Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

Blog Directory Submission Service

Are you just getting started with promoting your blog? In order to start coming up in searches, you’ll need to register your blog with the directories. Don’t waste your time doing this yourself.

“Thank you for offering your Blog Directory Submission Service and following through with such professional care. I am very happy with the results. The time you saved me was worth every penny. Thanks!” ~ Dr. Annette Colby, RD

I have negotiated a really amazing price to offer you for submitting your blog to over 200 blog directories.

This will be done manually to assure the appropriate categories are selected and information is posted correctly. Blog submission to directories can take 10-12 hours depending on how web savvy and fast you are.

What’s the cost for this? Only $125 per blog. That’s a really good price. I’m using the VA I use for my own site, blog and article submissions. I can assure you that it is well worth the investment to have someone else do this — and I’ve paid more than that to get it done.

Here’s what you’ll need to provide with your payment:

Name of each blog/RSS feed (title) you’re submitting
URL of the blog and URL of the RSS feed
Blog URL:
RSS Feed:
Description (25 words)
Primary Keywords for your blog’s niche or subject
Possible categories (check all that apply)

__ Art and Culture
__ Business
__ Career
__ Marketing
__ Lifestyle
__ Health
__ Food
__ Personal
__ Technology
__ Travel

6. Author name and email address to receive confirmation messages

(You will also receive this info above in your confirmation email once your payment is made.)

If you are submitting more than one blog, please change the quantity in the payment form. If your time is valuable, this will save you over 10 hours and jump start the traffic to your blog. This is a great deal that I don’t think you’ll find anywhere else.

6 Deadly Blog Branding Mistakes to Avoid

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

Many professionals and entrepreneurs are brandless or under-branded. And so are their blogs.

They don't stand out from their competition, and on the Web, that's a disaster. As a result, the effort, time, energy and money spent marketing is twice as long and hard.

You've got to find a memorable brand that says in a blink who you are and what you do. And you've got to use that brand everywhere on the web, especially on a blog, on Twitter, Facebook, and other sites. (Photo credit: Shutterstock – now there's a great brand name!)

With a good brand and powerful Internet tools like a business blog, you get big results. Your name and your business stay top of mind when someone is ready to hire or buy.

Finding a great name is one of the hardest things to do. In my opinion, the best way is to brainstorm with a colleague or friend. You may have your nose too close to the blackboard and not see a great branding name.

The next hardest thing is to find an available domain name.

18 Lessons I Learned from Blogging

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

Every once in a while I think about scrapping this blog and starting over. There's way too much good content to do that, but I'd like it to be more organized and easily accessible to you.

For example, I have way too many categories of stuff I don't write about much anymore, and a few new ones I really should start.

There's no category for Twitter and the other networking sites. But I hate to create another category because the list is way too long. Too many choices for readers is confusing. I may have to do that anyway, instead of lumping everything under Content Marketing.

I read a great post by Adam Singer over on the Future Buzz Blog: 50 lessons for starting a blog. Here's a few key things I've adapted for my own lessons I've learned from my five years of blogging. Maybe they will help you if you're starting a blog, or maybe they will trigger other tips that you can share here…

4 Reasons You Should Blog for Business

By Patsi Krakoff in Uncategorized

Finally, Technorati, the largest blog directory in the world, is getting more reliable data about professional blogging. When they release their State of the Blogosphere report each year, there's usually plenty of interesting data on who's blogging and why, but since 70% of blogs are hobby blogs, there's been little data on people using blogs for professional reasons.

This year they engaged a research company to survey 2,900 bloggers and included professionals writing about their industries (not to be confused with people making money from blogs ads, another type of problogger).

Here are the benefits of blogging for your business, that others are reporting:

71% have greater visibility in their industry
63% said clients purchased products and services
56% stated their company was now regarded as a thought leader
40% have been asked to speak at conferences

These stats support many of the reasons your small business should have a blog. A well crafted business blog is the number one key to getting found online. If you can't get found on the Web, you don't look good, and you will miss leads when prospects do online research.

Branding on Twitter, etc: What You Need to Think About Before You Tweet

By Patsi Krakoff in Content Marketing, Online Marketing

I recently had a custom Twitter background designed for my Twitter profile, @PatsiBlogSquad. and you can check it out here and tell me what you think.

A Twitter background is important in order for visitors to get a quick grasp of what you do. In the blink of an eye (or two), you want people to know what you do, and how they can find your blog and website.

So I asked the talented Kay McFarlane to tell us more about branding on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Branding Yourself on Social Media Networks

Guest Post by Kay McFarlane www.HerAffiliateManager.com

Hopefully, you are spending time utilizing Social Media as a way to network and build your online contacts. Every day more and more followers are appearing on your Twitter follower list and you invite them to read your blog, follow you on Facebook. Maybe even on Plurk or Ning.

The question I have for you is: Are you successfully BRANDING your service or self on these networks?

Your brand is what connects you across all of these networks and without some consistency you are likely losing out on some great brand marketing opportunities.

So here are some tips for successfully branding yourself across Social Media Networks.

Choose ONE consistent user or profile name that makes sense to your goals. (Google ‘Hermedia’ and you will see the value in this one tip)
Choose ONE profile photo and update it no more than every year
Have a logo and by-line and keep it consistent
Take the time to create a thoughtful profile
Create custom backgrounds using your BRAND

Start an excel chart to track all of your Social Media accounts and make sure you that you brand each profile by taking some time to upload your photo, custom skin (or background), and rss feeds for your blog and twitter.

