Writing on the Web from Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Formatting an Article Into Adobe PDF

This is the next step in our serial writing project. Take your full article, after it is edited, and convert it to an Adobe PDF file. This preserves your formatting and content across all computer systems so that it can't be distorted or changed.

It makes delivery of the document easier and more stable. You can also add some formatting to it for easier readability and attractiveness.

In your word document program you can create boxes with shading and create a title page. You can also create other boxes to highlight particular points in your articles. Make sure you also have any web sources linked before you convert it to PDF form.

Depending on the length and value, once it is formatted into a PDF file, you may wish to call it a special report, or an ebook which can be either given away as a bonus for signing up or subscribing to your newsletter, or sold.

Previous posts on serial writing:

Serial Writing Formula: 1+5+2=7+1

Confessionals of a Serial Writer

Make a List of 5 Key Points

Summarize your List & Ask Readers

Editing your Blog Posts as Articles

Editing the Full Article from Your blog Posts

Editing the Full Article from Your Blog Posts

Continuing our series of blog posts about writing articles that can be used for many purposes (ezines, blogs, article directories, special reports), we come to the next part: how to edit the full article after you have created several stand alone articles from your blog posts.

Edit the full article: gather each individual article and copy and paste it into a word doc, with each headline but minus the resource box. You can keep the headline for each article if you wish, and break each article into sections with a line separating them. The resource box is included at the end.

Of, if you wish, you can delete the headlines, and rewrite it into one stand alone full article. This is more work, because you'll have to change the beginning paragraph of each of the individual articles where you explain the context. Your choice.

The most important part of editing the full article - besides writing a captivating headline - is the summary and the conclusion. I'll review why here:

Editing Your Blog Posts as Articles

After you've posted daily on your key points of a concept, and written a summary with a call to action, it's time to gather the individual posts together and edit them as stand alone articles.

Since they are already written, this isn't difficult to do. You must keep in mind, however, that you are developing individual articles that you can use for multiple purposes. They must "stand alone" so you  want to briefly explain the context of each step and how it benefits your readers.

A primary purpose of editing your blog posts is to make them clear to people who read them without any prior knowledge of who you are. Edit for brevity and clarity as much as for grammar and typos.

Cut out all extra words. Ask yourself "so what?" at each paragraph; keep being clear about what's in it for the reader.

Summarize Your List & Ask Readers

After you've written daily on your blog about each main point in your article, you need to review, summarize, and ask your readers for something.

For example, on Monday I introduced my formula for a serial writing project:

1 concept = 5 points + intro + summary = 7 articles + 1 PDF report

On Tuesday, I made my confession about why I love serial writing (saves time and energy, produces multiple articles, blog posts and special reports).

On Wednesday, I revealed the "Make a List" tip for breaking down any article into doable chunks.

This post is reviewing the steps for serial writing and summarizing. Remember that your summary serves a greater purpose than just reminding readers what they have learned so far.

Here are two real reasons a summary is important:

Newsletter Nuggets: May 17, 2007
...tips and tricks for writing great ezines and blogs

1. A Note from Patsi: What Are Your Ezine Goals?
2. Blogging & Beyond Mentor Program: Help for Your Marketing Blues
3. June 07 Featured Article: The Leadership Void - The Problem That Isn't Going Away
4. What's New on the Blogs?

A note from Patsi -

What is the goal of your ezine? Is it to inform, educate, establish credibility and trust? Or maybe entertain? Obviously you want it to bring clients your way, but how do you do that?

What is the marketing goal? "Relationships," says Chris Baggott, author of Email Marketing by the Numbers. "The goal of all organizations is a better relationship with their constituents."

Baggott is a founder of Exact Target, a large provider of email marketing services, and his book was recently published by John Wiley. I had the privilege of contributing two articles to this book.

Chris Baggott is an expert in email marketing, so I was pleased to participate. He makes a big point that writing email marketing messages should be all about building relationships with readers. Unfortunately, most email marketing and ezines don't do a good job of that.

In chapter two Baggott asks the question, Is Email the Perfect Marketing Tool? I contributed an article titled "Email is Dead, Long Live Email." I discuss the evolution of email newsletters and 'new rules' for successful ezines.

