Writing Archives - Page 12 of 15

You Can’t Write My Blog Post

April 25, 2007 by Liz

A Bad Facsimile

She came into my office and sat across the desk from me. She might have been the brightest person I ever hired. I know she is the best.

We were meeting on her first lesson for a teacher guide that she was working on. Her name was J.

I looked down at the lesson. I looked up at J. I said, “Do you like this lesson?”

J said, “Do I like the lesson? Well it has this, and this, and that.”

I repeated myself. “I said, “Do you like this lesson?”

J said, “Well it has that, and that, and this.”

So, I said, “J. This isn’t a test. Do you like this lesson? Would you actually teach from it?”

“Oh no! I wrote what I thought you wanted. I’d never teach it like that.”

J get this straight. You can’t write my lesson. I can’t write yours either. If we tried we’d both just fail miserably — we’d both write bad facsimiles. I’d write a bad facsimile of your lesson. You’d write a bad facsimile of mine.

Writing a blog works the same. You can’t write my blog post. I can’t write yours either. What I can do is pay attention to how you do things and find my own version of doing them that makes sense for me.

I can’t write your blog post.

But I can find my version. That blog post that would be only me.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
SOBCon 07 It’s incredible. Are you coming?

Put Yourself into What You Write

April 24, 2007 by Liz

Sounds Obvious — So Why Do I Forget?

It’s a simple thought.

When you’re feeling like your writing has no life, put yourself into it. It’s your story, and that’s the tale I want to hear.

If you write about a business book that you just read, put yourself into it. What was it like for you to read it? Did you remember something you used to know? Did it get you inspired to try a new approach? Were you bored? Did it get you jazzed?

If you write about a blog that you’ve discovered, tell me how you reacted to it. What was the one thing that you found compelling? What surprised you? What was your response to the folks in the comment box?

From the time that we started talking, we’ve been telling each other stories. If I hear what you heard inside a story, I might want to give something a try. I might not. Either way I’ll keep reading what you wrote to see what your reaction was.

I can find information in lots of places.

But I can only find your story, if you tell me. That’s powerful.

Put yourself into it. You are the human interest in everything you write.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
SOBCon 07 It’s incredible. Are you coming?

Choosing for Our Readers: A 5 Point Pop Quiz

March 6, 2007 by Liz

It’s a Surprise Quiz!

Content is king. It is the product and the service we offer to our readers. Content is what they come for. So when we look on our front page, our job is to make sure that readers will find what they came for. Our posts are our way of extending ourselves, our thoughts, our business savvy, and our expertise. They are the flag that carries our branding message to the world in every sentence.

Sometimes we can look in the wrong direction. Instead of choosing for our readers we unconsciously choose for ourselves.

I use this 5 Point Pop Quiz to check today’s post.

What was my purpose for writing today’s post?

Who is the audience who will enjoy the post? Are they the core audience of my blog or business?

Is there real content in the post? If it’s a link list, do I personally recommend every link on offer? If I’m passing on information, have I added my own insights, analysis, and value to it?

What will my readers learn or get from reading today’s post? Will they be informed, entertained, or moved to action?

For today’s post, did Ichoose for myself or for my readers?

Now and then we all forget and find we chose ourselves over our readers. Other times we write for each other, rather than for the folks we want as customers. I’ve been writing for years and I know I still get caught there.

I hope your post passed this 5 Point Pop Quiz with flying colors — the flying colors of a brand well focused on your readers. If not, I bet you know just what to do. . . .

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Don’t forget to sign up to meet me in Chicago. Seats are, oh so, limited.

A Pre-Publishing Checklist for Feeding the Spiders

January 9, 2007 by Liz

Making Sure the Investment Pays Off

Yep I write every day and I publish. That’s way I make sure that my voice is heard. I also want to be sure that my words are visible. I like to see that the spiders serve them up in Google.

Prorating the time that I spent gathering ideas, I’ve probably spent 60-120 minutes on average post. Time writing is time working. Time spent is an investment. It’s time I could be using talking to bloggers and talking with clients. Before I hit publish I make sure that the time I’ve invested pays off as well as it might. I’ve made a short Pre-Flight Publishing list that I run down, before I pass say, “Go.”

