Writing on the Web from Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Wishy-Washy Writing: Just delete these 5 words

This is worth reading and not just because it echoes my thoughts every time I read someone's blog writing that's too wishy-washy: 5 Words You Can Cut Out, from the Daily Writing Tip:

1. just
2. really
3. quite
4. perhaps
5. that

I have to add two:

1. maybe
2. very

Every time you re-read your writing, be on the look-out for these wishy-washy offenders and make your writing stronger, better.

Suspense: Is this the missing ingredient in your ezines?

I've been in an unsubscribing fury this week. If your newsletter bored me, not only did you get deleted, I took myself off your list entirely. And there you go...

I realize it's not easy to capture my attention and get me to read all the way through to the end. I'm a tough customer. So I got to thinking, what makes the difference between a fascinating newsletter that I actually read, and one that puts me to sleep or makes me hit the delete key faster than a dog can salivate?

Stories will get me reading, for one thing, but they've got to have the "curiously thing" going. There has to be some suspense...

Now I know this is all subjective and in the eye of the beholder, so the best way for me to teach you what I'm talking about is to send you over to read Michael Katz' latest ezine, "I've Got a Crutch on You."

He hits a home run every time with his newsletter, but this one is full of great tips you may be able to copy - er- I mean, model and learn from. This is just one great newsletter, entertaining AND educational at the same time. It just happens to be about writing great newsletters and you all can do this better, I know you can.

Ezine Success Stories: Newsletters still get results for business

Blogs haven't replaced ezines. Even though you may be tempted to put all your time and energy into maintaining your business blog, you would be wrong to ignore your newsletter.

Don't take my word for it. Ask other professionals if they're getting results from sending out an emailed newsletter, and then judge for yourself if it's worth the time and effort (and money).

LIsten to these success stories, and you'll find out why ezines are not dead...

Patsi,

Just this morning I had another woman say to me, "It's great to hear from you each week through your ezine. It helps me stay connected to you, your work and it (the ezine) provides me with thought provoking ideas, and useful tools to be successful in my life."

Ezine Success: No, the ezine is not dead

Ever since blogs became such a powerful marketing tool for communicating, people have been asking about newsletters:

• Should I keep doing my ezine?
• How should the content that I email be different from my blog content?
• If I'm new to online marketing, which is more important, a blog or an ezine?

I've been asked to contribute to a book about networking tactics for business success, in particular for a chapter on newsletters. The author, Liz Lynch asked me for some examples of ezine success. So I asked people on my list.

Wow, did I get a barrage of emails from colleagues and clients who claim huge successes due to sending out a newsletter. I think we can clearly state:

Ezines are alive and thriving!

Here's how a few people answered my question, "Have you had success with your newsletter?"

Core Message of this Blog: Writing Great Ezines & Blogs

Writing for your online business is one of the most important tasks you have. The style of writing is always evolving for the Web, and it's important to learn how to write effectively for your business. No other marketing task will involve you as much as writing for your business.

One of the things we teach in our blogging and online marketing classes is to know your audience and know your core message. I am student for life and have always found the best way to learn something is to teach it. So I am always learning these things over and over and each time I go a little deeper.

When I started this blog (September 4, 2004), it was to have a platform to write content for an ebook, Secrets of Successful Ezines. Since then, I discovered the power of blogs for professionals who want to get their message out to people. Blogs or ezines, blogs AND ezines - it doesn't matter if you do one or both, as long as at least one is a blog!

In the next phase of evolving an online business, I realized the importance of interesting, relevant, keyword-rich content: articles, information products such as special reports, tips, white papers, and ebooks.

Online marketing must include other pieces of writing for the web: landing pages, sales letters,

Got a New Subscriber? 7 tips for writing a great first message

What do you say to a new subscriber to your ezine? That first email may be one of the best times to communicate to a new prospect. It's certainly one time they open and read your message.

My advice? Skip the canned and expected confirmation message that everyone sends and write in an original voice. Be friendly and clear about what they can expect next, and give them an unexpected bonus.

