Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

E-Newsletters vs Blogs: The View of Dr. Ralph F. Wilson Web Marketing Today Expert

I get emails from professionals new to Internet marketing, "Which is better, an ezine or a blog?"

Please read this article from Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, a long time email marketing expert who has over 32,000 subscribers to his successful e-newsletter Web Marketing Today. Wilson has decided to start a blog, and gives his reasons:

Of course, "Which is best?" begs the real question that you must ask yourself, dear friend: Are you communicating with your customers by any regular means?

So which is better, an e-mail newsletter or a blog? Each has its place. For my carefully written and (hopefully) enduring articles and stories, an e-mail newsletter and website archives will be my medium of choice. For short, transient comments on books, articles, and current events, blogging is best.

You are right to stop and consider both of these marketing tools carefully before jumping in. Of course, if you're like me, you may just want to jump in and learn as you go, making mistakes along the way…

As long as you share your stories with your newsletter subscribers and blog readers you can't go wrong and you'll be leaving a trail of keywords all over the net like spilled milk and cookie crumbs…;-)

Dr. Ralph F. Wilson is one of the pioneers of Internet marketing, founding the Web Marketing Today newsletter in 1995 at the beginning of the commercial Internet. He is the author of hundreds of articles and more than a dozen books on Internet marketing and e-commerce.

Ajijic, Mexico on a Sunday

By Patsi Krakoff in Uncategorized

The Big Mexican Tweet-Up at Dona’s Donut Shop…
6 Reasons to Use Twitter

By Patsi Krakoff in Content Marketing, Online Marketing

I'm not a real big user of Twitter and the other popular social networking sites online. Sure, I believe in their value, no doubt about it. I'm just not big on socializing with strangers, period.

But I may be changing my mind. Here are my 6 reasons to set up a profile and use Twitter a couple times a day:

The movers and shakers are there. I don't know about you, but I like to know what the trend setters are up to. I like to know what's going on so I don't get taken by surprise when a major shift happens.
The buzz is there. Here's up-to-minute stuff, really up-to-minute. If pirates are shot and a captain rescued, I learn about it first from the Twitter buzz.
I track keywords like "content marketing" on Twitter and I can read blogs I've never heard of before that talk about this topic.
Some of my favorite clients use Twitter and I can learn what they're doing. If I see an opportunity to help them, I jump in.
My competitors are also using Twitter, so I can keep tabs. I can even look for opportunities to jump in and help them, you know, turn them into partners instead of rivals ;-)!
My blog posts are fed into Twitter, and new readers come from there to find my posts. Twitter is a good way to drive traffic to your blog, and Twitter readers tend to comment more.

But here's the most fun thing that happened this week on Twitter: I ran across two people who were tweeting how beautiful Lake Chapala looked on Easter Sunday here in my village in Ajijic, Mexico. We're having a Tweet-Up today at the local donut shop!

My village is only 15,000 people or so, and only maybe 20% Gringo, so what are the chances of encountering a Tweet that comes from a neighbor across the street from me? Thomas Hellyer is a real estate professional who lives with his family just two doors down from me.

"Mejico Joe" lives only a couple of blocks away. It was through his posting of a photo view of Lake Chapala from his roof top that I found him on Twitter, which led to finding Thomas. I don't even have keyword alerts set up for local words like Ajijic, Mexico, or Lake Chapala but maybe I should…

If you're not yet using Twitter, or haven't understood it's value, give it a try. Check out Patsi's on Twitter and follow me. I'll follow you back.

If you've had any similar stories from Twitter, please share, I want to hear from you.

P.S. Here's my little photo animation with music of a recent walk around Ajijic and back home…

Content Marketing Review Winner: Dan Seidman, Sales Autopsy

By Patsi Krakoff in Content Marketing

Dan Seidman of Sales Autopsy is our lucky winner of a Content Marketing Review. I'm selecting one winner from random entries every Friday (you can sign up here: Content Marketing Review).

I don't think this review is going to be difficult since Dan is doing so many things right.

He has a problem/soluion focused website with plenty of content pages
He gives readers a choice: text, audio, video
He has articles
He has a blog
He has a newsletter
To top it off he has a store with unique products that support his work and markets his services (a best-selling book, CDs, MP3, a sales comic book, and (I love this) a video game about sales reps!

Congratulations and bravo, Dan! I'm looking forward to providing you with a content marketing review on what's great, what's good, and …what's missing. My own little content autopsy…

Content Marketing: How to Win a Free Review

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

What challenges do you face when it comes to writing great content that markets your business? Do you feel as if you've got the whole "content marketing thing" under your belt?

Or are you like many professionals, scratching your head every time a new buzz word like this gets started?

How do you know if you're "doing" content marketing right? How do you know if it's going to work for your business, in your niche, with your clients?

And, come on, let's get clear. How do you know if "Content Marketing" isn't just another way of dressing up sneeky copywriting tactics to look like they're goin' to Church?

I have an idea. Actually, you'd be helping me out as much as I'd be helping you to understand how Content Marketing works for your business.

