Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

Who Are You? How to Write a Better People Page

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

Newt Barrett on Content Marketing Today recently reported what I have long suspected: visitors to company websites spend a lot of time reading the people or team member pages, you know the ones that describe "who we are"? It's common knowledge that one of the most clicked on blog pages is the About page, where authors showcase themselves.

But how much thought and time goes into writing bio pages? In my opinion, not enough. In fact (horrors!), I've seen company websites that don't even bother putting up a people page. No way to get to know the people running the show.

News Flash: People do business with people! Personality counts!

There's a reason new tools for social networking and online interacting are working like gang-busters. We're social animals and enjoy getting to know people, especially before hiring or buying something from a company.

So it's worth it to make your people pages the best you can.

How should you write your About page or your website Team/ People page? I see many professionals use their resumes. ("Dr. Smith has 20 years experience in strategic planning and holds an MBA from Harvard, etc.") But really, this is pretty boring and very old-school.

The Future of Writing on the Web: Patsi’s Predictions

By Patsi Krakoff in Buying Content, Content Marketing, Online Marketing

When I was little and an adult would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said I wanted to play all day. That got laughs. But I showed them, by turning work into play.

My father told me that if I wanted to be a journalist, I'd better get used to eating olive sandwiches because I'd never have any money. I didn't buy into that then and I don't now. I happen to love olives anyway…

I'm a big picture kinda gal. I don't do so well with the detail stuff, which makes me less-than-perfect when it comes to managing the Web tech stuff. But I can see where things are going. Are you in the mood to read Patsi's Predictions?

I can see the future of content marketing:

6 Questions for Better Content Marketing

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

Here are 6 key questions to ask yourself every time you review your online content that markets you and your business:

What problem do you solve?
Who are you writing for?
Why should anyone read this? Does the headline compel people to read more?
How are you different from your competitors?
If your ideal clients were to search for solutions to their problem, what keywords would they use? Are these keywords in the headline, first paragraph and repeated in the body?
What key piece of content do you give away to visitors that showcases your expertise and engages with readers on a really human level?

These review questions apply to all your content: blog posts, emails, e-newsletters, special reports. What else should you ask yourself before you publish content? What am I missing that needs to be considered?

TwitChuck Goes After Twitter Spammers

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

If you're tired of spammers and leery of Twitter attacks and how that may affect you, here's a cool solution, free to try out: TwitChuck. Here's how it works:

TwitBlock – A Twitter Spam Solution

    * TwitChuck scans Twitter validating hundreds of spammers everyday.
    * We block these spammers from your account, meaning they cannot follow or reply to you.
    * We actively scan your friends and followers list, ensuring FriendChuck is as effective as possible.

Here's how this tool rates my Twitter account: PatsiBlogSquad:

YES: we recommend that you follow patsiblogsquad. This user follows the Twitter guidelines, does not spam, and is in general an interesting individual. (Aw, shucks ;-))

Highlights for this user:

Writing Tips: How to Write Everyday, No Matter What

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

Lower your expectations. Write on the fly. Go for quantity, not quality. Write no matter what. Content matters, words matter (especially keywords!), get it onto the screen now. Edit later.

Just a few writing tips from published authors who know what they're talking about. Some of these tips I'm sharing with you today I heard over and over again at the Writer's Spa in Taos last week. Jen Louden is a treasure house of writing wisdom.

Research has shown that setting high standards for yourself actually can lead to depression. Yet we all claim proudly to have high standards…Yet, think about it: are they holding you back?

As the wise Havi Brooks shares with us, "Lower your wishes, raise your possibilities." Brilliant, thanks for this, Havi!

I'm asking you,

2 Key Writing Goals: Set a Deadline & Chunk It Down

By Patsi Krakoff in Uncategorized

You know that feeling of inspirational high when you're motivated? Nothing can stop you from doing your work, cranking out content, writing no matter the noise and distractions?

