Archive for content marketing with blogs – Page 4

Ghost Writers Needed: For Business Blogs Everywhere

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, November 20th, 2013

Ghost-BloggersMany professional business blogs need ghost writers. How else can busy professionals maintain quality content and frequent publishing schedules?

What about you and your blog? How can you consistently publish on your professional business blog and never have to worry about coming up with ideas, researching facts and stats, and writing compelling, quality content that solves problems for your readers?

I’d like to tell you an easy answer, like, “All you need to do is outsource!” But it’s not at all easy to find quality ghost blog writers who understand your business and clients, is it?

Here are some other objections I hear from my blog consulting clients about outsourcing to ghost writers, along with my responses: Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Coaching/Personal Development, Content Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content
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Why You Should Write Quality Blog Content

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, November 13th, 2013

Best-Business-BlogQuality blog posts are key to your business getting found on the Web. While that may sound obvious – (“Of course, why would I write something ho-hum boring?”) it’s harder than you might think. Not everyone agrees on what quality content is.

Quality content scores high with readers, your target clients, and with search engines. If you want to get found, get known and get clients online, you need to write and publish quality blog posts that resonate with your readers.

There’s a lot of emphasis on publishing frequently. Most professionals and small business owners are told that once or twice weekly is a bare minimum. But none of that matters if what you write is boring, mediocre, confusing or poorly written and formatted.

What is quality content? Sure, you know it when you read it, but what are the essentials? It depends on who you’re writing for. As writer Ginny Soskey at Hubspot blog points out:

“There are lots of concrete principles of writing that can help determine the “quality” of a piece of content. Verb usage, spelling, sentence structure — these all have defined rules that, for the most part, have stayed pretty constant. It’s black and white. That is wrong; this is right. 

“Then there are the gray areas in writing. Stylistic preferences. Imagery. Storytelling.” Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content
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6 Content Marketing Rules for
Professionals on the Web

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013

Content-Marketing-for-ProfessionalsFor busy professionals who want to get found on the Web, writing quality content that not only informs but generates business leads is a challenge. Most small businesses and professionals like doctors, psychologists and leadership coaches aren’t media or Internet experts. Many don’t even know what content marketing means.

I’m a big fan of the Content Marketing Institute and have followed its leader, Joe Pulizzi, since he first played the content marketing trombone and started leading the big parade. For any consultant and small business owner responsible for getting found online, CMI offers great advice.

Joe’s latest book, Epic Content Marketing, is a fine example. Written for both small businesses and global corporations, there are key content marketing principles to aim for. Here are six principles that anyone can and should apply to their writing, whether it be for for their business blog, e-newsletters, or e-books and websites.

I’ve taken each principle and adapted them for independent coaches and consultants, who are my ideal clients. Anytime you write content on the Web, your content should meet these principles:

  1. Fill a need. What problems do you solve for your clients? Most Internet users go online to either be entertained or educated. Your clients have challenges that you are uniquely qualified to help. Write quality content that does just that. Read More→
Categories : Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content
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Common Mistakes Made by Beginning Bloggers
…and 5 Tips to Fix Them

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, October 9th, 2013

How-to-BlogWhen you first start a business blog, it’s easy to make a few blogging mistakes. While it seems like nearly every business already has a blog, new blogs are popping up every day. If you’re just getting your blog up and running, here are a few common mistakes that can be detrimental before it gets off of the ground.

Seasoned bloggers are wise to take note of these tips as well; even the most professional of us can use a reminder every now and then!

Here are a few things not to do with your blog:

  1. Not making sure all of your content is original. While most of us understand the ramifications of plagiarism when it comes to writing papers in college, it can be more of a grey area when it comes to blogging. It is possible to get into legal trouble for stealing someone’s ideas and re-printing them word for word. Just be careful to keep your blogging original, even if you are taking inspiration from something that someone else wrote.
  2. Using recycled content. Many blogs do use the content of others, with due credit given. This is particularly true of things like news articles or announcements. While it’s fine to include things like this from time to time, don’t fill your site with outside content. Your readers will get bored quickly and abandon your blog for something better.
  3. Not writing about something you know. Picking a blog topic that is completely outside of your realm of expertise is unwise. Writing about something that you are interested in and are familiar with will come across to your readers as more natural. That’s not to say that you can’t explore new topics, just make sure that you understand that your blog readers want to see you as an expert.
  4. Not researching what you’re writing about. In addition to checking out your competitors, you can also see what topics in your planned area of expertise have already been beaten to death, so to speak. Coming up with a new spin on an old topic or touching on an issue in your field that hasn’t been covered much is more likely to gain readers for your blog.
  5. Not making sure your blog is visually interesting. A good layout is key to get people to come back and keep reading. Seasoned bloggers are wise to evaluate their visual interest occasionally as well. Another way to keep people interested is to use lots of images, graphics, and infographics.

