Writing on the Web from Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

4 Ways to Keep Your Brain Healthy: Think Heart, Eat Happy

Yesterday I gave a talk at the Lake Chapala Society about "4 Ways to Keep Your Brain Healthy." As a former psychologist, I have a passion for sharing what neuroscientists are discovering about the brain.

The four areas you need to pay attention to for your brain are mental challenges, cardio exercise, healthy diet, and happiness. I call this the "Think-Heart-Eat-Happy" brain program.

The most important thing to do for your brain, at any age, is to get regular physical exercise that raises your heart rate to around 60-70% of maximum. This will elevate levels of BDNF: Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor, a protein that is crucial for the growth of neurons and their communication networks. It's called "Miracle Gro" for the brain, it's that important.

The Content Marketing Two-Step Trap

Every where you go on the Web these days you hear blog and Twitter talk about "Content Marketing."

Seems it's the new buzz word among Internet marketers. But if you're like me, an independent professional who does her own marketing, and who doesn't use paid advertising, you're no stranger to Content Marketing. You've already been doing it.

Anytime you write content on the Web (or elsewhere) you present yourself, your personality, and your knowledge so that readers get to know you. They like you (you hope!), they begin to trust you, and they eventually become clients or customers, or at least regular readers.

Or not. It's not always easy to write quality content that works to actually bring in business.

Although it seems self-evident, it's not. Why not?

Content for Coaches: Save 15% during Memorial Day Sale

 Just a quick heads up if you're an executive or leadership coach or consultant in need of quality content for your newsletters and blogs.

You can get 15% off of article and newsletter services subscriptions at my other site, Content for Coaches, if you order before Tuesday May 26, 2009.

If you're interested, go to ContentforCoachesandConsultants.com and click on the article subscriptions and ezine services pages.

When you order, use the coupon code SUBSCRIBE-15 and get 15% off annual orders of $400 or more. I usually do a sale twice a year on articles with reprint rights, but this is the first time I've offered a discount on higher priced services like the All-in-One Ezine services.

You can get complete services: content, formatting, template design, distribution and database management and save $360 off the annual fee of $2400. That's a pretty sweet deal, if you consider how much time and money it costs to do a quality e-newsletter yourself.

Take a look at the article titles page to see if the Content for Coaches article topics are appropriate for you and your business.

What Makes Your Office Space Creative?

What kind of office space do you work in? Did you know that your environment has a real effect on your creativity and how well your brain works?

Well, you probably intuitively know that, but now the behavioral scientists have done some empirical studies to prove that high ceilings boost creativity. Maybe that's why I love our home and my office here in Ajijic: the ceilings and windows go up 18 feet in some rooms.

Here's an interesting recap of the scientific research from Scientific American Mind magazine and the Neuromarketing blog (which I highly recommend you subscribe to if you're interested in how your brain works).

8 Steps to Internet Gold: What to do with a big fat idea

I've been thinking about the future lately: the future of blogging, the future of content marketing, and the future of my own little business.

(When I speak of my own business as "little," by that I mean I have a business model based on working a minimum amount of hours with a maximum level of profit. I'm not intending to build an empire or manage a staff or become a millionaire. My goals - which may be unlike most people's - are to continue to generate a comfortable profit doing what I love, working a few hours a day. Your goals may be bigger than mine, why not!)

In any case, the Internet offers possibilities for everyone with good ideas. Here's what the Internet gurus will all tell you how to strike gold on the Web:

1. First you have to be able to solve a problem that a group of people have (you have to have a "big fat idea").
2. Next you have to be able to reach those people with the problem.
3. Then you must attract their attention (content, video, audio, etc.)
4. Build a relationship with readers so they know, like and trust you (KLT factor)
5. Persuade them to take action (content marketing, calls to action)
6. Deliver your solution seamlessly
7. Follow up with them to ensure customer satisfaction and pave the way to more sales
8. Soak, Rinse, repeat

It's 2009 and we've learned a few things in the last 10 years about Internet marketing and using content to attract, sell and profit online.

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

8 Ways to Find New Ideas for Writing Content

Sometimes the obvious is so close to your nose you can't see it. I just spent the last 30 minutes searching for an idea that would make a good blog post about writing on the Web and content marketing.

