Getting Your Book on National TV - 8 Tips

Getting Your Book on National TV - 8 Tips


Publicity for Books


Publicity for Your Book


Blogging is Publishing
I wish I could say that "blogging is publishing" was something that I came up with on my own, but that is not the case. However, I have been pondering on this phrase for a while and decided to write an entry on my thoughts.

The Corporate Blogging Book
Stop what you are doing and run out to your local Barnes and Noble bookstore. Why? Because you need to have in your hand at this very moment The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil.

Getting in Newspapers . . . Easy for our clients


1-2-All Email Marketing by Active Campaign
One of the tools that a self-publishing author must have is good email marketing software. I highly recommend 1-2-All which was developed by Active Campaign.

Its Name is Zookoda
Zookoda is the new leader in professional email marketing for bloggers. It gives you better control on the look and feel of how your feed is sent to your subscribers. The program is similar to what you see in newsletter...

Will E-Publishing Become the New Leader?
Let the truth be told I am not a big supporter of e-books even though I wrote an entry earlier with regards to the advantages of them. Though I am not a fan, e-books are good for one thing, and that is establishing yourself as an expert.

Four Marketing Tips for Self-Publishers
You may have already noticed that self-publishing is very time consuming. Most of your time is spent on marketing and publicity and very little time on writing.

BEA Book Expo America: Good for Independent Publishers?


BEA Book Expo America: Smart Strategies for Independent Publishers


The Advantages of Creating Your Own E-Book
E-books have become more and more popular in the recent years. Although some people prefer a printed book in their hand, e-books are still in demand.

BEA Info

Naming Your Blog

Naming Your Blog
Michael Weiss at Slate has an entertaining item: Don't drink the balloon juice: Good, bad, and ugly things to name your blog. He discusses mostly American political blogs, but it's actually a pretty serious question: What's the best thing to name your site? As a compulsive multiple blogger, I have to answer the question more often than I care to admit. Most of my sites have fairly flat-footed self-descriptive titles,...

Michael Weiss at Slate has an entertaining item: Don't drink the balloon juice: Good, bad, and ugly things to name your blog.

He discusses mostly American political blogs, but it's actually a pretty serious question: What's the best thing to name your site? As a compulsive multiple blogger, I have to answer the question more often than I care to admit.

Most of my sites have fairly flat-footed self-descriptive titles, like this one and Writing Fiction. When I started blogging avian flu, H5N1 was also pretty self-descriptive, but set slightly apart from other blogs that played variations on "bird flu," "avian influenza," and so on.

Without realizing what I was doing, I picked names that people tend to Google. Type "writing fiction" into Google Advanced search and my site comes up first out of a million hits. "Writing for the Web" is #7 out of 634,000. And "h5n1" is #5 out of 7,870,000 hits.

In a course blog, where only my students are likely to visit, I may use a flat-footed name or a cute one—in a course on storytelling for media, the blog is Raconteur. But I'm just as comfortable with a course blog named for the room the class meets in, like Cedar 224.

For a blog that I co-author with a teacher in China, the name is English Corner, a reference most Chinese students will understand because every campus and town has an "English corner" where students gather to practice their English on one another—and any native English speakers who wander by.

Now I'm getting interested in climate change, and recently started Homage to Arrhenius, an allusion to the Swedish scientist who first developed the theory about CO² as a greenhouse gas, back in the 1890s. This may be a little too cute.

And for another blog, created as a journal for the second edition of one of my books, I've chosen the flat-footed name Pioneers...since the book is titled Go Do Some Great Thing: The Black Pioneers of British Columbia.

I'd be curious to know how bloggers visiting here chose the names for their sites. And can you point to any blogs that are either very well named, or horribly misnamed?

An Important Lesson About Grassroots Media
Via Editor & Publisher, an excellent column by Steve Outing—an old friend and colleague with a lot of experience in online content. The experience hasn't always been happy, but Steve has learned (and taught) a great deal about it. Case in point: An Important Lesson About Grassroots Media. Steve describes the shutdown of his own efforts to create an online community whose members would create most of the content, and...

Via Editor & Publisher, an excellent column by Steve Outing—an old friend and colleague with a lot of experience in online content. The experience hasn't always been happy, but Steve has learned (and taught) a great deal about it. Case in point: An Important Lesson About Grassroots Media.

Steve describes the shutdown of his own efforts to create an online community whose members would create most of the content, and then goes on to analyze similar issues elsewhere:

If you look at the content that's on Backfence.com (and you can, since the servers are still running; there's just no new content being added to the site), it's predominantly press releases from local community groups, or local event announcements. Backfence staff did contribute content, but often of the same variety. There was some great content on Backfence.com, but to my eyes the bulk of it was pretty dull.

I see the same thing when I look at YourHub.com. The editors of YourHub can easily point to some great content that's been posted to the sites. But just as with our Enthusiast Group sites, the overall experience is a lot of average stuff punctuated by a lesser amount of great content.

As destination sites, I don't think that Backfence or YourHub work. My company's sites didn't work, which is why in hindsight I realize that a much higher level of professional content needed to be added into the mix. Quality matters.

Key in on that word, "destination," for a moment. If you're operating an online service that's keyed to user or citizen content submissions, I encourage you to think about how to utilize that content beyond just a destination website.

I don't expect YourHub-like sites to ever become huge traffic draws if they rely too heavily on user submissions. The quality just isn't there for them to be interesting -- especially in an Internet environment where there is so much high-quality news and information available elsewhere, for free.

It's a fine article with plenty of insights that web content developers should reflect upon.

Can You Make a Living Writing Web Content?
An email arrived recently: I want to make a living writing content for websites. I have spent the past few decades raising children and working as an elementary school teacher. Teaching just isn't working for me anymore and I intend to return to university in several years for a completely different kind of degree. In the meantime, however, I am a single mother with one ten-year-old still in the nest....

An email arrived recently:
I want to make a living writing content for websites. I have spent the past few decades raising children and working as an elementary school teacher. Teaching just isn't working for me anymore and I intend to return to university in several years for a completely different kind of degree. In the meantime, however, I am a single mother with one ten-year-old still in the nest. What do you think are the most important things for me to focus on and do in order to become a financially successful online writer?

I explained that I've been in a fortunate situation, making a living from teaching while exploring webwriting as a sideline. What I've learned has improved my teaching, but I haven't had to pay the groceries out of my webwriting income.

So I'll turn the question over to people who drop in here. What makes for a successful career as an online writer?

1-2-All Email Marketing by Active Campaign
One of the tools that a self-publishing author must have is good email marketing software. I highly recommend 1-2-All which was developed by Active Campaign.

On Blurbs and Summaries
Via Poynter Online, a lively and link-rich article by Chip Scanlan: B is for Blurb, S is for Summary. Blurbs can be very effective at drawing readers into the whole story.

Via Poynter Online, a lively and link-rich article by Chip Scanlan: B is for Blurb, S is for Summary. Blurbs can be very effective at drawing readers into the whole story.

Downloadable Material from Writing for the Web 3.0
If you use a PC, the CD that comes with Writing for the Web 3.0 contains the items below. But Mac users can't use the CD; so the links below will give you access to the CD materials in the form of a long Word file and a PowerPoint slide show. Whether or not you own the book, I hope you find them useful. Download W4WCDItems.doc Download webwriting_intro.ppt

If you use a PC, the CD that comes with Writing for the Web 3.0 contains the items below. But Mac users can't use the CD; so the links below will give you access to the CD materials in the form of a long Word file and a PowerPoint slide show. Whether or not you own the book, I hope you find them useful.

