Writing on the Web from Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Better Blog Writing: Deadline for Blog Squad Coaching Group

There's one seat left for our small coaching group that starts in August; tonight at midnight the early bird discount and bonus offer is off the table. This is an exclusive group for advanced business blogging strategies.

Denise and I will work with you to make sure you get the maximum results for your business blog, whatever your blog goals are.

This is a home-improvement, get-your-keyboard-dirty workshop, no slackers allowed. If you put in the time to improve your blog, you will see results. For info: visit www.theblogsquad.net/BBB.

Copywriting & Sales: Leading Challenge for Web Writers, Poll Results Show

Writing sales copy is the biggest challenge in our informal poll of writing challenges, after a week of open voting on this blog.

1. Writing sales and promo copy:                         30.8%
2. Writing articles, newsletters, & white papers:  23.1%
3. Writing news/press releases & web pages:       15.4%
4. Writing blog posts:                                           7.7%

What does this mean? This is far from a scientifically valid survey because voting is only from readers of this blog who may have biases and are not a representative sample of the general population. But we're not interested in the general population, anyway.

My purpose in running this survey was to be able to direct some information to readers that would be most helpful to them, and address my readers' biggest needs.

And you know what? I can do that now. Copywriting and sales or promotional messages can be one of the most difficult writing tasks a business person faces. Even more so now that many of us write our own sales copy for the Web, not having big budgets to hire expensive copywriters.

There are many sites on the web that sell copywriting courses and provide information for that purpose. I have a big problem with many of them, and I don't know if you do too, but here's my beef:

The big names in Internet copywriting are all very good marketers: that's how they got to have big names and big salaries. But they all have big egos that go with it and I am fed up with all the ego-centric hype that goes with the terrain.

White Papers: You're Invited to San Diego for a Writing Workshop

It doesn't get better than this: learn from  White Paper guru Michael Stelzner while overlooking Mission Bay in San Diego on a Friday in September. Then stay for a weekend of pleasure at the Mission Bay Hyatt. We can even have lunch together!

Won't you join me September 21 for a hands-on workshop to learn to write great white papers? Forget about staying on Mission Bay, the great weather here, and all that. If you must, to justify the expense, think about growing your business the smart way with intelligent, relationship-based white paper marketing.

I've taking upon myself to learn how to write my own white papers, because they are so effective at lead generation, and because it's very expensive to outsource to a writing specialist.

Here's why white papers are so important for your business:

White papers are one of the most complex (and rewarding) writing projects you will likely ever undertake. They're expensive to outsource, so I'm learning to write my own, and you should too.

White papers also happen to be one of the most sought-after resources by prospects, according numerous studies by MarketingSherpa, CMO Council and KnowledgeStorm.

If you register before next Tuesday, July 31st at midnight, you'll get the early bird discount. This workshop will more than pay for itself in valuable writing skills that you can use to grow your business.

It's what you need to learn to write if you want to get new clients based on intelligent, well-researched, relationship marketing.

For more information, visit Michael's White Paper Seminar page here. The Mission Bay Hyatt is just gorgeous, so you can combine a weekend with a tax-deductible business expense.

To learn more about why this is so important, we interviewed Michael on Blogging and Beyond radio. Michael also revealed important information in a white paper teleseminar last month. You can get the CD here.

Misspellings, their our plenty and their impotent

I really wish this blog post over at Daily Writing Tips had been a contest to see how many mistakes you can catch. From the title to the ending, there are plenty of misspellings and misuses of simple common words.  How many can you catch?

A great post on why you need to read, re-read and proofread before you click the save or publish button. I'd tell you who the author is, but it's not apparent on the site. Daniel Scocco, is Editor of Daily Writing Tips.

The Impotence of Proofreading

Its a fact that a spell checker will not catch all the mistakes on your text. More specifically, it will not catch misspellings that form other valid words.

So how do you solve this problem? Proofreading, of coarse!

The Telephone: Do we need to go back to using it?

Blogging and Beyond Internet radio show with The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., and Denise Wakeman: July 26, 2007, 3:00 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET)

With Guest Expert: Wendy Weiss, author of Cold Calling for Women, Opening Doors & Closing Sales

Email is losing its effectiveness as a means to get leads. Smart business professionals are now going back to the telephone to get leads, get appointments, and grow business. But many savvy people admit to having telephone terror and don't know how to cold call effectively. Learn how to open doors and close sales using effective telephone strategies and turn your calls into cash.

The Blog Squad interviews Wendy Weiss, the "Queen of Cold Calling" and author of Cold Calling for Women, Opening Doors & Closing Sales.

Use this link to listen live on the air at 6:00 p.m. ET on July 26.

Blogging and Beyond Internet radio show with The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., and Denise Wakeman: July 26, 2007, 3:00 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET)

With Guest Expert: Wendy Weiss, author of Cold Calling for Women, Opening Doors & Closing Sales

Email is losing its effectiveness as a means to get leads. Smart business professionals are now going back to the telephone to get leads, get appointments, and grow business. But many savvy people admit to having telephone terror and don't know how to cold call effectively. Learn how to open doors and close sales using effective telephone strategies and turn your calls into cash.

