Would a blog by any other name read as well?
It used to be that there were newspapers and newsletters. It was fairly easy to tell what came from where. Newspapers hired journalists to report the news Although they’re supported by add sales, the expectation is that the news is independent from advertising. Newsletters, on the other hand, contained the direct news of whomever published them, whether that be a non profit or a company. Now, however, there’s the Internet and blogs have been tossed into the mix. It’s confused things because anyone can write a blog and say...
read moreNorth Shore Social Media Conference
On Wednesday, June 13th, you can find out just about anything you want to know about social media at North by North Shore, an event at the Danvers Yacht Club. Come for the views, come for the food, come for the great info…I’ll be there talking about blog strategy and setting up the next blog challenge.
read moreHaving her cake
If you can’t have your cake and eat it too, why not just sell it? Danvers Baker Kelly Delaney, owner of Cakes for Occasions, makes some pretty fancy confections and recently started hawking them on television, starting with a 3 a.m. debut. It turns out there’s a lot more to selling cakes than just making pretty ones…Read all about it in the Boston Herald Photo by Patrick Whittemore
read moreMake it work
If you really want to build readership, then you have to keep at it – when you’re tired, when you’re busy and when you’re uninspired. It will get easier. And then it may get hard again, and then it will get easier…like everything else in life. I was reminded of this by a recent post by a colleague, Kevin Haynes. He’s past his eye balls and up to the crown of his head setting up WebmaxedU, a new website to help small business owners do great things on the web. Yet in the midst of his frenzy, he’s taken...
read moreA hot button subject
In my last post, I talked about one way to get comments – today, I have an example. This morning, I took the rare step of making a comment on another blog. (Okay, I confess it’s not so rare – I’m not an indiscriminate commenter, but I’m not one to hold back either.) The subject was one too near and dear to my heart not to say something – it was about grammar rules and when to (gasp) throw them out the window, so to speak. It was written by a blogger for whom I have great respect and who has great insight....
read moreA Secret to Getting Blog Comments
So you’ve got a pretty good blog following and people like your blog – well, at least your best friend and your mom assure you it is pretty good. But, your comment section remains an empty echo chamber. You’ve asked questions. You’ve begged for comments and yet there is a big ole’ goose egg in the box. If you really want to get ‘em talking, you have to take off the gloves. Say something mean. Say something controversial. Say something people will have to be compelled to respond to. Let me give you an example. If you are walking down the...
read moreAre you looking at a Dinosaur?
Blogs are so passe, it’s all about Facebook now, according to a recent article in USA Today. This is, on the surface, a tad bit alarming to me as someone who is devoted to helping others develop their blog strategies. Is this mode of communication really on its way out? I don’t think so. Rather, I think the falling numbers support what I’ve long contended – that blogging is not for everyone and that in order to be effective, a blogger should have a strategy. The article sites a University of Massachusetts Dartmouth survey that indicates that...
read moreNeed a blog subject? Start asking questions
We’re now three weeks into the challenge and ideas should be flying off your fingertips, right? You’ve got tickler files onyour desk and your computer. You’re scouring other people’s blogs for inspiration. And you’re all set with a long list of ideas that will carry you through what’s left of the 90 days and beyond. Or maybe not. The reality is that the theory of how to do this can make it seem simpler than actual doing of it. You are surrounded with great material. The trick is to see the potential. Having an abundance of subjects comes from...
read moreHow Twitter Can Make You a Better Writer
I promised to post ideas that bloggers could use for their own blog posts and I thought I had this week’s post nailed. I was planning today to suggest using the blog to share news and then demonstrating with an announcement of my own, but technology got in my way. I was going to announce that I’m developing a newsletter and that anyone interested in learning more about writing better could sign up on this blog. As of the posting of this post, however, no such sign up exists. I signed up create the newsletter using Mail Chimp. This is easy....
read moreTo succeed in blogging: set yourself on fire (but not literally)
One of the best resources in your ongoing challenge to find fresh blog material is other bloggers. As you surf the web, you may come across other posts that spark your interest or that you think might be relevant to your readers. There are a few ways to do this. You could get permission to reprint the blog with credit, but generally the better alternatives are to summarize the post and refer to it, or add your two cents about the subject and refer to it. Allow me to demonstrate. Marvin Kane, a web developing colleague at kaneworks.com raised...
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