Archive for blog writing – Page 2

Blog Goals: 5 Tips to Keep Your Blog
Focused and on Track

Blog-Goals

Is your blog focused and on track? Do you find yourself saying, “I don’t have enough time to blog,” or “I don’t know what to write about?”

Guess what? These two questions are related to the same problem: not enough clarity about blog goals. Here’s how I help my clients solve this problem of clarity:

  1. Define your business Ps & Q – (3Ps + 1Q):
    => What Problem do you solve?
    => Who are the People you serve?
    => What Products and services do you offer?
    => What makes you uniQue??
  2. Create a course outline or a table of contents as if you were writing a book or teaching a class on this problem, i.e., your expertise.
  3. Make a list of keywords, categories and topics you’re qualified to write about and that must be addressed to solve the problems of your readers.
  4. Make an editorial calendar for each day of the week you’re going to be blogging. Make sure you cover all the topics and categories, and that your keywords are repeated frequently in posts and titles (search engine optimization).
  5. Make a weekly blog schedule to include writing the content, sharing it on social sites, researching and commenting on other blogs, and formatting, editing, linking, etc.

Don’t underestimate the time it takes for all the peripheral upkeep of blogging. Maintaining a successful blog takes more time than just writing a post. And it almost always takes longer than the 30 minutes required for writing.

Are you focusing on client needs?

Read More→

How Winning the French Open is like Writing a Business Blog

Rafael NadalSuccess, whether it is winning the French Open or writing a business blog, is half persistence, half-sweat.

Rafael Nadal dominates on clay courts and has the world record number of wins: the last eight of nine French Opens. Earlier this season Nadal was struggling, and some are saying that he won’t be successful with a win this year. But consider this:

  1. Nadal has a superb serve: 177 aces and 83 double faults in the last nine years.
  2. He is quick on the clay and can get ahead of the best shots.
  3. Nadal was trained early in life on clay courts and knows how to use the slow speed and the unpredictability to surprise his opponent.
  4. He has a winning fore-handed topspin.

This is very similar to writing a successful business blog. You’ve got to:

  1. Start with a strong serve –Include a keyword in the title and first sentence of your blog post, and make it compelling. Your title and first sentence may be the only thing a reader sees in a feed.
  2. Be agile and quick – Anticipate when it’s time to move on to a new topic. If you don’t, your readers already have.
  3. Mix it up – Write with a different voice or perspective. If you’re always positive and cheery, write a negative post and criticize some commonly held practices or beliefs. People won’t keep reading if you don’t surprise them.
  4. Deliver winning shots –Stay on topic, be relevant, and always keep your reader and their needs in mind.

When it comes to winning the open or writing a successful blog, the most important thing is to never give up – stay in the game. Your ability to refocus your writing and get back on track even when you don’t feel like it, will pay off in the long run.

Nadal knows this. He won’t let his past struggle undermine his current focus.

 

 

 

Content Marketing by Blogging: Consistency is the Name of the Game

Woman playing tennis on court outdoors with racket in her hand

Content marketing through blogging is like playing tennis. You get results through consistency, practice and persistence.

Is your blog like my tennis, a hit or a miss? Are you writing posts that are clear winners for your readers? Are you serving quality, relevant content within the lines of your readers’ needs?

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently returned from tennis camp in Texas. It was great: I played good tennis, and all the players that were there were good. As my playing improved through the week, I thought of how it applies to content marketing– specifically, blogging.

Persistence and control is the name of the game. My weak spot can be impatience: if I get impatient in a rally, my energy turns to aggression, and I’ll end the point with a whopping drive… clear out of the court.

I know people who blog like that. They write 600-900 words every few weeks, then wonder why they aren’t getting search traffic.

Blogging for your business doesn’t work that way. Steady as you go, writing at least twice a week, at least 350 words, focusing on the keywords that drive results for your business, mixing information with stories, always keeping the reader in mind. Read More→

6 Easy Blog Posts You Can Write to Attract Readers

blog-postsOne universal truth about blog readers is that fresh content will keep them coming back and reading your blog again and again. But there are so many kinds of blog posts that attract readers that it’s hard to choose. Too many choices lead to blog blocks. Here are six types of blog posts you can write easily and quickly.

