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Paint a picture with your blog, article headlines

1/24/2011 By Leave a Comment

Colorful paint pots in an art studioThe next time you write a headline for a blog post or an article, think of a headline that plants in the reader’s mind an indelible photo, or paints a picture.

I found one that I love this morning.

It accompanies an article by Vin Montello in one of last year’s issue of The Net Effect, the magazine for membership of Stompernet, the membership site for Internet marketers. And when I read it, I liked it so much that I went back and read it two more times.

11 Secrets to Writing E-Mails That Suck Cash Out of Pockets
Like a Carwash Vacuum Sucks Change from Your Ashtray

For more examples of Montello’s headlines, visit Marketing Clambake blog. Or check out my Special Report #39: How to Write Eye-catching Headlines for Your News Releases or Articles.

What headline have you read recently that paints a picture? Or which have you written that do so?

Filed Under: Blogs, Writing Articles Tagged With: , , , ,

Why a press release and not just a blog post?

3/8/2010 By 1 Comment

If you’re releasing a report on the state of your industry, what’s the purpose of writing a press release? Why not just post the information to your blog?

In fact, why even bother with press releases? Can’t blog posts serve the same function?

That’s what law firm marketing expert Kevin O’Keefe asked at Real Lawyers Have Blogs.

He will be releasing a report later this week on the use of blogs by large American law firms, and he asked:

“My question is who do I send the press release to? Don’t I accomplish the same thing by posting a blog post with the report as I always have? As a courtesy to reporters and editors, couldn’t I just email them a link to my blog post? How does a press release help them?

“Some law firms and companies use press release services such as PR Newswire or PRWeb for press releases, many in large part for Search Engine Optimization.  Getting links from such sites to your company website or blog using keywords describing your offering causes your website or blog to rank higher on such keyword searches.  But that feels a bit like a sham and I’m not looking for SEO.”
   

Write a release and a blog post

Do both.

Press releases are written much like a newspaper article would be written with “just the facts.” And, of course, you can link directly to the report and anything else you wish.

One of the big advantages of press releases is that journalists, bloggers and others can simply cut and paste from the press release and add what you’ve written to their own copy.  Blogs, on the other hand, are written in a more informal, personal style that make wholesale copying difficult.
  
A blog also serves as a great platform to comment on various aspects of the report, in one or more blog posts. So while that press releases is pulling traffic at PRWeb, your post is pulling traffic at your blog. 
         
  
How to publicize an industry report

I gave Kevin seven ideas for publicizing his report:

  1. Write a press release and post it to PRWeb.  Journalists and others can also search the PRWeb site by topic.  I found eight RSS feeds at PRWeb just for legal news. So if the only place that somebody can find info on the report is at Kevin’s blog, they’ll miss it if they’re at the PRWeb site.
        
  2. Let your Twitter followers, Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections know about the release. Just give an enticing headline and link to it at PRWeb. (See 11 Ways to Avoid Missed Opportunities on Facebook.)
        
  3. Write a blog post that ties into the press release.  Why was the report written? Are the results surprising? Can you offer a behind-the-scenes look at the benefit of blogging for big law firms, something the press release doesn’t explain?
        
  4. Post the same press release at your website, in your online press room.  You want to do this so that people who come to your website can find recent information about what you’re doing.
        
  5. If you wish, you can now pitch the story to a select group of journalists and bloggers.  These can be people whose names you have collected and put into a database.  I’d create individual pitches for each journalists or blogger, customized for their audience, and then include a link where they can see the press release.
        
  6. What about people on Twitter who “tweet” about law-related topics?  Don’t forget about them.  Sometimes you can get far more traction on Twitter than you can in traditional media, simply because of the retweets.
        
  7. How do you find people who would be interested in the report and are most likely to retweet?  Go to Search.Twitter.com and search for #law, #lawyers, #legal and other related words, using hash tags.  Twitter will return a list of tweets written by people who have used those keywords in their posts.  You can then go to each person’s Twitter page and decide if they’re worth following.  If so, follow them.  They might follow you back.  You can then send them a direct message and let them know about your report, and link to the press release on PRWeb.
        
  8. Finally, how about creating a short video, about two and a half minutes, discussing the report?  You can do this with an inexpensive Flip video camera and upload the video to YouTube, which can pull more traffic to your blog or website.

Kevin might also consider a subscription to Expertclick, the Online Yearbook of Experts. A subscription puts you in their experts directory and lets you post up to 52 press releases per year.  You can then link to these releases from your blog or the online press room at your website. That’s what I do.  Learn more at Expertclick.com.

How do you use press releases in conjunction with your blog?

Filed Under: Blogs, LinkedIn, Pitching the Media, Publicity for Niche Markets, Social media marketing, Twitter, Video, YouTube Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Social media time-saver: Turn a LinkedIn Q&A into a video

7/31/2009 By 12 Comments
Stop spending precious time creating original content for all your social media sites. 
             
Here’s a valuable shortcut—a quick way to use expertise you’ve already shared with somebody, and turn it into a video.  
    
Several months ago, on LinkedIn, I answered a question about all the ways an author could use Twitter to promote a book. I copied and pasted my bulleted list and turned it into a post for this blog: Social networking ROI: A testimonial more valuable than an ad.
           
