Writing on the Web from Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

5 Steps to Writing a Good Newsletter Bio

How should you write your bio for your newsletter? I see many coaches and consultants use their resumes for their sidebar bio. ("Dr. Smith has 20 years experience in strategic planning and holds an MBA from Harvard, etc.") But really, this is pretty boring and old-school.

Then there are those who, wanting to get with the program and use newly acquired copywriting techniques, go to the other extreme. They tell too much about their achievements and come across like an ego-maniac.

While everyone wants to know about who you are as the author of a newsletter, mostly they want to know "what's in it for me."

Last week a client asked me for some guidelines on how to craft the side-bar marketing message for his ezine. Here are my 5 steps for writing a good bio/marketing message for an e-newsletter (new school).

When you write your bio, pretend you are talking to someone. Use the pronoun ‘I’ and speak with your readers like you would a favorite client. Use the pronoun ‘you’ often. (Unless, of course, you're a large firm with multiple authors.)

1. What problem do you solve?

Start with a question or statement about the challenges and needs of your readers. This will draw them into reading your bio. It is better to lead with "what's in it for them" than to start off talking about you and your accomplishments.

2. Offer Help

Copywriting for Twitter- How to say more with less

Are you on Twitter yet? You know I'm not someone to jump on the fad-du-jour. But when I see something that isn't a waste of time, that makes for smart marketing, I will tell you about it.

You need to be on Twitter. Why? Because top people in your field are there. You can find out what's going on, what research they care about, what the buzz is. If you like people, especially people in your niche, this is where you can meet them, and connect. It's content marketing in 140 characters or less.

Twitter folks will follow you back to your blog, and when there, are more likely to leave comments. It's a productive way to build readership, aka drive traffic.

It's not about "What are you doing?" Forget that. Use the 140 characters to ask a question, share a quote, share a thought, be funny or be profound.

I'm not a Twitter expert. Coach Deb and Warren Whitlock wrote the Twitter Revolution handbook. Nor am I a social media and networking maven. Denise Wakeman is.

10 Ways to Write to Make Readers Think

When it comes to content marketing, there are ways to write content so it actively markets you and your business without being “in-your-face” sales copy or boring product reviews or press releases.

I’m reminded of an excellent book on creating effective website design called Don’t Make Me Think. The premise is that a customer searching for products and services online shouldn’t have to figure out how to find what they’re looking for on your website.

When it comes to reading your blog, however, please, please DO make me think! Your blog posts should have meaty content that stimulates readers to ask questions, to comment, to agree wholeheartedly, or disagree vociferously.

How can you do that? Ahhh, let me think about that a minute here... Wait! I've got an idea. I'll build a list of ideas to make readers think. And, YOU can contribute to the list!

Word Up on Wordle: Word Cloud for this Blog

If you want to get a 'word cloud' or a visual idea of what words you use most often on your blog, try this tool from the folks at Wordle....

I'm not sure what practical applications there are for such a tool, but I thought it would be fun anyway...

Video Promo Clips: Content Marketing Comes Alive

People buy from people they know, like, and trust. Video clips will shortcut the process of connecting with people quickly. Viewers can more easily decide if they like and trust you when they can see and hear you.

How do you write a script for a video clip to promote a program or event? Posting video clips has become popular and easy to do. This is another promotional step you must include in order to boost your sales.

Video promotional clips are part of the various writing tasks necessary for making money online. It doesn't matter if you're presenting a teleseminar, publishing a book, or promoting a coaching or consulting program. You've got to get the word out to as many potential participants in many different ways, on Web landing pages, blog posts, email messages, ezines, and audio and video.

Marketing with content isn't only about writing text. If you're not using video yet, It's fairly easy to get a Flip video camera and get started without any tech skills or expensive equipment. But be sure to write out a short script before recording so you don't forget any essential details.

In the example we're writing about here, Denise and I and Kathleen Gage promoted a free teleseminar on our blogs through posting a video each day, outlining each of The 5 Traps of Internet Marketing. Kathleen and I each wrote out a script for these, presenting 5 Traps and 5 Truths, and then the information for registering. Each script was 2-3 minutes long. Here is the outline we used:

2 + 5 Formula to Improve the Quality of Your Writing

There are two things that will guarantee success with your writing, even if you don't consider yourself a professional author:

1. Expertise
2. Passion

You can even make a typo or a grammatical error and most readers won't mind as long as you deliver valuable information readers can use with enthusiasm and conviction. (I don't suggest you ignore these blights; get them quickly edited out.)

