Written on 1/17/2009 at 9:00 am by

How to Use Facebook to Promote Your Blog

Filed Under: Blog Promotion, Social Media

In this guest post, Steve Schwartz, a professional LSAT tutor, discusses how he has used Facebook to promote his Ace the LSAT blog and create a community of readers.

Your blog’s readers probably have Facebook profiles already, and making your own Facebook profile is easy enough. Aside from allowing you to create a profile and connect with your friends from elementary school, Facebook has several features that can connect your blog readers and help you find new ones.

Create a Facebook Group

Your readers have a common interest – your blog’s subject. My readers are preparing for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). Maybe yours are interested in knitting, running, or making money online. Just as they have subscribed to your blog, they will join your Facebook group.

At the beginning of December 2008, I created the 2009 LSAT Study / Discussion Facebook Group. Someone else had created a 2008 LSAT Group, and I wanted to be the person to create the 2009 group, so I started early. When someone is searching Facebook for an LSAT group to join this year, they’ll see my group has over 100 members, but someone else’s group on the same topic only has 3, guess which group they’ll join.

Note: I didn’t make the group about my blog directly – I made it broader. Why? So people searching on Facebook for LSAT-related groups would feel welcome to join. If they thought it was limited to my blog’s readers, the prospective member might not even visit the group page, which means he/she would never see the link to my blog.

So I created a group and placed a prominent link to my blog on the top, but it only had one member – me. Not very impressive, right? I didn’t want my readers to think my group and blog were unpopular, so I immediately invited all of my Facebook friends to join the group. Some of my Facebook friends were already planning to take the LSAT, so inviting them to join my new Facebook group had two additional benefits:

1. It informed them of my blog if they didn’t know about it already.

2. Facebook’s news feed told all their friends, making the group a viral marketing mechanism for the blog..

How Readers Use the Facebook Group

Of course, the Facebook group is more than a viral marketing mechanism too. It helps your readers to connect with each other in a way comments don’t. While comments are generally responses to your postings, Facebook’s discussion boards allow direct interaction between readers. My readers have used the Facebook group to find LSAT study partners and form study groups by posting messages on the discussion board and the Wall. How did I tell my readers about the Facebook Group? I posted a link to it on the side of my blog, and I made a brief blog post about it for those who hadn’t noticed the link.

Marketing Your Facebook Group, and Your Blog, in Other Facebook Groups

Search Facebook for groups on your topic and related ones. In each of these groups, you can post a message on the group Wall or discussion board, or you can use the Post a Link feature to notify the group’s members of your group and your blog. Warning: don’t do all three in the same group at the same time – it’s overkill and may get you banned from the group. By promoting your Facebook group at first, instead of promoting your blog, you decrease the likelihood that the group administrator will remove your message.

After doing all of this, Facebook became one of my biggest sources of traffic, and I don’t even have to do much to keep the Facebook traffic coming. In order to get more readers, you need to have a presence where they are. For me and for many bloggers these days, our present and future readers spend their time in social networking sites.

What about you? Have you used Facebook or other social networking sites to promote your blog? Have you found it to be effective?

Bio: Steve Schwartz is a professional LSAT tutor living in New York City. He updates his Ace the LSAT blog every week with free LSAT tips and tricks.

Written on 1/17/2009 at 12:01 am by

Sugar, Spice and Vitamins: Three Types of Posts that Will Grow Your Blogs Traffic

Filed Under: Featured Posts, Writing Content

What type of content helps to build a popular blog? Today Jurgen Appelo from Noop.nl shares three types of posts to help you grow your blog.

There are many ways to build a popular blog, and each blog author has his own ideas on topics and style of writing. In this post I will tell you about my personal recipe for blogs. I call it sugar, spice & vitamins.