Here are 7 other tips from the Email Experience Council:

1. Use a recognizable "from" line and a subject line that includes the brand name.

2. Fulfill email subscriptions quickly.

3. Be clear on "what comes next" in terms of content and frequency.

4. Ask them to add your address to their address book.

5. Offer something of value for signing up.

6. Use a series of onboarding emails to introduce them to your offerings.

7. Don't be afraid to include promotional content in welcome emails to capitalize on the high read rates.

Business Writing: Are You Using Gobbledygook?

David Meerman Scott updated his Goobledygook Manifesto this week. He proves his point: news releases from company and pr writers use the same old worn-out empty phrases ... worse than a teenager's annoying talk, like totally inane.

I'm reprinting David's graph here just so you can see the catch phrases to avoid in your next piece of writing for the web.

The words mentioned most often were similar to last year’s analysis. In North America – next generation (10,427 mentions), robust (8868 mentions), flexible (8515 mentions), and world class (7887 mentions) were the leaders.

Others are easy to use, scalable, cutting edge, well positioned, market leading, mission critical, turnkey, groundbreaking, industry standard, user friendly, enterprise class, best of breed, enterprise wide, interoperable, extensible, and breakthrough.

Confessions of a Serial Writer

I'm not sure when it began or who's to blame, but at some point in my writing career I got lazy. Or maybe I got smart. I started skipping the long research on a topic and reading up on its history. I just started making a list of main points and then writing out a couple of sentences on each item.

I think I got the idea from Jeff Herring, The Article Guy, who said if you can write a 7 item grocery list, you can write a good article. Now Jeff teaches article writing for people who struggle with writing and have a hard time coming up with stuff.

That's not my problem. I love writing - but my problem is writing too much. Anyone with a doctorate suffers from the same disease. Dissertation-itis. Nobody has time to read all those words anymore, especially not online.

That's when I fell in love with the "Make a List" writing school. Their theory is anything worth reading can be written in a list of bulleted points.

I confess, I've taken the list building approach to an extreme. I've become a serial writer.

I wish I could say that it's the cure for writer's block, or that it'll turn your work into Internet gold. I will proclaim it to be a rousing success for saving you time and energy whenever you're faced with writing for your ezine, blog, web pages, press releases, and even white papers.

Here's how to start a serial writing project: (in list form, of course)

Telling Stories = Stronger Connections with Readers

"Now just the other day, I..." As soon as someone starts telling me a story, I listen up. Why? Because I am sure they are going to deliver something with impact - otherwise why would they be telling me? And most of the time it's true: I get to laugh, or be outraged with them, or in some way feel emotionally in tune with the person telling the story.

The same is true for really good copy. I read a good post today over on Scott Young's blog about 4 things that go into telling a good story. I am always amazed when I read wisdom on an 18-year-olds blog, but never mind that. Here are his 4 points, but if you're interested, go read the whole post, it's worth it, campfire picture and all.

1) Start with a Hook
2) Keep it Concise
3) Know Your Point
4) The Purpose of Stories is to Create Feeling

Reading = Good Writing, Good Blogging

What are you reading right now? Chances are, your reading influences your writing. I read a great post today over at Darren Rowse"s ProBlogger site, who along with Karen Andrews of Aussie Mom blog wrote about how reading can improve your blogging.

One tip from this post is to unplug yourself. Get away from your computer. Read a magazine or a book unrelated to your work, but connected to other parts of yourself, other interests you have. This will help you see more of your strengths and can help reunite the scattered parts of yourself.

Right now I have several books open: The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon, The Power of a Positive No, by William Ury, Clear Blogging by Bob Walsh, and Bidding in the 21st Century (about bridge). I also am reading bits and pieces of A User's Guide to the Brain, by John J. Ratey.

Admittedly, these are all work related, except for the bridge book, but they are topics for which I have a great passion. If I were to really "unplug," I really should get away from work-related books and pick up a good novel. This would expand my brain  neural pathways even more, leading to better writing and richer use of vocabulary.

What are you reading this week? Can you suggest any good novels that you think I might enjoy?