Cheryl, Kevin and Lisa@Serahs are winners in our contest to contribute ideas to the post 10 Ways to Write to Make Readers Think. And I’m throwing in a bonus question winner: Monica.
Please email me to tell me which book you want from the list of marketing books and where to send it.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by to give ideas, they are all valuable. I’ll still send you a free book from the list if you agree to pay for the shipping. (Subject to what’s left on the list, of course.)
Ah, the eternal question of emailed newsletters: What’s the best format to send it so it gets delivered, opened, and read? Here’s what one of my Customized Newsletter Services clients asked in a recent email:
Dear Patsi,
There is a definite divergence of opinions among my colleagues about the best way to distribute a newsletter.
Everybody seems to do something different. They all have a rationale for their decision. And all seem to have their limitations, as well.
Want to win a free book? I’m running a contest… The entries are fantastic already! Please join the fun…
If you’re new to marketing your business online, you’ve got a lot of learning to do. Fortunately there are a lot of books published now so you don’t have to spend a fortune buying expensive ebooks and home study courses. Here’s my list of free books you can win:
- What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting by Ted Demopoulos
- Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin
- Email Marketing by the Num8ers by Chris Baggott
- The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing for Small Business by Tom Antion
- Naked Conversations by Robert Scobel & Shel Israel
- Publish & Prosper: Blogging for Business by DL Byron & Steve Brobeck
- Advertising Headlines that Make You Rich by David Garfinkel
- Writing White Papers by Michael Stelzner
I’ve got duplicate copies of these books and I’m cleaning out my book shelves. I’ve read everyone of these and they’re excellent. You should read them too.
How to win a book: Contribute to my blog post below, my list of 10 Ways to Write to Makes Readers Think. I’ll pick three people from those who leave comments and send them the book of their choice from this list.
Or, take a stab at writing an answer to the bonus question in that post. Oh, and if you don’t want to contribute to the list, I’ll still send you a book if you want to pay the shipping. Just let me know which book and where to send it.
When it comes to content marketing, there are ways to write content so
it actively markets you and your business without being “in-your-face”
sales copy or boring product reviews or press releases.
I’m reminded of an excellent book on creating effective website design called Don’t Make Me Think.
The premise is that a customer searching for products and services
online shouldn’t have to figure out how to find what they’re looking
for on your website.
When it comes to reading your blog, however, please, please DO make me
think! Your blog posts should have meaty content that stimulates
readers to ask questions, to comment, to agree wholeheartedly, or
disagree vociferously.
How can you do that? Ahhh, let me think about that a minute here… Wait! I’ve got an idea. I’ll build a list of ideas to make readers think. And, YOU can contribute to the list!
I + YOU –When it comes to content marketing, there’s a fine line between good writing and great writing. The difference is in the 1% nuances…
If I could put my finger on one element of great content marketing and blog writing, it would be in the simple use of ‘I’ and ‘you’ pronouns. This is the mark of a good conversation and you can do the same thing with your writing style to create conversational marketing in your blog posts.
Here’s an email review of one of our client’s blogs that I wrote that explains what I mean:
Do you know about Alltop.com? It’s Guy Kawasaki’s creation, and according to the site, is an “online magazine rack” of popular topics. Pick a topic by searching, news category, or name, and they’ll deliver it to you 24 x 7.
Here’s a great way to research content published on other blogs dedicated to content marketing: Go to http://contentmarketing.alltop.com/
They’ve aggregated Joe Pulizzi’s Top 42 Content Marketing blogs. Since we’ve been honored to make this list twice now, you’ll find us there. More importantly, all the other great content writing blogs are there, from a variety of perspectives and angles.
The association between Kawasaki and Pulizzi came about through their connection on Twitter. So you see, this social networking stuff does work for business. Want to follow me?
John Agno is a content marketing wizard. He writes a great blog called Coaching Tip: The Leadership Blog. Part of the reason for his success is that his business blog is content rich. He knows how to use content for marketing. He uses quality information from a variety of resources.
And he doesn’t spend a lot of time writing one post. In fact, John writes several blogs for his consulting business, so he’s found ways to save time and make content marketing as easy as magic.
I should know, because he is a client of my Content for Coaches and Consultants service. John is astute because he buys content from me and then blends a couple of paragraphs of mine with information and resources of his own and others. This makes his site unique and personalized with his own philosophies and experiences. John writes in the service of his clients, providing what they need to know.
Example: I recently wrote and made available for purchase an article called Narcissistic Leaders in Times of Uncertainty. John has already posted twice using a couple of paragraphs of the article I wrote, along with other resources he wrote. It’s a great example of blended content:
What’s your online visibility strategy?
Whoops, you say, you don’t have one? Didn’t know you even needed one?
Think about it: Many of your ideal clients go online every day, and
some have problems that only you can solve …but sadly, most of them
can’t find you.
With more than 1 billion people connected to the Internet, you can bet a few of them are ideal clients for your business.
There were 61 billion searches done last month alone on the Web. Some of them were for your services…
Can they find you?
Denise and I know how hard it is to get new clients when you’re invisible.We’d like to teach you how to reverse the client chase…
I’m hittin’ the road again. I’m joining Denise on the podium, this time we’re speaking at Tom Antion’s Fusion event. If you’re in L.A., come join us! (Info here: www.theblogsquad.net/fusion)
I’d like to say this is our last biz trip for the year, but no, something special just came up and we’ll be appearing at a TV studio filming on Social Media Simplified, Monday October 27, 2008 in Ventura, California. That’s just north of LA, so if you’re in the greater Los Angeles area, please join us.
If you want to understand what’s going on with the Web and how you can take advantage of easy, free tools to grow your business, I urge you to attend this all-day workshop event. You’ll hear six well-known experts in Social Media on blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other interactive and free tools for business.
Social Media Simplified: A Web 2.0 Master Class for Small Business Owners and Non-Profit Organizations
You’ll hear and see Mari Smith, Deb Micek, Linda Taylor, Nancy Marmalejo and yours truly The Blog Squad:
What if you could spend 20-30 minutes a day writing 200-300 words on your blog and bring in hordes of first time visitors and regular subscribers?
What if your words happen to resonate with someone who at that particular moment in time was really suffering. .. and what if your words saved them from despair? Gave them hope? Offered solutions?
And what if you were able to offer solutions, products and services that could change the lives of 5-7 times as many people as you did last year?
What if people came to you, read what you have to say, then felt instant connection with you? These people might pick up the phone and call you, already convinced they want to work with you.
All this is possible when you write on the Web. I am living proof.
Along with my partner Denise Wakeman, we’ve started a new Facebook group called Massive Visibility Mastermind to gather together like-minded professionals who want to learn how this works.
Please join if you’re interested by going here: Massive Visibility Mastermind.
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