Successful Blog

4 Headline Types that Grab Attention Immediately

by

By Terez Howard

How to blog series
cooltext455576688_blogging

One Blogging Secret That Everyone’s Telling You

I have something to tell you. You’ve heard it before. You know it’s beneficial to every blog. The great bloggers write about this regularly and practice what they preach.

Attention-grabbing headlines. There, I said it. Secret’s out. or it’s been out for years.

4 Headline Types that Grab Attention Immediately

When I worked for the newspaper, my editor told us that our headlines had to tell our readers something. Sounds simple enough, right? It is pretty straightforward.

I wrote the following story back in 2005: “Katrina victims in Chester tell their story of survival.” I could have written “Hurricane story.” My now five-year-old headline told readers what to expect from my story and why they would want to read it. My second, obviously bland headline example doesn’t tell you anything. It sounds like a fictional piece on a hurricane’s journey through an area.

Your headline needs a voice. While it doesn’t have to be a summary of your entire blog post, it should give your readers a taste of what to expect.

What kinds of headlines should you write? Here are four:

Raise a question

You can specifically ask a question, but your headline does not have to be a question. Rather, readers will ask themselves a question and want to know the answer.

For instance, my headline for today: “One Blogging Secret That Everyone’s Telling You.” What secret? Why’s it a secret if everyone’s telling me? Who’s telling me? These are the questions my headline raises, and I provide the answers in my blog.

So when you write a headline that raises a question, be sure to provide a satisfactory, thorough answer to your audience.

Include a list

“101 Blogging Topics That Will Keep Readers Coming Back In Hundreds”

Once again, readers know what to expect, that when they click on your post, they will see a numbered list, from 1 to 101. Why do lists make wonderful headlines? Bloggers will tell you how the search engines love numbers and how numbers are memorable to readers. These points are true, but not my focus.

From a blogger’s standpoint, lists are easy to write. As a writer, a list organizes my thoughts for me from 1 to whatever. From a reader’s standpoint, lists are easy to read. You expect a comprehensive, systematic piece of information.

Make a how to

People love a good how to. I love how-to’s. I followed a how to count calories and lose weight story and shed 10 pounds.

Tell your readers exactly what they will be able to do if they follow your how to. A how to headline does not have to be so basic, though. It could be a “How to not…” or a how to do something metaphorically, like “How to pop eyes with your headlines.”

Be compelling – Make it urgent

What makes you want to click on a blog post? It piques your interest. With the three aforementioned types of headlines, each and every one should be compelling. It kills me that bloggers spend their time writing a well-researched, thoroughly engaging post and don’t give any time to the headline. It’s an afterthought.

That doesn’t mean you can’t write your headline last. That’s a fine idea and preferable to many bloggers. I tend to write my headline first and tweak it as I write make it fit the entire post. Do what works for you, just so you give time to your headline.

Your headline is your appetizer. It prepares your audience’s appetite to the main course. Does your headline induce hunger? Hey, sounds like a headline!

What do you do to write an attention-grabbing headline?

 

—

Author’s Bio:
Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas. You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger

 

Thanks, Terez!
–ME “Liz” Strauss

What Social Media Strategists Don’t Know About Growing Your Business

by

Less Is More

cooltext443809602_strategy

Recently, after a long introductory phone call, I received an email from a client about how he thought I might help his business. The list included almost every facet of online and offline presence and interactions with customers, vendors, and employees.

I was flattered and also bowled over by his commitment. I had to tell him that I needed him to participate equally in making those things reality.

I started to write a response that turned into this blog post.

What Social Media Strategists Don’t Know About Growing Your Business

Social media — the tools and social networking sites — have come to be looked upon as some sort of “industry.” But it’s not. in the same way a mechanic’s Craftsman tool kit and his classes in who to use it aren’t why we hire him, our fluency with tools and knowledge of sites we use aren’t what grows businesses.

The art and the science of a social media professional is understanding your business and helping you choose the right tools and sites that will connect you to the customers who love what you do.