Vitamins

vitamins.jpgThe vitamins are the blog posts that are important for regular readers. They are about becoming a better manager, making life more joyful, having a less stressful job, or learning all there is to know about guinea pigs, motorcycles, Britney Spears, or miniature villages made of toothpicks. In short, the vitamin posts are the essential ingredients for your blog to build and grow around a certain theme or niche. My own blog is aimed at software development managers (probably a smaller niche than miniature villages made of toothpicks). So my “vitamin posts” have topics like How to Select a Fine Technical Manager and To Motivate People… Balance Your Practices.

But how do I get people to consume vitamins?

Well, just imagine that you’re trying to interest consumers in eating savory pies. Waving at people with healthy carrots and sticks of celery will probably not be received with much enthusiasm. People might care about vitamins, but what really gets them motivated is usually something else…

Sugar

Sugar.jpgPeople might say they are interested in your important blog posts, but it’s easier to get their attention with sugar posts. Your blog should have just the right amount of sugar to get people interested. The sugar in your blog are the posts that make people’s mouths water from pure delight. You write these posts with the sole purpose of making your blog easier to consume. Some of my “sugar posts” were Top 100 Best Books for Managers, Leaders & Humans and Top 100 Blogs for Developers.

But why always the number 100 in these posts?

Because 100 is bigger than 25. And bigger than 50. And it’s the first number to require no less than three digits. The posts I mentioned here have been huge traffic generators for my blog. I believe that list size and traffic volume have a non-linear relationship. A top 100 list doesn’t give you four times as much traffic as a top 25 list. It gives you ten times as much! (I even created an article called How to Create a Top Blog List, so that you can enjoy similar results for your blog.)

You can think of other and better ways of attracting new readers. But remember! We’re talking about sugar posts here. They only exist to attract new consumers and to make them digest the vitamins as well. Go easy on the sugar! You don’t want your blog to turn into a cotton candy machine.

Spice

spice.jpgYou may notice that vitamins and sugar will not be sufficient to keep people interested for long. You need a finishing touch. Something to spruce up your endless stream of healthy and sweet content. I call this last ingredient the spice posts. The spices give your blog flavor and personality. These are the blog posts that can trigger heated debates. Everyone likes sugar, and nobody dislikes vitamins. But it’s the spices that will have people talking about you. Some of my “spiced posts” were Thank You, Stupid Americans and Professionalism = Knowledge First, Experience Last.

But won’t these posts scare away my readers?

Yes, some of them perhaps. I’ve written posts that made people laugh, scream and cry. Figuratively speaking of course. (And some of their replies made me laugh, scream and cry.) It’s the spices that will divide your readers. Some people will hate them. But many will come back for more, because they won’t find those particular flavors anywhere else.

Sugar, Spice & Vitamins

Exactly one year after I started, my blog now has 2,500 feed subscribers, and 1,000 visits per day. That’s not bad for a blog about an extremely boring topic like software development management. And I attribute the success to my sugar, spice & vitamins recipe. The sugar attracts new readers, the vitamins keep everyone healthy, and the spices make it all the more interesting.

So… have you figured out what kind of post this is?

Images by Fred Armitage, Darwin Bell and Riv.

Written on 1/16/2009 at 7:38 am by

Interview with Top 100 Blogger – Daniel Scocco

Filed Under: Pro Blogger Interviews

daniel3.jpgI always love it when I see bloggers extending their online businesses beyond their actual blogs to make money ‘because’ of their blog rather than just from it through advertising. One such blogger who has stepped out and done this in the last week is Daniel Scocco who has this week launched his Online Profits course that was released earlier in the week (see my announcement post).

I’ve always been impressed with Daniel and how he approaches his online business (I’ve had him as a guest post many times here on ProBlogger) and so wanted to do a short interview with him to find out more about the course and how he came to put it together.

How has the response been to the release of Online Profits?

The response was good. It was above my expectations, especially because I opted for a very clean and fact-based sales page.

We had close to 50 registered members at the end of the first day. My initial aim was to get 100 members on the site within the first week, because that is a good number of people to work with. I am sure we will cross that mark by Friday.

Getting mentioned on Problogger was paramount to that success though. In fact after reading your post I was twice as motivated to put a lot of hard work into the training program, making it worth for all the people that will follow your recommendation.