(Photo Source)

About our Guest Author:

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Writing Great Blog Content
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6 Easy Tips to Write a Blog Post in 30 Minutes

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, October 3rd, 2013

Blog-WritingCan you write a blog post and publish in under an hour? How about 20 minutes? That’s my record. But as anyone who’s ever made love knows, fast isn’t always better. And sometimes it is.

There’s usually too much for small business professionals to handle. If you want to stay on schedule, you’ve got to learn to “just do it!” and do it fast.

Here’s how I research, write, add an image, compose a compelling title, and optimize for SEO and publish a blog post in under an hour. Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Writing Great Blog Content
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Epic Business Blog Content: 2 Questions Every Blog Owner Must Ask

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, September 25th, 2013

Epic-Content-Joe-PulizziIf you’re in business and have a business blog, you’re frequently challenged by what to write. There’s always a lot you can say about your products and services, but how many different ways can you write about them before your regular subscribers get bored?

In my ebook Content Marketing with Blogs, I suggest business blog posts should be written with the 4 E’s as a guide: What you publish on your business blog should:

  1. Entertain
  2. Educate
  3. Engage
  4. Enrich

As anyone who runs a blog knows, that’s a tall order, and if you score high in one or two of these qualities, you can feel pretty good. But is it enough?

I recently purchased Joe Pulizzi’s new book Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less. It’s full of examples from big businesses but all his advice is great for small businesses and individuals as well. Joe is known as the godfather of content marketing as he has been a long-time promoter of quality content for marketing purposes. He founded the Content Marketing Institute.

The book is a treasure of information about the value of content marketing throughout all channels (blogs, e-newsletters,  videos, podcast, and social media). Two questions stood out for me as key for any small business owner who wants to (needs to!) publish quality content on their blog: Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content
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Content Marketing with Visuals:
Write Like an Egyptian

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, September 18th, 2013

Egyptian-SymbolsLately I find myself building pyramids. Not real ones, but the kind you can do in Microsoft Word docs. I use them to illustrate a point in an article or blog post. Content marketing with visuals makes your piece clearer, and more compelling to the readers.

Here’s what I’ve designed in just the last few weeks, and it isn’t stopping. (See end of this post for the pyramid drawings.)

  • First it was the “3 Levels of Accountability” pyramid.
  • Then, I was writing about life planning so I did a “Life Plan Pyramid.”
  • And for my article on The Quest for Better Teams, I created a triangle with the “4 Elements of Effective TEAMS.”

What’s up with that? Naturally, since I’m finding myself obsessively drawing charts and triangles, I checked to see if I’d gone off my meds. No. I’m just on a visual kick. Why write paragraphs of text when a doodle says it all?

Apparently I’m not the only one to think this way. A quick research on Amazon and I discovered a trend touting the benefits of the “Visual Revolution:”

“Visualization is a doorway to insight about your own visions, strategies, and implementation plans. It is a path to appreciating the interconnection and wholeness of things.”  David Sibbet, Visual Leaders, Wiley 2012

I’ve written about using images and diagrams and such for blog posts before. And there’s a lot that’s been written about the value of quality content, accompanied by animation and great visuals. But now I’m discovering the psychology behind this trend. Graphic images that illustrate articles and blog content are more than eye-candy to attract readers, much more.

Visual tools help in these ways:

  • People learn and change when they become engaged in the process.
  • Processes are easier to understand through drawings.
  • Drawings help both the author and the recipient make connections.
  • Metaphors and maps transform data into meaning.
  • Images connect and involve the whole system.
  • Many graphics can be used as templates to allow the reader to interactively participate.

The Egyptians had a whole system for communicating with little pictures or hieroglyphics. They apparently understood what academics and theoreticians have a difficult time with: Simple is better.

