Simplicity, Clarity, Singleness: Goals for Bloggers to Achieve
February 25, 2010
Every day I receive an email with motivational quote from HeartMath and I’ve saved many of them because they resonated at a particular time in my life. Last week, I received this one and it seemed totally appropriate for bloggers, so let me share it with you:
“Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy.”
—– Richard Halloway
As I originally wrote for The Bloggers’ Bulletin , these are the attributes that bloggers strive for in their writing. I know that I do. Sometimes I find myself including too much information in a post. And I especially think that trying to stuff a post with key words so the search engines can find you can ruin a post – from the readers’ perspective.
This applies to large businesses, too, that have the resources to research the information needs of their customers. Maybe the words customers use are not the words the company is using in its advertising and promotional materials — and this includes blogs. What is great about blogging by companies is that they can generate immediate feedback from customers, if you hit their hot buttons — or key words.
Whether you are writing for yourself or your employer, ask yourself these questions: Are the key words really relevant to your content? Are you writing for your readers with simplicity and clarity? Are you articulating one key idea in the post that is easy for the readers to understand? Is the idea likely to stir comments from readers?
It’s easy to get discouraged when a brilliantly written blog (in your view) falls flat with readers. Let’s all keep at it with a will to getting better and enthusiasm for our ideas. I will leave you with another quote that I hope will make your blogging a happy and productive experience.
“Begin growing from where you are – not from where others think you ought to be by now.”
—— Steven Douglas Lawrence
Should Google Tamper With its Brand for the Olympics?
February 18, 2010
Have you noticed – how could you miss it – that the familiar Google logo is nowhere to be seen on the search engine’s landing page? Instead, a soft green Google logo, with a sports figure matching the day’s events at the Winter Olympics, has replaced the colorful one that about a billion searchers see each day.
If you’re a sports fan, you may love it. But a lot of people actually hate it (OK, maybe my friend is not representative of the universe). They want the familiar Google. And, remember, not everyone is a sports fan.
But there is a larger issue here: should a company tamper with its brand identity when it is the category leader? Read more
11 Tips to Improve Employee Motivation, Employee Satisfaction & Employee Retention
February 16, 2010
Praise promotes employee motivation
The idea for this article came from a conversation I just had with a friend who works for one of the largest companies and best-known brands in the world. Yet the company sucks at employee motivation. If they haven’t got it figured out, then heaven’s knows many other companies are still in the dark, too, about what kinds of things motivate employees and that lead to employee satisfaction and retention. He gave me a couple of examples that were almost laughable.
Make More Money Through Employee Engagement
February 13, 2010
Yet another study finds that effective employee engagement drives financial performance. So let’s keep hammering home that two-way communication with employees is key to a company’s success. It isn’t just something touch-feely that can be dispensed with when times are bad. Shouldn’t employees just be happy they have a job? No. Engaging your employees during a recession and making them part of the solution can be a measurable competitive advantage. Benefits consulting firm Watson Wyatt (now Towers Watson) makes the case in its study, “Capitalizing on Effective Communication: How Courage, Innovation and Discipline Drive Business Results in Challenging Times” . Here is what they learned.
Writers as “Curators” of Communication; Is the Term Journalist Passé?
February 9, 2010
It’s enlightening to hear a respected professor at the prestigious Journalism School of Columbia University say he doesn’t know what journalism is going to look like in five years. Join the club. Read more
Social Media Experts That I Trust
February 6, 2010
This post is adapted from an article that I wrote for The Bloggers’ Bulletin
When I embarked on my journey as a blogger last year, I began to search out sources of information and inspiration on the web. Over time, I discovered a number of people who, by most accounts, are considered social media experts on blogging, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I get feeds from most of them and I also regularly visit a number of other social media sites. Read on for my list of favorites. Read more
Annual Report Time: Don’t Forget Your Employees in Communication With Shareholders
February 3, 2010
Well, PR Departments in public companies are surely beginning work on their annual reports. They can smell spring in the air – when these symbols of capitalism come rolling off the presses once more. In a reprise of my past admonitions, with a few additions, I implore writers and designers to keep a few things in mind. Read more