What’s been the #1 (or 2) question or concern that people have expressed about it and what’s your answer been?

The main question that people had was: “Why should I join the training program if there is so many freely available information around the web?”

I won’t deny that there is a lot of good and free information on the Internet. Problogger is perhaps the best example around. I started reading it back in 2006, and it certainly made a big difference on my “blogging career.”

Sometimes, however, people don’t have the time or the skills to find, organize and interpret all that free information and to transform it into a structured learning environment and into action plans.

That is where ebooks, books and training programs come into play. For example, back in 2006 when I started learning about SEO, instead of going around looking for bits of information here and there, I purchased the SEO Book from Aaron wall and read through it. The time that it saved me was well worth the money I spent for it, and I was also secure that the information was reliable.

Secondly, when you purchase an educational product or join a training program, you will be more motivated to act instead of just learn. You paid for the information after all, so you better do something with it! You will also be in a situation where you are encouraged to take action, both from the fellow members and from the mentors.

Another question that was asked frequently was: “Will I have access immediately to all the training modules?”

The answer is no. For this first launch we opted to make the training modules available gradually, so you will inevitably need to wait to access the advanced ones. The reason for this structure is to not overload the members with all the information at the same time (which is a recipe for making people not apply the knowledge that they will gain).

Over the last year there have been quite a few courses released that have had similar subjects to Online Profits – what’s different about this one?

Yes there are many eBooks and courses that teach Internet marketing. Most people that write about Internet marketing or “making money online,” however, do not earn that much. That is why I made an effort to bring credible names to this project.

I wanted the lessons to be written by people that have experience with real projects.

Additionally, I also think that Online Profits is unique in terms of content broadness. There are good training programs out there if you just want to learn SEO (SEO Book), if you want to learn how to make money blogging (Blog Mastermind) and so on.

For the people that want to get a complete understanding of Internet marketing (e.g., from setting up a website to optizing WordPress, from PPC to affiliate and email marketing), however, Online Profits could be more suitable.

The thing that I love about what you’ve pulled together is that you’ve managed to draw together a fairly amazing group of people. How did you get them all to agree to participate?

First of all I only approached people whose work I respect, and I explained my plan to them: to create an Internet Marketing training program that will be credible and worth for the members.

In other words, I wanted to create something that would add value to the Internet, and not simply to generate some quick bucks for the rest of us.

I believe that was the main motivator for them to join, even because most of those guys already make some killer money online, and financial benefits don’t speak to them.

What you’ve done with Online Profits is to leverage your current blog and profile to launch this course. Many bloggers aspire to do this – what advice do you have for them?

First of all you need to give before you ask. Before launching the training program I worked on my blog for 2 years, published over 1,000 posts, and attracted over 16,000 RSS readers (over 30,000 if you count all my blogs).

Secondly, I have also done all that with a genuine interest in helping other people, not expecting anything in return. When I started Daily Blog Tips, my only goal was to share the tips and tricks that I learned with previous blogs and websites. Period.

I guess if I had started my projects with the sole goal of making money people would have noticed it, and perhaps they would be less inclined to read what I had to share with them.

What’s your best tip for bloggers starting out today?

Let me try to summarize it in one sentence: create something you will be proud of.

Practically speaking, create value for other people, publish unique and useful content, network with fellow bloggers, give before you ask, and have fun along the way!

Check out the Online Profits course – it’s 50% off until the end of the week!

Written on 1/16/2009 at 12:03 am by

Why Video IS Worth Experimenting with On Your Blog

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Blog Tips

Earlier in the week I wrote a post arguing that Text is King in the online space which caused some interesting discussion (both in the comments and on Twitter).

While I did try to qualify the post by saying that I do think video has its place and that it’ll continue to grow as a medium, particularly in some demographics, some people saw my post as me ‘writing off’ video.

So today I wanted to write a short post giving three reasons why I do believe in video and will continue to use it on my blogs. I won’t do it exclusively (ie I’ll primarily be investing my time into text) but I do believe that it’s a great compliment to the written form of communication that I focus upon.