Download W4WCDItems.doc

Download webwriting_intro.ppt

Web text versus web copy
Sometimes it pays to ego surf. I just checked myself on Google Blogs (using the chronically misspelled version of my last name). The search came up with some intriguing notes on a blog called Information Squid: AEAChicago2007 - “Writing the User Interface” by Jeffrey Zeldman. The notes are just that, clearly jotted down as Zeldman was speaking, but they convey a lot. Just at the end I found this: how...

Sometimes it pays to ego surf. I just checked myself on Google Blogs (using the chronically misspelled version of my last name). The search came up with some intriguing notes on a blog called Information Squid: AEAChicago2007 - “Writing the User Interface” by Jeffrey Zeldman.

The notes are just that, clearly jotted down as Zeldman was speaking, but they convey a lot. Just at the end I found this:

how do you reconcile people-read-less with SEO[search engine optimization]?

cutting the fat and natural language help both

so does using markup so important words are in headlines

can sometimes get funding for editing content by saying will help SEO

what are some questions to determine what’s brand-appropriate?

discovery process. what materials have you already produced
about yourselves?

what do you know about your stakeholders? compare with real users.

there are no good books about copy

there are good ones about writing for the web, but they don’t address
these issues - i.e. Crawford Killian, Writing for the Web
Zeldman is thinking of writing this

pronouns in copy? used to be more we, now with blogging more I

Of course I'm delighted about the compliment from Zeldman. He's one of the best thinkers about the web and on the web. I would love to see (and buy) his book on web copy. But the field isn't entirely empty. Nick Usborne has done some real pioneering in this field.

Web copy is text designed to sell; text designed to inform and persuade is also copy. So the two genres overlap to a considerable extent.

That last note about pronouns reflects an important point. Good copy in any medium needs the "you attitude," in which the writers pay more attention to the reader than to themselves or their organization. (The We We Monitor, also listed in Webwriting Resources, provides a useful reality check on corporate egomania.)

So to the extent that web writers in general, and web copywriters in particular, talk about themselves, they put themselves at a disadvantage.

But the "I" of a corporate blogger may evade this hazard. We turn to such an individual when we want a relationship with an informed person who clearly wants a relationship with us. So he or she can rant on about "I think this" or "I wonder about that" and still maintain our interest and respect.

I've seen this happen on a couple of my own blogs. Ask the English Teacher is almost entirely user-driven: The posts are based on visitor questions about English usage, and my answers reflect my own (sometimes cranky) views on good usage. (Some commenters beg to differ with those views, I'm glad to say.)

On H5N1, which is essentially a clipping service about avian flu, some visitors credit me with far more authority than I have. A few even email me to ask when the pandemic will start. This is actually a little scary. So when I do venture an opinion, it's usually with the reminder that I'm an elderly Canadian teacher of business writing, not an epidemiologist.

The key seems to be to convey, both verbally and nonverbally, that the corporate blogger really has the customer/visitor's best interests at heart. Verbally, the text should be clear, simple, suitable in tone, and you-oriented. Nonverbally, the site itself and the text layout should be inviting, navigable, and full of "good news surprises" like links and other resources that the visitor finds useful.

If anything, the nonverbal aspects of the site are likely to be more persuasive than anything we actually put in our copy...because when people sense a clash between the verbal message and the nonverbal message, they believe the nonverbal message every time.

Hazards of Online Writing
Via the New York Times: E-Mail Is Easy to Write (and to Misread). Much of the article applies, I suspect, to web text as well. Excerpt (but read the whole article and follow the links): The advantage of a phone call or a drop-by over e-mail is clearly greatest when there is trouble at hand. But there are ways in which e-mail may subtly encourage such trouble in the first...

Via the New York Times: E-Mail Is Easy to Write (and to Misread). Much of the article applies, I suspect, to web text as well. Excerpt (but read the whole article and follow the links):

The advantage of a phone call or a drop-by over e-mail is clearly greatest when there is trouble at hand. But there are ways in which e-mail may subtly encourage such trouble in the first place.

This is becoming more apparent with the emergence of social neuroscience, the study of what happens in the brains of people as they interact. New findings have uncovered a design flaw at the interface where the brain encounters a computer screen: there are no online channels for the multiple signals the brain uses to calibrate emotions.

Face-to-face interaction, by contrast, is information-rich. We interpret what people say to us not only from their tone and facial expressions, but also from their body language and pacing, as well as their synchronization with what we do and say.

Most crucially, the brain’s social circuitry mimics in our neurons what’s happening in the other person’s brain, keeping us on the same wavelength emotionally. This neural dance creates an instant rapport that arises from an enormous number of parallel information processors, all working instantaneously and out of our awareness.

In contrast to a phone call or talking in person, e-mail can be emotionally impoverished when it comes to nonverbal messages that add nuance and valence to our words. The typed words are denuded of the rich emotional context we convey in person or over the phone.

The Pressure To Rank High In The Search Engines Is Lessened

The Pressure To Rank High In The Search Engines Is Lessened
The ultimate goal for any webmaster is getting quality traffic to their website and therefore customers. In the past web masters felt they had one choice and one choice only but to get placed in the... [Author: Rosemarie Bryan - Site Promotion - December 19, 2007]

Search Engine Optimization And Marketing Analyst With Good Copywriting Approach
Search Engine Marketing requires optimizing the keywords as per the competitiveness and the fitting of them in the content. An SEO copywriting involves creating informative, easy-to-read content with... [Author: Joanna Gadel - Site Promotion - December 17, 2007]

My Happy Crazy Life
It isn’t often that I come across a blog that I am so impressed by that I find myself wanting to tell everyone I know about it, but My Happy Crazy Life is definitely one blog that I want to share with others.    When I found this blog, authored by Amy Sue of the Zany Zebra, [...]

Telling Apart the Fakes from the Real Search Engine Optimization Expert
So you found a company that claims to be a Search Engine Optimization Expert, but you are not sure if they really are the Search Engine Optimization Expert they say they are. So how can you weed out ... [Author: Moe Tamani - Site Promotion - December 10, 2007]

What Are The Quickest And Easiest Ways To Get Free Traffic?
Traffic is the blood of all Internet Businesses. No website can survive without any visitor. In order to generate more sales and making you more money, you need quality traffic. Aside from ensuring... [Author: Diana Lim - Site Promotion - December 10, 2007]

Michael Kane Interview
Michael Kane, owner of InLip Designs, is one of my all time favorite designers. But he tends to be a bit private showing his work to the general public. So, one of the most common questions I have heard lately, is “who the heck is Michael Kane?” Now you know. The truth is, I literally drool over [...]

Now You Can Get Your Adword Pay-Per-Clicks For FREE!
Now you can make tons of cash with a new breakthrough secret that allows you to get all your Google adwords pay-per-clicks for FREE. Every once in a while a good thing comes around. This is one of t... [Author: Garron Thompson - Site Promotion - December 19, 2007]

The Right Way To Do Web Promotion
Designing a web site and staring a business is not an easy job. As for the real business one needs to register the business, find an office and recruit the staff imperative for the smooth running of ... [Author: Rob Bertholf - Site Promotion - December 17, 2007]

Michael Kane Interview

Michael Kane Interview
Michael Kane, owner of InLip Designs, is one of my all time favorite designers. But he tends to be a bit private showing his work to the general public. So, one of the most common questions I have heard lately, is “who the heck is Michael Kane?” Now you know. The truth is, I literally drool over [...]

