Archive for Writing
How to Write a Blog Post
Posted by: | CommentsAs you know, if you’re a subscriber or frequent visitor, I’m passionate about blogging. I believe a blog can be the centerpiece of a company’s social media strategy.
But writing a blog post is different from writing, say, an ad or product flyer. A blog is an informal conversation with your readers. You’ve got to put your personality into a blog. Visitors want to know what you stand for and your honest opinions about things – both good and bad.
Stick Your Neck Out
When writing a blog, stick your neck out
You’ve got to stick your neck out a little and risk offending. You don’t want to be hurtful, but as an example, in my post about Home Depot, I wanted the company to know that the needs of Manhattan residents without cars are different from folks who live in the ‘burbs with big minivans to haul things away from the store. I guess they’ll never hire me to write a blog for them, but that’s the chance I took.
In social media, you hear the term “authenticity” all the time. You’ve got to be authentic in everything you write and every connection you make. There’s just too much information out there about you to get away with half-truths or exaggerations.
Informal Rules of the Road
So what would a blog post be without a list? Here’s mine about writing a blog:
- Be authentic. Say what you mean and mean what you say. You’re building relationships and you want them to last.
- Write in the first person. Remember when you were a kid, your parents taught you that humility is a virtue and don’t use the “I” word too often. In journalism school, you were taught to write objectivity. Leave yourself out of it. Blogging turns that rule on its head. Whether editorializing is correct in a news organization’s reporting is a story for another post.
- Respect your readers. Don’t talk down to them. Try to understand and respond to their information needs. Ask for their feedback. You’ll learn a lot that way.
- Respond to comments. If someone is nice enough to comment, send a thank-you note either via a reply in the post, or with a quick email.
- Don’t stuff your post with key words. You want readers to find your posts – if no one reads a story, does it exist? So naturally you use key words to attract visitors. But if you’re writing about social media, don’t use the term in every sentence. That’s called keyword stuffing and readers are smart enough to know it and tune you out – maybe forever.
- Make it readable. Break up copy into short takes with headlines. Make it easy for your readers to get through your copy. I read a ton of blogs and when I get to a site and all I see are long paragraphs of dense, small type with no sub-heads, bold face or graphics, I don’t stay long.
- Write with emotion. This may sound strange. But really enjoy what you’re writing about. Put yourself into it with gusto. Laugh a little if you’re writing a post primarily to entertain. Feel the pain if you’re writing about a serious subject like the misery of the people displaced by the tsunami in Japan. It’s called empathy and your readers will embrace you for it.
Thanks for visiting. I really appreciate it.
Zemanta is the Blogger’s Virtual Assistant
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve been using Zemanta for quite a while, but in case you are a blogger and don’t know about it, click on the link below for a 60-second tutorial. It’s a Firefox Extension and WP plugin. I just installed an update and it inspired me to write this post.
Image via CrunchBase
When you begin to write, Zemanta pops up in the right margin. As you flush out your copy Zemanta will show you images that you can drag into your post — like the Zemanta image here. Below the Media Gallery are articles on the topic. For example, for this post up popped these headlines, “Zemanta for Better Content and More Traffic”, “Blogging with Zemanta” and several others. You can go in and see what other people are writing and possibly use a citation in your article or list them below your blog as further references for your readers.
Zemanta also enables you to include links to names of companies or topics you mention — see the link above — without having to search for the link on the web. Zemanta is a neat tool that will enhance your blog and save you time.
Zemanta in 60 Seconds from zemanta on Vimeo.
P.S. As my friend and colleague Bea Fields points out below, there is also a WordPress plugin for Zemanta.
11 Types of Blogs To Generate Web Traffic and Please Your Readers
Posted by: | CommentsThere are more different types of blog posts than I can count on my fingers and toes. Tone of voice is important, too. For example, if you’re writing for a business audience, should you use humor in your blog posts? Will your readers think you aren’t serious?