Our experience, our expertise, and our ability to build strategies and tactics that move businesses forward are what can bring, but they’re limited by what works in general. The answer for you isn’t a “general go do these things.”

Strategy is a realistic and practical plan to gain ground over time. It’s sets the plan of campaigns and tactics that will gain you visibility, traffic, brand identity, and loyal customers and fans. Upon meeting you and working with your business there are five things every social media strategist doesn’t know … (though every strategist should know these things about his or her own offering.)

  1. Is your business culture fit ready to participate and make relationships that last beyond a single transaction? A social media strategist can help you choose and learn how to use the tools to do that, but only you can follow through and make the relationships.
  2. What do you offer that no business like yours offers? How have you removed what customers don’t like and enhanced what they love? That single clear message is what your social media strategist can amplify, magnify, and help you connect people with.
  3. What is unique about the customers that you’re reaching out to? If you reach out to everyone, you’ll look just like the thousands of other businesses doing the same thing. Find that one group who needs what you offer and tailor all you do to make their lives easier, faster, and more meaningful. A social media strategist can help you find those people using the speed and the reach of the Internet.

A social media strategist can help you build tactics to reach goals and grow your business the ways business have been growing since business started … with relationships that stand behind your work and your products and services.

Yet no social media strategist can know whether a business is willing to invite the people who help it grow to participate, collaborate, and be part of what makes that business great.

If you’re a social media strategist, how do you find out whether a business is ready to grow? If you’re a business how do you know you’ve got the right social media strategist?

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

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

8 Powerfully Subtle Ways to Let Your Work Show Your Expertise

by

It’s the Work We Do that Adds Value

cooltext443794242_influence

The Internet is fast being filled with people with skills and talent for hire. Some have worked online and off for years to attain experience and expertise. Some are using the Internet to re-career and reinvent themselves and us as a chance to prove themselves. Most folks who can afford it want to connect with the people who’ve got real expertise, not those who hope to practice until they do.

There’s no question that to be an expert, we have to be knowledgeable, authentic, and hardworking. Everyone pays dues to get to the top, but knowing what to work at helps a lot too, because …

For the rest of us, it’s hard to tell the guy with a professional camera from a professional photographer unless you share what you know with the rest of us in the right way.

69578_camera_guy

To be recognized as a expert requires communication skills and social skills as well as technical expertise.

8 Subtle, Powerful Ways to Let Your Work Show Your Expertise

A true expert isn’t a preacher or even a teacher. He or she is a guide who cares about and understands the folks he or she serves. Lead me value to your work and know its quality, then help me understand how it can be relevant and useful to the customers, clients, and people I value and serve.

A true expert, like a truly rich man, doesn’t need to tell you he is one … his value shows in his confidence, competence, consistency, generosity, humility, and his work.

Here are 8 often powerfully subtle ways to being recognized as a true expert.

