Entries Tagged 'blogging' ↓

Hands up everyone who understands why you should have a blog?

Good – now hands up those of you who actually blog?

I thought so. Just about everyone understands the power of a blog when it comes to driving traffic to your main business website. It acts as a tool for building links and as a way to elevate yourself to expert status in your chosen field. Your clients and readers will love you because you are providing them with excellent and valuable information – you are giving them something for nothing.

So, if you understand all of that, why aren’t you blogging?

Yes it takes time, results aren’t immediate and you have to have a degree of creativity to produce a post that someone is going to want to read, but surely the benefits far out weight that?

If you are humming and harring about setting up a blog, or you have one but have let it slide, have a read of this fantastic post by Coppyblogger about the 7 Deadly Sins of Blogging and push those hurdles out of the way and get blogging.

Your headline is the hook that will get someone to read your blog post or article. Every freelance copywriter understands its importance, as should any writer out there. The problem is that when writers discover a headline that works it tends to be used to death. At the moment there are loads of ‘How to’ and list headlines (yes, they even feature on this blog) so now maybe the time has come to find a few different angles.

Brian Clark of Copyblogger has devised a useful selection of alternative headlines which will help your copywriting by injecting it with a new batch of attention-grabbing winners.

1. Who Else Wants [blank]?

Starting a headline this way is a classic strategy that suggests there is already a desire for the product or service. It may be becoming overused in internet marketing but it still works well for other subject matter:

• Who Else Wants a Great Blog Template Design?
• Who Else Wants a Higher Paying Job?
• Who Else Wants More Fun and Less Stress When on Vacation?

2. The Secret of [blank]

This is also used quite a lot but mainly because it works. Why do readers like this? Because you are sharing insider knowledge and translating it into a benefit for them.

• The Secret of Successful Podcasting
• The Secret of Protecting Your Assets in Litigation
• The Secret of Getting Your Home Loan Approved

3. Here is a Method That is Helping [blank] to [blank]

This one is simple. All you do is identify your target audience and the benefit you can provide them and fill in the blanks.

• Here is a Method That is Helping Homeowners Save Hundreds on Insurance
• Here is a Method That is Helping Children Learn to Read Sooner
• Here is a Method That is Helping Bloggers Write Better Post Titles

4. Little Known Ways to [blank]

This is a less common way of accomplishing the same thing as ‘The Secret of…’

• Little Known Ways to Save ib Your Heating Bill
• Little Known Ways to Lose Weight Quickly and Safely

5. Get Rid of [problem] Once and For All

This is a classic that identifies a problem or unfulfilled desire that the reader wants to remedy.

• Get Rid of Your Unproductive Work Habits Once and For All
• Get Rid of That Carpet Stain Once and For All

6. Here’s a Quick Way to [solve a problem]

Everyone loves a quick and easy way to solve a nagging problem.

• Here’s a Quick Way to Get Over a Cold
• Here’s a Quick Way to Potty Train Your Child
• Here’s a Quick Way to Backup Your Hard Drive

7. Now You Can Have [something desireable] [great circumstance]

This is the priceless ‘have your cake and eat’ it headline.

• Now You Can Quit Your Job and Make Even More Money
• Now You Can Own a Cool Mac and Still Run Windows

8. [Do something] like [world-class example]

Gatorade milked this one fully with the “Be Like Mike” campaign featuring Michael Jordan in the early 1990s.

• Speak Spanish Like a Diplomat
• Party Like Paris Hilton
• Blog Like an A-Lister

9. Have a [or] Build a [blank] You Can Be Proud Of

Appeal to your reader’s vanity, dissatisfaction or shame.

• Build a Body You Can Be Proud Of
• Have a Smile You Can Be Proud Of
• Build a Blog Network You Can Be Proud Of

10. What Everybody Ought to Know About [blank]

This one draws on your reader’s natural curiosity.

• What Everybody Ought to Know About ASP
• What Everybody Ought to Know About Adjustable Rate Mortgages
• What Everybody Ought to Know About Writing Great Headlines.

OK, how many of you realise the potential a blog could have for your business?

Out of those who put your hand up, how many of you actually blog to help generate traffic to your main website and raise your profile?

I thought as much. Blogging is one of those things that most of us know we should be doing. Most of us realise that it is one of the best ways to generate traffic and links to your business site. But few of us actually take time out to create one and make it work.

I guess the biggest barriers to blogging regularly and well are time and energy. When you throw into the mix the fact that results are slow and only become apparent over time, people give up before they’ve even got started.

Blogging well takes time and patience, but it is well worth it.

If you have a blog but don’t think it’s working for you take a look at this recent post on Copyblogger and make sure you’re not committing any of the 7 deadly sins to blogging.

As you’ve probably guessed by now I am a great fan of Copyblogger. This is a post I came across on the site a short while ago which proved to be very relevant.

Blogging is a huge thing for me and my business and often when I try to extol its virtues I’m met with the usual response – ‘I wouldn’t know what to write about’.

