Successful Blog

The Inverted Pyramid — A Simple Approach to Catch Audience Attention

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A Guest Post by
Rahil Muzafar

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What Is the Inverted Pyramid

Inverted Pyramid is a term well known in the field of journalism, and it refers to a particular structure of laying out a story. While following the Inverted Pyramid structure, you need to start from the most important part of the story/news. The idea is to give the crux of the story in the headline, or the first two three lines.

You might not have noticed this approach because you are used to this style. However, imagine if journalists weren’t employing this approach, and taking the route of story tellers, they will have to start from the scratch and the culmination will come in the end. And even though, reading the newspaper (or watching a news channel) might not have been such a gloomy experience if this approach wasn’t at play, but it is this approach that provides the journalist or reporters what they are looking for, and that’s … reader’s attention.

Is the Inverted Pyramind recommended for all types of writers?

The approach is commonly used by journalists, but not all types of writers. For example the novelists can’t start from the conclusion and then follow it with the rest of the story, but they’re lucky in the sense that their targeted audience is ready to devote some time in reading the novel. But in case of journalists, they don’t get the audience with such leisure time (nobody would prefer going through the doom and gloom news in their leisure time). However, web writers can learn a thing or two from the approach.

What’s in it for web writers?

If you notice, web surfers are actually more in rush, as compared to someone with newspaper in his/her hands. In their bid to scan through hundreds of Google results or web pages in a matter of minutes, they usually just glance through the titles or headlines. And if it fails to grab their attention, they are gone. Thus, one of the most important skills a web writer can learn is to form a headline that will be a magnet for clicks. Now, I’ve worked with a number of writers and some of them are naturally gifted in this regard, and they can come up with more interesting and catchy titles as compared to their counterparts, who might be equally good at writing, still not able to churn out good titles. But if you lack in creativity, you can simply use the “inverted pyramid” approach to overcome this weakness.

How to use the “Inverted Pyramid” approach?

It’s quite straight forward, all you need to do is to think of the most important part of the story, article, blog post, or marketing copy. It’s the part that you think can catch the attention of your targeted audience, and then use that particular information in the title. Note that it is not some revolutionary idea. In fact you see this approach being used a lot while surfing through the web. Remember all those headlines promising overnight riches or miraculous results, that’s inverted pyramid for you and you can use it as well in your writing, from now on.


Bonus Tip:

At times, writers get obsessed with SEO and goes to the extent of spoiling the titles in a bid to add certain keywords in the titles, especially the dry ones like Norton 360 Discount or System Mechanic Coupon. Whilst having keywords or key phrases in the title can surely boost your chances for getting ranked for those keywords, you should make sure that the inclusion of the keywords is not done the cost of ruining the main purpose of the title i.e. attracting the readers.

Rahil Muzafar

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Author’s Bio:

Rahil is an Internet Marketing expert. He works for various coupon codes and discount websites, for example www.verybestsoftware.net that shares different types of deals and discounts for software like Norton 360, System Mechanic, or Acronis.

Thanks! Rahil!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

GenConnect’s Laurel House and Liz Strauss Talk Irresistible Attraction

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Who Gets You Where You’re Going

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In a lovely conversation with GenConnect’s Laurel House at BlogHer in August, we explored the questions:

  • What makes an irresistible offer?
  • How does being fully-expressed in your work remove the problem of self-promotion?
  • How do you start the first connections with people you want to meet?
  • How does celebrating your heroes make you and your business better?
  • How are values a part of your attraction?

What works best for you to connect your business to the people who love what you’re doing?

Check out GenConnect – the place to connect with life’s experts.
You’ll find Laurel on Twitter as @QuickieChick

Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

What Narrow Niche Already Loves What You Do?

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Recently at SOBCon NW, I had a familiar conversation with someone trying to start a business of her own. We talked about her skills, her past successes, and the people she liked working with with. I asked her what she was thinking about building about business around. She told me her concept.

It was huge.

The territory she was trying to cover was way too wide for a first step. Because the content base was so huge the audience would include almost every person from 21 to 65 near the idea of business, social media, or tech in any place in the world.

It’s no wonder she didn’t feel qualified to be an expert. Who would?
No one can be an expert of everything for everyone in the world.

I asked her one question … Who already loves what you do?

What Narrow Niche Already Loves What You Do?

