Monthly Archives: July 2010

Creating Killer Blog Content: A Speedlinking Mashup

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Creating Killer Blog Content

It’s Day #7 of the #31DBBB challenge, and today’s assignment s to write a linked post. The topic I will be covering with my speed linking post today is a bit of a mashup of blog posts about a topic that is close to my heart–creating killer blog content.

As a tip of my hat to the developer of the #31DBBB, this first link is to Darren Rowse, who shares a great blog post about creating great blog content.
http://www.problogger.net/how-to-write-great-blog-content/

In this vintage, oldie-but-goodie post, seomoz shares some online tools that you can use to find ideas for blog psots:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/10-web-tools-to-help-generate-blog-content-ideas

Chris Brogan shares 40 tips for delivering killer blog content. You’ll find lots of inspiration and ideas that will help you to crank out copy that reflects your passion and your expertise.
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/40-ways-to-deliver-killer-blog-content/

Dosh dosh shares even more creative ways to surmount the daily challenge of delivering compelling content that appeals to your readers:
http://www.doshdosh.com/how-to-effectively-create-content-for-your-niche-blogs-a-brief-introduction-and-guide/

Karan Singhal provides lots f practical tips in this post about creating blog content that will interest your readers:
http://www.famousbloggers.net/create-bolg-content-interests-readers.html

So, enjoy these blogs and feel free to share a link in the comments for your favorite posts that have ideas for creating great blog content.

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Blogging Tips: 7 Strategies for Keeping Up with Posting Consistently

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Blogging is a personal publishing format that allows you to be able to have your own platform for sharing your ideas with the world. Reading feedback from visitors is quite rewarding and makes it worth all of the work and effort that goes into producing a quality blog.

But sometimes there are those days that your Mamma warned you about. There are days when life gets to be overwhelming, you’re exhausted and beaten down and the baby needs a new pair of shoes.  Sometimes you wonder what the heck you were thinking when you started that blog. What made you think you’d have time to post every day or least every week?

Well, gentle reader, I’ve got some fabulous news for you. I find myself in the same boat as you. I’m a blogger, a mom, and I’m running a business from home. My days are full to the brim, so if I am not strategic with my time, my blogs can slip off the radar and languish for days while I’m scrambling around after my girls, or knee-deep in a client project.

Since we all face the challenge of how to fit our blogging tasks into an already gloriously full day, I’ve come up with some tricks and strategies that you can use to develop productive habits, which will allow you to make the most of those little snippets of time in your day to get your blogging done.

I’ve heard it said that we teach what we most need to learn, and that is indeed the case with me because one of my biggest challenges has been keeping fresh posts on my blog. So, here are some tips and for writing and blog posting that I try to follow:

1. Keep a notebook handy

Here’s a perfect example of this tip. As I write this, I am sitting in the laundry room doing laundry. Because right now I live in an apartment that does not have a washer and dryer, I have to schlep my clothes to the local laundry. But, while I sit here waiting for the wash cycle to finish, I’m getting this blog post written because I brought my little mini-Netbook with me.

Get a small notebook, use the notes feature on your phone, or like me, keep your mini-laptop handy and jot down ideas as they come to you.

2. Stay in ‘Idea seeking’ mode

Keep your eyes and ears open for what is going on around you. How can you incorporate the events of your life into your blog posts? Just this week I got my first complaint on my email subscriber list. It threw me for a minute, but I got back on track quickly and turned it into a blog post.

Are you facing a challenge in your life? Find a way to share what you are learning without sharing too many of the personal, gory details. When there are big stories in the news either in your local area or nationally find a way to weave larger story into your blog posts if it’s appropriate.

Use your notebook and capture those ideas. You may not use all of them right away, but at some point you’ll be stumped for something to write about, and you can consult your notebook for some new ideas to write about.