Make a List of 5 Key Points

The key to writing multiple articles for your blog, ezine, web pages and marketing purposes is to start with a good list of 3-5 key points. My previous two posts on this explained the time and energy saving advantages.

This is not to mean you don't have to do any research or reading on your topic. It depends on how well you know your subject. If you know the topic well, it's easy to break down a concept into 3-5 elements.

Here's my 5 point list for any serial writing project:

1. Start with an idea that will benefit your readers
2. Break it down to 3-5 steps or key elements
3. Write an introduction to the article that includes the problem/solution, benefits to the reader, and your list
4. Post about each point in your list on your blog
5. After the final point, summarize and review, and remind readers why this is important to them and what they can do next

That's it. Writing the points as a daily blog post helps you to be short and to the point. Also, blog writing tends to be more informal and personal. For me that helps stay away from academic jargon or language that's formal or convoluted.

Posting daily breaks the full article down into doable chunks. This helps you avoid writing blocks or procrastination because you have a writing plan: you have your list.

At the end of a week, you have several chunks you can gather together to form a full article.

Previous posts:

Serial Writing Formula: 1+5+2=7+1


Confessionals of a Serial Writer

Confessions of a Serial Writer

I'm not sure when it began or who's to blame, but at some point in my writing career I got lazy. Or maybe I got smart. I started skipping the long research on a topic and reading up on its history. I just started making a list of main points and then writing out a couple of sentences on each item.

I think I got the idea from Jeff Herring, The Article Guy, who said if you can write a 7 item grocery list, you can write a good article. Now Jeff teaches article writing for people who struggle with writing and have a hard time coming up with stuff.

That's not my problem. I love writing - but my problem is writing too much. Anyone with a doctorate suffers from the same disease. Dissertation-itis. Nobody has time to read all those words anymore, especially not online.

That's when I fell in love with the "Make a List" writing school. Their theory is anything worth reading can be written in a list of bulleted points.

I confess, I've taken the list building approach to an extreme. I've become a serial writer.

I wish I could say that it's the cure for writer's block, or that it'll turn your work into Internet gold. I will proclaim it to be a rousing success for saving you time and energy whenever you're faced with writing for your ezine, blog, web pages, press releases, and even white papers.

Here's how to start a serial writing project: (in list form, of course)

Serial Writing Formula: 1=5+2=7+1

I'm no math genius, nor do I even think remotely like that in analytical terms. But once in a while I stumble upon something that makes sense, saves time, and produces exponential results.

I'm talking about serial writing. You take one main concept, break it down into a list of 5 key elements, write an introductory overview, write a concluding summary, and here's what you get:

7 stand-alone articles to post on your blog and to submit to article directories
1 longer article you can include on your website, ezine, and format into a PDF special report to sell or give away as a bonus.

1 idea = 5 points + intro + summary = 7 articles + 1 PDF report

Here's why I like to do this:

Internet TV: Coming to a Blog Near You

Denise just posted info about our Thursday Blogging and Beyond radio show with Roxanne Darling, Are You the Next TV Star?

Check out Roxanne's TV show over at BuildaBetterBlog.com.  At the end of her show each day, Roxanne leaves a clue and you can call into the radio show and claim a prize.

Really cool, spending a few minutes on a beach with the lovely Roxanne, waves and Hawaiian music in the background... What will we be able to do next on our blogs? Your choice!

New Rules of Internet Marketing & PR

We just learned that The Blog Squad is mentioned in a new book by David Meerman Scott: The New Rules of Marketing & PR. What an honor...you can see a list of all the others included and we're in great company!

Scott writes an excellent blog called Web Ink Now, about online thought leadership and viral marketing. We've sent Scott an invitation to be a guest on Blogging and Beyond.  Stay tuned...

We just learned that The Blog Squad is mentioned in a new book by David Meerman Scott: The New Rules of Marketing & PR. What an honor...you can see a list of all the others included and we're in great company!

Scott writes an excellent blog called Web Ink Now, about online thought leadership and viral marketing. We've sent Scott an invitation to be a guest on Blogging and Beyond.  Stay tuned...