Ever tried to read all of Wikipedia? It’s hard to keep all of that knowledge connected and meaningful without a reality to hang it on. Ever tried to learn a new vocabulary word a day? If the words don’t relate to each other, they fade away as fast as they came. Put a narrow context around a vocabulary you want to learn or an idea you want to explore and suddenly you’re making traction.

It’s the narrow context that allows us to see relationships and apply what we know to the next new thing we learn.
Here’s a few ways that narrowing your niche can build your expertise:

  • When we choose a narrow niche, we can go deeply vertical. We get to know one certain group of people very well. We know who we’re talking to. We know which words are their vocabulary, which metaphors are theirs, which ideas get them to move.
  • When we choose a narrow niche, we “get” the world of that customer group. We can predict the ways they make decisions. We can imagine what they worry about. We decide what features and benefits serve them well and what will be just so much more noise to what they’re trying to do without.
  • When we choose a narrow niche, we can closely study the specific problems of that singular customer group. We get to know what frustrates them, what they yearn for, wish for, and which they never saw again. We have special insight into their view.

      • And as a result of narrowing our niche, they quickly recognize that we “get” them, that we’ve built a product or service that was made for them, and they become our fans. Then convince their friends to become our fans too.

      And narrowing your niche can build your business as well because …

  • When we choose a narrow niche, it’s easy for others to see who we serve. People look who we work with and the commonalities show. All of Mike’s clients are families with small children. All of Britta’s clients are tech CEOs. Marti specializes in launch stage startups.
  • When we choose a narrow niche, people within that niche tell each other about us. Soon enough folks outside the niche ask if we can do it for them too.
  • When we choose a narrow niche, it’s easy for people to share what we do with their friends. When we we’re one thing, they think of us when they meet anyone who has that need. We’re shareable.

It’s true that you can’t be expert at everything for everyone. But who’d want to?
Make a decision to be irresistible to one specific group. Then we can move out slowly to the group that stands right next to them.

Who already loves what you do? Be an expert to them first.

Who is that group for you?

Be irresistible

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Should You Build A Brand Online Or Use Traditional Offline Brand Building

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A Guest Post by Jason Nash

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Does a Website Change How You Build A Brand?

There comes a time for every small business to, with some great webhosting, build a brand online and focus their efforts on gaining a stronger consumer basis throughout the Internet. Many entrepreneurs prefer using traditional offline brand building to gain consumer spending, but find it difficult to connect with younger generations without the aid of technology. The target demographic will usually encourage a business to focus their efforts with either online or traditional brand marketing. However, a business entity will always focus these pursuits with the primary goal of greatly improving its revenue.

Within an industry, there are few cases where a company does not have to compete with an overwhelming number of national competitors. Even in small communities, consumers have the ability to order products directly through the Internet to obtain goods that could have been bought in local stores. When a business is forced to realize its anonymity within its market, it is up to the business owners to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack to secure a particular niche with consumers.

Large Business or Small Business?

Larger businesses with well known brands can charge more for the same product while offering fewer overall goods to their customers. This is due primarily to the marketing of their brand to be synonymous in the minds of their consumers with the product or service they sell. For instance, when you add up the price of the physical components in a large company, it will still be significantly less than the amount it would sell for due to its brand name being sold with it. This virtual commodity often has a higher price than any other individual aspect of an entire firm.

Which Generation and Where Are They Found?

Products that are intended to be used by the younger generation or consumers who use Internet access for their work will need their brand to be marketed throughout the Internet. When a company chooses to build a brand online, they have the advantage of generating a large consumer base that will only increase through time. Unlike traditional offline brand building, Internet use is becoming a universal tool that is taught to most children throughout the nation and not much is needed to get online.

Cheap web hosting is often sufficient. Once you got this you’re ready to get started with setting your online presence up. And remember that older generations will decrease over time and the traditional brands are expected to go with them if they do not revitalize their images. This can be seen by many established names trying to build a brand online to prevent the inevitable switch from damaging their profits.

Companies that offer products oriented to consumers who more frequently use television and printed materials for their information can gain more through traditional offline brand building. This marketing is quite popular currently due to the aging baby boomer population that is less integrated in social networks. Since the level of computer illiteracy is on average higher for older generations, it can actually be a wasted effort using online marketing for products that would be bought directly by the consumer.

What if it’s multiple consumer groups?