The question you first need to ask yourself, “What is the objective of this article?” If you’re writing to entertain, then it’s OK to use humor. And, yes, business people like humor, too.
When writing about a serious subject such as unrest in the middle East and its implications for business, though, humor would be out of place.
I’ve concluded that many posts fit into the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How Come formula that I learned in journalism class that guided me as a business reporter. See if your posts answer at least one of these interrogatives. It will help to give your blog focus.
The Blog Post List
1. How to. People always want to learn how to do things better, faster, cheaper, safer. How-to blogs appeal to every demographic. Want to learn how to mow your lawn? Head over to Consumer Reports.
2. Promoting a Cause. You may feel passionate about a cause. A particular passion of mine is women and heart disease. I could make the case about why my readers should join the Go Red campaign to educate women on the risks of heart disease.
3. Analysis. In this type of post you can demonstrate your expertise by including your own opinions and those of other experts – linking to authority sites also boosts your SEO. I wrote one recently entitled “The New Leadership Paradigm: Rule by Community” that described the spontaneous formation of new communities of leaders made possible by the power of the Internet. This type of post is also called a Roundup.
4. Reviews. What’s your field? Has an expert written a new book you can review? I just downloaded the Kindle version of Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book “The Thank You Economy” and will write a review after I read it.
5. Q&A. This a great way to conduct an interview with a guest. You can make life easy for readers who don’t like a lot of dense copy. Also, it’s more personal. I interviewed Pat Weber for three blogs that I posted on the elevator speech. She interviewed me for her site and then we decided to turn these posts into an ebook, “Repairing the Elevator Speech to Burnish Your Personal Brand,” which is available to new subscribers of Write Speak Sell.
6. Entertainment. Some blogs are simply meant to entertain. They can be about serious topics – like a lack of service that I experienced at Home Depot in a post “Don’t Forget to Bring Your Own Saw to Home Depot” but written with humor with the primary purpose to entertain your readers.
7. Promotional. You may have a new product or service that you feel the world can’t live without. Write a post – but don’t be too sales-y. Remember that the reader is always asking “What’s in it for me?”
8. Lists. Like this one on blog posts. How about a list of what you consider to be the best books on leadership, or recipes for apple pie?
9. Inspirational. Posts that ask people to be better citizens, to follow their passions in life, to tap their inner spirit are examples of topics that will hopefully inspire your readers to action – and make you feel better, too.
10. Problem/Solution. A demonstrated winner. I wrote a post a while back “Why Can’t WordPress Tutorials be Written in Language for Regular People? I received a lot of comments and I was most gratified by this one, “This was so helpful!!! I’ve been trying to figure this out for almost 24 hours!!! …LOL.”
11. Instructional. I recently wrote a post entitled “How to Insert the Name of Your Website into Your LinkedIn Profile” that received many thank-you’s. So simple, but many LinkedIn users don’t know how – just take a look at some profiles.
Do you have a favorite type of post? What have I left out?
Make it Easier to Comment on Your Blogs and Websites — and Ditch Captcha
Posted by: Jeannette Paladino | Comments (9)I subscribe to quite a few blogs, including social media experts such as Darren Rouse at ProBlogger and Michael Steltzner at Social Media Examiner. Or, I’ll stumble on a website when I’m doing a Google search. If I have something I’d like to add to the discussion I leave a comment. The problem is — I often can’t easily locate where to do that. So, please make it easier for me to comment.
Image via Wikipedia
Most blogs enable you to scroll to the bottom where there is a box for comments. But there may be dozens of comments before yours — your scroll wheel gets a real workout and I, and others, may lose interest before getting there. I just copied this from a popular site –
Showing 98 comments
Ugh! I guess I should ask myself why would I want to comment there, anyway.
As a result of this informal research, I added “Leave a comment” right next to my byline at the top of my post. So if someone is so inclined, s/he can click and leave a comment without scrolling down. Or, there is still the comment box at the end of the post. Two easy choices.
What ARE Those Letters?
Anyway, enough griping. I need time to go leave some comments.