We’ve talked endlessly about what to do when you’re in a blogging slump and how to come up with new content. So now, let’s talk about some types of blog posts that your readers might like to see: Read More→

Success Secrets of a Writing Career:
WOOT & WOOF

Writer-Success-AuthorAttitude-Nina-AmirSome say success for a writing career is a question of attitude. You simply put on your super-hero cape and think positively… I say ‘hogwash!’ Thinking doesn’t drive results.

There is no secret ‘law of attraction’ for achieving a writing career. A success mindset helps you tap into energy, but unless you get into action, all you’ve got are dreams.

Dreams come easy for writers, too easy. Take any writing assignment, either for yourself, your own business, blog, or ebook, or one for a paying client. Chances are, you’ll spend as much time dreaming about the piece as you will actually writing it.

Recently I read a good post about “The 5 Qualities You Need to Successfully Self-Publish Your Book,” by Nina Amir on The Future of Ink blog. She suggests adopting an “author attitude” of WOOT, from The Author Training Manual.

This clever acronym suggests five attitudes for successful writers: Read More→

How to Make Yourself Blog When You Just Don’t Feel Like Blogging

boomHere’s a tip for how to make yourself write a blog post when you’re totally uninspired. Use other people’s inspiration to motivate you.

For example, take a look at what you’re reading on the Web right now. If it’s good enough to catch your interest, maybe you can use that spark to create something new for your readers?

Here’s how I went from barely awake blog procrastination to publishing this morning.

You can tell a lot about a person just by reading the titles of the web pages they’ve got open. Right now I’m reading posts on Harvard Business Review:

  1. “How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want to”
  2. “The Daily Routines of Geniuses”
  3. “Stop Trying to Control People or Make Them Happy”

And one on Hubspot: “12 Inspirational Writing Tips from History’s Greatest Authors.” Read More→

Better Blog Writing: Getting Hooked by Your Own Hook

Social engineering conceptIt must have been the coffee. But there I was at 5 a.m. looking for a “hook,” a magnetic headline that would draw readers into my client’s blog like bees to honey. The client needed a post that day, and I needed to write and edit what she’d given me quickly. After all, my morning tennis partners were waiting for me.

Eureka! I cried as I found a cleverly compelling hook, saved my post as a draft and ran off to the tennis courts. Only, when I returned to the office two hours later, my client had a left a message, “Uh, …it’s great except for the headline and lead. Call me back.”

I blame it on the coffee. The hook was indeed inspiring, only it had little to do with the message my client was trying to convey. But a little caffeine and dopamine in the brain can fool you into thinking your writing’s great – and never mind it’s missing the point. Read More→

Blog Writing Tips: How to Become Productive and Prolific at Those Tasks You Hate

Manage-Your-TimeHow can you develop more productive blog writing habits? When are you going to stick to your content marketing calendar? What’s it going to take?

I know many small business owners who purposely procrastinate on writing and finance tasks they hate. Are you one of these professionals who work better when you have too much to do and not enough time to do it in? Think about it. Read More→

Creative Work, Blogging, Writing and Resistance

Blogging-Creative-Work-ResistanceEver get stuck? Everyone encounters resistance when it comes to blogging, writing, and creative work. It’s so easy to give in, isn’t it? When it comes to doing work – putting words on the page… or electrons on a screen – you can’t escape getting stuck.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a scientist, blogger, CEO or rock star. Work requires you to actually do something. When you sit down to do it (or stand up, whatever), you experience stuckness – a state of mental morass punctuated by mind chatter and an inability to move. Read More→

Bloggers Block? How to Get Your Creative Writing Mojo Back

Beautiful woman with thoughtful expression and blog words aboveEver get stuck with blogger’s block? Can’t get a spark of creativity going? Fingers just lay there on the keyboard like wet noodles… How can you get your creative writing going again?

Finding yourself in the horror of a creation-less void is never good. Your mind empties of anything that seems worthy of being said, and you feel helpless.

Writer’s and blogger’s block is a completely natural event experienced by writers, usually as a side-effect of writing for a deadline. Everyone has experienced it, and it’s not uncommon to panic a bit when it happens.

Here are some suggestions from a writer who’s been around the block…

Read Read More→