  1. Be the expert you are, not the expert someone else is. You are the only you the world has. That differentiates what you offer from the start. Play to your strengths. Let your work demonstrate your strengths. When people ask about what you do … point to something you’ve done well and talk about it.
  2. Get known first as an expert in ONE thing. Decide what sort of problems you solve quickly and well. Find ONE niche or one vertical and solve that problem there. People look for a “go to” person for a specific need. You’ll grow a following faster if you solve one problem well. It’s easier to refer the expert who can prove one great solution than the one who can’t be pinned down. Once folks learn about you as a master one skill, they can find out about the other wonderful things you do.
  3. Write expert content in the language of the folks you want to serve. Readers want top-notch, quality, relevant content — information, answers, AND analysis. Your market can get news anywhere. Add your expert opinion, analysis, evaluation, synthesis, or predictions — in words and thoughts they can relate to and apply immediately..
  4. Be an expert at keeping track of your niche. Don’t overwhelm yourself … but don’t live in your own head and don’t live online only. Look for great ideas and innovation everywhere. Follow Alltop to get the latest news. Read print magazines, blogs, and news that cover the topics you cover. Pre-select it for people interested in what you do. Add value by explaining why you’re passing it on.
  5. Be an expert at specialized search and information mining. Make finding interesting content tidbits your expert quest. Get to be friends with Google Alerts and similar services. Follow terms around the Internet.
  6. Be an expert at sharing your work where your customers are. Be where your potential customers are. Don’t just Tweet a great photo. Say something about it. Tell a story about it. Not every great client is on Twitter. Not every great mind is either. Go to conferences; meet local businesses; visit universities; get to know the other experts and authors in your niche. Ask everyone for their stories and tell anyone who cares about the stories you’ve collected. Tweet, speak, visit, and comment on blogs. Get opinions and think about what people say. Talk about your work like you to talk to your friends about what you do.
  7. Be an expert at thinking deeply. Saturate yourself in the trends, and think about how they influence your work. Go deeper too. Find out what researchers are thinking so that you can offer your readers how you think the highest quality and most relevant information might change what you’re doing today and in the future. Always tie it back to them in real and relevant ways. It’s your field be interested in it and they’ll be interested in you.
  8. Have an opinion. Don’t just pass on information. What the Internet is missing is your informed expertise and unique point of view. You’ve learned and earned something. Show us how you got there and why you care about it. Share your passion for your expertise. Nothing is more appealing than an expert who loves what he or she does.

Awards are nice, but they’re not something our customers can use. Quality is important, but if my customers can’t see or at least feel the fine lighting, perfect composition, or the artfullness of that photograph … then the time it took to add it … to them will be just cost. Some folks need basic transportation to get to work not a Ferrari this time around — an expert recognizes that too.

When we do the work, invest, and offer what we learn freely and care about those we serve, our true expertise shines through. People need what we know and sharing it isn’t shameless promotion, it’s contributing value to the community.

Are you an expert? How do you let your work speak for you?

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

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

To the Moms We Look Up To … Live Your Thank You

by

Moms Are People

My own mother was barely 9 years old when the Stock Market Crashed in 1929. I suppose there’s not a person today who can’t imagine what it might have been like to grow up, a child of a single mom with six brothers and sisters and no meat on the table. They all worked on a ranch and went to school when they could. She knew the hard work of living.

Lots of folks had it worse than she did.

public_health_nursing

Back then, some folks lost their homes. Some became hobos. Some lived wherever they could. The ones I knew were called “family.” People took them in. I had a lot of “aunts,” “uncles,” and “cousins” who weren’t blood relations.

My mother never forgot those times or people who found themselves in similar situations.

When I was in grade school, she helped two boys I know find places at “Boys Town” because their family couldn’t afford to raise them. In some ways she was their mother too.

And just recently on a visit to our hometown, my closest friend said she met a woman I know who’s parents hung out at my dad’s saloon. The woman told my friend that, growing up, she always looked forward to my mom’s Christmas presents. “She gave us the “good” pajamas in the pretty boxes. She always put something sweet inside with them.”

My mom used to baked tens of dozens of cookies to give away every holiday season. She would frost and decorate every one of them. Sometimes I got to help with the decorating.

When we’re lucky we have a mom like that in our house every day, but even when we don’t, moms like that are all around us.

Look around. No matter our circumstances. Moms give us powers that make us better people. Moms are models of strength and rising above bad situations. They have to choose for other people to keep things in balance and moving forward. They feed our bodies, our minds, our souls. They believe in us even when we have trouble believing.

Moms are heroes.

Sometimes moms do their jobs so well, we forget they are people. We cast them in their role and only see our relationship with them, never thinking about who they were before we were there.

Sometimes we don’t see what comes to us easily.

My mom had a girl baby that died nine days after that little girl was born. That happened 3 years before there was a me. I didn’t understand what that might have meant to her and her life, until fully a year after she died. That’s when I began to understand my mom as a human being.

887011_baby

They say there are moms who don’t do well. It’s an overwhelming job that requires some experience of love and fearlessness.

I say there are mom all around us, even moms who are dads, even moms who’ve never had children.

If you have a mom who has given you life or know a mom who has changed your life, let her know how you’ve looked up to her when you’ve needed her.