Copywriting Makeovers: Watch a Pro in Action
I don't know about you, but one of the best ways I learn about writing - especially writing sales copy - is by looking over the shoulder of a pro while they edit and tweak content to make it more...

42 Top Content Marketing Blogs: We made the list at #25!
This blog has been included in a list of 42 Top Content Marketing Blogs, that Joe Pulizzi has compiled. I tell you this because I'm glad and proud, of course. But there's another reason: there are some very good blogs...

Free Teleseminar: Avoiding Business Blog Failure
Free Teleclass: How You Can Prevent Business Blog Failure Mike Jay interviews The Blog Squad January 24, 2008 at 3 p.m. ET (12:00 p.m. PT) Dial-in: 218-486-1300 PIN 792414# No registration required. In this conversation Mike Jay, Founder of Leadership...

My Happy Crazy Life
It isn’t often that I come across a blog that I am so impressed by that I find myself wanting to tell everyone I know about it, but My Happy Crazy Life is definitely one blog that I want to share with others.    When I found this blog, authored by Amy Sue of the Zany Zebra, [...]

Sex Appeal: Do your blog posts have it?
When you write, do you try to seduce people? Psychologists will tell you there are four basic temperaments, each with it's own particular emotional triggers. Most TV sitcoms have characters who are prime examples of these. Take Sex in the...

Content Marketing: It's not enough to publish
Our friend Kathleen Gage, the Street Smarts Marketer, did a good job of answering an email from a client who questions the value of writing articles and submitting them to online article directories. The person asks a question which many...

Unique Templates & Logos
For the past few years I have been asking every professional designer I know to offer a service that would provide small business owners a place to purchase unique basic templates at an affordable price. Not only did I finally find a team of highly qualified designers willing to do this for us, but they even [...]

A Kick in the Pants for Your 2008 Internet Marketing
In 2004 I wondered if I'd done the right thing. I had quit doing my other jobs as a psychologist, a consultant, and coach. I figured that if I could focus my energies on doing just one specialty, newsletters and...

Social Media & Blogging: What you need to know for your business
Thanks to blogging, Denise and I are a thousand times more 'findable' and we get asked to speak at various events all over the country, including virtually. It's neat being invited to share our knowledge about online marketing with people...

Writing Better: Going to the crossroads down Mexico way...
I have an expatriot's heart. When I moved to Paris in the early 70s I had no idea I would stay until 1989. I moved back to San Diego long enough to get my doctorate and meet my husband. Then...

The 12 Most Ridiculous Auctions on eBay
Written by Robin Barr How does one describe the layered horror that is eBay? Look long enough and you’ll find an item that the mere knowledge of its existence brings shock and dismay. Then, you must cope with the fact that the seller thought we would be willing to pay good money for it, and then [...]

Written by Robin Barr

How does one describe the layered horror that is eBay? Look long enough and you’ll find an item that the mere knowledge of its existence brings shock and dismay. Then, you must cope with the fact that the seller thought we would be willing to pay good money for it, and then come to terms with the fact that usually they’re right.

Here are some that almost had us bidding out of sheer, morbid curiosity.

#12.

The CB-6000 Male Chastity Contraption

Oh God, this one doesn’t look good at all. That’s right, it’s the CB-6000 male chastity belt on sale for a Buy It Now price of $189.95. What a steal!

This horrible, horrible device just about looks like the most uncomfortable and awkward thing that has ever been invented. The auction claims that “This is a new, flat design that is even more comfortable and even less noticeable than the previous popular models, “but the huge plastic dongs staring back at us seem to differ in their opinions. Wearing one of these would be the equivalent of getting that half-chub in english class, then having to go up to the board and diagram sentences, but even better because it is ALWAYS THERE.

The real climax of this auction comes when you see:

“Bonus! Free pair of Italian-designed sunglasses! See picture for listing and colors. Specify choice of color when submitting payment!” We’re assuming you need these because you want everyone to think you look cool when they see you walking down the street with your plastic-cock outline bulging out of your jeans.

#11.

The World’s Largest Lite-Bright

Remember that crappy little toy with easy-to-swallow parts that you used to get bored of at your grandparent’s house? How would you like to spend 15 grand on a huge one of those that some creepy guy spent way too much time on?

We thought so, just fax the deed to your house over to us, and we’ll take care of the rest. Possibly the most depressing part of this auction is not the level of detail that the “artist” had to go into, but rather the handmade, hand-painted frame and exquisite velvet backing that really accent the piece. Thankfully, for the sake of this man’s sanity, he will be featured in next year’s Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, thus assuring him a steady place in the pantheon alongside the Lizardman and that dude who got a railroad spike blown through his head.

#10.

E.T. Movie Character Bicycle Siren W/ Light Up Eyes

When we first came across this auction, we were shocked to see what we thought was a severed baby head in the preview window. It turns out, however, that it was simply a terrifying severed E.T. head.

Of all the horrible merchandise spawned from the ’80s film (and there was a lot), this has to be the most terrifying. No doubt the seller is hoping that getting rid of the thing will banish it from their nightmares as well. We doubt it.

Steven Spielberg spent millions of dollars trying to make that crappy puppet look adorable, next to Drew Barrymore no less, and this toy company instead decided to freehand a carving of an achondroplastic dwarf with a lazy eye, then call it a day. Probably the scariest part of this toy is that when you turn it on, the decapitated skull’s eyes start glowing red, just in case you didn’t know that the object was pure evil.

#9.

Nickelback Shot Glass

This is just about the shittiest shot glass ever seen. If you were at some bar and told the bartender “Oh no, I’d like my tequila in THIS shot glass,” we’re pretty sure you’d wake up the next morning in the hospital with one hell of a barstool lodged up your ass. The only viable use we can see for this shot glass is to use it to get drunk enough to forget what Nickelback is.

#8.

Chocolate Flavored Nipple Spread - With Applicator

What goes better together than nipples and chocolate? Nipples and a knife! Yes this nipple spread comes with a KNIFE included for spreading chocolate over a nipple.

Now, we’re not ones to pry, but should you really be buying a product that has the warning “Never over-sharpen blade, especially if used by those who are prone to: sneezing attacks, nervous ticks, slashing fantasies, or DEAD DRUNK!”

Oh, and if you decide to warm the blade in the microwave before you use it, they advise using the “scream test” to check if it’s the appropriate temperature. This is another one of those sad situations where the only people who need the warning–psychopaths and cannibals–are also the ones least likely to follow it.

#7.

Barack Obama- Digital Political Pop Art

Selling art on the internets?! What an amazing idea! How about political art? Even better! How about a crappy Photoshop manipulation of Barack Obama with some shitty clip art orbiting his head?

WHY CAN’T WE OWN THIS!?!?!!? Oh wait, that’s right, because this douche wants to charge you $1,500 for the five minutes he spent on his computer. The cost for his supplies and time must have been through the roof, because we can only imagine that the $950 starting bid he began this auction with made his profit margins razor thin.

Yes, we realize art is more than the sum of its materials. But, not in this case. Either the items are so symbolic as to be indecipherable (though we’re pretty sure we know what the Coke symbolizes) or else it’s simply a depiction of an Obama who has collapsed on the floor in mid-snack, his skin turning blue from oxygen deprivation, his soft drink and banana having landed near his head. He was also just about to mail something.

