Many of the best marketing minds of our time agree that regularly and frequently publishing online content that establishes you as an authority in your field is today’s cold-calling. It’s a no-brainer that blogging is potentially your best tool for executing a content marketing strategy that earns you the attention, trust, and engagement you seek. But not all blogs are created equal. Blogs that aren’t readable aren’t read. And there are a whole lot of unreadable blogs out there. In this article, I focus on one aspect of blog writing that can make a huge difference in how readable your blogs are: subheadings.
General
Most articles in this category address general Web and Internet issues. Some of them are rants and ramblings that may have less to do with the Web and the Internet and more to do with life lessons and business lessons.
13 Timeless Lessons from the Father of Advertising
No matter what you’re about to write — copy for your Web site’s “About” page, your next blog article, tomorrow’s email marketing campaign letter — these chunks of wisdom from David Ogilvy (via Copyblogger) should help. My faves: “On why we write”, “Ogilvy on headlines”.
Spreading your ideas
If your idea isn’t spreading, one reason might be that it’s for too many people. Or it might be because the cohort that appreciates it isn’t tightly connected. When you focus on a smaller, more connected group, it’s far easier to make an impact.
Repetition
If you’re using frequency as a tactic to make up for the fact that you’re being ignored, you can certainly do better.
Generalists and Specialists
Generalists are the specialists of the future.
Knowing where to kick.
Here’s a slight variation on a classic anecdote about pricing: Guy takes his Harley to the shop. Says it’s not sounding right. Doesn’t sound like a Harley should sound. Mechanic says she can fix it. She starts the engine and listens. She looks up and down the length of the bike for a few moments […]
Making Sense of WordPress Post Formats
WordPress 3.1 introduced support for Post Formats. If your brain was already hurting trying to figure out the differences between categories and tags (not to mention custom post types, custom taxonomies, and custom fields), you’re not alone. But there’s help. This blog post by Otto (aka Samuel Wood) offers some perspective. I’ll try to add […]
What to look for in WordPress themes: Pluggability
In choosing a theme for your WordPress Web site, you might be inclined to focus on layout and look and feel. Maybe you also consider end-user customizability and how many (and which) template files are included in the theme. If you’re a civilian building your own Web presence with WordPress, by all means pick the […]
It was bound to happen: I disagree with Seth Godin.
Like tens — or hundreds — of thousands of others, I read Seth Godin’s blog religiously. I advise clients who blog or wish to blog but don’t yet read any blogs (a contradiction about which I’ve ranted here and here) to read Seth Godin’s blog religiously. And I usually agree substantially and enthusiastically with his […]
Because we can.
The best thing about WordPress today is that anyone who can send an email with an attachment can build and publish a Web site. The worst thing about WordPress is the same thing. In this article, I suggest that powerful, affordable (or free), easy-to-get and easy-to-use tools can make us dangerous.