Yeah right, that happened for me once back in 2002. And it happened again last week at Jen Louden's Writer's Spa. How do you recapture those energized moments of genius?

Yesterday I wanted to continue the writing on my book project and all I can say is that laundry got done. (I hate housework and have a charming housekeeper who does it for me. How does washing out socks seem more interesting than writing?)

It's because the project is too big and the time plentiful right now. Anyone who's a procrastinator knows that running out of time is key to getting the juices flowing. And we've all got a procrastinator lurking in us.

Here's my two-step organizing solution for writing content that really sizzles, even if it's a huge book or a blog post:

How to Write Some Serious Stuff…

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

I'm a writer. I write leadership development articles for executive coaches. Some serious stuff, you know? That's how I make my living. (I actually spend more of my time playing tennis and writing blog posts, but nobody pays me to do either of those things.)

(Justification for having fun: Writing blog posts helps keep me slightly famous, and gets me the odd referral. Tennis keeps my body and mind in shape. I can't write well unless my brain is healthy. So it's all good for keeping me afloat.)

I spent a bunch of money to go to a writer's retreat last week. Jennifer Louden has been gathering writers together for 8-9 years, bundling them off to beautiful Taos, New Mexico, and feeding them magical words to transform them into better writers.

It's the only conference I've been to where one of the goals is to laugh your butts off. We also learned the Dance of Shiva and did yoga every day with the incredible Havi Brooks.

While there, I started my book and wrote 9,000 words of stories, most of which I really like. I had been putting this off for a decade, but I cracked through the starting block thanks to Jen and the group's magical powers.

Mid-Year Content Marketing Check List:
Are You On Track?

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

I just ran across this end-of-year check list for reviewing your business blog posts. It ties in with the 2 posts I wrote last week, about doing a mid-summer review of your content marketing efforts and How Do You Know if Your Content Marketing Is Working.

This is also a great way to review your content marketing efforts at the half-way, mid-summer point. Are you on track with your Content Marketing Goals?

What were your most effective blog posts in terms of numbers of page views?
Which posts generated the most comments?
What email promotional subject lines got the best open rates?
Which email newsletters titles got better open rates?
Which white paper or special report got good download rates?
Where did your most qualified leads come from?
Which teleseminar or webniar topics got the most registrations?
What were the press releases that got the most clicks?

You should also be taking a look at the quality of your writing, especially for your blog. If you want a good review of some sophisticated blog writing concepts, read Sonia Simone's review of the best of Copyblogger for 2008.

Related Posts:

5 Ways to Enrich Your Blog Posts

How Do You Write to Entertain?

Content Marketing Goals: Educate

Other People’s Content: Let Your Fingers Do the Walking

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

Sometimes easy is better than hard. Finding great blog content for your business blog doesn't have to be a struggle. You can make great use of "OPC" – other people's content. I stumbled upon this tactic while trying to find blog content before going away on vacation.

Remember the old Yellow Pages ad, "Let your fingers do the walking?" Here's how to let your fingers do the heavy lifting. Everything is done by email, except of course the actual posting to your blog, but then, your fingers do the work there too.

The idea is to write a series of interview questions (5-7) about your core topic. Send them off by email to the 10 top experts in your field. Ask them for 5 minutes of their time to complete the emailed interview, and let them know you'd like to feature them on your blog.

Then run the interview series on your blog. This provides your blog readers with valuable, relevant content in addition to your own experiences and perspectives. Your readers will deepen their understanding of your topic.

Content Marketing Planning: Joe’s BEST Plan

By Patsi Krakoff in Uncategorized

Getting back to Content Marketing plans and tracking what works for you, here's a great diagram by Joe Pulizzi, Junta42. He posted this from his book Get Content, Get Customers, co-authorered with Newt Barrett, and posted it recently on Posterous.

Joe also wrote a great post on his Junta42 blog that ties in with my other posts this week about tracking your marketing efforts. It's called Building a Marketing Asset: Take the Red Pill. It's worth reading.