To add insult to injury, as the man lay gasping on the floor, a snail has stolen his watch.

#6.

American Raccoon Penis Bone

Did you know that most animals other than man have an actual bone in the penis called baculum? Well eBay seller “baculumdude” sure does, and he is very willing to tell you about them. He also has his very own store on eBay called, oh you guessed it, Baculum world.

Scared yet? Well, if not, you may be interested in these penis bones (also known as mountainman toothpicks according to “dude”), as they can be used as a conversation piece or… well we guess there’s no other use for these, unless you consider the best anniversary present ever an actual use.

#5.

Used Breast Implants

This is an auction for some girl’s old used breast implants. You see, Janine apparently wants to upgrade her boobs from what she has now to… convex, we guess. This is probably one of the grossest auctions on eBay, considering this object was (for more than several days) inside of the seller’s body. While Janine does mention that she has a calendar out for 2008, she refuses to show her face in the auction–go figure. Well, at least whoever buys these can rest easy knowing that there is little else they can do in their lives that will be creepier than this.

#4.

Hologram Jesus

Now upon first inspection of the photo for this auction, it appeared to us that “robsue” was trying to start a bidding war for Jesus (with a Buy It Now price of $2). In reality, what rob or sue seems to be selling is a playing card with the Shroud of Turin on it. While we can imagine nothing more exhilarating than getting onto the playground and trying to trade our Jesus playing card for your best friend’s Mark McGuire rookie card, the seller only ups the ante once you read the description.

That’s right, it’s a genuine HOLOGRAM Jesus collectible card. Now we’re not one to call something sacrilegious, but putting the King of Kings on par with the pack of X-men hologram cards you got in a box of Cap’n Crunch may be a little much.

#3.

Old Playboy Magazines

Mmmm, nothing gets us going more than 40-year-old used pornography!

Fortunately these are all in good condition and still have the centerfold intact (the seller seems to have done some extensive research into this).

The poor old guy is probably thinking, “These poor, young internet users! Where else shall they find the pornography in these prudish times? Why, these four crusty magazines are likely the only porn they shall ever see!”

We’re afraid it’s a buyer’s market for porn these days, kind sir. Not only are every one of these 1965-era naked pictures available online somewhere, for free, but we can also get you hi-res pictures of what those models look like in 2008. For that is the magic of the internet.

#2.

The Seanut

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Hey, I would really like to own the largest nut in the world, but I’m only a millionaire!” Well, you’re finally in luck.

According to this poorly worded auction, the Seanut is the largest nut in the world “that been register in Guinness Records.” Interestingly, in his effort to sell the item, the seller has completely forgotten to note how much the nut looks like genitalia.

Our big problem is that for the $367,000 asking price, it’s not at all clear how big this nut is. He should have put something next to it for scale. Is it the size of an ash tray? A bowling ball? A car? Can kids climb on it? Can we put it in the yard and sell tickets? Can we hollow it out and live inside it? And call it Fort Vulva?

#1.

Invisibility

OK, now who in their life hasn’t either wanted real x-ray glasses or the ability to become invisible? Well billwwilliams is here to finally answer your prayers.

Now, if we are to believe this auction (and of course we want to), then the secret to invisibility has been kept secret for thousands of years and is one of the “best-kept secrets of the ages.” But the subtitles at the beginning CLEARLY state that this isn’t a magic trick or a ninja technique.

What gives!? Who wants some crappy invisibility that ninjas don’t even use? The auction goes on to screw itself over by CLEARLY stating at the bottom and in its description that it is to be used for “MORAL PURPOSES ONLY.” What kind of crap is that? If you’re doing something moral, you sure as hell don’t need to be invisible. That’s the stuff you want people to see.

The last nail in the coffin to this potentially kickass auction is the fact that the secret can be “digitally delivered” to you. Fuck that, if the secret of invisibility is “digital” we’re getting it off fucking BitTorrent. Then we’re hiring ourselves out as an invisible assassin, charging millions to the highest bidder, changing the course of nations with a stroke of our invisible blade. Or maybe just use it to sneak into girls’ locker rooms.

Who and Why? 2 Questions Your Site Should Answer
A client asked for feedback on their blog the other day. I visited and was amazed. While the content was definitely oriented to reader benefits (earn more money, have more time off, create a dream life) --always a good first...

Free Publicity: How to Create a Media Plan
How do you get free publicity for your business? How can you create a well thought-out media plan to catch the attention of frazzled news directors, busy reporters and grumpy editors? If you don't have a penny to spend on...

Downloadable Material from Writing for the Web 3.0

Downloadable Material from Writing for the Web 3.0
If you use a PC, the CD that comes with Writing for the Web 3.0 contains the items below. But Mac users can't use the CD; so the links below will give you access to the CD materials in the form of a long Word file and a PowerPoint slide show. Whether or not you own the book, I hope you find them useful. Download W4WCDItems.doc Download webwriting_intro.ppt

If you use a PC, the CD that comes with Writing for the Web 3.0 contains the items below. But Mac users can't use the CD; so the links below will give you access to the CD materials in the form of a long Word file and a PowerPoint slide show. Whether or not you own the book, I hope you find them useful.

Download W4WCDItems.doc

Download webwriting_intro.ppt

Seth Godin Says Most Marketers Are Out of Sync
Keynote at SES Chicago is food for thought.

If you thought you had Marketing 101 down pat, it's time to think again.

Seth Godin's keynote at SES Chicago lived up to the promise and certainly gave the audience some new ideas to chew on. He started with a new look at the origins of marketing - the story of Josiah Wedgewood, a potter in England in the 1800's at the start of the Industrial Revolution. 

Wedgewood was the first to create a factory environment and a production line with specialized job functions.  He built a showroom and shipped product around the world.  He made millions and his name is still famous in ceramics and china today.  His brother Thomas stuck to the 'tried and true methods.'.  He did it the way it had always been doine before.  He died poor.

The point of this history lesson?  Wedgewood took advantage of changes in society and technology and changed the way he structured his business.  Marketing is not just the whipped cream you add on top, says Godin.  It's a core function of how you operate.your business.  It's a high level decision about how you're going to create, promote, distribute and deliver your wares. If you're smart you adapt your business model to the forces in the marketplace.

Another revolution is upon us, he warns.  And this one will be the biggest yet. If we don't realize this we are going to the Thomas Wedgewoods of our age.

His new book due out in December called Meatball Sundae - is your marketing out of sync? covers the 14 trends that are causing this revolution.

I covered these trends in a previous post.

These are not new ideas or trends. What makes this book different is that Godin gives us direction on what we need to do to take advantage of this revolution in the marketplace.

It's no longer just a BtoB or Bto C world.  It's BtoCtoCtoB.  ther is direct contact between producer and consumer. Poele are connected and they are talking to each other.  Online publishing tools have given consumers the power of voice.

The smart way to do business today is not to look for customers for the products you make, says Godin. Create products your customers want.

YouTube did it and made billions.KIVA is a non profit that is getting ir right.

If you figure out what these trends mean to your business you could be the next success story. 

An Online Editing Job in Canada
Just picked this up in my morning email: Editor / Curator Closing Date: August 10, 2007 Contract: Two to three days per week Location: Canada (virtual office) rabble.ca, Canada's leading alternative online news and analysis Web site, seeks a dynamic editorial curator to direct day-to-day operations, edit the site's features section and integrate multi-media and social media functions into the website on a daily basis. Responsibilities include assigning, editing and...