One of the best ways to get ideas for content is by cruising over to MyAlltop page to read a few of my favorite bloggers for inspiration. Even if I don't find something, I always get an education and a feel for what's going on in the world of marketing and content strategies. For example, Problogger is a great resource of ideas.

Darren Rowse is challenging readers of Problogger.net to a 31 Day Build a Better Blog effort. Today is day 3. His suggestion from Day 2 is Write a List Post.

Ah-hah! It suddenly struck me... I can make a list post of the eight ways to search for inspiration and information for writing content for a blog post. Here we go.

The Right Brain/ Left Brain Tango: How to Get Your Creative Mojo Back

What's your favorite way of stimulating your creative juices? How do you inspire yourself?

I don't usually get up at 2 a.m. and work, but when work's creative it's more like play, so why not? Here's two good posts to read and then I'll tell you why these two writers, Sean D'Souza and John Jantsch, are actually dancing the Tango together...

1. How to Succeed at Content Marketing Even if Your Content Skills Suck by Sean D'Souza. Sean is guest posting over at Copyblogger and makes a great point of stressing regularity and reliability. He says your content writing skills can't get better if you're not writing often, and if readers don't hear from you with frequency, they'll just 'change the channel, and go elsewhere. You've got to publish, stay on target with your messages, and keep readers informed.


2. Are You Right Brain Dead? asks John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing. Small business professionals often get so wrapped up in running a business, using their left brains for managing, organizing, and getting things done, that they neglect to stimulate their creative brains. Right brain functioning is essential to customer service, product enhancements, and in general finding creative solutions.
   
   John says, "If, as a marketer, the creative side of your thinking gets shut down you can find it difficult to create engaging blog posts, elegant customer service solutions and innovative product enhancements."

So true. Here's what happens: It's Friday so you run around checking to see if your to-do lists are on track. You may even spend the weekend catching up with left over tasks.

Getting things done is so left-brain. And once that left-brain energy gets plugged in, it's hard to shut it down. While that's a good thing for task accomplishments, it's not the best way to stay creative and improve your writing skills. (And it's not as much fun, I think!)

The Real Problem: What NOT to Write About...

There are a lot of posts in the Blogosphere about how to choose a topic to post about, where to find content, how to link to good resources.

Even though one of the most commonly cited fears of newbie bloggers and newsletter publishers is "What will I write about?" -- I believe this isn't the real problem.

Once you get the hang of blogging, and you've developed your posting wings (2-3 times a week), the real problem is filtering out an excess of information. You must narrow down your focus. Weed out all the dead rabbit trails.

This is the real problem for most of us. I call it Reverse Writer's Block. It's when you have so many ideas and resources and things you could write about, you grind to a full halt.

The real question becomes: what business am I in? What am I in the business of selling? What do I want readers to spend money on?

I'm not denying that writing clever blog posts and newsletters that showcase your expertise isn't foremost. Nor do I diminish the quality of relationships intended in your content. But if you're in business, I'll assume that you have something to sell.

The 3 Must-Have Ingredients to Writing Great Content

I'm talking about content marketing here. Not about copywriting for a landing sales page, although that might ultimately be where you want your readers to click through to. No, I'm going to tell you what I think are the 3 keys necessary in all your content marketing that precedes your sales copy.

This means writing content for your:

• Blog posts
• E-newsletter articles
• Emails to your list
• Twitter updates
• Other social networking site communications
• Comments on other people's blog posts
• Web pages
• Articles
• Speeches
• Podcasts, audio files
• Video casts
• Ebooks, special reports, white papers

If you think of other places where it's important that you write and publish content to market your business, let me know.

If you aren't writing sufficient content in multiple forms and places on the Web, then it will be that much harder for you to get enough traffic over to your sales pages where you convert them to real clients and customers. That's what content marketing does...

Each form has a different style, but here's what they all must have in common to qualify as great content that effectively markets your business and your products and services:

1. Unique, useful information that saves time, energy or money or in some way enriches the lives of your targeted readers. It doesn't have to be original or new. But it should be presented or positioned so that it's not ho-hum.
   
   It's not good enough to regurgitate what everyone else is saying. Readers want to know your own particular perspective. Tell them why this is important for them to read and learn.