Since some products can be bought by multiple consumer groups, these items will often require both traditional and online brand marketing. This is true for products and services that are non-age oriented and for age-oriented products that can be given as gifts. It is important to focus each marketing task on the specific consumers who would be reached through media and online sources. For instance, when older generations look for a particular luxury service, they want to see a diligent staff that is both polite and friendly. For this same luxury service, younger generations will be more interested in the accommodations and the comparative price. Creating a brand that fills both of these needs can be done when each demographic is reached with the portrayal they desire.

Online brand marketing will often be through social networks and other informational sites that directly market to the consumer. The most effective form of designing a brand online has been to involve the consumer into the company’s daily operations. This often requires forum moderation after the marketing is over and special content that is designed to make these consumers feel included. Social chats with head officials to reassure consumer groups have proven to be effective. Corporate paraphernalia, including T-shirts, hats, and other trinkets can be displayed on site shops for dedicated consumer groups to show their brand loyalty.

Keep Track of the Traditional

Traditional brand creation will focus on telling consumers why your company is unique. This has the disadvantage of being a one-way conversation and relies on the trust consumers will place in your promises. Orienting the appearance of your company to the desired viewpoint of your consumers will lead to a higher reception. Since the general consumer will need only a positive psychological improvement to buy your products, traditional brands will often give the illusion of superior quality. For instance, focusing on a particular detail that is different from other competitors in a positive light can build a brand with targeted audiences. This does not even require the detail to be important or affect the performance of your product. It is simply something that makes your brand unique.

No matter the path you take with the marketing of your brand, it is important to remember that the revenue for your products and services will increase dramatically with a successful campaign (and don’t forget that a lot visitors/customers require strong hosting solutions, such as for example dedicated server hosting – otherwise your successful campaigns will be in vain). Before you branded your company, the costs were only in the material and labor that was incorporated into the product. Afterwards, you can take into account the worth of your brand and increase the prices to meet this improvement in the psychological satisfaction gained by your consumers.

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Author’s Bio: The article is from Jason Nash from webhostingsearch.com Jason writes
about technology, social media and online marketing strategies and
follows brands online and off as part of his work.

Thank you, Jason!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

How to Choose the Easiest, Fastest, Most Meaningful Next Move

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THEN We Will …

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During the Q&A of his interview at SOBCon NW, I asked Rick Turoczy (@Toruczy) of the Portland Incubator Experiment, “What seems to be the single problem that most startups encounter?”

Rick’s response was telling. He said that the young companies he worked with were clear on their vision and their mission. They knew were they were going … Where they got stuck was figuring out the first small step to get there.

Are you surprised by that? I’m not.

The act of paying attention to what relates to our mission and vision gets us attuned to the wide range of options that could relate to our end goal.

We think of our goal as THEN.
THEN we’ll be there.
THEN we’ll have what we’ve earned.
THEN we’ll know.

We can’t know what things will be THEN, but we know all we need to know about now.

But strategy is a function of NOW.
What is our position NOW?
What are the conditions NOW?
What is the opportunity NOW?

How to Choose the Easiest, Fastest, Most Meaningful Next Move

Choosing that next step often seems a problem. We listen. We follow links through our networks and systems. If our minds and hearts are open, we find a world filled with possibilities. We pay attention to learn as much as we might. We gather up information, ideas, and options. Then comes the moment to move. We get stuck in too many possibilities. Big ones, little ones — which to do?

To head in our best direction, we have to do the opposite of listening and paying attention. NOW that we’ve gathered the immediate information, it’s time to pull it in. It’s time to narrow and focus. It’s time to choose the best possible easy move to advance now. The small opportunity that fits us most naturally is the one that easiest, fastest, and most meaningful to reaching our biggest, most important goal.

Here’s how to choose the easiest, fastest, and most meaningful next move:

  1. Use your vision and mission to set your direction. Have a clear sense of where you want to be and why you want to be there.
  2. Use the information you’ve gathered by listening and paying attention to know your position — where you are now. Tell yourself the truth. Every position has advantages. Yours has advantages unique to you.
  3. Study the information you’ve gathered to understand the conditions under which you’re working. Look for openings that lead in the direction you want to go. You, your team, and your mission fit perfectly into openings right next to you. Look to do more for the people who love what you’re doing. Invite them to help you figure out what would be the easiest next small thing for you to do.
  4. Identify the easiest small opportunities and openings that move you forward by using these criteria. They will be those that
    • Align with your long-term goals.
    • Match with your values and culture.
    • Leverage what you and your team have already accomplished — skills, talents, and successes.
    • Make changes work for you.
    • Disperse the work to many best sources. (Do that thing you can get started and pass on so that another person is working while you work on the next one.)