Just picked this up in my morning email:

Editor / Curator
Closing Date: August 10, 2007

Contract: Two to three days per week
Location: Canada (virtual office)

rabble.ca, Canada's leading alternative online news and analysis Web site, seeks a dynamic editorial curator to direct day-to-day operations, edit the site's features section and integrate multi-media and social media functions into the website on a daily basis.

Responsibilities include assigning, editing and posting stories, working with other editorial staff, planning
editorial calendar, image research, supervising editorial interns and volunteers, and some writing.

Candidates should have strong organizational skills, extensive editing experience, a demonstrated ability to
meet deadlines, a collaborative approach to teamwork, familiarity with Web editing, a creative approach to
working with limited financial resources, a knowledge of progressive politics and world affairs, combined with experience in progressive activism and a keen interest in the potential of Web 2.0 tools. At least three years experience in journalism or publishing, mainstream or alternative is required.

The editor works in a virtual office environment and can be based anywhere in Canada.

Please send cover letter, resume, references and a short writing sample outlining your vision for rabble.ca (one page max) by August 10th to rabble publisher Kim Elliott, jobs@rabble.ca. In the spirit of the virtual office, only electronic applications will be accepted. The subject line should read: rabble editor application.

Closing date for application: August 10, 2007
Start Date: early September 2007
Competitive remuneration rates

Please note: only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

rabble.ca is an employment equity employer.

Kim Elliott, Publisher
jobs@rabble.ca

Legal Hazards of Writing Online
Via today's Globe and Mail, a report on libel chill: Media stardom is pricey. Excerpt: Many bloggers dream of getting mainstream recognition for their work, but unfortunately for some, the attention they're getting comes in the form of a lawsuit instead of media-star status. Earlier this week, Steelback Brewery president Frank D'Angelo filed a $2-million libel suit against Ottawa-based blogger Neate Sager for making what he says are disparaging comments...

Via today's Globe and Mail, a report on libel chill: Media stardom is pricey. Excerpt:

Many bloggers dream of getting mainstream recognition for their work, but unfortunately for some, the attention they're getting comes in the form of a lawsuit instead of media-star status.

Earlier this week, Steelback Brewery president Frank D'Angelo filed a $2-million libel suit against Ottawa-based blogger Neate Sager for making what he says are disparaging comments about him.

In another recent case, Montreal art-gallery owner Chris (Zeke) Hand has found himself on the receiving end of a lawsuit as a result of something he wrote on the blog he maintains for Zeke's Gallery.

Warren Kinsella, a prominent blogger and newspaper columnist, sued another blogger for libel last year, but settled the case after the blogger apologized for his remarks and paid Kinsella's legal costs.

Zeke, also known as Chris Hand, is being sued for libel for comments he posted on his blog in Montreal. ‘Once you start dragging things into court, I do tend to dig my heels in,’ he says.

And p2pnet, a British Columbia-based news site that writes about file-sharing, is still fighting a libel lawsuit launched by Kazaa tycoon Nikki Hemming based on comments that were posted on an article about the company.

Read the whole item.

Naming Your Blog
Michael Weiss at Slate has an entertaining item: Don't drink the balloon juice: Good, bad, and ugly things to name your blog. He discusses mostly American political blogs, but it's actually a pretty serious question: What's the best thing to name your site? As a compulsive multiple blogger, I have to answer the question more often than I care to admit. Most of my sites have fairly flat-footed self-descriptive titles,...

Michael Weiss at Slate has an entertaining item: Don't drink the balloon juice: Good, bad, and ugly things to name your blog.

He discusses mostly American political blogs, but it's actually a pretty serious question: What's the best thing to name your site? As a compulsive multiple blogger, I have to answer the question more often than I care to admit.

Most of my sites have fairly flat-footed self-descriptive titles, like this one and Writing Fiction. When I started blogging avian flu, H5N1 was also pretty self-descriptive, but set slightly apart from other blogs that played variations on "bird flu," "avian influenza," and so on.

Without realizing what I was doing, I picked names that people tend to Google. Type "writing fiction" into Google Advanced search and my site comes up first out of a million hits. "Writing for the Web" is #7 out of 634,000. And "h5n1" is #5 out of 7,870,000 hits.

In a course blog, where only my students are likely to visit, I may use a flat-footed name or a cute one—in a course on storytelling for media, the blog is Raconteur. But I'm just as comfortable with a course blog named for the room the class meets in, like Cedar 224.

For a blog that I co-author with a teacher in China, the name is English Corner, a reference most Chinese students will understand because every campus and town has an "English corner" where students gather to practice their English on one another—and any native English speakers who wander by.

Now I'm getting interested in climate change, and recently started Homage to Arrhenius, an allusion to the Swedish scientist who first developed the theory about CO² as a greenhouse gas, back in the 1890s. This may be a little too cute.

And for another blog, created as a journal for the second edition of one of my books, I've chosen the flat-footed name Pioneers...since the book is titled Go Do Some Great Thing: The Black Pioneers of British Columbia.

I'd be curious to know how bloggers visiting here chose the names for their sites. And can you point to any blogs that are either very well named, or horribly misnamed?

Unique Templates & Logos
For the past few years I have been asking every professional designer I know to offer a service that would provide small business owners a place to purchase unique basic templates at an affordable price. Not only did I finally find a team of highly qualified designers willing to do this for us, but they even [...]

SEO and Marketing Basics Are Top of Mind for 2008
Two thirds focus on basics and almost half plan to do SEO

A survey of 1700 MENG (Marketing Executives Networking Group) members conducted by Anderson Analytics, shows  key areas for 2008 are:

• Marketing basics (60% "Very Important") which include specific concepts such as customer satisfaction, customer retention, segmentation, brand loyalty and ROI were of greatest interest.
• Search Engine Optimization (42%) had relatively wide appeal, and cut across marketers in all fields.
• "Green Marketing" (32%) was another important emerging concept and it was identified as the trendiest marketing buzzword.

See Also

• Marketing Execs Say Basics Are Most Important in 2008
  This is the first of a series of studies by MENG which will make a major contribution to the growing effectiveness of marketing.

My Happy Crazy Life
It isn’t often that I come across a blog that I am so impressed by that I find myself wanting to tell everyone I know about it, but My Happy Crazy Life is definitely one blog that I want to share with others.    When I found this blog, authored by Amy Sue of the Zany Zebra, [...]

Is the Kindle the Next Big Thing?
According to Farhad Manjoo at Salon, no: Amazon's Kindle won't spark your e-book fire. But it's a very interesting description of a gadget that's almost got it right.

According to Farhad Manjoo at Salon, no: Amazon's Kindle won't spark your e-book fire. But it's a very interesting description of a gadget that's almost got it right.

CES: What Happens in Vegas.......
Influences your marketing strategy

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas every January is usually techie heaven, but this year the show is crawling with marketers looking for the latest digital innovations.  And they're not just CMOs from the hi-tech sector either. 

Among the 140 000 people looking the lastest, greatest, neatest and coolest personal technology gadgets are CMO's from Fortune 500 companies from all sectors. Some of the gadgets, digital media and tech wizardry seen at the show will not be commercially available for several years, if at all.  But the increasing importance of this technology in consumers' lives, and how digital media impacts and shifts consumer behavior, is of paramount importance to marketers - hence their presence at CES.

