“Spend 10 Minutes Doing This Every Day and You Could Transform Your Blogging” plus 2 more

Spend 10 Minutes Doing This Every Day and You Could Transform Your Blogging
7 Out-of-the-Box Ideas to Write Effective Marketing Copy
8 Simple Tips to Edit Your Own Blog

Spend 10 Minutes Doing This Every Day and You Could Transform Your Blogging

Posted: 19 Feb 2014 08:18 AM PST

Today I want to suggest an exercise that has the potential to improve your blogging profoundly if you build it into your daily routine.

Look at another blog

Image by zev

OK – this may not sound that profound – most of us read other blogs every day but it doesn't revolutionise what we do – but stick with me for a second while I explain HOW to do it in a way that could have a big impact.

Here's what I do every day

I choose a blog and then spend 5-10 minutes reviewing it. My aim is not to 'consume' it as a reader…. but rather to review it with the view of learning about blogging.

What I've found is that my spending 5-10 minutes every day looking at another blog in this way that I learn so much! In fact I've learned so much over the last few months that last week in my team meetings I've introduced the idea of us doing this as a group – each week we'll review a blog to see what we can learn.

The objective is not to do these reviews to copy what others are doing – but rather I find in looking at other blogs I often find inspiration and insight for my own blogs. The learnings cover a wide range of areas – from design, to product ideas, to content, to increasing engagement, to use of social media, to marketing etc.

Let me dive a little deeper into how I do it:

Choosing a Blog to Review

I review a blog every week day so over a year I’m potentially reviewing 260 blogs so I don’t have a single criteria for choosing which blog I’ll review.

When I started doing this a few months ago I started doing it mainly with photography blogs (those in my own niche) but I’ve since moved outside my niche too. While it is great to know what competitors in your niche are doing there’s a much to learn by going beyond it too.

Not only do I mix up the niche but I’m also trying to mix up the size of the blog. There’s a lot to learn from the biggest blogs who have lots of readers, staff, developers, professional designs etc – but you can learn a lot from medium and smaller blogs too.

Also I like to keep my eye open for those blogs that are up and coming – those that seem to burst onto the scene quickly – because these blogs are often doing something new or innovative.

Lastly I like to try to mix up the style of blogs. While I mainly focus upon creating ‘how to’ content blogs I also regularly review blogs that focus more upon ‘news’, ‘reviews’, ‘personal’, ‘opinion’, ‘entertainment’ etc.

So if you’re just starting to do daily reviews – do start with blogs in your niche – but mix it up too, and you’ll discover a lot that you can apply in your own blogging.

Tips on Conducting Your Review

I don’t have a set routine for reviewing the blogs that I look at, but there are a number of things that I tend to do.

I usually start by viewing the blog on my desktop computer which has a nice, wide, 27-inch display. However I also try to view the blog on my iPad and phone which is often quite illuminating from a design viewpoint.

I generally will start by reviewing the front page of the blog and pay particular attention to my first impression and feelings about the site (first impressions are often lasting ones), but will always dig around deeper into the site and review ‘posts’ (both recent and those in the archives) and also any ‘pages’ (about page, advertising page, contact page, etc).

Questions to Ask As You Review

There are a variety of areas that you can review when looking at another blog. I tend to break things down into the following areas and find myself asking questions like those that follow.

Note: I don't ask all of these questions every time I do a review – but I hope by presenting them you'll get a feel for what directions you can explore.

Content

what voice/s are they writing in?
what is their posting frequency?
how long are the posts that they write?
what type of posts are they majoring on (information, inspiration, engagement, news, opinion, etc)?
what style and medium of posts are they using (lists, imagery, video, podcasts, etc)?
what blend of original vs curated content are they using?
what topics/categories are they majoring on?
what type of headlines/titles formulas do they use?
do they use multiple authors/guest posters or a single writer?

Community

how do they engage readers?
what calls to action do they use and what is being responded to?
what type of posts get the most comments, shares, likes?
do they use tools like polls, surveys, quizzes or other engagement triggers?
what social media sites are they using and how they using them for engagement/community building?
do they have a newsletter – how do they incentivise signups? What type of content do they send?
how much do the writers of the blog engage in comments?
do they have a dedicated community area? (forum, membership etc)?
do they have 'discussion' posts or 'assignments' or 'projects/challenges' that give readers something to DO?

Finding Readers

where do they seem to be putting most of their energy in terms of generating readership (social, guest posting, media etc)?
which social media sites are they primarily using for outreach and what are they doing their?
what type of content seems to be being shared the most on their site?
how do they try to 'hook' new readers once they've arrived (newsletter, social, RSS etc)?
what type of reader is this blog attracting?
how does the blog rank on Alexa? What does Alexa say about sources of traffic, type of reader that the blog has?

