You, I explored some of the personal reasons behind my energy and drive in my business. This is important for you to do as well. As you work in any business, especially your own, you should know at the deepest levels where your fire is.

Keep asking yourself “why?” and “how come?” you are driven to do what you do. Where is your fire? What makes you angry? There is energy in anger, and when you uncover it, it will keep you motivated.

I’m not talking about the unhealthy kind of anger, the kind where you try to get back at someone for some real or imagined insult.

Look at your anger in terms of a higher purpose. How can you use your anger for a higher good?

Tags : att, Attracting Clients, blog content, blog marketing

Michael Martine’s Best Blog Traffic Tips

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Online Marketing

(News Flash: I hate last minute changes to my schedule, who doesn’t? Especially when one of us (that would be me) gets a date mixed up… The teleseminar workshop on how to get more blog traffic is not this week, but next: Wednesday May 19 at 4 p.m. ET. The very popular Michael Martine @Remarkablogger, will be teaching The Ultimate Traffic Formula then. Hope you’ll join us!)

In the mean time, it’s been an opportunity for me to brush up on all the traffic tips and trends that are currently being used by smart bloggers. Michael generously shares his best blog posts with us here:

Guest post from Michael Martine of Remarkablogger:

I went and collected all my best posts on blog search engine optimzation and traffic analysis and put them together here in a big list for you. I want you to have these handy as a resource you can turn to anytime to boost your knowledge about improving your blog’s search situation.

WordPress SEO – Why Should You Care?
Read More→

Tags : Attracting Clients, blog traffic, SEO, web traffic search traffic