3. Schedule specific blogging tasks

As a blogger you’ve got to do the following tasks over the course of a week:

  • Write blog posts
  • Share blog posts

-social media marketing

-blog directories/communities

  • Research
  • Blog maintenance

- install, update plugins

-stats reports

-comment moderation

-database backups

  • Network/build community with other bloggers

I’m certain that there are more tasks, but this is all that came to my mind. All of these things need to be done in order for your blog to run smoothly, so plug each of the tasks into your calendar and designate how many minutes you will set aside to complete it.

4. Write titles and outline posts in batches

In your research time, come up with some working titles of blog posts that you plan to write over the course of the coming week. Now, when you sit down to write, you will not be facing the dreaded blank page or screen. If you don’t have a hot topic to write about at the moment, look at your batch of working titles and start from there.

5. Write posts in batches

Take your list of titles and post outlines and write up a few posts in advance. Set them aside and come back and edit, proofread and format them in batches and, if you are running WordPress, you can publish them all at once scheduling the exact days and times you want each one to go live.

6. Utilize guest bloggers

Do you ever need a break from blogging, say for a vacation? Wouldn’t it be cool if someone else would write a blog post for you every now and then? Well, in exchange for a link back to their blog, guest bloggers will write a unique blog post for your blog. Is there a particular fan of your blog who always writes thoughtful, cogent comments, and who has a blog on a related topic to yours? You might send them a quick email and see if they might be interested in a guest blogging gig.

There are also several forums where bloggers seeking guest bloggers, and bloggers seeking blogs to guest post with hang out and help each other out. Here are two that I use:

http://BloggerLinkUp.com/

http://myblogguest.com/

7. Find ways to make it fun

Do you remember why you started blogging in the first place? Try to stay in touch with that initial excitement and use that energy to make your blogging tasks something you get to do rather than so much drudgery. Challenge yourself to a solid week of daily posting. Join a 30 day blogging challenge or start your own. Set specific goals for how often you will publish posts, and then create little rewards for yourself when you meet those goals. You know what motivates you, so use that to your advantage.

I’m in the 31DBBB challenge right now, and one of our tasks for the challenge is to find a blogging buddy. Develop a collaborative relationship with another blogger and challenge, encourage and support each other to make your blogs the best that they can be.

I recommend being patient with yourself as you develop these new habits. See which ones work for you and go with those for awhile and see if your blogging productivity improves. Number seven is the most important here because if you view your blogging responsibilities as chores or another “must do” task it will feel like drudgery.

When you come to view blogging as something fun and exciting that you get to do, you will be more likely to put all of your positive energy and enthusiasm into the task. Your passion for your topic will be apparent to your visitors and attract more visitors to your blog.

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How You Can Help Make ‘A Productive Pen’ a Better Blog for You

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online survey

With ‘A Productive Pen,’ going into its third year of existence, I was thinking that it’s time to have a little chat with you, my readers first to thank you for the time and attention that you give when you read my blog. I appreciate all of the comments and the positive, loving feedback that I receive from you, my fabulous readers.

In an effort to make sure that you are getting the best reader experience possible, I’ve put together a quick survey here. I’ve taken much of the text of this from Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger. I’m following his “31 Days to Build a Better Blog” challenge with the amazing women at the SITS blog and Blog Frog. I am doing the survey out of sequence because of an incident  last week.

The time was right now, so I’m doing the survey now to ask you, my readers what you suggest for this blog as I move forward. I ascribe to the belief that you can get everything you want to the degree that you help other people get what they want. I have learned so much in the area of blogging, online marketing and running an online business and this blog is where I share what I am learning with my visitors.

Taking a moment to answer these questions helps both of us. Thanks in advance for your comments. I appreciate your time and your thoughts on how I can make this blog even better.