The Blog Squad interviews Wendy Weiss, the "Queen of Cold Calling" and author of Cold Calling for Women, Opening Doors & Closing Sales.

Use this link to listen live on the air at 6:00 p.m. ET on July 26.

Voting Polls Are Open: Writing and Blog Tasks

As you can see to the left, writing sales copy leads as the most challenging of writing tasks. Personally, I agree, although if more voters knew about what goes into writing a white paper, that too would get plenty of votes.

What about blog challenges? Denise and I are running a poll over on Build a Better Blog to find out what your most challenging tasks are with business blogs. Why don't you go vote for your 2 biggest blog concerns?

Great Blog Content: 4 Writing Pillars

I ran across this wise blog post last week over on Problogger, by a guest author Leo Babauta from Zen Habits: 4 Pillars of Writing Exceptional Blogs.

While there are many things that go into great blogs, content is THE most important. Denise and I are preparing for our advanced business blogging class coming up, and we outline 4 areas that are key to business blogs:

Content, Outreach, Design and Action. There's a reason Content is first. You can't have a good blog without great content.

Here are Babuta's 4 Pillars of Writing Exceptional Blogs:

Pillar 1: Be extremely useful

Pillar 2: Write great headlines

Pillar 3: Make the post scannable

Pillar 4: Write in a plain, concise, common-sense style

The key is to focus on your readers and give them what they want. Your blog becomes more powerful if you omit the noise and leave the signal. Do this, and your reader will not only read the post, but will likely stick around long enough to become a long-term reader.

Actually, when you think about it, these four pillars stand for other writing tasks: articles, ezines, white papers - even sales copy and advertorials. Do you agree?

News Release Heaven: How to get there

They say the more you do something, the bigger your muscles get and the easier it is. Writing news releases has always been heavy lifting for me.

Somehow, using the mental imagery technique I described in the post "Writing: How the first sentence is like the serve in tennis," I cranked out 3 press releases yesterday without much struggle.

Maybe this stuff really works: deep breathing and telling myself I'm really good at this. Or, just maybe, all of the online studying on how to write a press release has kicked in.

Like most things in life, success is usually preceded by doing something poorly and practicing the hell out of it. It helps to have good teachers and coaches along the way.

My press release writing teacher is Joan Stewart, aka The Publicity Hound.  Joan actually gives away her knowledge about writing good news releases in an email tutorial, "89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases." You can learn from her too if you sign up, it's free. 

Writing: how the first sentence is like the serve in tennis

There's a moment just before the serve in tennis that I stand tall, take a deep breath, and look squarely at my opponent. In that second, I say to myself "I'm a good player; I've got a great serve: here goes one of my best serves now." In microseconds, I replay the entire body and racket movements as I toss the ball high in front and to my right. It seems to work, at least some of the time.

I always say if you've got a great serve, your other strokes don't matter as much. And with writing, if you've got a great opening - headline, first sentence, first paragraph - the rest will flow. If your opening is strong then the rest doesn't matter as much.

I've always done some version of mental imagery, but was recently inspired to renew this physical and mental meditation when I saw the film "The Way of the Peaceful Warrior." In it, the young gymnast stands tall with a fist extended in the air before he begins his routine. In that moment, you can see his confidence and determination as he mentally begins his work.

I'm now starting to apply this exercise to writing when faced with tasks that are not appetizing to me. News releases are the most difficult, probably because they tend to be more routine and less creative.

If I can sit tall, face the computer screen with an air of confidence and then repeat some affirmation, it will be easier: "I'm a good journalist; I love writing news releases. They inspire creativity in me. I'm writing a good one now."

Your turn: what gets you going when faced with a challenging writing task?

Video Made Easy: Mike Stewart Goes Beyond Blogging

"Internet Audio & Video for the Rest of Us"

Blogging and Beyond with The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., and Denise Wakeman
With Guest Expert: Mike Stewart, www.InternetAudioGuy.com

July 19th, 2007, 3:00 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET)

Audio and video has become relatively simple to record and edit for the non-techy businessperson. Clips are easy to upload to websites and blogs giving you the ability to showcase your expertise and products. Learn how to create powerful connections with your site visitors with audio/visual marketing and sales tools that anyone can master. The Blog Squad interviews Mike Stewart, www.InternetAudioGuy.com .

Use this link to listen live on the air at 6:00 p.m. ET on July 19.

"Internet Audio & Video for the Rest of Us"

Blogging and Beyond with The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., and Denise Wakeman
With Guest Expert: Mike Stewart, www.InternetAudioGuy.com

July 19th, 2007, 3:00 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET)

Audio and video has become relatively simple to record and edit for the non-techy businessperson. Clips are easy to upload to websites and blogs giving you the ability to showcase your expertise and products. Learn how to create powerful connections with your site visitors with audio/visual marketing and sales tools that anyone can master. The Blog Squad interviews Mike Stewart, www.InternetAudioGuy.com .

Use this link to listen live on the air at 6:00 p.m. ET on July 19.