As Brian Clark explains below you have to think about what buyers of your product are interested in and then write about that. By linking your posts back to your main sales site, you will be generating a supply of targeted traffic to your website which should equate to more sales.

Anyway, that’s enought from me. Brian, take it away…

The Golden Rule of Online Marketing

You’re familiar with the Golden Rule, right?

Roughly translated across cultures, it boils down to:

Treat Others as You Wish to Be Treated.

Those are words to live by, even online. But the truth is, when it comes to online marketing, you’ve got to treat people better than you wish to be treated.

So the Golden Rule of Online Marketing is:

Give Something Valuable Away in Order to Sell Something Related.

Simple enough, but what does it really mean?

The Media is the Marketing

After giving it a lot of thought, I’m afraid the phrase “social media marketing” is a tragic mistake. It gives people the wrong idea.

Some people see social media as an opportunity to shove a business card in your hand with nary a “hello” first. It’s like getting bent over at a Tupperware party without a hint of verbal foreplay.

Such a waste.

The amazing thing about social media is the ability to own true media assets. To reach niche audiences on your own terms, for your own ultimate benefit.

As long as you provide the audience a benefit first, that is.

In traditional media, content producers give people something they want in the form of entertainment or information. Then they sell access to those people to advertisers who want to sell something to those people.

In social media, smart content producers understand that they play both roles. They provide people something they want and sell something… but in this case, what they sell is something extremely relevant to the content, and therefore, to the audience.

Being a new media content producer naturally creates awareness for your products or services. That’s what marketing is supposed to do, and that’s how it’s done effectively online.

An Example: How Daniel Can Sell More Art

Daniel Edlen sells really cool portraits of rock stars hand-painted in white acrylic on an actual vinyl recording from that artist. I got to know Daniel on Twitter, and now own renditions of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain portrayed on classic albums from each.

Along the way, Daniel asked me how he could sell more of his stuff.

I get this question a lot.

Daniel has an interesting marketing problem. He creates unique stuff (like he’s supposed to), but suffers from this one simple fact:

No one knows they want his stuff until they do.

No one likely searches for rock stars painted on vinyl. I certainly didn’t.

He needs an effective media vehicle to drive his sales to a whole new level. One where he converts a large number of followers into a smaller but vibrant group of customers who begin to market for him.

So the Golden Rule of Online Marketing is especially pertinent here. What can Daniel give away that has value and also stimulates desire for his art?

Daniel blogs, and I personally like reading his stuff. But it won’t work the way he wants.

Here’s what I’d do.

What do people who buy this type of art really want? What drives the desire to hang this art on one’s wall?

I’d say it’s mostly nostalgia and identification. An opportunity to gaze upon a vivid memory from the past, and to place yourself within the sphere of that sensation.

So what kind of content puts that person in the mood?

Rock trivia.

I know it sounds simple, and that’s a good thing. People want what they want, and our desire as marketers for complex answers is an insecurity, not a virtue.

Rock trivia is something huge amounts of people will opt-in to receive daily. There’s a demonstrated desire for this type of content, so you’re not forcing anything.

You now have their attention, which is critical, but there’s a lot more to it.

Facts and little-known details about rock stars and the lives they lead put people in a certain mood. If nostalgia and identification are what you’re really selling (as Daniel is), then you’ve got to put a bunch of people in the mood within one click of your solution.

This is how Daniel could sell a lot more art. It may not be the only way, but I’m betting this way works.

What Are You Really Selling?

The day you make a breakthrough is the day you understand what you’re really selling. What’s the ultimate benefit people get from you?

When you understand that, you can make media that works as marketing. Without it, you’re likely just pissing people off.

And please… until you get it, stay away from me at Tupperware parties. Yikes.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of DIY Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

If there is one method guaranteed to get your articles and blogs read, then it would have to be to fill them with emotive content.

Before you say thanks for the tip, sit down at your desk as usual and start to write – STOP.

Emotive content doesn’t come from calm, well thought out writing. Emotion comes from within you – something has to stir you up and get you riled before it will come out in your writing.

The best time to write is when you are feeling:

• happy
• sad
• so angry you could punch the next person that looks at you

How do you get to feel like that? Read or talk to people.

Start your day reading a few blogs, even working through your email inbox can do the trick. How many times have you read something and thought what the **** are they going on about! Well when it happens write about how it makes you feel.

When our beliefs are challenged or questioned we become so wound up we need an outlet – let articles or blogging be yours.

Write about whatever has got your blood boiling – forget structure for now and just let it flow. I’ll guarantee that when you’re done, not only will you feel a whole lot better but you will also have one of your best articles in front of you.

I am willing to bet that if you had tried to sit down and write about the same subject from cold you would never have come up with an article that was so damn good.

This is because you are letting your emotion do your talking – you are holding a conversation so your writing is more relaxed and therefore more accessible to your reader.

So next time you see red, start typing or pick up a pen. Let it all pour out and before long you’ll have a stack of fantastic blogs and articles which will spark new debates, articles and blogs…