  • Topics – What are the topics (specific or general) you’d like to see me cover in the coming months on this blog? What are the main issues that you’re facing as a freelance writer, blogger or online marketer these days? What would you like to learn about or grow most in for the remainder of the year?
  • Types of Posts – reader questions, tutorials, case studies, short tips, guest posts, tool reviews…. have your say about what you’d like most/least
  • Posting Frequency – too many posts, not enough, just right?
  • Design – How do you like the design? What would you change, add, get rid of?
  • Blog Features – what kinds of things would make your reader experience better?
  • Community – Do you have an interest in connecting with other readers? Are there features that you’d like added to the blog help you connect more?
  • What Frustrates You about A Productive Pen? What is your favorite thing about it?
  • Other Ideas and Feedback – anything goes here, big or little.

The ‘Rules’ – Any feedback, suggestions, dreams or ideas that you have are welcome. While I can’t promise to respond to each comment or put every suggestion into place I make a commitment to you to read anything you have to say.

All that I ask in return is that you be honest, courteous and constructive with your comments and feedback. Thank you. ;-)

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How Do You Deal with Subscriber Complaints?

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customer complaints

How do you handle subscriber complaints from your email list community? Do you take it in stride as a part of doing business, or does it freak you out a little bit and send you scrambling? I must admit to the latter, but I am learning to grow a thicker skin, get over myself and realize that you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and that making mistakes sometimes is part of being human. In this post, I’d like to explore the idea of handling complaints, and what’s the most fruitful way to resolve an issue and move on with your day so that you don’t end up in a bit of a tizzy as I found myself the other day.

In addition to my RSS feed, my visitors are invited to subscribe to my email update list where I send an email about once a week with updates about what I’m up to in my business, I share things I’m learning, little victories and course corrections as I make them. BTW, this is a double opt-in list, meaning that subscribers first fill in a form with their own email address and then they click on a confirmation message in their inbox to complete the transaction.

So, I was poking around in my Aweber email management account setting up a broadcast message when I saw a bit of orange highlighting around one of the numbers in the stats for one of my email lists. It turns out that was in the ‘complaints’ column. “OMG!” I thought. Someone had complained about one of my emails. My heart started to beat very quickly as I opened the broadcast message in question, and it was typical of the kinds of messages I normally send, and until that particular incident, there have been 0.0% complaints. I was baffled, so I dove into the Aweber knowledge base to research what this was all about and find out what I could do about it.

But I learned that if a subscriber reports your email messages as spam to their ISP, Aweber will automatically delete that subscriber from your list. So, I took a step back and took a breath and realized that you really can’t please everyone all of the time. I will never know what it was in that email that might have pissed that subscriber off to the point that they would report it as spam because that’s a pretty serious complaint and too many of them can cause your ISP to shut you down.

When I looked at the situation I understood that there was really nothing that I could do about it, so there was no point in getting all anxious about it. If a person had complained to me directly, I could have handled it and settled it with them personally and done whatever was required to make it right, learn from it and then move on. But there is no way to address an anonymous complaint, so I decided not to let it get to me.

So, I guess what I’m trying to do here is to share this as a “teachable moment.” When you have a business where you will be dealing with the public, you will have complaints. There is no avoiding it. All you can do is deal with them and move on and not let it freak you out. Establish a policy for how you will handle complaints to make things right with the customer. Discuss the issue with your team, and if it was indeed a mistake that was made, take the opportunity to learn and grow from it.

As far as my email subscriber list goes, I am going to take this opportunity to send a little survey (which I will address in another post) so that I can get a clear idea of what they want to see more of from me, and what I should avoid. This way I can provide the best information possible for my subscribers.

But in the end some people just like to grumble and gripe and they are difficult to please. You can’t lose your confidence or cool when you come across these kinds of people. I say keep your head up and keep on plugging away and offering your very best.  Some people will appreciate it, and some will not, but as long as you always put forth your best effort you are a winner.

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Mindmapping: An Effective Idea Generation Tool for Writers

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Buzan Mind Map

I was collaborating with a colleague the other day, and I sent him a mind map of some of the ideas that he had asked me to sketch out. Aside from the ideas contained in the mind map, he commented that I was really good at mind mapping. I was surprised at first because I really do them rather unconsciously now, but it occurred to me that this might be another one of my hidden strengths–something I’ve gotten so good at that I’m not aware of it because it comes effortlessly and naturally to me.

