Writing on the Web from Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

What Do Readers Really Want? Some personal musings...

I am writing this off the top of my head and from the depths of my heart. The truth is I'm not sure where I'm going with this post, but I know I have some worthwhile nugget for you.

Yesterday when I wrote the post about blog ideas, it's true, I'd been struggling with finding good topics for this blog, and for keeping my focus on how to write good content on the Web that informs and markets for you.

This morning, I was still struggling. My blockage is coming from an interview we did last week with Yvonne DiVita of Lip-Sticking Blog. I wrote about her ideas for writing quality posts over on BuildaBetterBlog.com, Blog Content Ideas, What's the best source? Yvonne has had tremendous success with her blog, and it's established her as an expert and thought leader when it comes to marketing to women online.

She says her success is due to always writing what readers want.

And that's my problem. I'm never sure what readers want. Oh, I'm very grateful for the lovely comments and feedback, especially since most readers seem to agree with me (;-0)...

But let's face it: there aren't a whole bunch of comments or emails flooding in. And people aren't in dire pain, begging me to please - oh please, tell me how to write a blog post, or an email promo...!

Build a Better Blog: Going out of print...

In 2005 we published the first edition our premier blogging ebook: Build a Better Blog: The Ultimate Guide for Boosting Your Business with a Professional Blog. Later in 2005 the 2nd edition was introduced.  And now, we’re taking the ebook off the market. Gone. No more copies available…

Build a Better Blog (BaBB for short), and it’s companion of 25 Interviews with Successful Bloggers, has become one of the best known guides for setting up and optimizing a business blog with TypePad.

The current edition will be updated soon with new material. After Thursday, July 31, Edition 2 will not be available for sale. We suggest you get it now. Essentially you can pre-order the 3rd edition, because when you buy the BaBB ebook at the old price, you're entitled to free lifetime upgrades.

Writers Wanted: You can't do it all yourself

"Where can I find someone to write and edit my blog posts?" a colleague asked me this morning. That's a smart question. You can't do it all yourself. You can, but there's probably not enough time to service clients, make money, run a business and write on your blog. Get help.

The colleague who asked me this question is a great and prolific writer. He has more ideas and content than he has time to write up. A professional editor could turn his articles into dynamic blog posts that would make a huge difference in his search engine traffic.

But this takes time and energy. You have to look at keywords and be strategic with headlines.

Get someone who:

• Knows blogging (your platform system, whatever that is)
• Knows how to write
• Knows something about content marketing and writing to persuade
• Knows what a good headline is
• Is keyword savvy
• Knows something about your niche
• Has impeccable grammar and editing knowledge
• Has a journalist's nose for news
• Has personality and can be conversational in writing
  

Is Your Content Marketing Working for You? How do you know?

How do you know if your content is working for you? Everybody says they want more traffic, but quite frankly, traffic stats leave me scratching my head and saying "So what!"

Maybe it's because I'm not an analytical type, I prefer big picture thinking and gut feelings and intuition. But if I had a metric I could look at and be able to tell if my content is working, then maybe I'd become more analytical.

You know how those yearly physical exams give you a print out of your lab test and tell you if you're in the "normal" range or not? Why can't they have those for blogs? Or for ezines? Or for overall Web content marketing?

On Monday mornings, for example, you log into your Content Marketing Analytical Account and get a print out of how well your content has been doing:

• Ezine: ...75%
• Blog: ...82%
• Articles...56%
• Landing pages...
• White Paper...
• Free Report... etc. etc.

This software would compile all the results from your content including sales, referrals, downloads, subscriptions, and inquiries and give you an overall success rating. It would also tell you where you needed to make improvements.

Social Writing: Don't ignore networking sites

There's a lot of buzz online right now about whether or not one should use social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

Are these sites important for content marketing? You'll have to decide for yourself and for your business. But it sure does look like you can't ignore this trend.

I try to stick to writing topics on this blog, and our other blogs, BizTipsBlog and BuildaBetterBlog, focus on online marketing.

But let's face it: there's a lot of overlap when it comes to writing content to market your business. What you write on your blog can easily get pushed to your Facebook profile and to any other places you choose.

I'll be brief. Our friend and colleague Kathleen Gage has been writing a series of posts at www.themarketingmindset.com about social networking. Go read her recent post because what you learn may surprise you. Denise has also written about social sites a lot.

If you want to integrate all these new tools into an effective and time-saving marketing system for your business, register for our 4-week mentoring program The Law of Action 2.0 - Attract Clients and Build a Money-Making Business on the 'Net, starting July 1, 2008.

Related Posts:
Social Networks - Are they for you?
Don't become a social networking snob!
Twitter Feedback - Gotta love it!

How 2 Emails Changed My Life Forever...

Pivotal Moments…

I was thinking about something really scary last week. You see, I almost missed the boat with my business and I don’t want you to do the same.

Over five years ago I was sitting at home down in Mexico going through emails, deleting some, reading some, deleting, reading… you know what it’s like.

You sign up for newsletters and e-courses and get information overload; you sit there in a kind of hypnotic trance trying to sort out what’s good and what’s junk.

Depending on your mood, you actually read some of the marketing hype. Sometimes you get caught up believing a promise and once again sign up for a program, only to be disappointed later.

Same business, same lackluster sales, same size list, same income, month after month.

Find Out What Readers Want But Avoid Faulty Assumptions

We recently asked our ezine subscribers (Savvy eBiz Tips) if they prefer to get it weekly or every two weeks. The results were amazing...and misleading.

At first we got a lot of responses from readers who raved about the ezine, and how valuable the tips were, and how ours was one of the few they read every week. It would have been easy to smile, give ourselves a pat on the back, assume we were doing a good job and continue on our merry way.

After a few days we got other responses, about half of them saying weekly, then half of them voting for bi-weekly. And after about a week, the tally was clearly in favor of bi-weekly.

We realized that even if our voting tally was accurate, our survey would never be an accurate gauge of what all our readers wanted. With email, you have to account for the readers who don't open your message and don't answer the survey. Those are people that probably suffer the most from email overload, which was what we wanted to measure.

Ask Readers What to Write About

Use the Skribit voting poll on the right to tell me what you want me to write about. I'm experimenting with this new free voting tool.

It's fairly simple and easy to install on your blog. There are two options, one where readers have to register and log in to submit a suggestion, and the one here that allows anonymous suggestions. Click on the title "What Should I Write About" to make the box below active, type in your suggestion, hit submit and you'll see your suggestion appear.

We've installed a similar Skribit widget over on BizTips Blog, Denise's blog about Internet Marketing. But you'll have to register and log in to submit a suggestion or vote over there. We'll see which version works the best.

Of course, like any free tool on the Web, making it available to anonymous posters leaves your poll wide open to spammers, unscrupulous marketers who leave their own URLs, etc. We'll see how long it takes for this poll to be ruined! But I don't think any of my readers will abuse it, they're too savvy!

5 Blog Writing Lessons from the French Open Tennis Championships

I don't know if Rafael Nadal will win the French Open this year again, but I do know that every time I watch the top players compete, I learn something about blog writing.

Seriously, these are the kinds of things I think about when I go online to post on one of our blogs:

1. You've got to keep moving. When a topic is hot, you see a few hundred other posts about it, and you realize it's time to move on to something else.
2. Keep your eye on the ball. Never forget why people read your blog and why you started your blog in the first place. Stay on topic, deliver the winning shots.
3. Start strong with a fierce serve. Your first sentence may be the only thing a reader sees in a feed. Make it compelling.
4. Mix it up. If you're always being positive and cheery, write a few negative posts and criticize some commonly held practices or beliefs. People won't keep reading if you don't surprise them.
5. Never give up, stay in the game. Success is half persistence, half sweat. 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.

4 Ways to Boost a Business Blog: new free report

The Blog Squad releases our free report today: Better Business Blogging: 4 New Concepts for Getting Spectacular Results.

This is a great way to review your business blog for 4 key elements we call the CODA Blogging System:

The CODA System consists of:

1. Content: writing quality posts that educate, engage, and enrich the lives of readers
2. Outreach: building relationships with other bloggers to become part of a larger community
3. Design: the little things in a blog design that contribute towards creating trust and connection with readers
4. Action: getting readers to respond through persuasive writing, encouraging a conversation, and converting readers to loyal fans and clients

Better Business Blogging: 4 New Concepts for Getting Spectacular Results, is available for free at www.betterbizblogging.com.

(Whew! Denise and I have been working for such a long time to get this out the door. Can we hear a big Yahoo!!? Be sure to download your report today, it's worth the read. We'd love to get your feedback too.)