Then I took that list, pared it down, and bought some stock photos. I combined the photos with text to create a video, using Animoto, a program I love that turns your still photos and text into slick videos. I’ve written about Animoto here.
      
Here’s my Animoto video on how to use Twitter to market your book:
     


Next, I’ll take the video and post it to my YouTube channel. Then I’ll share it with my Facebook Fans. Failing to create Fan Pages on Facebook, by the way, is a major missed opportunity, because Fan Pages are the only place Facebook allows you to promote. You can also have an unlimited number of Fans. Read about other missed opportunities on Facebook. 

And then I’ll tweet about it, leading my Twitter followers to this blog.

There are countless other ways to recycle content, but you get the idea.  If you’re writing a string of tweets about a particular topic, can they be turned into article for EzineArticles.com? Can that article then be turned into a video?

When you find yourself creating content for social media sites, stop and ask yourself: How many ways you can milk the cow that’s already in the barn?  





Filed Under: Authors & Publishers, Blogs, LinkedIn, Social media marketing, Social networking Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Blog content in short supply? 9 ideas for bloggers

7/26/2009 By 9 Comments

blogkeyonkeyboard--stIf you’re new to blogging, or you’ve been blogging for awhile but sometimes find yourself struggling for something to write about, here are nine ideas to get you writing quickly:

1. Take a poll.  Using a free tool like Survey Monkey, you can poll your readers on a fun, controversial or hot topic.  You will, of course, write another blog post sharing results of the poll. For blog polls, the quickest and easiest thing to do is use a widget.  You can get one at PollDaddy.com (they have a WordPress plugin) or you can use the WordPress survey plugin to put a poll inside a blog post.

2. Use Google Alerts.  Create alerts for your topics at Google.com/alerts. Google will email you as often as you wish with great content that ties into your topic.

3. Create Top 10 lists.  Letterman made these famous.  Readers love them!

4. Create a video.  Video is hot, hot, hot and it will pull traffic like crazy. Here’s one I created on how to get your consumer product into holiday gift sections. If you’re intimidated by video, let Mike Stewart help.

5. Comment on somebody else’s video which you can also post to your blog.  You’ll find millions of videos at YouTube. I blogged about this video that shows Peggy Noonan, a conservative columnist for the Wall Street Journal, and Mark Murphy, a strategist during John McCain’s 2000 campaign for president, who were caught criticizing McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin for vice president.  It happened during a panel discussion on the set of MSNBC, where Murphy is a commenator.

6. Report on interesting conversatons on Twitter.  I frequently blog about discussions I have with my Twitter followers, how we help each other, and how Twitter is a fabulous tool for publicity, if you use it correctly.  I use screenshots, too, to dress up the blog post. (Caution: Don’t let Twitter and Facebook steal you away from your blog.)

7. Find content at Digg.com. Use the search box at this social bookmarking site to find interesting content on a specific topic. You can guage the popularity of the topic by how many Diggs it has received.    

8. Share humorous content.  Funny photos, jokes and videos—particularly those that ties into your topic—are a nice break from the serious stuff.

9. Recycle content from other sources.  If you’re a speaker, extract content from your handouts.  If you’re an author, excerpt from your book.  I frequently cut and paste helpful comments I post to other blogs, like the comment you’re reading, and turn it into a post at this blog. I wrote seven of these nine tips this morning for the Blogging Made Easy post I read at the Salon.com blog. (It’s the second comment.)

How do you find interesting content for your blog?

(Shutterstock photo)



Filed Under: Authors & Publishers, Facebook, Photos & Graphics, Social media marketing, Social networking, Twitter, Video, YouTube Tagged With: , , , , ,

Newest occupational hazard: Death by blogging

5/18/2008 By 7 Comments

I’ve been waking up every morning for a week with a stiff neck. A tendon in my left wrist still aches, despite four months of doctor’s appointments and three different prescriptions.

My massage therapist says the muscles in my back are so tight that she uses every muscle in her own hands, shoulders and legs to knead the knots out of them. She tells me I need to return to yoga classes, pronto, and start taking better care of myself.

That’s what I get for sitting in front of the computer, sometimes up to 10 hours a day.

Then I read the New York Times story In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop.

A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment.

In the last few months, two technology bloggers have died suddenly and a third has survived a heart attack.

Enough already. Here’s what I’m doing, starting today:

—Attending yoga class twice a week.

—More frequent breaks, at least one per hour.

—More frequent massages.

—Doing the stretching exercises a physical therapist ordered two years ago when I damaged my rotator cuffs from using weights in Jazzercise class.

—Lying backwards on the giant red rubber ball I bought from my chiropractor to relieve the “hunched shoulders” syndrom caused by hours in front of the computer.

—Lying on the floor, on top of a giant styrofoam tube that runs the length of my spine, again per my chiropractor’s instructions, to help stretch my back and shoulders.

OK, bloggers and Internet marketers. What are you doing to avoid death by blogging? Authors and writers, do you have the same problems?

Let’s hear from some physical therapists, too.

Filed Under: Authors & Publishers, Blogs Tagged With: , ,