Since he identified it as a strength, and since the practice of mind mapping has served me so well since I first learned about it in a college creative writing class, I will share how I use them and how you might try them to see if they don’t help to unlock the hidden gems stored up within your conscious and unconscious mind.

Concepts such as spider web diagrams, and idea sunbursting were already in practice for hundreds of years when author and mind/ brain/ memory expert, Tony Buzan copyrighted the term “mind map” and prescribed a set of rules governing how they should be constructed. Buzan and several others have written books about mind mapping, and I have listed a few in the ‘resources’ section at the end of this article.

As this article des not pretend to e an exhaustive treatise on the topic, it is my intention to share with you how I use mind mapping as a writer to help spark creativity, and generate ideas around the topic that I am writing about at the moment.

When the idea for this article came to me, I scribbled this mind map out quickly on my whiteboard, and then transcribed it to the computer using a free, online mind mapping program called, bubbl.us.

Mind Map for Writing

Basically, what I do is get out pens, magic markers, and colored pencils and the biggest piece of paper that I can find and I write the main idea for what I need ideas for in the center of the paper and then I draw a circle around it. Radiating out from the circle are the related ideas and radiating out from those ideas are all of the sub-ideas and tangents that spring to mind as you go along.

Sometimes you might take a related idea and do a mind map that focuses in on that thought or concept going as deep as you like. Can you see how as you write each new word another one springs to mind? I love mind maps because for me they really get my creative juices flowing and my brain cells popping to come up with new ideas to capture.

I like to move quickly when I am making a mind map. I know it seems cumbersome to start on paper and then transcribe the whole thing to the computer, but that’s just my process. Maybe if I had an iPad, with a touch screen that might be a different story. But for now, my mind and my hand work best with pen and paper or marker and white board for capturing ideas in the moment.

OK, so let’s apply this to writing. If you look at the mind map I created for this article you can see that I wrote: “Mind Mapping for Writing” in the center and drew a circle around it. Then I have lines radiating out towards the other related ideas for how mind mapping can help fuel the writing process.

Using the tool of mind mapping can virtually ensure that you will never have writer’s block again. If you get stuck for ideas, whip out a sheet of paper and start doodling a mind map. They are so organic and they free the creative side of your brain to draw connections and even come up with some innovative ideas.

Now, I invite you to try mind mapping the next time you are getting ready to start a writing project. Take a look at the resources below, try some free software, or just get out your colored pens and pencils and create one on paper. But once you try this fabulous little technique you will quickly see how effective it can be for generating ideas for writing.

Resources:

http://www.mindmapsearch.org/

http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

http://www.mindmeister.com/

Books:

The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain’s Untapped Potential

By Tony Buzan and Barry Buzan

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10 Life Lessons I’ve Learned from Being a Blogger

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Life Lessons

I’m participating in the #31DBBB Blogging Challenge, and this post part of the Day #2 assignment. I want to welcome all of my fellow SITS Bloggers and thanks for all of the linky love ;-)

The first post of this blog was published originally in January of 2007, but a catastrophic crash in October of 2008 (before I knew about the importance of backing up my database) caused me to lose all of those early posts.

Prior to this blog for my consulting business I had a personal blog that I began in the fall of 1998 (before they were actually even called ‘blogs’). So with 12 years of blogging experience under my belt, I thought I’d write a post about what being a blogger has taught me about life.

1. Don’t write anything you wouldn’t want your parents or your children to see.
In the early days, I didn’t tell my parents that I kept a blog. I felt far more free to write whatever I felt like writing when I was pretty sure that they weren’t reading it. Well, the day eventually came when my dad, bless his heart, discovered my blog one day when he googled me. Thank goodness he didn’t find anything embarrassing, but it might have been a more awkward conversation had I been writing about something that they would not have approved of, or would be embarrassing.

