Archive for blog content – Page 10

7 Blog Writing Steps BEFORE You Check for Keywords

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

This is a little story I share with new blogging clients who get hung up about keywords. One client in particular (let’s call him Ted) had written about 10 blog posts which were saved as drafts because he was worried about keywords.

Let me say that there’s a learning curve involved in writing for your blog, and there’s no way around it. The only way to learn to write good blog posts is to write and publish blog posts—a lot of them. Saving them as drafts won’t work.

Being that it’s U.S. Open time, I was thinking about how this relates to tennis (of course!). You can practice your serve on a tennis court by yourself too. But until you serve the ball to someone on the other side of the net and keep score in a game, it really doesn’t count. You can’t learn from your results.

Here’s what I told Ted, “When you sit down to write a new post, focus first on these steps:

7 Blog Writing Steps BEFORE You Check for Keywords

  1. Write to deliver valuable information that solves a problem for your typical reader
  2. Grab their attention and make it interesting to them through stories or examples Read More→
Categories : Content Marketing, How to...Tips, On Writing Better, Writing for the Web
Tags : , , , ,

Get Personal: 5 Tips for Putting YOU in Your Blog

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, August 26th, 2011

If you’re writing for your business, how much of yourself should you include? Everyone agrees that blogs are a place to have a conversation. How personal should you be? How do you keep the YOU in Business Blogging and still make it work for business?

There’s an ongoing trend to be personal with business communications. Rohit Bhargava’s written a whole book about it, filled with examples of how companies are successfully using personalities to market their business products and services: Personality Not Included.

I get updates from a professional who writes about arguments with her husband. I can’t help myself, I’m drawn into reading the damn things. And sure, she’s promoting a program…And there’s only a loose tie between the story, the husband, and the program she’s promoting!

But she tells the story so well, you don’t care! I can’t stop myself from reading her blog and newsletters. Why? As a psychologist, I can tell you why:

We’re hard wired to connect with others, especially about family stories, and we all relate to each others’ predicaments.

So, the dilemma remains: how do you do this successfully without embarrassing yourself – or worse – incurring the wrath of a family member? Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Writing Great Blog Content
Tags : , , ,

Educate Your Readers: 4 Learning Styles

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, August 19th, 2011

Remember the 4 E’s of Better Business Blogging? It’s my short hand memory checklist before publishing a blog post: Educate, Entertain, Engage & Enrich readers.

You write to educate, entertain, engage and enrich readers when you want to build readerships and get great results with your blogging.

When it comes to educating readers, it’s important to take a page out of teachers’ notebooks. Teachers know that not all people learn the same way.

Most of us teach in the style we’re most familiar with: our own learning styles. If you’re analytical, you’ll teach using data. Your blog readers will understand and learn well if they’re like you.

But not all readers are the same. Take, for example, an active experimenter. They want to know how to do something and need to try it out before they learn something.

I’m probably more of a conceptualizer: I’ve got to sit and think about something a while. It also helps when there are visuals so I can see how it works.

Everyone has a preferred learning style and we also have combinations. Then there’s the right brain and left brain to consider also. If you’re not a savvy psychologist or a teacher, you may be ignoring some of your readers if you’re only writing to those with your own learning style.

What’s a business blogger to do?

Here’s some help:

I’ve taken information off the www.aboutlearning.com site which explains the 4MAT system for understanding four different kinds of learning styles. I’ve tried to simplify it so you can apply it to business blog writing. Read More→

Categories : Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Writing Great Blog Content
Tags : , , ,

Writing Great Blog Content: Painful?

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, August 12th, 2011

Rich Brooks of Flyte Media says that writing content is painful, and compares it to having dental work without novacaine! What do you think?

For me, writing – whether for my blogs, website, my email broadcasts and newsletters – is more like getting my teeth cleaned: it can be painful, but then you come out with a pretty white smile!

Take this series I’ve undertaken on how to write great content for your blog. The simplest of tips includes these 3 easy steps:

  1. Scan your favorite blogs for relevant ideas
  2. Take an excerpt from it and link to it
  3. Add your own comments.  (If you want to boost readership, go for disagreement and controversy. But that’s a different topic.)

Here’s what Rich says:

“No matter how much you love your job, no matter how passionate you are about what you do, writing content is going to be much more work than you think.”

The passion makes the writing start like a burst of energy. Education and discipline, however, are the tools that have to kick in to make your content readable, search engine optimized, and interesting to other people.

I agree with Rich that writing always takes more time and work than you think, even when it is full of passion. Passion isn’t enough, some hard thinking and decent grammar should back it up.

Your thoughts on this? Is passion enough? Does grammar even count?

What about time – how much are you spending on your writing and blog?  Is it pleasure, pain, or both?

I’d love to hear your comments.  Hit reply and let me know your thoughts.

