Archive for content marketing with blogs – Page 3

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→

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→

Your Business Blog Year 10: Is It Still Worth It?

Business-bloggingDoes blogging still make sense for your business? Is a business blog worth the time you need to research, write, format and publish quality content?

Some busy professionals ask me if it’s worth it to blog or would keeping in touch with people through social media sites work just as well? It’s a good question, particularly for small businesses, coaches and consultants who don’t have staff and a lot of time.

Publishing a quality blog requires time and effort. The average person needs at least two hours to complete all the tasks necessary for one blog post, and should be publishing 2-3 times a week.

Ten years ago, when I first started blogging I declared a blog to be “The best darn marketing tool on the planet!” It was if someone had handed me a microphone and people across the globe started hearing what I had to say. I started getting found online and boosted my business revenues exponentially.

But ten years later, there are a lot of ways to spread your word and publish quality content online. Communication is possible everywhere. Clients can be reached through Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter – the list goes on. Read More→

A Checklist for a Good Blog

Blog-checklistAfter I got home from our Publishing at Sea cruise, I checked out the good blogs of our amazing group of authors, including those of our experts, like Judith Briles! Of course, as writers, they all had important things to say on their blogs. But some weren’t really optimized for best results.

Here’s what I look for in an optimized, good blog (one that gets Google search and reader results):

  1. A good blog title with a tag line that says what people will find on this blog (benefits to reader)
  2. An email subscription sign up button such as an RSS icon
  3. A good blog post title that makes me want to read the full post
  4. A compelling image with each post
  5. Hyperlinks – at least one per 120 words so that posts are identifiable to search engines.
  6. Recent posts or no date on them: If posts aren’t at least once a week (twice is better) then I don’t want to see a date on the posts -which alerts me to the fact you haven’t posted in a month … or six! Read More→

Write an Ebook: How Are Books
and Blogs Alike?

ExpertEbooks-StuartMilesHow do business bloggers write an ebook? The same way a chef creates a gourmet meal or a singer delivers a concert. One step at a time.

Anytime I think about starting a large project, however,  I start to put it off because – well, it’s just so huge! One way to go around this is to break it down to simple chunks. That’s why it’s easier for me if I think of it like blog writing…

Blog writing (and ebook writing and cooking and concerts) starts with passion, connects with an audience need, involves planning and revision, collaboration with technicians, and finally the project is delivered.

To me, writing a blog post is a micro version of ebook writing. It looks like this:

  1. As a professional, I feel a passionate drive to broadcast an important message to my readers
  2. I know the people in my audience tell me they are frustrated about something
  3. I usually write a list of solutions that help with this problem
  4. I research to find out more about this
  5. I write a new post, optimize it for keyword phrases, format it, add an image and write a catchy title
  6. I publish the blog post
  7. I update my social media sites, usually by asking people an evocative question and linking back to the blog

So what’s holding you back from writing your expert ebook? I know you have the passion, most of you have clearly defined purpose… so where do you get stuck? Read More→

6 Easy Tips to Be a Better Blog Writer

BlogWritingHow can you get to be a better, faster blog writer?

Did the job of blogging or writing fall into your lap? Or have you been a professional writer for some time, who’s now transitioned into blogging for yourself or a business?

Bloggers come from all walks of life, that’s one thing that I know for sure.

Whether you’re a professional writer or not, here are some tips on how to be more productive and efficient when it comes to writing. No blogger is safe from the pitfalls of writers’ block or lack of inspiration.

Here are a few ways that you can work on becoming a faster and better blog writer, which will in turn free up your time:

  • Set yourself up for success.  Are you easily distracted? Clear your writing space of anything that might take your mind off of the task at hand. All I need to write is my PC, a notebook, and a pen. I have to keep everything else away if I hope to get anything done.
  • Plan your content before you start. Even if it’s just jotting down a few ideas before you get started, you’ll be happy you planned ahead when it comes time to start writing. Sitting down to a completely blank canvas can be stressful. Try to come up with some ideas about what you’ll write about ahead of time. Read More→

How to Blog without Boring Readers in the Holiday Season

HoidaySeasonsHow do you blog about the Holiday Season – without boring your readers?

It’s no secret that the holidays are upon us! With one less week between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and Hanukkah already in full swing, the holidays have arrived.

So what does the holiday season mean for your blog? Several things! The holiday season provides a lot of opportunity for keyword-rich blogging.

  • Put your own spin on popular topics and it will help bring traffic to your site.
  • You can use this seasonal opportunity to feature charities that you support.
  • You can expand topics beyond your core business services to what truly matters in life. Read More→

Smart Business Blog Linking:
Top 25 Content Marketing Blogs

Blog-LinkingIf your business blog needs to get inbound links, here’s a prime example of how to do it. Pay attention to this tactic, it’s easy, it’s smart blog marketing and a great way to get other blogs linking to you, thereby improving your search rankings.

I’ve talked about creating your own Top 10 lists before, and it still makes sense, even more so given the way SEO works today.

Recently our blog here, WritingontheWeb.com showed up on a list of the Top 25 Must-Read Content Marketing Blogs. Well, we’re listed as #24, but hey! Who cares?

Author Jennifer Barry, who writes for Hubspot as well, says on the Writtent.com blog:

“The marketing industry is diverse and ever changing, and one of the easiest ways to stay on top is to read the most relevant and pertinent blogs. There are thousands of marketing blogs out there that focus on different aspects of the marketing industry from optimization, conversion, advertising, and content.” Read More→