Simple Help for Better Blog Writing


Don't you love it when you find a new tool to make your work easier? One of the benefits of teaching is I also learn from the course participants.

It's Hemingway that has my attention this time (thanks to Jacqueline). I love it's simplicity! Go to hemingwayapp.com and start typing right on the screen. You'll see suggested edits highlighted as you type. Or you can turn off the editor until you're finished writing and do all your editing at the end. Another bonus for bloggers is you can see your stats: reading time, letters, characters, words, sentences and paragraphs.

Start writing your next article using Hemingway and see what you think.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Bottom Line About Newsletter Bottoms

Image
There seems to be some thinking that getting people to read to the bottom of a newsletter is a most desirous goal. And, if getting people to read to the bottom (read the whole newsletter) is so important, isn't putting the really good stuff at the bottom the best way to make that happen? The short answer is that it doesn't matter. Oh, the placement of content matters but whether someone reads to the bottom doesn't... at all. If you think it does, you are thinking about your newsletter strategy all wrong. It's all about your reader finding value in opening your newsletter. That value might be in the form of useful information or it might be interesting reading or both. And it definitely shouldn't be hidden away at the bottom. In fact, it should be immediately obvious. Having readers discover value in hearing from you regularly is the goal. It doesn't matter how much they read. Your readers aren't thinking, "I have to read through all this other stuff be...
Keep reading »

Perpetual One-question Survey = Evergreen Content

Image
You and I both know it can be a lot of work to keep the content machine going - blogging, email marketing, social media and more. When I find an idea I can execute in 15 minutes that will give me social media posts and blog content (plus market intelligence) for years, I'm all over that. It's easier to explain if I give you an example - here's my own one-question survey: What is your content creation stumbling block?   Why run a one-question survey? You get market intelligence which is a fancy way of saying you can find out about your target market's problems, or preferences, or habits, or whatever you want to find out. I was curious to know what it is about blogging that people struggle with the most because I want to write articles that are helpful. You get three kinds of content: Calls-to-action to get people to complete your survey - on social feeds, in your newsletter, on your blog, in your email signature, and so on. Sharing the results periodically - on social...
Keep reading »

Testing Theories: Marketing Experimentation

Image
Advice is one thing but thought and research are still necessary. Theory is another thing (I'm all for it) but experimentation is where the rubber hits the road (and many other analogies). Now is a good time to try new things and figure out what works. It's the time to really consider what we want to spend our time doing. Maybe it's the time to give something up and see if it makes a difference. Or perhaps it's the time to dig deep and see what can be accomplished with more effort. Like many of you, my business development plans got interrupted by a world pandemic at the beginning of March. Also like you, it caused me to think more creatively about my approach to sales and how I would spend my time. So I dug deep and eventually I arrived at: I'm going to have more conversations . (It was a no-brainer; I love to talk about small business marketing. What a great experiment!) Next came my go-to "how?" After that, it became fun to come up with ideas to crea...
Keep reading »

How Planning for Failure Can Help Ensure You Don't Fail

Image
We all want things we're working on to be successful. Nobody ever plans to fail... but wait, planning for failure can be a useful exercise. The term 'premortem' comes to us from the field of project management. According to the Harvard Business Review : "A premortem is the hypothetical opposite of a postmortem. A postmortem in a medical setting allows health professionals and the family to learn what caused a patient’s death. [...] A premortem in a business setting comes at the beginning of a project rather than the end so that the project can be improved rather than autopsied." Instead of considering what might go wrong, you 'pretend' your initiative has already failed. Then you brainstorm to come up with all the possible reasons for the failure. This gives you the perspective of hindsight, which works differently than foresight. And you can see that this also ties into risk. A simple example might be when I decide to make a special offer. The obvious f...
Keep reading »

Ideas for Your Holiday Email Campaign

Image
It’s that time of year when our email boxes quickly fill up each day with special promotions – Black Friday will kick it all off. Depending on your type of business and target market, you may be (should be?) considering doing some extra promotional emails leading up to the holidays. This is something you need to plan now and start executing very soon. I'm not encouraging you to start blasting your subscribers with advertising. I am suggesting that a well-planned email campaign can be very effective at this time of year. To get you going, here are some ideas to work into your plan: If you sell gift certificates , you'll definitely want to promote them. Recommend who they will be suitable for. Insert Buy Now buttons directly into your newsletter with an immediate call to action. Do a holiday countdown with the number of shopping days left and something special for each day. Create special offers or promotions only for your email subscribers . This can also help to get new subscr...
Keep reading »

The Truth About Magic Bullets

Image
There are no 3-easy-steps to becoming a millionaire. If magic bullets and passive income really existed, we'd ALL be sitting around enjoying the view from our yachts. Cambridge Dictionary defines a 'magic bullet' as "a quick and simple solution to a difficult problem". None of the major dictionaries offer a definition for 'passive income'. These are marketing myths. They will cost you more money than you'll make. Or you will give up doing the work that is your expertise to spend your time doing marketing work. It's nice to dream but then get back to work. PS: There are no unicorns in real life either. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

How to Avoid Iffy Language in Your Marketing Calls-to-action

Image
If your ideal client has finally found you - your website, your blog, your social profiles - you want to be strong and confident with your calls-to-action.  I've written before about 'just' and 'feel free' and other wishy-washy language . It doesn't serve you well.  Here's a short checklist you can use to evaluate your CTAs before publishing:  Be specific.  Assume you have what they want.  Make it easy for them to get it.  Appeal to emotions.  Talk about results first.  Make it about the reader's wants and needs, not yours.  Whether it's an email to a colleague, a newsletter, a blog post, a landing page, or a social media post, these best practices all apply. If you've been struggling to write effective CTAs, run a trial with this checklist and see what happens.  Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

Avoid Marketing Emergencies by Planning Backwards

Image
I've joked to friends that no one ever needs to reach me in a hot rush because there are no marketing emergencies. In fact, there are some things that might constitute an "emergency" (Sheldon quotes), such as a website going down or an app not working so a deadline can't be met. And a real-life crisis can certainly impact business (such as a pandemic!). These are things we have no control over but they can have a steamroll effect. Other things we may think of as emergencies can often be prevented by planning. And backward planning is an essential tool for marketing. Here's an example... Anyone who's worked with me to start a newsletter knows that one of the first questions I ask is, "When do you want your first issue to go out?" From there, I work backwards to schedule all the activities leading up to that date. A few months ago I started working with a new client, Carli, who decided that she wanted her newsletter to go out on the third Friday each...
Keep reading »

Sudden Appearances and Why They May Not Work

Image
Have you noticed a sudden flurry of emails recently? Here are a few examples I've received: The nail technician who I haven't heard from since before the pandemic suddenly shows up telling me she's open for appointments. But not a word earlier about the interruption of service. The leadership consultant who I also haven't heard from since before the pandemic shows up with a newsy, here's-what's-been-happening-in-my-world email that didn't even ask how I'm doing. This was followed by an email every two days to promote her new program. And then, there are those people who have been collecting email addresses via online forms for years but have never sent a newsletter... until now. I've been hearing from people I'd long forgotten about. It's not suddenly a good idea to be sending newsletters! It's been a good idea for a long time. Respect your subscribers. Realize they are real people. Have an ongoing relationship with them. Give them some...
Keep reading »

List Building Questions Answered

Image
Back in June, I had the honour and pleasure of being a guest on Mary Jane Copps' monthly webinar . The topic was "How to Continually Grow Your List... and Why It's Important". We had a wonderful chat and answered common questions about list building. You can watch now on YouTube. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »