Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

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“Writing optimized, compelling, keyword-rich content on the Internet is the quickest, least expensive, easiest way to grow sales and build your business…”

Are you a smart professional using the Web to get known, get found, get clients?

Have you mastered the tools to attract, sell and profit online?

If you’re having trouble keeping up with Internet marketing, and not getting the results you want, you aren’t alone.

Unless you capture readers’ attention quickly with what they want, they’re gone in a blink… Click and bye-bye!

You’ve got to stay ahead of the curve AND know what’s right for your specific audience.

What’s a busy professional to do? You’re an expert in your field, NOT an Internet marketer! (And with some of the sleezy sales pitches they sling around, who wants to be?)

You need results. I’ve been making a good living online since 1999 and while that’s not long, in Internet years, it’s long enough to know what works and what’s a waste of time.

Join my Private List and short cut the time it takes you to master Web and content marketing to grow your business quickly.

Every time I introduce a new product, I’ll announce it to my Private List first. You get a chance to review and give feedback, but only if you wish. When It’s time to launch, you get an opportunity to participate and earn commissions. AND, you’ll get 50-75% off the public prices!

It’s win-win for both of us. I only want feedback from smart people motivated and ambitious enough to know a good deal when it comes a-knockin’.

I’ll be adding a bonus report for joining the list shortly so stay tuned.

You’ll get this bonus report when you sign up:

20 Mistakes Smart Professionals Makes with their Blogs

And don’t worry, your personal information is safe. You’ll only receive valuable content, not sales spam. I promise you that.

Branding Success Steps

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

On the heels of my recent branding posts, Joe Pulizzi of Junta42 Blog shares more secrets to finding a brand that can sky-rocket all of your marketing efforts. He includes tips from Dan Schawbel's Personal Branding Magazine, an excellent resource on this topic. Go read this post here, now. You'll be glad you did.

Personal Branding Success in 15 Steps

Recent posts: 10 Handy Tips for Finding a Clever Blog Brand
Branding Your Blog: Tips and Tag Lines
12 More Branding Tips + One Action Plan

Thanks for Joining Patsi’s Private List: Here’s What’s Coming

By Patsi Krakoff in Uncategorized

Thanks for signing up for Patsi’s Private List.

My private list is for smart professionals who don’t want the usual junk marketing messages, and who want to be first to know when I release a new product.

Once a month I’ll be hosting a teleseminar and interviewing interesting peeps about content marketing and writing on the web. You get to attend for either free or half off.

Oh yes, you’ll get 50-75% discounts on ebooks too. This is a win-win deal. I want people who are ambitious and smart. I can get your feedback and opinions, since you’ll get to see new stuff first. Then I can improve, and you can get rock bottom prices.

Thanks for your confidence.

Here’s a special report as a bonus for signing up:

Download 20MistakesSmartProfessionalsMakewithTheirBlogs

Here’s what’s coming next:

Content Marketing for Online Profits: an ebook you’ll get for free.

Content Marketing for Smart Professionals: A totally new information package you’ll get for 75% off the full price, including:

How-to articles
Worksheets
Checklists
Audio & video files

I’m still creating it, so I can’t give it to you yet. I’ll be releasing it soon.

In the meantime, let me know what you’d like to learn on my next teleseminar, leave a comment here or send me an email.

How to Craft an ‘About’ Page:
5 Keys to Telling Your Story

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

When's the last time you updated your bio on your blog's About page? Or your About Us page on your website? Did you know that this is one of the most visited pages? People want to know who's behind a business. Personalities count.

Yet many blogs and sites have a standard resume written in the third person, boring as all get-out. Certainly client lists are important. But so are you. This page is an important content marketing opportunity. Tell your story, your real story. If you are the sole author of your blog, write it in the first person.

Every story has some basic elements to it that make it really compelling. Personally, I think everyone has a good story to tell about themselves, only most don’t know how to tell it well so that readers are enchanted and moved.

When I work with clients to improve their blog, I don’t often see them telling their story well, if at all.