Monetization

how are they monetizing?
if advertising, what advertisers are they working with directly?
are they using an ad network like AdSense?
how many ads are they showing per page?
where are they positioning ads on their pages?
what size ads do they offer advertisers?
do they have an advertiser page? Do they publish their rates, traffic or other interesting information on it? Do they have a media kit? What is their main selling point to advertisers?
if selling products – what type of products seem tot be selling the most?
what can you learn from the way they market their products?
what affiliate programs/products are they promoting?
do they offer premium paid content or community areas on their blog?
do they have a disclaimer/privacy page? What can you learn from it about how they monetize?

Design/Tech

what layout do they use?
what navigation/menu items do they have?
what first impressions does their design give? What is the first thing they seem to be calling people to DO when arriving?
have they used a designer or blog template for their blog?
how do they communicate what their blog is about (do they have a tag line)?
how are they using their front page? Is it a traditional blog format, portal or something else?
what do they have in their sidebar?
do they have a 'hello bar' at the top of their site? What are they using it for?
what do they put in 'hot zones' on the blog (above the fold), below posts, etc?
what type of blogging tool do they seem to use?
what can you observe about their approach to SEO?
what kind of commenting technology do they use?
what widgets and tools do they have that make the reader experience more interesting?
how do they use images in posts?
what's their logo like?
what colours are they using in their design?
how do they highlight 'social proof' in their design?
do they have an app?
is their design responsive to mobile/tablets?
do they use any techniques to increase page views?

Email/Newsletter

do they have an email newsletter?
if so – how are they driving people to signup? Popups, forms, hello bar etc?
are they incentivising signups with something free?
signup for the newsletter and watch what kinds of emails they send. Is it an auto responder or more timely broadcasts?

Social Media

what social media accounts do they promote on their blog?
how are they promoting their social media accounts?
are there social media mediums that they are ignoring?
which type of social media seems most active/important to them?
where are they getting most engagement?
how often are they updating their accounts? what times of day seem to get most engagement?
what techniques are they using on social that seem to get most engagement and build community?
what techniques are they using on social to drive traffic?
what techniques are they using with social to monetize?
what feedback is this blog getting from readers on social? What are they known for (both positive and negative)?

What would you add?

The above list is not something I systematically work through for every blog that I look at – rather it is the type of questions I find myself asking as I review a blog and might be useful as a starting point for you to work from.

I'm sure there are other areas you could dig into further and I'd love to hear your suggestions in comments below.

Learn From The Actions of Others

Let me finish by coming back to the motivation for doing blog reviews like this.

What I'm NOT suggesting is that you review other blogs to simply steal other peoples ideas and replicate what they do.

What I AM suggesting is that you will learn a heap by looking at how others blog.

It might sounds odd coming from a guy writing a blog about blogging but I think you'll actually learn as much – if not more – by doing the above exercise each day than by filling your RSS reader full of blog tips blogs. There's only so much theory you need to hear – much more can be learned by watching people practice their craft.

A side note about Blogs about Blogging: The reality is that most 'blog tips blogs' are written by bloggers whose most successful blog is a 'blog tips blog'. While this doesn't discount them as people to listen to, it's worth keeping in mind as you ponder their teaching and calls to purchase what they sell.

It also strikes me that the vast majority of successful bloggers going around are quietly going about building amazing blogs and not broadcasting their tips and learnings. Their focus is building their blogs – not teaching others how to blog. While it'd be great to get inside their heads the great thing is that almost everything they do is live on their blogs for all to see – hence the opportunity in spending time learning by watching what they do.

My Challenge to You

For the next week, review a blog every day. It need not include every question above – but put aside 10 or so minutes each day over the next week to look at another blog and see what you can learn.

I dare you! It could just be the most valuable 70 minutes of blogging learning you ever have!

If you take the challenge, I'd love to hear in comments below what you learn!

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Spend 10 Minutes Doing This Every Day and You Could Transform Your Blogging

7 Out-of-the-Box Ideas to Write Effective Marketing Copy

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 09:54 AM PST

This post is from Leslie Anglesey, writing coach and a contributor to Essay Tigers

You may be asking yourself: "How do I write copy that sells?" – Too many of us get distracted by myths about the rules of communication, marketing messages, and stuff like that.

Today’s post blends together seven out-of-the-box ideas for effective marketing writing into a comprehensive guide that can drastically improve the value of your blog. While there's little left in this contemporary culture that could be considered out-of-the-box, these ideas are most definitely not orthodox.

If you want to make your blog writing memorable, follow these tips to make it shine.

