Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

Smart Professionals with Dumb Blogs

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

Help me please. If I read one more organizational change blog full of corporate speak and business jargon, I’m going to fall off my chair and hit my head on the desk on the way down. At least that will wake me up.

Listen, I know some of these blog authors are smart. They’ve got Ph.D.s. I know they can write, after all, they’ve written dissertations. Maybe like those people who work for government agencies, the problem is “they know too much.”

I also happen to know from having a few personal conversations with them, they have personalities and actually come across as bright, interesting, and down to earth people.

What happens when they go blogging? They pack too much into a sentence. Here are several blogging blunders smart people make with their blog writing. Read More→

Tags : blog writing, business, business blogging, Content Marketing

Pivotal Moments in Blogging

By Patsi Krakoff in Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Pathway to Profits, Patsi's Story

Why are you blogging? How is it you discovered blogs, and at what point did you make a decision to start your own?

Do you remember the thrill of publishing your first blog on the Web, where you could publish your own thoughts without having to go through any tech person or getting your content accepted by someone else?

I’ll never forget the day, because it was September 4, 2004, my birthday. I’d injured my shoulder and couldn’t play tennis, which meant I was home, bored, and looking for something to do on the computer.

I opened an email from Debbie Weil. She said, “Every business should have a blog, and any idiot can go over to Typepad.com and start one in under an hour.” Read More→

Tags : business blogs, Content Marketing, Online Marketing

8 Tips for Content Marketing on Your Blog,
One Conversation at a Time

By Patsi Krakoff in Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Writing Great Blog Content

If a blog writing is “like having a conversation,” then how should I write it? How can I possibly have a conversation when I don’t know who’s reading it? And…if it’s one-way, then it’s really not a conversation, but a monologue…

Okay, let’s not get so literal here that you talk yourself into writer’s block. All I’m saying is when writing on a business blog, forget what they taught you in school about writing an essay or an article or a report.

My point is this: on your blog, write more like you talk, and write sentences like you would use in a conversation with a favorite client.

You can even make up a typical response like I did in the opening paragraph. Invent a conversation.

Direct marketers and copywriters are expert at doing this. They are the ones making a fortune writing sales letters that persuade people to pick up the phone or click the buy button with their credit cards in hand. Read More→

Tags : blog writing, Content Marketing, writing on the web

Your Blog, Your Conversations

By Patsi Krakoff in Content Marketing

Let me take the liberty of quoting directly from a book I’m reading:

“I am not neutral. I believe that a culture – whether global, national, corporate, or familial – is shaped by our daily practices and the the most powerful practice of all is conversation. Our careers, our companies, our personal relationships, and our very lives succeed or fail, gradually then suddenly – one conversation at a time.

“The conversation is the relationship, and – while no single conversation is guaranteed to change the trajectory of a career, a company, a relationship, or a life – any single conversation can.” ~ Susan Scott, author Fierce Leadership

This book is written for people working in companies, but it has many applications appropriate for small businesses, including independent professionals and entrepreneurs.

To go a step further, it can apply to online content marketing. It applies to what you write on a business blog. It’s a different kind of conversation on a blog since it’s in public and it’s written to an anonymous person or groups of people with a common interest. But it’s a conversation all the same.

People read what you have to say, and if it resonates with them, they will accord you trust points. If not, it’s click and bye-bye.

How are the quality of your conversations on your blog? Your web pages? Oh, maybe you’ve been delivering information online much like the TV announcers do during commercials? That’s not conversation, and that’s not content marketing.

Your thoughts?

Readers Want Traffic-Building Tips

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

I’ve been getting some really interesting comments from people who are taking my 10-question survey on their Web marketing needs.

Content Marketing Needs Survey

If you haven’t taken this survey yet, please do so now. I need to know what your challenges are because I’m planning to offer some good workshops soon, and want to be sure you get what you need.

So far, there’s a large percentage of people who want a class in traffic-building and search tactics. Running a close second, however, is a class on writing promotional copy. So I will more than likely offer both these courses.

If you haven’t run a survey lately, I urge you to do so. It’s fascinating to read what people are challenged by, as well as get to know their occupations. It will take me some time to go through and tally up the answers, but what great blog fodder…

Feedburner Gone Crazy – or Is It Me?

By Patsi Krakoff in Content Marketing

I haven’t done a tech boo-boo in a long time, but I scored big this week when I changed my Feedburner account and all of my email subscribers disappeared. In an attempt to “seamlessly” transfer the subscribers from my Typepad blog to this new WordPress platform, I goofed.

The two people I depend upon for tech help are sick this week. I woke up at 4 a.m. trying to figure out a solution, but that’s not going to happen. I need help on this issue. If any body knows of how I can get help, let me know. There doesn’t seem to be anyway to get help on Google’s Feedburner site except through frequently asked questions.

Meanwhile, if you want to get email updates, you’ll have to re-subscribe to this blog using the form over on the right. That one does work. (And, if you can help on this issue, leave me a comment with your email and I’ll contact you.)

Finding What You’re Good At:
What Makes You Special?

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Online Marketing

What part of your business doesn’t seem like work to you at all? That’s the stuff you’re good at, isn’t it? That could very well be what makes you special and unique in your business.

In your marketing, you need to have a clearly defined USP, or unique selling proposition. This is a short statement of what you do and what makes you different, special, better than the competition.

In the photo example, if you make spaghetti and you’re a Mexican Chiuahua, you’ve probably got the best Italo-Mexican restaurant in town. There’s no question you’re different from the others, but if you don’t spell it out, it may go unnoticed.

Your statement should roll off your tongue whenever someone asks what you do, or what your company does. It’s equally important to have it clear in your mind each and every time you write content designed to market your business. Especially in your blog posts.

If you’re not frequently reminding your readers how and why you’re good at what you do, you’re missing a chance to influence them to buy from you or hire you. What may seem obvious to the chihuahua who makes great Italian spaghetti, may not be so obvious to visitors… let me elaborate.

Content Marketing for Smart Professionals:
What Do You Need?

By Patsi Krakoff in Content Marketing

I’d love to get your input and ideas. Your opinion matters. Can you please click here to take this short, 10-question survey?

What do you need to learn about Content Marketing?

It will only take 3-4 minutes of your time. I’m trying to find out more about what you need.

The Nuances of Writing About Yourself on the Web:
10 Content Marketing Tips

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, On Writing Better

What’s the most difficult thing about marketing your services to people on the Web? If you’re someone who sells your expertise, like a doctor, lawyer, an executive coach, any kind of consultant, it’s probably hard for you to toot your own horn.

Unless you’re a raving narcissist, you probably struggle to publish a blog where your goal is to look like the smartest in your niche. And yet you must, if you want to get found, get known and get clients.

You can write about what you’re an expert in, share your knowledge, and talk about your work with the people you’re helping. But even if you’re the world’s number 1 best at what you do, this challenge is one of the most difficult:

How do you build trust with readers who land on your blog or website in 25 seconds?

(Because that may be all you have to impress them. Studies show that people usually spend 25-35 seconds on a web page.)

One of my clients is a successful coach. She helps high-achieving executives become better at what they do. And she’d love for other people to know how good she is at doing what she does, because she’d love to help more people.

She hasn’t started her blog yet, because she’s not clear how she would convey her message. She knows she’s good at what she does, but doesn’t want to come across as a “know-it-all,” when it comes to coaching people to make lasting improvements in their lives.

Here are 10 tips professionals in any field can use to write about themselves on the Web and get marketing results. Read More→

Tags : blog writing, Content Marketing, writing on the web