Writing on the Web from Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

5 Ways to Enrich Your Blog Posts

Business blog authors love writing on blogs since it’s so quick and easy. You can usually post in 20-30 minutes and be done with it. That’s a great use of your marketing time, and you provide readers with valuable content to market your business.

But while ‘quick and easy’ is great, sometimes it’s not enough. Denise and I recommend you write at least one rich and meaty post a week. Stimulate your readers to think. Be profound. Go deep.

“Oh no,” you might be saying. “More time to spend on blogging!”

It gets even worse: here’s another “E” writing tip! Enrich your blog posts! First it was the 3E’s - Educate, Entertain and Engage readers.

Now there are 4 E’s! Educate, Entertain, Engage and Enrich with your blog posts!

How do you enrichen your post? Here are 5 ways. But don’t expect to be writing and posting in 20 minutes. This takes time to read, research, find quotes, and to link back to sources.

4 Questions a blog post should ask and answer

This is a follow up to yesterday's post Educate Your Readers, about the four different learning styles of blog readers.

Why this is important: Because you want your blog posts to educate, entertain, and engage readers of your business blog. What do you need to remember when writing a post that's designed to educate?

According to the 4MAT system on www.aboutlearning.com, when you are educating people you need to appeal to four different kinds of learning styles:

1. Imaginative learners
2. Analytic learners
3. Common sense learners
4. Dynamic learners

How does this translate into blog writing for your business? Think in terms of the questions each type of learner would be asking as they read your blog post:

1. Why?
2. What?
3. How?
4. What if?

Educate your readers: 4 ways people learn

Remember the 3 E’s of Better Business Blogging? It's my short hand memory checklist before publishing a blog post: Educate, Entertain, & Engage readers.

You write to educate, entertain and engage readers when you want to build readerships and get great results with your blogging.

When it comes to educating readers, it’s important to take a page out of teachers’ notebooks. Teachers know that not all people learn the same way.

Most of us teach in the style we’re most familiar with: our own learning styles. If you’re analytical, you’ll teach using data. Your blog readers will understand and learn well if they’re like you.

But not all readers are the same. Denise is an active experimenter. She wants to know how to do something and needs to try it out before she learns something.

I’m probably more of a conceptualizer: I’ve got to sit and think about something a while. It also helps when there are visuals so I can see how it works.

Content Marketing Blogs: We made the list!

Joe Pulizzi of Junta42 announces his Top 42 Blogs for content marketing this week, and WritingontheWeb.com, this blog, went from #25 to #24! He's getting more stringent on qualifications so I consider myself lucky indeed.

What I like most about this list is the company: these are all great blogs with a lot to say about how your content markets your business. You could spend a week reading each one and come out with an MBA in content marketing!

Congrats to Brian Clark at Copyblogger.com for taking the 1st spot.  Also congrats to the other Top 5, including Lee Odden, Brian Solis, Newt Barrett and Ardath Albee.

Here's a link to Joe's Junta 42 blog post announcing the updated list.

Brian Clark and the Secret to Life

If you haven't read Copyblogger Brian Clark's story The Snowboard, the Subdural Hemotoma and the Secret to Life yet, do so now. This is what I refer to as telling your story and capturing the hearts of readers. But be prepared to be moved...

Cornerstone Content for Better Business Blogging

Do you know what I think most business blogs are missing? A clearly defined key post that explains:

• what the blog author’s core message is
• what the blog author’s story is and why they are blogging
• what the blog author really values and cares about
• what the blog author gets angry about

I call this Cornerstone Content. Others call it pillar posts, flagship content, core content.

It needs to be featured on special stand alone page(s). You announce it in a side-bar notice and link to it so that first time visitors know exactly where they can read your cornerstone message.

3 Blog Squad Interviews on this week's calendar

Denise and I will be putting on our Blog Squad pink and preaching the Blogspell to a variety of teleseminar and radio audiences this week. Mark your calendars:

• Tuesday May 6, 2008 at 8 pm ET: Interview with Ellen Britt of Marketing Qi- Blogging to Gain Expert Status (we always include new information in our signature teleclass - no two classes are the same)
  FREE - Register here: www.marketingqi.com/blogsquad
  
• Thursday May 8, 2008 @ 12 pm ET: interview with Lorraine Cohen on Powerfull Living Radio – www.blogtalkradio/PowerfullLiving
  
  Thursday May 8, 2008 @ 2 pm ET: Sharon Capehart interviews us on BlogTalkRadio Power Up for Women -  www.blogtalkradio.com/SharonCapehart/

Content Marketing for Consultants: How Michael got more business than he can handle

Many of the professionals I work with providing newsletter services (www.CustomizedNewsletters.com) are highly educated consultants and executive coaches who make their living by delivering information, coaching and training services to others in organizations.

In other words, they're independent service professionals who are hired by businesses to create great results: like my friend Michael who markets his business writing services to corporations. In 2003, Mike had a problem because of the economy at that time. Businesses were pulling in the reins on hiring outside consultants. Remind you of anything?

If this kind of story sounds familiar to you, read on. I want you to go look at a video where Mike tells his story of how he turned an economic downturn into more business than he could handle.

http://www.theblogsquad.net/wpvideo

I often ask consultants, "Besides your newsletter, what other ways do you market yourself and get clients?" Nine out of ten rely on word of mouth referrals from past clients and colleagues. Only a few are regularly using email, blogs or social networking methods for getting known and getting leads.

My suggestion?

Hypnotic Writing? Jon McCulloch speaks out

Guest author Jon McCulloch emailed me from Ireland the other day in response to my posts about hypnotic writing as a sales copy technique. I asked Jon to share with everyone here his thoughts about Joe Vitale's Hypnotic Writing book:

Hi Patsi,

Your review of Joe Vitale's "Hypnotic Writing" was interesting, although you might enjoy another's perspective.

Vitale does have a lot of interesting stuff to say, although he's done the usual thing and hijacked a lot of pretty basic concepts we've known for a long time and just hung another label on them ("hypnotic").  A smart thing to do, of course, but let's not pretend he's invented anything new.

But my biggest objection to the book is the pseudo-science he employs to "prove" his claims. He's by no means alone in this, but since he's in the spotlight he'll be the one to "shine", so to speak.

First, for example, in several places he implies he can write copy to "compel" people to buy.

Gullible or not? Or just easy to persuade...

I had to let out a sigh of relief when re-reading Robert Cialdini's Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion. Seems the esteemed professor and expert on compelling behaviors admits to being somewhat of an easy sell himself. Which is why he says he started studying people who fall for sales scams and ways they are influenced to act.

Whew, I'm not alone. I love a good story and easily get roped in by expert copywriters. Even when I know an offer's too good to be true, I want to buy it just to see, to make it work anyway.