Idea #1: Actually Get to Know the Audience

While it may seem cliché, in reality very few marketing-based writers take the time to get to know their audience beyond the bare essentials. The devil's in the details ladies and gentlemen. We're in an era of big data and the analytics abound. Use them. Many of these sources of information are free, for example Alexa.com, while other more specialized software options can be pricier but well-worth the investment.

Regardless, what separates the sheep marketing writers from the shepherds can be quantified in consumer behavior tracking, bounce rates, conversion rates along with split-testing. DATA. Oftentimes even the most creative and accomplished writers must bow and sacrifice for data that says, "This audience prefers this over this." Typically that means shorter sentences, more precise statements and verbiage that first-graders consider elementary.

Idea #2: Base Your Marketing Writing on the "SEO of Tomorrow", Not Today

How effective would your marketing copy be in terms of ranking (exposure/traffic) if it was written according to the SEO status quo of five, or even one year ago? Yeah, that's how fast search engine technology and algorithmic innovation is moving. Take a look around at what the status quo considers to be highly optimized marketing writing today and then project a mere six months into the future. Where are we headed?

Conversational: The cryptic corporate-speak of the advertising world is no longer effective. At the slightest hint of unwanted sales pitches consumers click away. Marketing writing must speak the conversational language of the particular audience searching for and reading it.
Human: The more authentic, genuine and informative the writing the more valuable it will be even if the topics include technologies and things which are rapidly evolving. Forget about writing for search engine algorithms and write only for human beings.
Mobile-Friendly Inquiries: The inquiries of tomorrow will be spoken, not typed into search bars. Think about that carefully as you consider how to title your writing and craft it.
Authority: All marketing-based writing should to some degree seek to build/maintain perceived authority to be of any use in the online marketing realm of tomorrow.

Idea #3: Throw Traditional Outbound-Voice Completely Out the Window

This has to do with being transparent, conversational and human. The modern person's brain completely shuts off the moment it perceives/hears a blatant pitch. Instead, write in an inbound-style that seeks to educate and inform the audience into making a purchasing decision without asking for it. Ideally, without even mentioning products or services until deeper within the sales funnel.

Idea #4: Consider What Your High-Brow Competition Isn't Doing

Speaking of the SEO of Tomorrow, make your marketing writing stand the test of time by being the most important things a) relevant and b) authentic. No matter how amazing your writing may be, if it's about a common subject it's going to be almost impossible to stand apart from the crowd. Moving forward simply repurposing content isn't a viable route. It has to be not only relevant, but authentic.

This means branding, updated user experience (the design that is shaped around your writing), and incorporating something unique. For example, a bamboo company can't expect to rank by simply regurgitating common bamboo knowledge at this point. But, if they involve images, video and marketing writing that involves their farm, their day-to-day operations, their installations etc. that is unique. That's what most of the competition ISN'T doing.

Idea #5: Play with a Niche-Focused Approach

Most marketing writing is meant to appeal to wide arrays of potential clients/readers, rather than being laser-focused on one specific niche. Instead of selling one type of bamboo to solve one issue or problem, common (ineffective) copywriters try to sell it to anyone willing to buy. As a matter of course, even the most conversation language no matter how finely formatted, comes across as generalized.

Moving forward the most effective marketing writing will be written by copywriters with specific knowledge about the niche/audience. Like studying the audience on a deeper level, being "niche" these days requires more narrowing.

The writing is for a specific kind of bamboo buyer from a specific region or location.
The writing focuses on specific benefits that these bamboo buyers need, ideally just one.
An example would be for hedging bamboo or privacy bamboo in particular using the most popular species of clumping bamboo.

See the difference between that niche-approach and writing basic post for the bamboo niche at large?

Idea #6: Understand the Dynamics between Genius & Creativity

Here's how the most creative minds approach a problem, and it is a signifying trait of results-based genius (vs. traditional IQ tests). First, when presented with a problem, for example a 1200 word piece of marketing copy for a niche client, their minds go completely blank. Yes, nothing but mental cricket sounds can be heart initially.

Then, they allow the first random thought to surface without resistance and from there without any pattern go from one thought to another associatively. They sit back and wait until something relevant surfaces that leads to another until they can combine them into a creative and unique approach to the material. Once you understand how it works, you can employ this as well which makes writing first drafts far easier and less of a headache from a creative standpoint.

Idea #7: Elevate the Inbound Value of the Material

Regardless of how you define successful marketing writing, the bar is being raised whether you know/like it or not. What was considered premier web content a year ago is outdated and nearly irrelevant now. That's a fact. Part of writing for the optimization of tomorrow is knowing that quality of content is measured in utility and accessibility.

Sometimes raising the inbound value doesn't have to do with maxing the copy longer, or adding more unique geo-tagged photos or meta-data enhanced videos, but simplifying the message so that it's genuine and almost child-like. Viral marketing has demonstrated this time and again through many well-documented marketing campaigns over the last decade.