The younger generation doesn’t have patience to read through text and I’m not going to debate that. The use of quality images can make communications clear, meaningful and memorable in ways that text cannot. What’s been your experience using drawings and images?

P.S. I highly recommend Sibbert’s books! Egyptian image: Freedigitalphotos.net.

3-Levels-of-Accountability1Life-Plan-PyramidTEAM-Effectiveness

Categories : About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, On Writing Better
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5 Ways to Make Your Business Blog Remarkable

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, September 11th, 2013

Blog-VisibilityHow do you make your business blog really remarkable? Like, fascinating?

The main goal of writing a blog, whether for business or otherwise, is to get people to read what you write. Seems pretty simple. But attracting readers to a new blog (or even an established one) is easier said than done.

So how do you build a readership base and continuously gain new readers to keep your blog and your business going. Here are a few ways to make your business blog one to watch.

1. Keep up with current events – while you shouldn’t always write about what’s going on in the world, using relevant examples and anecdotes lets your readers know that you are knowledgeable.

2. Pay attention to your social media networks – what are people talking about on your social media pages? What are they asking you as a business? Consider using these questions and discussions for blog topics. You’re more likely to engage your customers by writing on topics they clearly are interested in than developing your own. Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Getting Read, How to...Tips, Online Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content
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4 Tips to Attract More Readers to Your Business Blog

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, September 4th, 2013

Attract-more-Readers-Blog-LikesHow can you attract more readers to your business blog? Blogs have become a social media platform for everyone. When you know how to blog, you can write about anything relevant to your business’ audience that will enrich customers’ knowledge and show how your business will be beneficial to them.

You can provide information on your blog that solves people’s key problems in your field, and they’ll keep coming back and become regular readers.

When your business website has a well-defined blog, and if you write or hire a writer to frequently update new content on it, you can be sure that your website traffic will go only one way – up.

But coming up with a successful blog can be a tough job. You need to make sure that your blog content stands out among other similar blog content on the web. The following tips will help you increasing traffic to your website through successful business blogging.

4 Creative Tips to Attract More Web Traffic Readers

1. Promote articles and posts on a variety of platforms

Social media has become an ever-present phenomenon now. You can’t expect your website to draw in huge numbers of visitors if you don’t have a visible presence on various social media platforms. Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn are some names that come to your mind when thinking about content marketing for your website. But these are only a few among the vast resources available online.

Granted these platforms have a large online presence, but if you really want your business website to grow, you should consider specialized niche forms of social media also. Some of these lesser known platforms include Quora, Tumblr, and Empire Avenue. These platforms have a specific crowd following and due to the less competition on these sites, you are likely to have a greater penetration over the market. But search ones that attract your kind of customer, in your target audience.

2. Use SlideShare

SlideShare is another platform that doesn’t have all the hoopla surrounding bigger social media platforms. You, as a content writer, can easily create smaller and sharper overviews for your posts and upload those on SlideShare. These to-the-point overviews will appeal to a larger audience base and you can easily put links of the slides on your website that can be followed to read the overview on SlideShare’s website. Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Social Media Stuff, Writing Great Blog Content
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Google Images: How to Add Great Images to Business Blogs

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, August 28th, 2013

Infographics-for-bloggingBusiness blogs are better when they lead with a spectacular eye-catching image. But are you bored like I am with the standard business photos offered on free photo sites? How many happy smiling people have you actually seen in a business meeting lately? Give me a break and some more coffee.

I’ve got a new toy: Google Images. I was researching planning models for a client ebook I’m writing, and discovered a page of diagrams and charts people have contributed: Google Images for Planning Models. Check it out, there are 3-D pyramids, bar graphs, circles, arrows: wow.

So I wondered what images I could find for illustrating a blog post on how to write and post on a business blog. Not so hot… boring and confusing. Apparently images are best when steps are clear and everyone has a similar process. However, there were some great images for “infographics + blogging.”

Here are some guidelines for adding great images and infographics to your business blog, to attract readers and get their attention.

  1. I did a search on my own blog, WritingontheWeb.com for similar posts on adding images. What I noticed was that posts that combine blogging tips with celebrities and their photos were well viewed. It helps to have a celebrity name in the post title. (“Oscar Wilde: Advice for Better Blogging“). Read More→
Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, How to...Tips
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