But if you are writing with energy, and you know what you're talking about, don't sweat the rest. You can't fake expertise and passion, but you can certainly find it within yourself and learn to bring it out onto the paper or screen.

Those two things, expertise and passion, will guarantee you a home run blog post, article, or newsletter. Nevertheless, here are five additional things that will improve the quality of your piece:

1. Include some statistics (use the web to do a little background search)
2. Include a quote from a well-known author or expert
3. Include a paragraph from a book you've read on the topic
4. Include historical background that affects your clients today
5. Include a prediction about this topic and how it will affect your clients in the future

Quick and Easy Blog Writing Tips

When Denise and I teach business blogging, professionals often worry about finding the time for writing on their blogs. We understand and struggle with this challenge ourselves. With 10 blogs between us, you know there are a few neglected ones...

So here are some tips to save you time and effort, and maintain a posting frequency of 2-3 times a week.

1. What are you doing in your business this week that you could post about that would make your readers' lives better? (Example: we've started a 4-week teleseminar on Branding and Blogging, and for the class, I wrote an outline about blog writing tips; so I'm sharing that with readers here.)
   
2. Look at that idea for a post and see how you can make a list of 5-7 tips. Don't post the entire list in one blog post. Break it up into a series of posts for the whole week.
   
3. You can write the series all at once and post-date the publications; or write them up individually and post each day, whichever suits your schedule. (Stay tuned: over the next few days, I'll post 11 tips for writing easily and quickly so you can save time, energy and money.)

You should be able to post on your blog in 20-30 minutes. That's not a lot of time to spend on a marketing task that will bring you great results.

Writing on your business blog should always contain information that is relevant and valuable to your readers; you have plenty of that in your head right now, so get it out into a list and start posting. Your readers will appreciate that and your business will grow.

Know the Law: How to Protect Your Intellectual Property

Blogging and Beyond Radio Show with The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., and Denise Wakeman on Blog Talk Radio

With Guest Expert: Jay Hollander, intellectual property law attorney, www.ExpertPreneurlawblog.com 

Know the Law: How to Protect Your Business' Creative Assets
September 6, 2007, 3:00 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET)

What are the legal issues relevant to entrepreneurs who sell information products and services? Jay Hollander, Esq. shares his legal expertise and shows how you can use intellectual property law to help build brand value in your business, protect your business' creative assets, and avoid being sued for infringing on the intellectual property of others.

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

 

Blogging and Beyond Radio Show with The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., and Denise Wakeman on Blog Talk Radio

With Guest Expert: Jay Hollander, intellectual property law attorney, www.ExpertPreneurlawblog.com 

Know the Law: How to Protect Your Business' Creative Assets
September 6, 2007, 3:00 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET)

What are the legal issues relevant to entrepreneurs who sell information products and services? Jay Hollander, Esq. shares his legal expertise and shows how you can use intellectual property law to help build brand value in your business, protect your business' creative assets, and avoid being sued for infringing on the intellectual property of others.

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

How Not To Email Me - or Anyone Else If You Want Results

We learn from other people's mistakes, so here goes a prime example of what not to write in an email message if you want to get results.

First off, this person put Joan Stewart's name in the subject line: "The Publicity Hound Sent Me". That's a good way to get me to open up your email, but you better be sure it's true or you'll piss me off. In this case, if it were true, then the sender wouldn't have written what she did...

"Dear Denise"... the email begins. Only I'm Patsi. To be fair, we both get email at that address, but still...

"I invite you to help create an international buzz this year for "XXX Days" in Northern California. 

5 Phrases to Close the Sale on the Phone or by Email

I hadn't heard the term "presale closing phrase" before I read it on Mitch Harpz' blog this morning. It's when you get an email or call from someone asking questions about a product or program. Sometimes I get the feeling that people pick up the phone and call just to see if a real person will pick up the phone. Their questions aren't often that complicated, but it's sort of like they are just checking to see if someone's there that really cares.

Here are 5  ways to end the conversation or email that can help increase sales:

"Does that help? If not let me know which part doesn't make sense."

"If you have any more questions please let me know. I'll be more than happy to help in any way I can."

"I hope I've answered your question for you. If not just let me know and I'll be happy to address any outstanding concerns."

"If I haven't answered your question just let me know and I'll do my best to clarify."

"Does that make sense?"

When you think about it, these are great phrases to use at anytime and make for good customer relationships.