Many of these CMOs are walking the floor with their agencies, looking for new ideas that will impact their marketing strategy in the future. And they'll be doing a lot of walking.  The show floor is the size of 35 football fields! That's a lot of new ideas and gadgets to take in.

If you're not going to Vegas this week, keep your eye on the online reports about CES.   Here are just a few that were featured at the innovations event on Saturday night.

.

See Also

• CES Special Report
  All the news and gossip from this year's consumer electronics extravaganza in Las Vegas

Social Media Influence
Only 10 percent are influencers or opinion leaders. It takes time, committment and an ability to communicate to be an influencer

The concept of opinion leadership - that 90 percent of the world is influenced by the other 10 percent - came out of a study conducted by Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet.back in 1944. Chasing the Influencers is the search for that 10% and has long been a part of a PR and marketing.

In that early study opinion leaders are defined as people who are more influential within their social networks than others. Isn't that interesting - within their social networks. The more things change the more they stay the same.

They consider themselves experts in a specific area of interest and are asked for advice in this area. (Katz and Lazarsfeld 1955.) Now that sounds familiar - did I see a recent study that showed that word of mouth and peer reveiws are the top influencers prior to decision or purchase?

Opinion leaders select information in these areas and then pass it on to others. In the process of reporting to others they more or less consciously modify the items of information they transmit.

A study conducted at Hamburg University looked into what opinion leaders really know and if they have the competence to influence others. Their view? 

There might be different types of opinion leaders: those, who know a lot, influence others and are asked for advice; and opinion leaders with comparably low levels of information, but good communicative skills to compensate.

In Edelmans' whitepaper on measuring social media influence they speak about "meme starters" and "meme spreaders".

So what makes someone an influencer today?.

1. Knowledge - and that has not changed.
2. Good communication skills. Look at the Forrester Social Technographics Scale and you'll see that only 13 percent are creators of content online.  
3. A platform and an audience.  The Internet has made it possible for everyone to have the power of voice, but some rise to the top.But we've moved from 'how many' to 'who.'  The size of your readership does matter, but in many cases who you are reaching and how much they trust you matters more 
4. Good content is still the attraction.
5. Who links to you. Google pays attention to this and so does Technorati. And it is one measure of influence.
6. Activity in Social Networks. Search Engine Land has a post about social  media success that made me weary just reading it. Being an influencer takes a lot of work.

And there is one big caveat for PR and marketers in all this research - the Internet has changed what we know and how we access information. We are no longer willing to sit pasaively by and be fed marketing messages. Individuals who speak from the heart might be influencing their audience. It's not likely to be done by a corporation.

 

See Also

• Read the PRoactive Report
  If you need a guide to the tricky waters of social media the PRoactive Report covers one aspect in depth each month

Michael Kane Interview
Michael Kane, owner of InLip Designs, is one of my all time favorite designers. But he tends to be a bit private showing his work to the general public. So, one of the most common questions I have heard lately, is “who the heck is Michael Kane?” Now you know. The truth is, I literally drool over [...]

Actionable Social Media SES Chicago
Social Media step you can take right now

The complaint I hear most often at search and social media conferences is that while the content of the sessions is excellent, it's at a high-level and very general.  They want specifics. What can I do right now, how do I get started? is the question I often get asked.

This session was perfect for folk who want the nitty-gritty, tactical view.

Todd Parsons of BuzzLogic, one of the main players in the field of online reputation management, was the first speaker.

He set the stage with these stats:

• 65 million Americans read blogs every day
• 60 percent do it explicitly to  get an opinion
• 65 pecent of 'power shoppers' spend at least 10 minutes prior to purchase getting online opinions. 
• 3.5 billion brand-related conversations take place online every day.

First and foremost listen to the conversations and be aware of what is being said about you.

Action:  Get an RSS reader and subscribe to searches on your brand name in Yahoo News and Google Blog Search

Linking is what connects all these conversations and you need to initiate and foster good links

Action:  Create good content with authentic stories - engage your audience. Syndicate this content and add links that lead back to your website.

Action:  Track the conversations and see who links to whom. Buzz Logic does this very well.

(I used BuzzLogic for the case study in the November PRoactive Report, which covers online reputation management. It gives you the exact picture of how the  conversation is developing and spreading and the best place to engage.)

Next up was Adam Lavelle of iCrossing.

We're living a connected lifestyle now and we have more and more devices at out fingertips to access content. And it's driven by content.. By 2010 70 percent of content will be user generated.

Your users are shaping the perceptions about your brand.

Action:  Listen.  Be useful

Some brands no longer own the conversation about their brands. He cites 3M and PostIt notes as one example.

Action:  Join forums where people talk about your brand. Become an active member and answer their questions. Offer useful input and support. Use it to build links back to your website.  Do not be overtly commercial.  Be helpful.

Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide spoke next.

Jennifer's actionable tips focused on using Flickr. Images are very important online - they do get people engaged. And in Image Search Technorati pulls from Flickr and so does Yahoo, particularly for 'long tail' phrases (those with more than a few words in the phrase.)

Action:  Add images to your site and set up an account at Flickr.  Tag all images with keywords and phrases.

Flickr has a very active community. 

Action: Get engaged in niche groups relative to your market.  Ask questions. Encourage any brand evangelists you find on Flickr.

Flickr has feeds.  You can use the feeds from your Flickr images to drive traffic to your blog.

Action:  Use your Flickr images in your blog posts 

See Also

• Join the PRoactive Mastermind Group on Facebook
  Be a part of discussions about social media and online reputation management

A Small Commercial Spot
You may have noticed a new link at the top of the right-hand column. It's a modest effort to promote The Tyee, a very good online journal published here in Vancouver. Full disclosure: I've been writing for The Tyee since 2003, and I take some pride in being a contributor. You may not agree with its point of view on all topics (I certainly don't), but you'll find it offers...

You may have noticed a new link at the top of the right-hand column. It's a modest effort to promote The Tyee, a very good online journal published here in Vancouver.

Full disclosure: I've been writing for The Tyee since 2003, and I take some pride in being a contributor. You may not agree with its point of view on all topics (I certainly don't), but you'll find it offers some of the very best online writing anywhere.

If you can add to its readership by becoming a free weekly subscriber to its newsletter, I'd take it as your vote of support for what I'm doing here.

Conversational Marketing is Actually a PR Technique
PR Can Learn From Successful Online Ad Campaigns

In a recent post about who is in the conversation John Batelle that while the  online conversation has very obvious benefits for the users, one of the troublemsome spots has been how do we keep it going and still pay the rent?  Or the hosting, in this case.

Most writers who have a following online write because it's a passion. Readers/viewers come back because the content is compelling and they value the conversation.

Batelle makes the case that advertisers who are joining the conversation - those who are brave and innovative enough to learn the grammar and language - get the most bang for their marketing buck.

He cites some good examples in this long post about Conversational Marketing

Advertisers who use the medium to actually talk to their readers and get their  feedback?   Now where have I heard the phrases 'establishing and maintaining relationships with your audience' and  'creating a climate of mutual understanding between an organization and its publics'?  Oh yes, it's in the definition of public relations.

Seems the ad folk are using PR tactics, And it's working.  

Take a leaf out of their book. Figure out where the your particular pilgrims are pitching their tents and learn the language and grammar of their conversation.

