Words to the Wise

Blogging is about connecting. Even with all the ways to promote your blog and its content, if your content doesn’t connect with your audience, you may never have a successful blog.

Ok, now that I’ve totally turned you off blogging, let’s turn this ship around and give you six keys to creating good blog content:

1. Write a headline that gets attention. Much of your audience will find your blog posts through search engines and their RSS feeders and only see the headline of one of your posts and possibly a tiny snippet of info. Write your headline in a way that grabs your reader’s attention and gets them to click through to read on.

2. Create captivating content. When a visitor clicks their way to your blog, you want to keep them there. And chances are, you aren’t the first blog they’ve encountered on the subject they’re searching out. Stand out by being unique - yet still relevant. This is done through the tone of your writing and your perspective on your niche. Be you…within reason, of course. Be funny because you’re funny - not for the sake of being funny.

3. Acknowledge comments. A blog post doesn’t end with the a click of the Publish button in WordPress. As long as your content is live on the Internet, you can expect visitors. Read and acknowledge those comments - good or bad. This is where true relationships are built on a blog. When others come to your blog and see comments and your responses, it’s like a welcome mat that invites them to do the same.

4. Share link love. Don’t hoard your readers. Share links to relevant content off your site. Trust me, people will appreciate it. It shows readers that you’ve taken the time to find relevant content for them and actually share it with them.

5. Leave the black tie, or LBD*, at home. One of the big differences with blogs is that your tone can be much more formal than on a business website. Although my main site is pretty relaxed, my blog offers an outlet for less formal topics. Think of a blog as a social tool and bring your conversational tone.

6. Offer more than words. Don’t be shy about offering links to relevant products you sell via affiliate programs if that’s congruent with the purpose of your site. Just don’t oversell thees products. It’s fine to blog once, maybe twice about a product you’ve used, loved, and now want to share with your readers.

*LBD: Little Black Dress

Jason Pedley is a freelance copywriter in North Carolina. He’s written copy and SEO content for clients in Raleigh, NC and around the world and he never wears an LBD when he blogs. Learn more, but not too much more, at the new and improved home of SEO content writer Jason Pedley.

In my early copywriting and public relations days, I was lucky to have some good bosses. Go and look at my resume, and you’ll see the companies I’ve worked for who gave me good bosses. They’re the ones who gave me the freedom to be creative and offer new, big ideas.

I was also lucky to have some really, REALLY bad bosses. Those you won’t find on my resume. I’m not just talking about people who didn’t understand creative work or who were just trying to put their mark on everything I did, I’m talking about some true knobs of epic proportions. Bosses who offered clients crappy work day-in and day-out. Bosses who said one thing and really meant another. Bosses who berated you in front of clients because your ideas were not what they thought the client wanted to hear.

They know who they are. They read this blog. Welcome back, by the way.

What, me? Smug, you say? Never. Actually, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank these less-than-desireable leaders for teaching me how NOT to do business. During my time at these companies, I sat in meetings where my bosses would NEVER offer new and big ideas. Nothing fresh, nothing outrageous, nothing out of the box. Everything they did lacked courage and creativity. It oozed of complacency and the status quo.

As for me, I just sat back taking notes in those meetings. Notes about what NOT to do, how NOT to act, and how NOT to ever, EVER be like these people, ever.

All the jobs I’ve hated, I’ve learned from. Successful people will tell you that learning happens more when you fail, than when you succeed. While, in hindsight, I wouldn’t call working for Knobs, Inc. et al a failure, in the beginning of these jobs, I was certain I was a failure by going against the company grain, offering fresh ideas, and not settling for the obvious solutions. The truth is, I was learning some of the greatest business lessons of my life.

My lesson today for you is to always fail forward. That means that every time you feel like you’re failing, look for the lesson. It’s there. All the time. When you’ve found it, you’ve advanced. At one ad agency back in Connecticut, I was to come up with some ‘fresh’ radio spots for a client. So that’s what I did. The result - five spots my boss HATED. He wouldn’t even show them to the client. He swore at me, threatened me and then threw my spots in the trash.