Conclusion: Differentiation & Definitive Branding

Effective marketing doesn't only make a sale or convert organic traffic, it expands brands, builds online empires, established internet credibility, generates perceived authority and differentiates common knowledge through unique content.

Voice is a component of branding, and intonation is the main ingredient of effective human communication. Everything needs to come together in harmony: branding, niche copy, conversational human engagement, excellent scanner-friendly formatting and a focus on concepts/platforms rather than rudimentary keywords. That truly is a quality recipe for effective marketing writing that you can bank on.

Leslie Anglesey is a writing coach and a contributor to Essay Tigers, a website that provides writing tips for college students and recent graduates.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

7 Out-of-the-Box Ideas to Write Effective Marketing Copy

8 Simple Tips to Edit Your Own Blog

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 08:11 AM PST

This is a guest contribution from Sandra Miller, freelance writer at professional editing service Help.Plagtracker.com.

Great bloggers are separated by mediocre ones by one important factor: they know how to edit their own writing.

Bloggers don't have professional editors and proofreaders to watch their back and clean their texts from all mistakes, which means that writing isn't the only thing they should master. If you want to become a better blogger, you have to learn that editing doesn't only include fixing typos and unintentional grammar mistakes. You should also get rid of the ambiguous phrases you love so much, and we will teach you how to do that in 8 simple steps.

The first thing you need to understand is that editing your own posts is hard work. However, the challenge should only inspire you to become a better blogger; so don't even think of skipping this process altogether because it's boring and you don't find it as interesting as writing.

1. Write first, then edit

Forget about editing while you are still writing your blogs. It's completely fine to fix a mistake you notice, but don't stop to edit entire paragraphs while you are still in the process of writing. You cannot turn your creativity on and off as you wish, so allow yourself to write down everything you can before you go back to the text and start editing it.

2. Allow it to "sit"

Before you start editing the blog you just wrote, you should allow it to sit for a few hours. It's your own blog, so you're not limited by deadlines and no one is rushing you to publish the post sooner. When you come back to the text after the break, you will be able to approach it with fresh mind and the mistakes will be easily noticeable.

3. Use the "preview" feature

When you read through your writing in a different format, you will spot the problems much more easily. This is what the "preview" function of a blog platform is all about. Make sure to check how your post looks in its published form before you make it available for the wider audience.

4. Structure and content comes first in editing

Bloggers make one common mistake when editing their own work: they start polishing every single sentence and forget about the logical flow of the text. The big picture should always be first on your mind. If some paragraph seems to be out of focus, rearrange the structure of the post or get rid of the parts that don't belong there. Maybe you will think of more useful information you can add, so you should definitely take care of that part before you dive into individual words and sentences.

5. Make it shorter!

Let's face it: no reader would be interested into reading an endless piece of text on your blog, no matter how important you think it is. There is one effective rule you can implement and make your writing much more appealing: cut out 10% of the word count during the editing process. Bloggers can get carried away and repeat the same point several times throughout the post. If you notice some repetitive phrases, points, or words – get rid of them! Delete all unnecessary adjectives and pretentious phrases, and your readers will become more interested in your posts immediately.

6. Spell-Check is great, but not self-sufficient

Run every one of your blog posts through a spell-checker before you publish it. You can paste it in Word or use a browser plugin for that purpose, so you can correct the detected mistakes. However, you shouldn't rely on this tool entirely – some errors slip through these programs, but they will still be noticed by the careful eye of a reader.

7. Read the post slowly (or backwards)

The technique of reading the post backwards before its publication is used by many bloggers, because it enables them to spot the mistakes that slide past them.The logic behind this strategy is simple: you are familiar with your own writing, so even the most obvious mistakes can be left out during the editing process.

If reading backwards seems too wacky, you can try a simpler method – enlarge the font size and start reading the text really slowly. This way you will pay attention to every single word and the chance of leaving mistakes in your post will be minimal.

8. Stop when it's enough

Bloggers can get in two opposite directions: they don't edit their posts at all, or they can't stop editing once they start. If you find yourself going through the unpublished posts too many times and you keep making changes and then taking them back – you are definitely done and it's time for your readers to see what you have to offer.

Even if your posts are published with some minimal imperfections, they will still be more useful to the blogosphere than the unpublished content you don't feel confident about.

Do you have any editing tips to add? How do you go editing your own work?

Sandra Miller is a freelance writer at professional editing service Help.Plagtracker.com. She was a social studies teacher. Loves writing, running and all things green. Interested in improving her learning through technology. Makes sure every post she’s writing is as useful as possible.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

8 Simple Tips to Edit Your Own Blog

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