The Revolution is Being Blogged
The upheaval in Burma is setting off tremors on the web as well. An online magazine run by Burmese exiles in Thailand, The Irrawaddy, is covering the protests and the junta's crackdown: High tech gets the truth out. Excerpt: Despite efforts by the reclusive regime to seal off its cowed people from the outside world, pictorial evidence of the crimes now being committed in the junta’s name is getting out,...

The upheaval in Burma is setting off tremors on the web as well. An online magazine run by Burmese exiles in Thailand, The Irrawaddy, is covering the protests and the junta's crackdown: High tech gets the truth out. Excerpt:

Despite efforts by the reclusive regime to seal off its cowed people from the outside world, pictorial evidence of the crimes now being committed in the junta’s name is getting out, thanks in large measure to the ingenuity of young people with the high-tech know-how to sidestep official attempts to gag them.

Worldwide news services such as the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera are illustrating news reports with clandestine pictures and video footage that confirm the extent of the tragedy now unfolding in Burma.

The Irrawaddy is supplying a wide range of TV stations and publications with material obtained by its own sources.

“We are getting e-mailed pictures taken by mobile phones and digital cameras,” said The Irrawaddy’s Managing Editor, Kyaw Zwa Moe. “They are being sent in by people who hold private e-mail accounts, usually with Skype or Gmail. They don’t worry about the risk they are running—they just want the outside world to know what is happening.”

Many of Rangoon’s Internet shops remained closed on Thursday as the violent suppression of the peaceful demonstrations entered its second day. Traders Hotel in the city center, popular with foreign business people and journalists, was searched room by room for evidence of Internet use.

The worldwide demand for information about what is happening in Burma is so large that traffic on The Irrawaddy’s own Web site has more than doubled since the crackdown began.

More than 1 million hits were recorded on Wednesday, closing the site down for a while.

The Irrawaddy Web site has had 22 million hits so far this month, more than double recorded in a normal month.

Meanwhile, The Independent in the UK is quoting Burma's bloggers bearing witness to the unfolding revolution. For a link to some of those blogs ( mostly in Burmese, but the photos are eloquent), go to Rule of Lords.

On Foggy Writing
Dave Wood wrote to me the other day: I was somewhat aghast at finding one of my web pages coming in at a fog reading of 15+ - I'm just in the middle of revamping it now and am determined to have an index below 9. I did find a glitch in a site you'd recommended: Readability.info. It wasn't accepting my files and seemed to convert them to a read-only...

Dave Wood wrote to me the other day:

I was somewhat aghast at finding one of my web pages coming in at a fog reading of 15+ - I'm just in the middle of revamping it now and am determined to have an index below 9.

I did find a glitch in a site you'd recommended: Readability.info. It wasn't accepting my files and seemed to convert them to a read-only in my own files. I had to re-start the computer to get rid of that setting. It may be local to my computer?

I did find another site that worked better in that it didn't require me to upload my files but accepted a paste: Gunning Fog Index.

I've had a similar problem with Readability.info. When I try to upload a Word file, it instantly tells me it found no sentences. Put in a URL, however, and equally instantly it provides a number of readability indices. I've written to the owner of the site, and will pass along his response. (Update: He tells me the problem arose after a switch of servers. Look for a fix after Christmas.)

In the meantime, while it's helpful to know the general readability of your website's text, you can do a lot just by following a few simple practices:

1. Keep text columns narrow.
Ideally, the longest line in a column should be 15 words. Ten would be better.

2. Keep words short.
"Magic" is better than "prestidigitation." "Idea" is better than "conceptualization."

3. Keep sentences short.
On some of my blogs, I excerpt articles from print media. Too often, especially in the first paragraph, a sentence goes on for well over 20 words. I don't rewrite such sentences, but I wish I could. Bulleted lists can often replace strings of words and phrases.

4. Keep paragraphs short.
In most fonts used on websites, six or seven lines should be enough for a paragraph. Even if it's a long, complex idea that belongs in a long paragraph, break it up. A long, solid mass of screen text will discourage too many potential readers.

5. Put a little white space between paragraphs.
A short line at the end of a paragraph isn't enough of a break. Just one hit on the Return key can make a world of difference in helping people read your text.

6. Put important words and phrases in "hot spots."
Your sentence's beginning and end are its hot spots. Here readers pay most attention and react most strongly to what they read. Hot spots cool off in sentences buried in mid-paragraph. Then the end of the last sentence becomes hot again.

So a paragraph starting with "There" or "It" has wasted a good hot spot.

7. Use bolded subheads to help navigation.
A subhead every few paragraphs gives readers an overview of the whole document. A numbered list like this one, with bolded and numbered lines, is also easier to understand.

8. Break these rules when you must.
Follow them too closely, and your writing style may start to sound dull and predictable. Too many short sentences (and bulleted lists) will give you too many hot spots. That will make you sound as if you're ranting.

The above text, pasted into the Gunning Fog site, turns out to have a Fog index of 7.396. Out of 517 words, 47 have three or more syllables. I did some revision while writing it, but 7.396 seems like a reasonable level of clarity.

A link to the Gunning Fog Index site is now in the Webwriting Resources list in the left-hand column.

Carl Galletti Recommends

Carl Galletti Recommends

iPodder.org : What is podcasting?

Four Marketing Tips for Self-Publishers
You may have already noticed that self-publishing is very time consuming. Most of your time is spent on marketing and publicity and very little time on writing.

The Advantages of Creating Your Own E-Book
E-books have become more and more popular in the recent years. Although some people prefer a printed book in their hand, e-books are still in demand.

Its Name is Zookoda
Zookoda is the new leader in professional email marketing for bloggers. It gives you better control on the look and feel of how your feed is sent to your subscribers. The program is similar to what you see in newsletter...

Will E-Publishing Become the New Leader?
Let the truth be told I am not a big supporter of e-books even though I wrote an entry earlier with regards to the advantages of them. Though I am not a fan, e-books are good for one thing, and that is establishing yourself as an expert.

The Corporate Blogging Book
Stop what you are doing and run out to your local Barnes and Noble bookstore. Why? Because you need to have in your hand at this very moment The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil.

1-2-All Email Marketing by Active Campaign

1-2-All Email Marketing by Active Campaign
One of the tools that a self-publishing author must have is good email marketing software. I highly recommend 1-2-All which was developed by Active Campaign.

Who and Why? 2 Questions Your Site Should Answer
A client asked for feedback on their blog the other day. I visited and was amazed. While the content was definitely oriented to reader benefits (earn more money, have more time off, create a dream life) --always a good first...

The Corporate Blogging Book
Stop what you are doing and run out to your local Barnes and Noble bookstore. Why? Because you need to have in your hand at this very moment The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil.

Four Marketing Tips for Self-Publishers
You may have already noticed that self-publishing is very time consuming. Most of your time is spent on marketing and publicity and very little time on writing.

Its Name is Zookoda
Zookoda is the new leader in professional email marketing for bloggers. It gives you better control on the look and feel of how your feed is sent to your subscribers. The program is similar to what you see in newsletter...

Will E-Publishing Become the New Leader?
Let the truth be told I am not a big supporter of e-books even though I wrote an entry earlier with regards to the advantages of them. Though I am not a fan, e-books are good for one thing, and that is establishing yourself as an expert.

Content Marketing: It's not enough to publish
Our friend Kathleen Gage, the Street Smarts Marketer, did a good job of answering an email from a client who questions the value of writing articles and submitting them to online article directories. The person asks a question which many...