P.S. For more tips (and diagrams), read these other recent posts:

 

Categories : Content Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content
Tags : , , , ,

Social Proof: Are You Using Client Recommendations?

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, August 5th, 2011

This weekend I got a call from a person who wanted to buy a subscription to executive coach articles to use for his newsletter. What sealed the deal? The testimonials from other subscribers.

Recommendations, testimonials and client stories are a powerful persuasion tactic. It’s one of the key persuasion triggers that get people to take action. It’s called social proof.

Robert Cialdini wrote about six weapons of influence in his landmark book Influence. Social proof is one of the most powerful mechanisms for triggering buying decisions. Here’s why:

Customer ratings and reviews are one of the ways we decide and choose to buy products online. I use them all the time to click and buy: I glance at the number of gold stars other people have given a book on Amazon, or a pair of tennis shoes on Nike.

If there are two pairs of shoes I’ve selected for my size and price, I’ll go with the one that has 5 stars over 4. Think about it: I don’t know these people, they may have feet completely different to mine, they may not play tennis as often as I do.

Yet when I see a customer rave review and 5 stars, I’m all in.

We are heavily influenced by social persuasion, we can’t help it. Our brains respond to our strong need to belong and fit in, and it all happens in our unconscious minds.

Do these same persuasion tactics work for sites and businesses that aren’t selling physical products? Does social validation work for businesses selling services and experiences? Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Online Persuasion
Tags : , , , , , , , ,

Blogger’s Block: Writing Tips to Get “Unstuck”

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

What do you do when you’re stuck and can’t write on your blog? Here are some blog writing tips. I diagrammed them out.

It’s the rainy season here in Mexico – a great time to do a lot of reading and writing.  At least, that’s what one would think…But…I’m having trouble.  I’m stuck.  I’ve got Blogger’s Block.  (Yes, even experienced bloggers can get stuck from time to time.)

Solution? Start writing about where I’m at, what’s going on here, and then tie it in with something useful and relevant to readers. That’s one blog writing tip that usually bails me out.

Source of problem? I’ve been blogging so much lately for my clients that I’m dried up and stale for my own blog.

So what? I’ll bet some of you have the same blog writing problem or similar. You give your all to your clients, then when it comes time to do your own content marketing you’re as dry as toast without butter.

It’s no wonder the cobbler’s children have no shoes.

What to do? One blog writing tips is to “Just do it,” just start writing and see what comes out. You may surprise yourself. One of my clients tells me he doesn’t write that much anymore. He finds it easier to hook up the Web cam and post a video clip. Hmmm…wait a sec.

Just by starting to write, I had to trace my thought processes to find what I usually do when I am stuck. This time I diagrammed it out using SmartDraw.

It’s interesting, no? Much easier to show than tell, and you can clearly see my four favorite resources for breaking bloggers’ block.

I will now go walk my talk and come up with some good blog posts.

And if you’re still having trouble, I’ve got more tips in a great little package you can have called Time Saving Tips for Smart Bloggers, audio, transcript, PDF handouts. You can solve your blogging blues with all the tips in this program.

What resources do you use to find ideas? Hit the comment link and share.

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, On Writing Better, Writing Great Blog Content
Tags : , , , , , ,

6 Writing Tips for SEO Friendly Content Marketing

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

Do you know how to write SEO-friendly content your readers will love? This week’s guest post by Christian Arno of Lingo24 shares 6 writing tips for writing online content that works for both readers and search engines.

Writing for the web can be like walking on a tightrope. Do you litter your blog writing and web pages with keywords so the search engine spiders can find you? Or do you make the copy interesting so people will be eager to read it and pass it on? Both, of course. And here’s how:

  1. Choose your keywords wisely

Make sure you’re aware of your essential keywords before you start writing on your blog, as trying to slot them neatly into finished copy could prove to be a tricky task. Use a handy tool like Google AdWords to work out which keywords are going to be best for you.

Make sure you know which keywords will both attract readers and be SEO friendly.

(Note: Not sure how keywords work? Try a subscription service to ScribeSEO Tool. It not only analyzes your blog writing for keywords and SEO-friendly content, but makes suggestions on how to maximize keyword usage. For more info: Scribe SEO Tool click here.)

2. Know where to place your keywords

Your keywords are important, but where you put them will have a significant impact on your SEO efforts. It’s essential to place a couple of keywords at the very beginning of your writing—the title is a great place to start. But be careful not to overuse them—it’ll be obvious to your readers what you’re trying to do.

3. Know the tricks of the trade Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Online Marketing
Tags : , , , , , , , , ,

Are Your Content Readers Thinkers or Feelers?

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

Have you ever read an e-newsletter or blog post and got a feeling of disappointment? Maybe it was just too subjective, airy-fairy and touchy-feely? If so, then you may be like me, a thought-processing person who wants facts and data when reading content online, an e-newsletter or blog post.