Many bloggers copy and paste their bio or resume onto their About page, written in the 3rd person: “John Smith is a consultant with 20 years experience working with Fortune 500 companies on their strategic development plans.”

10+ Questions to Create Cornerstone Content

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Writing Great Blog Content

I got a couple of emails from people in Europe this week, other Americans living abroad like I am. You never know what detail of your life will resonate so that people reach out.

Both of the emails were similar. First, they thanked me for writing blog posts that were so helpful. One said she was trying to find a brand name so my posts this week seemed to be written for her. (That really makes my day!)

Both these people struggle with similar issues: they follow a lot of Internet marketers and they feel overwhelmed by all there is to do to have a strong online visibility.

Here's my advice to both: Narrow it down to three things you can do this week. Above all, actively participate on two sites: your own business blog and Twitter.

The third thing you should be working on are cornerstone content pieces. You can publish one or two key pieces on your blog, and they should be featured on stand-alone pages. This is the first thing you want visitors to your blog to read.

Post on your blog (where you communicate your expertise)
Tweet something, ask a question on Twitter (where you connect with others)
Create cornerstone content (where you build your business and get readers to take action)

My 8 1/2 Tips for FindingBestDomainNames.com

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

Here are some of my best tips for finding a domain name. I'm not the only one who gets crazy on the GoDaddy.com site. They are a good domain name registration service, but they offer so much on their site that you can spend hours and get lost.

Since I've been writing all week about finding clever brand names for your blog, your products and services, let's take the process one step further: how do you register a domain name? Well, the registration part is easy, pay your money and there you go!

But it's not easy because the very name you spent hours brainstorming to find has probably long been taken! My advice is don't spend so much time deciding on a name until you go research to find out what's available.

Tip #1: Go for dot com. (Unless you're a non-profit, then go for dot org.) People don't remember to type in dot biz or any other variation. If someone else has your great name with dot com, you are sending people to them and you may never see them again. Go for dot com even if you have to abandon the great name for another version.

12 More Blog Branding Tips + Action Plan

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

This week I've been giving you some tips on how to find a good name for your blog, because until you've found that, your account profiles on various sites won't be as laser focused and memorable. I gave you 10 tips for brainstorming creative brand names, and then some tips for tag lines. Here are 13 more branding ideas:

Check your client testimonials and find common words or themes – this will reveal how your clients "see" you. Focus on benefit statements. What words keep coming up?
Once you identify the words your clients are repeatedly using to 'thank you' or 'solve their problems,' check out each word at www.visualthesaurus.com for another way of saying the same thing. Use these "hot client" words and sentiments in building your sales copy, websites and blogs to reinforce your brand.
Identify all the activities you enjoy doing outside your business. How does this create an identity for you? How can this help you discover a clever and unique brand name?

Branding Your Blog: Tips and Tag Lines

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

Branding is more than finding a clever name for your blog. It starts
there, but then you must extend the brand with a tag line, logo design,
colors, your photo and bio, and create a consistent profile everywhere
on the Net.

Equally important is to harmonize your business name
with your blog name. For example, when I first started this blog, my
business was called Customized Newsletter Services. This blog was my
communications center for everything about e-newsletters for coaches,
so I called it CoachEzines.com. When things evolved, this blog evolved
into blog writing for marketing on the internet for small businesses,
so I changed the name to Writing on the Web.

Ah, you see
why there are days when I wish I could start over. I didn't think
things through 4-5 years out into the future. Don't make these branding
mistakes like I did.

10 Handy Tips for Finding a Clever Brand for Your Blog

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

It's said you have less than 30 seconds to capture a person's attention when they ask what you do for a living. It may be even less.

Having a great brand for your blog is even more important: it will make all of your marketing pay off. People will easily remember the name and your blog will stand out from your competitors. But finding a great brand isn’t easy. Sometimes it appears out of the blue in a flash of brilliance. (Photo credit: Shutterstock)

But most of the time, it takes careful thought and excavation to find what works for you. Your goal is to find a branding name and identity so that readers can remember your blog, immediately know what problems you solve, and feel confident you have something to offer them.