Look for the position adjacent to the one where you’re standing. The best new positions look only slightly different than the position where we are right now. By moving into that slightly new position — serving the closest friends of our customers or adding a new flavor to the same offer — we built strength on what we already own. By keeping an eye on our vision at the same time as we make these tiny moves, we not only keep focus, but also bring our community of customers with us in a logical, predictable fashion that is easy to invest in, because it’s easy to trust.

Each small decision creates new opportunities that are unique to our position and the skills we bring. In that way, we create a path that is ours and impossible to replicate with authenticity.

We do what we are rather than are what we do.

How do you filter and narrow your options when you choose your next move?

Be irresistible.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Filed Under: Marketing /Sales / Social Media, Strategy/Analysis, Successful Blog Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Find the Genius in YOU — Stop Believing in the Box

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There Is No Box

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That box that everyone talks about — the one that we’re encouraged to think outside — came to be without a thought. No one decided or built a process called “Thinking Inside the Box.”

It was an accident, a management issue.

It’s easier and more efficient to run a school or a corporation of people when we teach, talk, and manage to the group.

Can you imagine how chaotic a school or a corporation would be if every student or every employee got to decide on his or her own creative version of “what works”?

So how can we bring leadership to every level and not ignite a mess that makes things worse? In the name of management, we build a bias toward one way of thinking in a sea of creativity.

Find the Genius in YOU — Stop Believing in the Box

When many of us weren’t looking, we learned about looking:

  • how to look at things the way other folks do particularly at the things our teachers revealed.
  • how to solve problems and show our work — or how to work them out the way we were shown.

We learned useful and appropriate skills for working in top-down managed groups:

  • to finish the calculation to the deadliest detail even though we already knew the answer wouldn’t solve the problem we were trying to solve.
  • to paint by numbers,
  • to color inside the lines,
  • to keep our curiosity inside the comfort of the teacher, the goals of the curriculum, and the norms of the group.

Within those boundaries our thoughts were caught much like a mime stays inside an invisible box.
And like the invisible box that the mime pushes and touches. The box that we think inside isn’t real.

The way to start thinking outside the box is easy enough — stop believing in the box.

Life Without the Box

The biggest problem with thinking inside the box is that for the mostpart, we’re relying on a model we learned, and so when we “show our work,” we’re really showing how someone else figured it out it.

Life without the box opens us.

New mind channels become available — creativity, flexibility, fluency, elaboration, and original thought. We break the habit of always doing “someone else’s work.”. The resources of your brain are freed up. Even better, it’s more fun, once you get used to it, because thinking outside of the proverbial box involves playing with ideas not just thinking.

DaVinci knew it.
Einstein knew it..
Lots of folks with divergent hair do it.

Most inventors only find the inside of the box to test things after they’re through seeing what they can do. Nothing new is achieved or gathered by staying where everyone else is thinking. And when we do get out of our usual ways of thinking, we land smack dab inside our own genius.

So let’s get on with getting out of it so that we can get into it.

Here’s one way to find the genius in you …

Even new creative, flexible, fluent, elaborative, original thinking needs structure. Let’s use a problem-solution format.

  1. Pick a problem.
  2. Move outside it. You can’t really see a situation when you’re part of it.
  3. Identify your greatest weaknesses.
  4. Look for how those weaknesses provides openings … Ask yourself “how can this weakness be a strength?” If your back is against the wall, no one can sneak up behind you. If you’re smaller, you’re more agile. If you’re unconventional, you’ve got surprise on your side.
  5. Leverage all of those new found strength into a single unexpected opportunity.

So, if you’re ready, I am. Enough with this introduction, let’s let the games begin. Everyone can think like a genius. It only takes a little practice, and a firm commitment. Throw away the darn box.

Put together your best out of the box thinking to find the strongest opening. Then check it against what a traditional in the box thinking would do to shore up any inconsistencies. That’s how to use your genius thinking to reveal opportunity.

Is inside or outside the box more comfortable for you?

Be irresistible.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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