Without the moms in the world, we wouldn’t be us.

Let the world see the moms you look up to, the moms who have made you.

Live your thank you … to its highest value.

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

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

SOB Business Cafe 05-07-10

by

SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

End Homelessness
There are first times for everything. The first time I drove a car, first time I broke my leg, first time I ate sushi, the first time I went to work, the first time I was fired, and I’ll never forget my first kiss. ‘Firsts’ are memorable parts of life and growing up.

Well, the same goes for that first night spent on the streets or in a homeless shelter. The first time you’re homeless, the intense feelings of fear and uncertainty are impossible to forget.

CommonCentsMom
Earlier this year I wrote a post about how important online relationships are and well WON my way to this room of people. Many of my blogging heroes where in this room. Well life threw a curve ball and I couldn’t go. I was blessed enough the the founders of SOBCon let me pass my win on to another Canadian blogger. I gave my ticket to Scott Stratten..and if you are in the marketing world and don’t know who he is may I suggest you read his new book due out in August.

So what about the girl who didn’t get to go? The one who got stuck sitting at home?

Ramblings from a Glass Half Full
And when we finished, all of us were transformed.

I know, transformed is a pretty strong word, and for those of you who have never been to a SOBCon, I can understand some skepticism here. How can that happen? It’s just a conference, right? And we all know what happens there – speakers speaking, panelists pontificating, and audience members watching passively (and checking their watches looking forward to the next coffee break).

Wrong.




Related ala carte selections include


Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

Cool Tool Review: GiveForward & ChipIn

by

Todd Hoskins Reviews Tools for Small Business

cooltext451585442_tools

Todd Hoskins chooses and uses tools and products that could belong in a small business toolkit. He’ll be checking out how useful they are to folks who would be their customers in a form that’s consistent and relevant.

Cool Tool Review: GiveForward & ChipIn
A Review by Todd Hoskins

It’s difficult to ask for money. Whether it’s making a pitch to an investor, raising funds for a cause, or getting through a personal financial crisis, it’s uncomfortable and humbling to look someone in the eye with open hands and say, “Please.”

I missed out on a class trip to England years ago because I couldn’t sell enough pizza discount cards. Door-to-door pleading was not as effective as I hoped, so I went to school while my schoolmates went to Buckingham Palace. Lesson learned. Money is more easily earned.

Thank you, Tim Berners-Lee for the Internet, which in addition to providing knowledge, community, and a living for many of us, the WWW makes fundraising a whole lot simpler.

There are two primary reasons a business would want to raise funds online. First, as an alternative to sourcing angel investments. Grandpa and your rich friend Gretchen could indeed be angels, giving you the head start to get a business up and running, or reach the next phase of growth. In the world of peer-to-peer financing, Prosper has been democratizing business investments for over four years now. If you have friends and family who support your initiative, why not avoid the cost and hassle of interest rates and term sheets?

The second reason a business would get into fundraising is to bring awareness and money to a cause. It’s a good business practice (and human practice) to be charitable. Donating time and/or funds to a community development project, for example, ties a business to the community. It’s also appropriate to announce, “We care about this. Want to help?”

There are two tools I recommend that can help you ask for help. GiveForward and ChipIn are both simple and inexpensive, serving slightly different purposes.

GiveForward features a page. ChipIn features a widget. If you need to tell a story, make a case, provide some background, and allow comments, then GiveForward is the right choice. If you’re hoping to receive single donations in the hundreds or thousands of dollars, GiveForward is going to provide more peace of mind to the donor.

picture-42
ChipIn is better used for “crowdfunding,” encouraging your reader base or network to chip in a few dollars. It works with PayPal. The widget is not pretty, but it’s very visible on your blog or site.

Summing Up – Is it worth it?

Enterprise Value: 2/5 – some custom development would be appropriate for larger businesses

Entrepreneur Value: 3/5 – show your passion, whether it’s for your business or a cause

Personal Value: 4/5 – for soliciting or researching donations, sites like GlobalGiving and GiveForward are important