Writing on the Web from Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

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.

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/

Greased Pig Marketing, the Sweeney Todd Way: If advertising is dead, why won't it go away?

Sonia Simone asks a good question as guest author over on Copyblogger: If advertising is dead, why won't it go away? Here's an excerpt of her excellent post including one of the best metaphors for old style, in-your-face marketing I've read in a long time:

"The old advertising model included two major pieces — attraction and conversion. Effective ads attracted attention, then converted that attention into action.

But that conversion doesn’t happen by sliding customers down a greased chute like a pig being rolled into the slaughterhouse. (If that’s your model, remember that Sweeney Todd’s return and referral business was pretty lousy.)

Those two still matter, but they’re overshadowed by two new pieces — referral and conversation."

I just love a good metaphor. The idea of sliding readers down a long sales letter to slaughter and the comparison to Sweeney Todd's "return and referral business" is hysterical. Bravo.

The point is a good one. Read the post for a good overview of the way new marketing with content is evolving. Your business needs to keep this in mind.

E-Newsletters, White Papers & Case Studies Are Preferred for B-to-B Content Marketing

In a survey of business-to-business marketing decision makers in March 2008 about their custom content preferences, there was a clear preference for newsletters, white papers and case studies. The report is being released today by Joe Pulizzi over at Junta42, who ran the survey in partnership with BtoB Magazine.

This survey was conducted among larger businesses, and has implications for the small business or independent service professional, if you want to follow best practices.

When companies invest almost 30% of their marketing budget in content, you know it's important.

And the good news here is that even as a solo professional, with a small budget, and no staff, you can compete with larger businesses since it costs almost nothing to publish your own blog. Your customized content can be as professional and worthy as any large company's.

Content Marketing Goals: 3 E's to Pay Attention To

Keep these 3 E's in mind when reviewing your content. Your blog posts, ezine articles, and even your sales copy should meet these three goals:

1. Does it educate?
2. Does it entertain?
3. Does it engage?

I'm sure I didn't originate this easy to remember formula; it just flew out of my mouth when I was on stage yesterday at Tom Antion's Butt Camp for Internet Marketing. Denise and I were giving an overview of what goes into better business blogging to 50 professionals at the LA Chapter of the National Speakers Association.

Some content you write for your business will educate clients (ebooks, mini-courses, special reports and white papers), some will entertain (blog posts, articles, interviews), and some will be specifically written to engage readers (sales copy, landing pages, email promotions).

If you can include all three elements in your writing, you're on the right track. "Okay, Patsi, that makes sense," you might well be saying, "...but HOW do you do that?" Here's my stab at giving you a few tips...

San Diego Women Entrepreneurs Event

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing sent me an email invitation to an event where he is speaking. I'm going, and if you're in the area you should think about going too: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at the Westin Horton Plaza, San Diego. (You can also attend in Miami, Austin and Seattle in the next few weeks.)

Vision to Venture - the event for women entrepreneurs
Smart and Simple Strategies for Start Up Success
Presented by Microsoft Office Live Small Business

Whether you've already launched your business or are thinking of starting one, join other enterprising women for this unique blend of high-impact sessions and networking opportunities to propel your business to the next level. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Dress for Success.

Here are the speakers:

• Susan Wilson Solovic, Author, CEO, and co-founder of SBTV.com
• Rich Sloan, Author and co-founder of StartupNation.com
• Karen Dayan, Microsoft Digital Marketing Expert
• John Jantsch, Author and founder of Duct Tape Marketing

The Blog Squad Teaching @ Butt Camp

Sorry if the name offends anyone -  but hey, isn't "the butt" an acceptable word nowadays? I'm not sure but there must be some word police on patrol to let me know...

This Sunday Denise and I will be preaching the Blog Squad Gospel at Tom Antion's famous Butt Camp - How to make money on the Internet sitting on your butts... It's in Los Angeles at CBS Television City Café, 7800 Beverly Blvd. Just tell them you're with the Nat'l. Speakers Association.

This is a seriously valuable workshop sponsored by the NSA. It's not free ($309 for non-members at the door) but it's extremely valuable for anyone - not just speakers - who needs to market themselves on the Internet.

Be prepared to take a lot of notes. Tom always over-delivers and gives you the latest strategies you need to know about how to make Internet marketing easy. Well, he won't hide that it takes some work to make it work, but there are short cuts and insider secrets. So come meet Tom and The Blog Squad if you're near LA.

Blog Writing: What would you like to learn?

I've got my head buried in books as I am researching ideas for an advanced blog writing class.  My question is this to readers: What would you like to learn that would make your business blog writing easier, faster, and more effective? What questions do you want answered? Just hit the comment link below and submit your question. You can win a book of your choice:

Reality-Web: Keeping it real for readers

Why is some blog content better than others? The real question is what makes a blog post effective for your business. You want to entertain and educate at the same time, of course. Many blog authors do one but not the other, and the really good ones do both.

It's important to open up the windows into your business and show some fresh ideas and reality to your clients and readers.

Take Brian Clark of Copyblogger, for example. He often tells stories to make a point, and often those stories come from respected books in the field. Brian then conjectures about what history and the present suggests: he predicts the future. That makes for great content that entertains while it educates and also stimulates your thinking.

Here's an excerpt from Brian's Teaching Sells that points to what you should be doing for your blog writing:

Video Clips: Content delivery made easy

Denise and I both own Flip video cameras and have blogged about how we use it to interview people whenever we're at a seminar. This really makes creating valuable content for your blog easy.

Now, I hear a lot of accomplished speakers complain about how they'd rather speak than write...actually they say they'd rather get a root canal than write...but here's a way to make creating content fun and easy: record a tip using your keywords and post it on your blog.

It's so easy even I can do it. (Of course, it helps that Denise is handy at editing and adding the URLs), but even so, the Flip is easy because the software is contained inside the camera which plugs into your computer USB port. You can even edit as soon as you plug it in. No downloads required. Just follow the steps, upload to your account on YouTube, grab the code and copy and paste into your blog.

Take a look at the way we interviewed other professionals at Adam Urbanski's Info Profits Success Intensive last week. Denise is posting them every day over at her BizTipsBlog. Hear what smart people like Adam, and Joe Nunziata have to say...