Aside from your parents and off-spring, be mindful that your employer or colleagues might also discover your blog, so be mindful of what you write and publish online.

2. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind.
Your blog provides you with the opportunity to stand up for what you believe in, to take a stand for your beliefs and defend the ideals that you hold dear. There will be people who will agree and there will be people who will disagree with what you have to say, but don’t let that dissuade you from writing from your heart.

3. Be authentic.
One of my favorite quotes on this topic is by Dr. Suess, and he said, “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter won’t mind.” Authenticity totally shines through in everything you write. Don’t try too hard to sound witty, or take on a fake persona. Your individuality is the gift that you offer to the world. Let it shine through.

4. Always publish your best work.
Don’t fall into the trap of waiting until you “get discovered” before you start coming up with fabulous content because it’s the fabulous content that will get you discovered. Write your posts like everyone’s watching. Edit ruthlessly. Find a writing partner to edit and/or proofread for you. Ask for feedback from your readers, and strive to always improve your writing.

5. Having a platform is powerful.
As your blog readership grows you will discover that you are creating a platform for yourself. Your blog is your own media outlet. Don’t squander your chance to put forth your message. Take your blog seriously and others will do the same.

6. Avoid negative posts and bashing or flaming.
Avoid writing scathing posts and railing with negativity about a person or a group. If something has gotten you angry and upset, you might want to take some time and process it and choose the most intelligent course of action rather than firing off a vitriolic post that you may regret sooner than later.

7. It takes a village.
The blogoshpere is a community, so reach out to other bloggers and create relationships. Offer to guest post on your favorite blogs. Link to your blogging buddies from your blog. Be as supportive as you can of other bloggers  within your community.

8. Encourage other bloggers.
Be sure to leave positive comments on other blogs. Find something encouraging to say that goes beyond, “great post.” Show that you read the post and write a comment that adds value and builds up the blogger.

9. It takes commitment.
Maintaining a blog is not easy. With all of the other responsibilities in your life, it can be a challenge to commit to writing three to five blog posts each week and managing all of the other tasks inherent with the job. Determine at the outset if you think you can be committed to maintaining the publishing schedule before you begin.

10. Persistence pays off.
In the end persistence definitely pays off. When you have a blog that is getting decent traffic, a steady flow of comments and good reviews you’ve really got something to be proud of. Don’t give up when things get challenging because the only way to fail is to give up.

If you’re a blogger, please feel free to leave a comment that shares a life lesson you’ve learned from blogging.

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How to Beat the Summer Doldrums–Take on a New Challenge

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It’s the middle of the summer, it’s blazing hot outside, the kids are out of school and the long, hot days of summer tend to lull us into vacation mode.

Now, if you’re on vacation, by all means chill out, relax and enjoy your down time. But if you are still working towards completing your goals for this quarter or this year, then don’t get sucked down and lose your focus. Snap out of it! (Do I have your attention now?)

A great way to snap out of an unmotivated rut is to start a challenge. Take one of your goals and turn it into a challenge to make it fun to complete it. Recruit some partners or supporters to either join you in taking up the challenge, or to cheer you on and encourage you and hold you accountable to your goals.

Post your goal up on a bulletin board in your workspace where you can see it, and depending on how you are counting progress, make a chart where you can tick off  ‘to-do’ items and see your progress.

One of my goals for this year is to improve this blog’s performance. In my business I have been doing quite a few blog setups lately, so  lot of my energy has been going towards setting up new blogs for my clients.

I decided it was time to kick this goal into high gear, so I’ve joined the “Secret to Success is Support” womens blogging community as they are taking on Darren Rowse’s ’31 Days to Build a Better Blog’ challenge. Of course I’ll be blogging about my progress here, but if you’d like to join me and the rest of these power blogging women, feel free to do so.