Why a Content Marketing Strategy Review Matters

By Patsi Krakoff in Uncategorized

Content Marketing Matters!

It really does. As I wrote previously, we are in the Dawn of a New Content Marketing Era and Telling Beats Selling.

Advertising isn’t working.

Content Matters

But if that doesn’t bring up a lot of questions for you, it should.

How do you write content that’s interesting and informs, but at the same time sells you, your products and your services?

When you write content that markets for your business, you face certain challenges.

On the one hand, you write so that readers will get to know you, like you and trust you.

Then, you turn around and blurt out, “Oh, and by the way, BUY MY STUFF!” Uh-huh. No, I don’t think so, that doesn’t work.

To top it off, you may be an independent entrepreneur or a small business without a large budget to hire copywriters and web content specialists. You may write your web pages yourself. You publish your own blog, plus an e-newsletter.

How do you learn to “do” content marketing in a way that works for your business, your targeted audience?

Ah, so many questions, so few answers. While there are a few content marketing books published, and a few more are in the works, there aren’t too many places to learn what you need to know.

Your content should be reviewed for how well it:

Grabs readers’ attention
Focuses on a solution to a problem
Educates and informs
Entertains and engages readers
Enriches the lives of readers
Inspires action
Comes up in search results for main keywords
Gets the results you want to achieve

You can get your blog and website content strategies reviewed for a small fee. I usually work with small businesses and independent professionals and partnerships. For more information, please read this page, How Can I Help You?

Tags : blog content, Content Marketing, online content, Writing for the Web

8 Ways to Find New Ideas for Writing Content

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Content Marketing, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Writing Great Blog Content

Sometimes the obvious is so close to your nose you can't see it. I just spent the last 30 minutes searching for an idea that would make a good blog post about writing on the Web and content marketing.

One of the best ways to get ideas for content is by cruising over to MyAlltop page to read a few of my favorite bloggers for inspiration. Even if I don't find something, I always get an education and a feel for what's going on in the world of marketing and content strategies. For example, Problogger is a great resource of ideas.

Darren Rowse is challenging readers of Problogger.net to a 31 Day Build a Better Blog effort. Today is day 3. His suggestion from Day 2 is Write a List Post.

Ah-hah! It suddenly struck me… I can make a list post of the eight ways to search for inspiration and information for writing content for a blog post. Here we go.

Website, Blog, Ezine? 3 Questions, 1 Big Fat Suggestion

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs, Online Marketing

Here are the top 3 questions I get emailed about:

If I don't have a website yet, should I start a blog? (Or, if I start with a blog, do I really need a website?)
If I have a blog, should I also do a newsletter? (Or, If I have a newsletter should I do a blog?)
Should I go with WordPress or Typepad for my blogging platform?

Here are my 3 answers:

Yes (and yes)
Yes (and yes)
It depends

Don't you love it when I give short answers? So rare, too. Well I could go into all the reasoning behind my answers, and qualify each according to who's asking the question and what their needs are.

Here's my current thinking…

Check out the options offered by Men with Pens. They offer WordPress blog customization, web design, and copywriting services.

Web Writing Tips from Brain Traffic: for Dummies, Smarties, Oldies, and Newbies

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

A great post over on Brain Traffic by Elizabeth Saloka. Here is an excerpt of her good writing for the web tips:

Trim fat. Keep your content – sentences, paragraphs, etc. – short and sweet.
Stay focused. As you’re writing, stop and ask yourself: Is what I’m writing relevant?
Don’t exceed 60 words per paragraph. Better to break after one or two sentences.
Honor thy bulleted lists. Three items? You should bullet. Ten items? Definitely bullet. This will help your readers quickly assess, divide, and digest information.
Avoid fluff and cutting-edge, innovative corporate-speak. Readers can smell it a mile away.
Speak to the audience as ‘you.’ Make them feel special, like you’re speaking directly to them. Remember, conversational.
Talk like a human. Make sure you don’t sacrifice clarity for cleverness. Also, don’t get overly grammatical. Sometimes it’s better to break a few grammar rules than to sound stuffy.
Stay grounded. Don’t fall in love with your writing. You’ll lose perspective. And, you’ll probably be less open to constructive client feedback.

Want to dig deeper? Check out the Brain Traffic blog, more about content strategies, and Kristina Halvorsen’s book recommendations.

3 Rules for Writing Content for Your Business Blog

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

I just read a great post over on the Marketing Professor blog by Travis Campbell, 3 Rules for Using Twitter for Business. These same three rules should apply to all of your content marketing, but they are particularly relevant for writing content on your business blog.

(Travis must be doing this right, because I found him on Twitter and I'd never heard of him or his excellent blog before today.)

1. Have a Strategy. Here are some strategy points to consider:

Give them a reason to read: Is your content useful to your target market? Do your blog posts give readers insight into you as a person, as well as useful information?

Show them you care: You have to be more than a lecturer or teacher. Get real. Be human.

Mix it up: While building a profile for business, remember people ultimately do business with with people. Feel free to mix up your updates with some of your own questions, observations, and your personality.