Writing on the Web from Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Blog Squad Events: What we're teaching in February

Ever feel like you don't know what month it is, let alone what day? I have to write these things down otherwise I'll miss showing up! Good thing these are all delivered by phone so I can still be in my tennis clothes...Here's a quick tour of what you can learn with us in February...

Today, February 7, our mentor, Tom Antion is hosting a teleseminar on how to create video landing pages. He's presenting this timely program with Mike Stewart The Audio Video Guy. You always get more than you pay for on Tom's classes and I'm sure this will be no exception. You also get a free CD of the class when you register so if you can't make the live event, you won't miss a thing.  We'll definitely be there since video continues to be all the rage and it's a medium we're working on mastering.

February 13: We're interviewing Steven Van Yoder, author of Get Slightly Famous, for our Blogging and Beyond Mentor Program. This program about how to create and manage your online reputation is for members only and anyone can join and attend this important class with our $9.95 30-day trial.

February 21: Social Media TeleSummit. This is an 8 day event featuring 26 sessions all about social media and how you can use it for your business. 

Healthy Hearts for Women...

It's American Heart Month in February. I normally don't post about such things here, but being aware of how fragile the heart can be is crucial.  Here's why...

In April 2005 I just got back from a trip with my husband to Singapore. The return trip was grueling and took 22 hours. I noticed I couldn't sleep but marked it off to insomnia. The next day at home I woke up with a severe headache and vomiting. Thinking I had picked up some sort of Asian bug, I took a taxi to the doctor's.

The doctor put a stethoscope to my heart and immediately called an ambulance. My heart had gone into fibrillation, a kind of spasm. I spent 18 hours in the Emergency room at the hospital.

Here I was a healthy, athletic woman with low to average blood pressure and no weight problem or history of heart problems. I never had a clue that this was a serious sign of heart failure. I thought I had just eaten something funny.

Women experience different heart symptoms than men when having a heart attack. If I had just waited it out at home, it could have been a very different story.

Be sure your heart is healthy with regular check ups, a healthy diet and good exercise! Mama Patsi says so...;-)

If you'd like to contribute to the American Heart Association, here's a cute red dress pin they've created to celebrate the 5th year of their Heart Awareness program for women... The Heart Truth for Women Campaign...

Email Marketing: a list of resources

I don't publish much anymore about ezines and email marketing. Not that they aren't important; they are. It's  hard to keep up with the tech side of this knowledge base. I'd like to direct you to a list of resources for newsletter and email marketing, everything from testing, deliverability, design, spam, etc.

Visit this post and have fun reading this quite comprehensive list of resources: 100+ tools & tutorials to optimize your email marketing campaigns.

Be a Journalist: Great Marketing Advice for 2008

"Become a journalist," advises John Jantsch, of Duct Tape Marketing. That's his best marketing secret shared on Anita Campbell's blog Small Business Trends.

“... no, I’m not really suggesting that you join the staff of some publication, but the acceptance of new media tools like blogs and podcasts has turned the marketing tables - so take advantage of the allure of a reporter and start a blog and podcast and request interviews with industry leaders, community leaders, authors and maybe even your biggest prospects.

Instead of asking for a meeting to demonstrate your product, ask to feature your prospect in your next blog or podcast episode. You will automatically change your status in their eyes, increase your role as an expert and create great content for your marketing materials.”

This is something Denise and I have done over the last six years. We interview experts on both free and for-fee teleseminars.

Next week, for example, we're interviewing Steven van Yoder, about how to Get Slightly Famous, his trademarked message and book, for our Blogging and

Publishing books online: one author's experience

This story comes from John Kremer's Book Marketing Bestsellars Blog by way of David Kirkpatrick's Fast Forward blog at Fortune.com. Unfortunately we don't have the link to the original interview and story.

Author Paulo Coelho is convinced that publishing entire digital versions of his books have boosted his book sales which are now at 100 million books a year. If you are an author and are "afraid" to publish your chapters online, for fear of diminishing sales, you should read this.

In 1999, best-selling author Paulo Coelho, who wrote The Alchemist, was failing in Russia. That year he sold only about 1,000 books, and his Russian publisher dropped him. But after he found another, Coelho took a radical step. On his own Web site, launched in 1996, he posted a digital Russian copy of The Alchemist.