My challenge to you is to create a challenge for yourself.  Make it a realistic goal so that you are more likely to accomplish it, but not so easy that it doesn’t get your juices flowing. Where attention goes energy flows, so give your project your consistent attention each day and you will get there.

Keep on coming back here for motivation and encouragement, and feel free to contact me if you’re feeling stuck and need some inspiration or advice.

One of my favorite personal development authors, Anthony Robbins, says that you should never leave the scene of having set a goal without taking an initial step in making it become a reality. Yes writing the goal down is a first step, but what can you do to kick your goal-achievement into high gear despite the ‘lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer?’

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Repeat Blog Traffic: How to Get Your Blog Visitors to Keep Coming Back

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Increase blog traffic

1. Establish a consistent publishing schedule and stick to it. At least three posts a week is ideal.

2. Add an opt-in subscription box ‘above the fold‘ close to the upper, right-hand corner of your blog. Offer a valuable free product in exchange for their contact information.

3. Send weekly updates to your email list with a link back to your blog.

4. Make it easy for your visitors to share your blog posts on social media sites. Add plugins such as ShareThis and Wibiya to allow visitors to quickly share your content.

5. Brand your site along with your social media profiles so that your visitors recognize you on those sites and
click on your links.

6. Include a ‘Contact’ link on your blog.

7. Create a ‘Privacy Policy,’ and ‘Disclaimer,’ links if you offer affiliate sales on your blog. Providing up-front, full disclosure is now a requirement by the FCC, and it puts your visitor’s minds at ease when they are clear on exactly how you will be using any information that you gather about them.

8. Include a ‘FAQ,’ or ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ page to answer questions for your visitors and provide them with everything they need to know when it comes to doing business with you.

9. Use your email subscriber list responsibly. Your visitors did not sign up for your newsletter to be spammed with ads. Offer them ‘susbscriber only’ specials and send them free ‘subscriber appreciation’ gifts to remind them of how valuable they are to you.

These are just a few tips and strategies you can use to keep your reader’s interest and keep them coming back to your blog. The main draw to your blog, of course, is your stellar content. Writing sparkling prose that is keyword rich, relevant and useful to your readers is the best way to keep them coming back for more.

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Can You Improve Your Blog’s Alexa Ranking?

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Alexa

I have been learning more and more about Google pagerank and Alexa rankings, and while my blog is now a PR3 (out
of 10), my current Alexa ranking is so high (over 2 million) they don’t even show stats for it on their website.  All this means is that I must continue to work on driving targeted traffic to my blog, because the more traffic a site gets the more their alexa ranking will rise. But there is a bit of a caveat in there. The traffic needs to come from sites where the visitor has the alexa toolbar installed.

So, if you’d like to know how you can help a blogger boost her Alexa rankings, here’s a couple of things you can do. These, by the way, are things that you can also do to boost your own website or blog’s ranking so take note.

1. Install the Alexa toolbar, (it can also be a status bar). Use it to visit your own site daily and you’ll get lots of geeky, techy info about the other sites you visit.
http://www.alexa.com/toolbar

2. Leave a short review of my blog:
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/productivepen.com#

Here are the steps I’m taking to nudge my Alexa rankings down as much as I can without breaking out in a cold sweat
or losing a moment of sleep about it:

1. Leaving a review (with a link back to my blog) on the top ranked Alexa sites
http://www.alexa.com/topsites

2. Installed the Alexa widget to my blog

3. Installed the WP Stats and the WordPress.com stats plugins so that I can track all of my relevant stats from

one handy dashboard.

4. Getting listed in web directories such as dmoz.org, which was down today when I tried to log in.

5. Most importantly, work on publishing relevant, useful content that keeps my readers coming back, encourages
them to comment, and share the content that they find useful.

Here I am, unabashedly pimping the all-powerful Alexa because it’s basically the popularly accepted way to determine a website’s value. Do you care about your blog’s Alexa ranking? If so, and you’ve tried some other nifty hacks to nudge your ranking down please share them here.

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