Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Smart Tips For Your Personal And Business Success Today……….Master blog article writer tells you exactly how to write articles that get read and responded to.

Smart Tips For Your Personal And Business Success Today……….Master blog article writer tells you exactly how to write articles that get read and responded to.
By Dr. Jeffrey Lant
It is a pleasure to have this opportunity to spend some time with you and provide the detailed step-by-step information you must have to get the attention of the people on your list and get them to respond — and rain well deserved compliments on you and your notable work.Let’s dig right in; there’s lots of ground to cover.1)  The purpose of blog articles.Know much about space travel? Here’s a crucial part that astronaut pays a lot of attention to: the heat shields that protect a space capsule returning to earth. Without these shields the capsule and the passengers within would be fried. The same thing happens when you mail ad copy and nothing but ad copy to your lists. Recipients will get plenty angry plenty fast. They want more from you than just ads, and if they don’t get it, the unsubscribe link is near at hand.Blog copy is essential because it keeps subscribers on your list by giving them a good reason for staying on your list. In short, like those heat  shields, this copy protects the list and keeps it whole, growing, profitable.2) Don’t publish random articles. Give your articles increased weight importance by creating them as part of an ongoing series. When you write good copy, copy of substance and value, people not only want to read it… but they want more, lots more, from you, a person whose articles and opinion they come to respect.3) Number each article and announce that number along with each article. As I write (August, 2011), this is my 312 article in the series. You want people to know that, not least because they will want to find and profit from the other articles in the series, all the other articles. Furthermore, as your list of articles grows, so will your reputation and perceived standing. In short, you will be an authority, a commentator of renown and repute.4) Write your blog articles to a certain length, and stick to it.My daily blog articles (which I produce for blog owners worldwide) are all approximately 1500 words in length. That is three single-spaced pages. This length gives you ample space to develop an article on any given theme. It is also a convenient length for readers, not too long or demanding; crucial features in our time-pressed days. Once you have developed your format, you will soon start thinking in terms of your available space and will find it easier and easier the more you write to conceive and write articles of that length.5) Always search for and brainstorm new article subjects.I am on a dizzying blog article creation pace: one 1,500 word blog article per day. This is a challenging schedule for even the most experienced writers. That means I need 365 article subjects per year, challenging indeed.  But even if you decide to write just one blog article per week,you’ll need 52 subjects to write about, nothing to take for granted.When you write blog articles, you are always and forever in the business of finding hot new article subjects. To start, get  the major metropolitan newspaper from your area;(for me that’s The Boston Globe)… and a pair of scissors. Now sit down and review this newspaper with a new eye; an eye that’s seeking interesting, timely, readers-will-love-this subjects. Make time to cut these articles from the publication. Don’t fall behind with this crucial task.In my case, I review and cut out three times a week, more if at all possible.Keep a good pair of sharp scissors at hand. Look at each article in each edition to see whether an article on that theme or subject would fit your blog. If so, cut at once and make sure to date everything you cut out. That’s a must.Then deposit what you’ve found in a large drawer…  this is the article subject compost heap and it is essential. In it you will find subjects you will surely want to write about… and subjects you’re watching, to write about at some future date. Cut liberally; you can be sure you will have no subject readily at  hand. Having all these ideas will prove very useful indeed.6) Select the next subject you’ll write about, gather the information you need to do so.The creation of articles of substance, articles that draw continual kudos from your readers,is a direct result of knowing where to look for the information you need. The better you become at this necessary task, the better articles you will produce and the faster your reputation grows, too.Start by doing a search at any search engine (I prefer Google) to see what  information is available. Where you are writing an article about a breaking news item, don’t just check the available information, also pay close attention to the time the most recent material was posted (e.g. “7 hours ago”). This is essential for keeping what you write ahead of the news cycle. For timely articles, this skill is required.Then visit the Wikipedia. The Wikipedia is one of the most ingenious and necessary tools ever invented. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t use it, finding and printing the invaluable information I absolutely must have do my work… one aspect of which is studding my articles with the facts there in so amply provided. This source is crucial.You will also need to visit the websites of article providers such as Associated Press,Reuters, Bloomberg, etc. They are a terrific source of article subjects and timely data.7) Brainstorm articles.You and your lifetime of education and experience are also valuable sources for articles.Keep a pad at the ready, or an Internet file, where ALL possible article subjects can be listed. Never, ever rely on forgetful memory for such subjects. Write them down at once.8) Set a precise date for finishing all articles.I write and blog my articles daily. I have a precise time of the time when the deadline for the next article MUST be met: 8 a.m. Eastern time. To do this I find all the data I’ll need the day before and review it before bed time. Then I am awake and drafting editing, then finalizing the day’s article by 3 a.m. Eastern time; that is not a misprint? I have found the silent hours of the (usually) uninterrupted night the very best time to write, not least because I am wide awake and full of beans at that  time. You’ll find the schedule most suitable for you; set it, adhere to it religiously.  You will find if you do that your brain and body will be willing to work at that time, and that is a great benefit.9) Keep individual files for every article you write.These files should contain all the printed information sources for this subject as well as all your notes and each draft. Everything pertaining to this article (including the compliments readers email you) must be kept, not least because you may very well decide to write follow-up and related articles for which current data will be most helpful.Last words.Blogging is the future of the Internet; that is absolutely clear. And for blogging to work,and your list to be protected, superior blog  copy is a must. Now you know how to produce it.
About the Author:
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Jeffrey Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell http://HomeProfitCoach.com.
Check out Income Hybrid ->  http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=wd9GQode
Skype me at homeprofitcoach