Several years ago, my friend John Agno published this review of personality types in his newsletter.  It contains important information to consider when writing your blog, e-newsletter or content marketing to attract clients, and it still applies today.

The Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory is a method for helping people match their communication styles to others’ personalities.  Understanding Myers-Briggs allows you to foster the kind of interpersonal climate that paves the way toward better understanding.

One of the four Myers-Briggs dichotomies is Thinking/Feeling — that people use to assess their preferred ways of communicating, processing information, analyzing that information, and coming to a decision.

The population is evenly divided between thinkers and feelers. Two-thirds of men are thinkers and two-thirds of women are feelers, but 70% to 90% of businesspeople are thinkers, regardless of gender. The name of this dimension is slightly misleading. Thinkers aren’t unfeeling, and feelers aren’t fuzzy-headed. Both process information carefully. The difference is in what facts each group considers to be most salient. Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, On Writing Better, Writing for the Web, Writing Great Blog Content
Tags : , , , ,

How to Start a Blog Serial Writing Project

By Patsi Krakoff
Monday, June 27th, 2011

Check_boxes
If you’ve been reading my blogs for any length of time, you know about my problem with writing:  I love to write, and I can write too much.  Anyone with a doctorate suffers from the same disease. Dissertation-itis. Nobody has time to read all those words anymore, especially not online.

Then, at some point in my writing career I got lazy. Or maybe I got smart. I started skipping the long research on a topic and reading up on its history. I just started making a list of main points and then writing out a couple of sentences on each item.

I think I got the idea from Jeff Herring, The Article Guy, who said if you can write a 7 item grocery list, you can write a good article. Now Jeff teaches article writing for people who struggle with writing and have a hard time coming up with stuff.

I fell in love with the “Make a List” writing school. Their theory is anything worth reading can be written in a list of bulleted points.

And now for my real confession:  I’ve taken the list building approach to an extreme. I’ve become a serial writer.

I wish I could say that it’s the cure for writer’s block, or that it’ll turn your work into Internet gold. I will proclaim it to be a rousing success for saving you time and energy whenever you’re faced with writing for your ezine, blog, web pages, press releases, and even white papers.

Here’s how to start a serial writing project (in list form, of course):

  1. Find an idea your readers want to know more about that will benefit them
  2. Make a list of 5 main points
  3. Write an overview of the idea with the 5 points listed and post it on your blog
  4. Each day for the next 5 days write a blog post about each of the 5 points
  5. Write a summary of the 5 points, reviewing them and reminding readers why this is important
  6. Edit each blog post into a stand alone article
  7. Compile the 7 articles into one full article. Read More→
Categories : Article Ideas, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, On Writing Better, Writing for the Web, Writing Great Blog Content
Tags : , , , , ,

How to Write with Your Right Brain: 5 Tips

By Patsi Krakoff
Monday, June 20th, 2011

Ist1_2776388_coffee_cupOne of the smartest things you can do to keep up with blog writing is to use your brain well. Use your right brain to tap into your creativity.

The third thing I do in the morning when I get up is write on one of my blogs. (First, brew a pot of Cafe de Olla; second, feed Huey and Dewey, our kitties.) When clients ask, “How do you find time to post on all your blogs?” it’s kind of a non-problem, since I’m fueled by coffee and love…!

One of my favorite posts is here, because two writers (John Jantsch and Sean D’Souza) who really understand content marketing explain this further in The Right Brain/Left Brain Tango: How to Get Your Creative Mojo Back.

Here are 5 tips for being more creative and productive with your writing tasks.

  1. Write first before you open email or your list of things to do. Any writing task should have priority over other tasks in the morning. Why? Writing uses mostly your right brain, and you need clarity, without those little gnawing distractions.Beware the left brain that wants to spoil your creativity by reminding you of things “to-do.” When you first wake up, you’re functioning in your right brain. Use it immediately for improved creativity.
  2. Before you go to bed and fall asleep, remind yourself which writing tasks you want to work on in the morning. Your right brain will think about them as you go to sleep, and probably as you wake up. As a result, you’ll wake up with those writing jobs in mind and can start right in on them – as soon as the coffee’s ready and the pets are fed.
  3. Leave your desk relatively uncluttered when you stop working at night so that in the morning you can start writing without distractions. It helps to have a safe place to set your coffee, where the kitties won’t knock it over when they come to lie in front of your computer screen. (If you have dogs, you won’t understand this part, but I’m sure there’s similar arrangement for those little darlings.)Img_0053 Read More→
Categories : Brain Based Content Marketing, Content Marketing, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, On Writing Better
Tags : , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »

Content for Coaches and Consultants

Serenity Virtual Assistant Services

Social Buzz Club

get your bright idea known