Pre-Publishing Checklist

Is the content keyword rich? By waiting to read for keywords until after all other checks, I make sure that I don’t forfeit quality to pray at the altar of SEO. Now, I can look for keywords my readers might search for and make sure that they find the relevant content that I have to offer. I won’t be reaching, and they won’t be disappointed. Current relationships will stay strong, and new readers will be pleased with what they encounter here.
What tags might I add that belong with this post? Tags can help search engine spiders properly index my post. Post tags are definitely blog, brand, and business promotion. If your blogging software doesn’t easily allow you to tag your posts, there are plug-ins and hacks for every platform out there.
What related articles do I have that readers might be interested in reading? Offering related articles for readers to read more when they finished my post, gives people more information about a subject they’ve already shown interest in. It also gets readers more involved with my blog, my business, and my brand.
The intra-link that you make at the end of your post shows people how your content relates and is relevant throughout your blog — this helps search engines index it as well.
Are there opportunities for trackbacks? If I’ve mentioned another blogger’s work or if what I’ve said meshes well with the conversation on another blog, I’ll send a trackback to let that blogger know.
Is this this a one-in-a-million post that I should self-promote to other blogs? If I’ve written the post that reveals how to get Google Goodness from every post, I write a brief introduction of myself and your post and send a personal email to a select two or three bloggers.
I make it’s a one-in-a-million post, and I explain my reasons for thinking it’s a match with their blogs. If you don’t read a blog, don’t send a link. Period. Either way, it’s a long shot that a post really is the one-in-a-million post that we think it is. Still, there’s a right and wrong way to let folks know. If you’re going to do that, do your homework first, the person receiving the email will notice. Believe me they will.

When I’ve made these few checks I feel better that I’m sending off my work in great shape to make the most of the time that I’ve invested.

What other practices are on your pre-publsihing checklist?

–ME “lis” Strauss

Blog Promotion: How to Write for People and Search Engine Spiders
10 + 1 Things to Make Me Love Your Business Email

Blog Promotion: How to Write for People and Search Engine Spiders

November 28, 2006 by Liz

Blog Promotion by Writing Well for the Web

Writing online serves two audiences — people and search engine spiders — those little crawly bots that move from link to link indexing information that ranks my pages. People are my readers. People are also the users who search for information. Spiders locate the content for search engines to index and serve up when people go searching for information. Keeping those facts in mind helps me handle the balance between the people and the coded arachnids that search out quality, relevant content to serve them.

The best blog promotion is to write well for the web. I keep my focus on people and give a nod to spiders by following these basics.

Write for People

I write for people. I use my own voice. I write with the way people read as my guide.

I read over my work as a reader would. When I read what I’ve written listen as a person would hear the message.

I look for words, phrases, errors, and overly-long sentences that would get between readers and my message. I also have a proofreader check things behind me. If you find something, she’s not been here yet.

After the work is “people-ready,” I go over it another time for my secondary audience Ã¢â¬â- those search engine spiders. I make sure the spiders donÃ¢â¬â¢t trip and have plenty to eat.

Feed Spiders

Spiders like to eat keywords. I make sure they find some in titles and subheads and key sentences. I don’t mind a bit of repetition.

I avoid the word “here” as link anchor text. Spiders place more value on outgoing links when the anchor text shows how they are relevant.

I add related articles. Spiders like to know how my pages relate to each other, and they like to have those pages to serve up when someone is searching for a related idea.

I link out or trackback to quality blogs.

These last crumbs to feed spiders didn’t really change the content. So I give the piece a final read, fix what I find, and hit that publish button.

Readers are happy because they get my best writing. Spiders are happy because people get my best writing — that means the people will use their search engine again.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

A Blue Sky Thanksgiving

November 23, 2006 by Liz

Thank You!

My wish for you . . .

Reflection, a Blue Sky Thanksgviving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of the world!

–ME “Liz” Strauss