Was that a failure? Maybe at the time. Today, those five spots have brought me more freelance copywriting work than I could have ever imagined at the time.

I failed forward. You will too.

Creative briefs can be long and intricate, and they often take up precious time that could be spent actually creating something. However, there is a place in this world for the creative brief as it does help agencies (and freelancers like myself) better understand the task(s) at hand.

The creative brief typically involves questions. Lots and lots of questions. Now, I don’t always use a creative brief. If I believe that a client and I are on the same page about the scope and goals of the project, then I forge ahead. But when I think a creative brief will clear up some questions and help both me and the client better understand objectives, these are some of the questions I ask:

1. Who are we trying to reach? If you’re a real estate agent, are you trying to reach people selling their homes? Or are you trying to reach people in the Raleigh, NC area who are selling a home worth between $300,000 and $900,000 and has been on the market over 120 days?

2. What’s your objective? Is your objective to simply reach them? Or is your objective to send them to a special landing page on your website that gives them a unique offer and information that is tailored to their situation?

3. What are the obstacles? Does your audience have a belief that precludes them from thinking your product or service is for them? Are you one of a dozen companies sending similar offers?

4. What’s in it for your prospect? Will you solve a problem? Will you save them money? Will you MAKE them money? Will you save them from embarassment?

5. What feeling or personality will your communication take on? Will you be the voice of authority? Will you speak to your prospects’ emotions? Will you be out-and-out human?

6. Is the timing right? Some messages are more effective at certain times of the year. Do your prospects need your service right now? If you send them a message now, will they forget about you when they truly do need you? Can your message be used in more than one medium? For example - can you turn your blog posts into articles that can be distributed via the Internet?

7. How does this project fit in with your overall brand? Will this be one piece of the marketing mix? Are there other agencies working on other parts? For example, if I’m writing web copy, I like to be in touch with the web designer to see how my copy will be laid out in the page.

8. Are there any creative mandatrories? Is there a phrase or paragraph that must be used? An image? A logo?

This is just the start. Often, these questions lead to more answers. Fortunately for me, more questions lead to more answers and a better product in the end.

Sometimes, while I’m writing (or re-writing) web content for a client, they ask me if they should start an AdSense campaign to generate some extra revenue.

My usual answer is “no” because the cost of an AdSense campaign for most of my clients is way too high.

“But Jay,” they say, “AdSense doesn’t cost anything. Google gives you the code and you paste it into your website HTML.”

True. Every word of it. But the cost I’m referring to is the depreciation of your brand because you’re adding advertising to a site that wasn’t meant for it.

Why would you want to give visitors to your site an opportunity to leave your site and look for something else? Is the 25 cents really worth it? On top of that, it makes you look like you want their pocket change, not their dollar bills.

Don’t get me wrong. There are certainly times when AdSense makes sense (and cents) on a website. Take my Clayton, NC relocation website for example. It has ads, a job board and may soon have YouTube advertising. But the difference is that my Relocate Clayton site isn’t selling anything. It gives away every word of information for free with the hope that visitors will find the relevant ads enticing enough to click.

I’m a freelance marketing/PR/advertising copywriter. And, during my time, I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the best web and print designers around - not to mention voice talent and audio engineers.

So when you ask me if I can suggest a designer, I can suggest several. If you ask if I can suggest the best designer I know, I can only suggest one. And if you’re lucky, she’ll have time to take on your project. Not only do I know Shannon Brenek as a freelance designer, I’ve known Shannon Brenek of Grey Dog Design since before either of us was a full-time freelancer. Shannon had done a number of high-end (and very successful) direct mail pieces, promotions, logos and other products for Mohegan Sun while I was a copywriter in the casino’s advertising department.

You can see Shannon’s work in her portfolio.

In the past month I’ve worked with her on some marketing for a political fundraiser in Connecticut and we have a few more projects that we hope to work together on soon. Like me, she works with people from all over, so it doesn’t matter if your ZIP code is 27520, 06320 or 90068, Shannon can help your next marketing piece make you money…instead of cost you money.