If launching your brand across Social Media seems a bit daunting then consider hiring a VA or New Media PR service to help.

(Kay McFarlane is the owner of Her Media Marketing and Design and www.HerAffiliateManager.com)

The Smart Way to Get Started on Twitter:
Twitter for Business Coaches

By Patsi Krakoff in Content Marketing, Online Marketing

Here's a good primer on how to use Twitter: Twitter for Business Coaches. It's been crafted by expert coach Suzi Pomerantz.

You don't have to be a coach in order to benefit from this book. Any professional can get started with Twitter for Business Coaches. Forget all the hype and hoopla. Don’t waste time wading through the tons of information online about Twitter.

Simplify your life, get the information you need with Twitter for Business Coaches. It tells you what to do, why you should do it, and provides real proof why you should care.

This is a primer that will give you tips in an easy to use format. You can read about it here and register to download it. (Disclosure: I’m not an affiliate and I don’t get a commission, but I think there’s important information in it if you want to be one of the executive coaches on the cutting edge of what’s new in online marketing.)

Once you’ve set up your Twitter account and followed me, @PatsiBlogSquad, send me a Tweet! Don’t forget to use a service like TweetDeck or SocialOomph so you can use it easily, and also, automatically feed your blogs posts into your Twitter account using TwitterFeed.com.

Smart Video Marketing from iFlashVideo

By Patsi Krakoff in Content Marketing, Online Marketing

I just came across a professional video site and I'm debating whether I should use their services or not.

I want to put a professional video presentation on my site ContentforCoaches and submit it to YouTube (for additional traffic) – this has been high on my list for a while now.

Problem is… I just haven't had time to put together something that looks good enough, you know, professional. I have no problem with using a Flip video for casual, amateur clips, but for selling professional services, I want something polished.

Well, check out what I just found:

iFlashVideo is a company I "met" on Twitter, that is, I met Jason Anderson (@iFlashVideo). (Who says people don't do business on Twitter? Jason sure does!)

At his suggestion, I checked their site out, and gave them a try. It was inexpensive to get a professionally crafted video. Tell me what you think…

I think this may be the answer I've been looking for. Look at how professional this video is. Then take a look at the pricing over on their site, iFlashVideo.

You'll be shocked at how inexpensively you can have your own custom video created for you.

Blog Action Day

By Patsi Krakoff in Uncategorized

Click Blog Action Day October 15, to see how you can help with this very important global issue…

“Double Your Blog Frequency” Week

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

I hereby declare this to be "Double Your Blogging Frequency Week."

Mark it on your calendars.

For those of you who know you're not blogging enough to get good marketing results, I'm throwing out the gauntlet.

Will you take up my challenge to you? (Photo credit: Shutterstock)

All you have to do is this:

Publish a post to your blog, today, right now.
Then immediately start another post and save it as a draft.
You have 24 hours to finish it and publish it.
But once you do, start another draft.
Repeat for 7 days, until you "get it"
Keep on keeping on…

It's not hard. It's not even a trick. Even if your schedule interferes with the 24 hour accomplishment, it's okay.

The reason this works, is psychological, having to do with our brains are wired. The brain doesn't like unfinished business. Even if you're forgetful like me, you'll have a signal going off inside your head that encourages you to get back to finish what you started.

I am a psychologist, by training, and I read a lot of books about the brain. So trust me, this works on both a theoretical level and in real life.

I'm curious to find out what you experience once you try this for a week or so. Please hit the comment button and tell me, and don't worry, I'm going to remind you next week.

(I already have a blog post saved as a draft to remind you!)

Question: Do you have an opinion about whether or not a daily blogging habit should include the weekends, or not?

How to Get More Buyers for Your Stuff

By Patsi Krakoff in Uncategorized

Want to save $100 and learn important work-saving tips to making money online? Forget all the big ticket programs that go for $1000s and more, here's a way to learn quickly, easily, and save money.

I think you should register now because after Friday, October 16, the More Buyer's Mastermind program will cost $197 instead of $97.

12 of the Web's hottest rising stars are sharing their secrets for fast growth in the 2009 More Buyers Mastermind program, sponsored by Dave Navarro, The Launch Coach.

Here are 12 people I've learned a lot from when it comes to making money online and marketing my business. I've been promoting this program because I feel strongly that all 12 of them have important tips to help you grow your own businesses.

Here's the line up:

Chris Garrett – How to Go From Zero to Authority in Your Niche
Mark Silver – How To Sell Big Without Selling Out
Pam Slim – How To Build Your Business When You Have A Day Job
Laura Roeder – How To Get In The Social Media Fast Lane
Michael Martine – How To Tightly Focus Your Blog And Bring In More Customers
Charlie Gilkey – How To Erase The Stress Of Running Your Business
Naomi Dunford – Emergency Marketing: How To Get Big In A Hurry
Christine O’Kelly – How To Get Paid What You’re Worth (And Not A Penny Less)
Clay Collins – How To Discover Instantly Profitable Markets
Sonia Simone – How To Get Your Audience To Fall In Love With You
Chris Gullebeau – How to Raise Up A Small Army Of Loyal Fans
Brian Clark – How To Build A Six-Figure Information Product Platform

That's quite a list of smart people. Okay, click over to More Buyers Mastermind to find out more about it, register and I hope you enjoy the program, it's coming with audio, transcripts, and workbooks to help you learn. Good stuff.