Sex Appeal: Do your blog posts have it?
When you write, do you try to seduce people? Psychologists will tell you there are four basic temperaments, each with it's own particular emotional triggers. Most TV sitcoms have characters who are prime examples of these. Take Sex in the...

Writing Better: Going to the crossroads down Mexico way...
I have an expatriot's heart. When I moved to Paris in the early 70s I had no idea I would stay until 1989. I moved back to San Diego long enough to get my doctorate and meet my husband. Then...

Blogging is Publishing
I wish I could say that "blogging is publishing" was something that I came up with on my own, but that is not the case. However, I have been pondering on this phrase for a while and decided to write an entry on my thoughts.

42 Top Content Marketing Blogs: We made the list at #25!
This blog has been included in a list of 42 Top Content Marketing Blogs, that Joe Pulizzi has compiled. I tell you this because I'm glad and proud, of course. But there's another reason: there are some very good blogs...

Free Teleseminar: Avoiding Business Blog Failure
Free Teleclass: How You Can Prevent Business Blog Failure Mike Jay interviews The Blog Squad January 24, 2008 at 3 p.m. ET (12:00 p.m. PT) Dial-in: 218-486-1300 PIN 792414# No registration required. In this conversation Mike Jay, Founder of Leadership...

Starting a new blog

Starting a new blog
I don't where I got this preoccupation with disaster. But when I'm not teaching business writing or blogging about H5N1, I try to follow the climate-change issue. After thinking about it for a while, I've started a new blog, Homage to Arrhenius to try to educate myself more systematically. Svante Arrhenius was the scientist who over a century ago identified the influence of greenhouse gases on the earth's climate. You're...

I don't where I got this preoccupation with disaster. But when I'm not teaching business writing or blogging about H5N1, I try to follow the climate-change issue.

After thinking about it for a while, I've started a new blog, Homage to Arrhenius to try to educate myself more systematically. Svante Arrhenius was the scientist who over a century ago identified the influence of greenhouse gases on the earth's climate.

You're welcome to pop over and take a look, and if you have any suggestions, I'd be grateful to have them.

Conversational Marketing is Actually a PR Technique
PR Can Learn From Successful Online Ad Campaigns

In a recent post about who is in the conversation John Batelle that while the  online conversation has very obvious benefits for the users, one of the troublemsome spots has been how do we keep it going and still pay the rent?  Or the hosting, in this case.

Most writers who have a following online write because it's a passion. Readers/viewers come back because the content is compelling and they value the conversation.

Batelle makes the case that advertisers who are joining the conversation - those who are brave and innovative enough to learn the grammar and language - get the most bang for their marketing buck.

He cites some good examples in this long post about Conversational Marketing

Advertisers who use the medium to actually talk to their readers and get their  feedback?   Now where have I heard the phrases 'establishing and maintaining relationships with your audience' and  'creating a climate of mutual understanding between an organization and its publics'?  Oh yes, it's in the definition of public relations.

Seems the ad folk are using PR tactics, And it's working.  

Take a leaf out of their book. Figure out where the your particular pilgrims are pitching their tents and learn the language and grammar of their conversation.

Holiday Wishes
Christmas Eve is not yet here in North America, and when it arrives I'm going to be very busy. We have family and friends coming for dinner, so I won't have much chance to blog. But the first thing I'll do in the morning is to start a batch of pulla, a Finnish coffee bread that for decades has been our Christmas breakfast. You're welcome to make it yourself: Download...

Christmas Eve is not yet here in North America, and when it arrives I'm going to be very busy. We have family and friends coming for dinner, so I won't have much chance to blog.

But the first thing I'll do in the morning is to start a batch of pulla, a Finnish coffee bread that for decades has been our Christmas breakfast. You're welcome to make it yourself:

Download recipe_for_pulla.pdf

My old friend Merlin and I take this opportunity to wish you a very happy holiday and a new year full of surprises that make you laugh.

What Makes Good Webwriting?
A reader wrote the other day to ask my opinion: What did I consider good examples of writing on the web? Well, I confess I couldn't leap up with a dozen examples on the tip of my tongue. Examples of bad writing, however, are easy to come by. On my blog H5N1, I often excerpt text from news stories, government websites, and technical sources. All too often, I have to...

A reader wrote the other day to ask my opinion: What did I consider good examples of writing on the web?

Well, I confess I couldn't leap up with a dozen examples on the tip of my tongue. Examples of bad writing, however, are easy to come by. On my blog H5N1, I often excerpt text from news stories, government websites, and technical sources. All too often, I have to tinker with the text to make it readable.

For example, some scientific abstracts are solid blocks of text, 200 or 300 words long. I can't edit them, but I can re-paragraph them to make them easier to read.

News reports are often more reader-friendly, full of one-sentence paragraphs. The sentences, however, may run to 40 or more words—and it's often the first paragraph that tries to create an "abstract" of the whole story. (When I excerpt the text anyway, I usually apologize for the style.)

In other cases, the text may be concise and well-paragraphed, but appallingly displayed. Some poor souls are still stuck in 1996, proudly publishing white text sprawled across a black background clear across the screen.

Others have crisp black text on a white background. But the lines run to 15 or 20 words. Here's an example from Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, which is OK but could be much better with shorter lines. He hasn't changed his format in years, and he should have.

Subheads Help
Subheads can break up the text still more and provide landmarks. Too many webwriters neglect this simple aid to readers.

Of course, sometimes a text is on a website only to be printed off and read on paper. In that case, it just has to be readable when printed.

You're welcome to visit H5N1 and my other blogs to see how I try to live by my own rules.

Judge the Top Blogs on Their Writing!
But here's another suggestion. Visit Technorati: Popular Blogs and see what you think of the writing on some of the top sites.

Does Engadget's shimmering prose enshrine it as #1 blog? Is Michelle Malkin (#11)a better webwriter than Guy Kawasaki(#15)?

Or are other factors at work in these high-traffic, high-impact sites? I'd love to hear your comments.

Is the Kindle the Next Big Thing?

Is the Kindle the Next Big Thing?
According to Farhad Manjoo at Salon, no: Amazon's Kindle won't spark your e-book fire. But it's a very interesting description of a gadget that's almost got it right.

According to Farhad Manjoo at Salon, no: Amazon's Kindle won't spark your e-book fire. But it's a very interesting description of a gadget that's almost got it right.

Free Publicity: How to Create a Media Plan
How do you get free publicity for your business? How can you create a well thought-out media plan to catch the attention of frazzled news directors, busy reporters and grumpy editors? If you don't have a penny to spend on...

Unique Templates & Logos
For the past few years I have been asking every professional designer I know to offer a service that would provide small business owners a place to purchase unique basic templates at an affordable price. Not only did I finally find a team of highly qualified designers willing to do this for us, but they even [...]

Sex Appeal: Do your blog posts have it?
When you write, do you try to seduce people? Psychologists will tell you there are four basic temperaments, each with it's own particular emotional triggers. Most TV sitcoms have characters who are prime examples of these. Take Sex in the...

42 Top Content Marketing Blogs: We made the list at #25!
This blog has been included in a list of 42 Top Content Marketing Blogs, that Joe Pulizzi has compiled. I tell you this because I'm glad and proud, of course. But there's another reason: there are some very good blogs...

Michael Kane Interview
Michael Kane, owner of InLip Designs, is one of my all time favorite designers. But he tends to be a bit private showing his work to the general public. So, one of the most common questions I have heard lately, is “who the heck is Michael Kane?” Now you know. The truth is, I literally drool over [...]