Saturday, June 18, 2011

How to write the kind of blog copy that turns readers into fans who cannot live without you!




by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
This is an article for people who want to be smart bloggers! Bloggers who change lives! Bloggers who get people to sit up, take notice and say, “Wow! That guy is right! That guy is on the money!” Bloggers who don’t just want readers…
… but fans who sit next to their computers waiting for your next blog post.
In this article I am going to show you the secret to becoming a producer of “must read” copy…. and becoming, in the process, a person who goes way beyond having readers… instead creating fans.
400,000+ words in the last year.
This article celebrates achieving a “personal best” goal for me… a goal I challenged myself to make one year ago…. and which I have, with the publication of this article, now achieved. I wanted to see if I could write at least 400,000 words of copy in 365 days; not just drab, undistinguished, pedestrian copy either, but copy that’s timely! Intellectually distinguished! Lyric! Insightful! Yes, the kind of copy that stops people worldwide in their tracks and forces them to sit up! Take notice! And pay attention… because they just couldn’t bear to miss a single word!
And I am pleased to tell you that this is precisely what has happened! My blog, where you can find all my articles, now generates millions of hits and a stream of gratifying comments from people worldwide who feed my ego and make my day.
This is me!
And it can be you!
1) Tell stories.
The greatest communicators on earth — Jesus! Abraham Lincoln! Mark Twain! were story tellers. They used the power of stories to make things easy for their audience to understand… and to drive home their points, no matter how difficult and complicated.
You must become a story teller, too, not just a finder and disseminator of facts. Facts alone don’t move people. Mere facts don’t capture minds. Facts, no matter how important, don’t touch hearts. But stories do… they always do… and that is why your blog posts must rely on stories that capture people and leave them begging for more…
2) Today’s successful article starts with yesterday’s motivating “heads up”.
If you want readers today, titillate them yesterday. You see, the power of yesterday is to entice readers today.
People will only be moved to the extent that you move them. If you want readers tomorrow… the crucial process of exciting them starts today.
“Tomorrow! A story of love! Power! Treachery and despair! A story that will move you! Outrage you! And, if there’s a tear in you, cause it to fall! All coming tomorrow to a computer near you!”
This’ll get ‘em!
3) Write short sentences where every word counts.
Thanks to the marvelous technical tools writers have nowadays, most don’t write; they “typewrite”, in the withering phrase of Truman Capote. He was masterful, and he knew that writers could kill their points, their stories and their readers by pouring out too many words and sentences straining to digest them.
Don’t make this mistake.
Look at the sentence length in this article… short, punchy, easy to take in at a glance…
Your sentences should move accordingly.
Moreover, prune your articles mercilessly. A sentence that exceeds just a few words is a sentence smothering itself. And dead sentences will never move live people.
4) Short paragraphs give a story the air and space they need.
Today’s readers are restless readers. They are overwhelmed with information… but have the same number of hours in a day as Caesar. In short, they are looking for a reason to put your copy down… never to be picked up again.
Short paragraphs and airy lay-out forestall this tragedy.
Look at this article… short, often real short, paragraphs with pages that look inviting, easy, not prolix and hard.
Contemporary readers demand ease… and if you don’t give it to them, they walk… fast.
5) Make your people real, not caricatures.
The reason volumes of commentary don’t work is because its authors create card board characters. They then laud the characters they like and demolish the ones they don’t. Not only is this unfair… but it makes for lousy copy.
What distinguishes the best commentary is the way you handle people whose opinions you may not only dislike, but actually abhor. Do you give them the courtesy of presenting their point of view fairly, objectively, honestly… or do you want just a cheap shot that not only misrepresents the people you’re writing about… but proves you’re a writer not worth reading?
This point is worth elucidating because it’s one too many commentators miss.
One reason writers like writing commentary is because it turns them from word peddlers into gods, omniscient, all-powerful, always right, never wrong, with the ability to access every human heart and brain at will.
Such people of course become insufferable in short order.
Your job as a commentator is to be sure you have done everything possible to ensure that all the people you write about are presented without prejudice, honestly, completely, with sincerity and with care.
This does not mean you necessarily agree with their positions or actions. It means you intend to give your readers the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth… even if you strenuously disagree.
Only when you have done this can you in good conscience and to best effect proceed to your opinion. Because only if you have allowed even your most pernicious characters their say… can your say be meaningful, insightful, and worth reading.
Use these recommendations.
The best commentators can have enormous influence… which is why you must use your commentating position wisely, not least by producing copy that moves your readers, with every word you write.
These suggestions will help.
By using them you will produce copy — starting today — that changes your readers’ outlook, opinion, point of view, one apt word at a time. When you do this not only will you have a legion of readers, followers and fans…. but you’ll deserve them!
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. He is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell http://HomeProfitCoach.com. Check out Cash Renegade -> http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=to0kJkVU