  1. Video Gives You a Voice and Face – perhaps the biggest thing that I noticed when I started posting videos here at ProBlogger was that I noticed readers interacting with me in a different way. Suddenly the emails I received had a more personal edge. Strangers started emailing me using a tone and language that was more familiar – as if they knew me. At first I didn’t realize what was happening – but after a while I realized that people felt like they ‘knew’ me. This happens with text as well – but video has a way of showing your personality. It shows your face and lets people hear your voice as it really is. This ‘personal’ aspect is powerful.
  2. Video Connects with Different Personalities and Learning Styles – another thing that I noticed when I started using video was that I started getting comments on video posts from people I’d never heard of before. I started getting comments that would start with – ‘I’ve been reading your blog for 12 months but never commented before but just wanted to say…..’. We all have different learning styles and personalities – some of us learn better by hearing and seeing – while others by reading. Video appeals to a different crowd and can potentially widen your audience.
  3. Video Opens Up Opportunities to Illustrate Certain Principles in Creative Ways – some things are very difficult to communicate in the written word. There are just some times when you need a tone of voice or body language to be able to ‘show’ people what you mean. Video allows you to do this. It also opens up different ways of illustrating the principles you’re talking about. For example in my last video on First Impressions I started the video with a little sequence that illustrated what I went on to talk about – that sequence was commented upon by many and wouldn’t have been achievable with text (or at least not in the way I did it).

Should you write off video? No way! It is definitely a medium that I feel is worth experimenting with (and so far it seems 67% of you have been doing just that if our latest poll is anything to go by).

I guess all I was trying to say with my last post is that just because video is on the rise doesn’t mean that Text is dead. I think it is here to stay and will remain ‘king’ for quite some time yet!

Text, Video, Audio and other forms of communication online all have their place and can all be powerful. I find them especially powerful when you combine them rather than focus upon one – (but that’s partly just my style). Choosing your mediums and working out how much to focus upon them will probably come down to weighing up a number of factors including:

  • Your topic
  • Your audience and what mediums they’re most comfortable
  • Your personality and how you best communicate
  • Your skills in presenting, speaking, writing etc
  • Your resources and access to cameras, bandwidth etc

OK – so that is enough of me – what do you think?

Written on 1/15/2009 at 7:50 am by

AdSense for Feeds Ads Showing in Feedburner Email Updates

Filed Under: Adsense, RSS

Today I was chatting with someone that subscribes to ProBlogger via email through the Feedburner RSS to Email service that we offer readers and they mentioned in passing that they see the AdSense ads in the emails that they receive.

At first I was a little taken aback by this. AdSense don’t allow their ads to be sent via email – it has always been in their Terms of Service. I know this because publishers have been asking for it to be allowed for years.

So on getting home just now I’ve checked my inbox in Gmail to see my latest email updates from my sites and sure enough – there are AdSense ads in them.

Here’s how they look on my photography blog’s daily updates:

Picture 3.png

and another one:

Picture 2.png

The ads are AdSense for RSS ads that I run in my feeds (and have done for a while). They appear at the bottom of each of my posts when someone is viewing them via RSS – but it also appears that they’re showing up in some emails. I say SOME emails because when I view these same emails in my Apple Mail email client I don’t see the ads – but in my Gmail I do.

The person who told me about this also uses Gmail. I’m yet to test it using any other email client but it could just be that they show in Gmail.

I’m not sure if Google’s Feedburner or AdSense or Gmail teams (or a combination of them) are just testing this temporarily or if it is a permanent thing but as a publisher I’m definitely not disappointed by it – it means more ad impressions!

Have you seen AdSense ads like this in RSS to email subscriptions that you have? If so – what email clients have you seen them in? Just Gmail or are they appearing in other email clients too?

update: It seems AdSense did announce this previously – check out the last paragraph on this post on their blog (thanks to @mvizdos on twitter for the link). Question is – when are they going to let those of us with newsletters add AdSense to our emails!? I’d love that!

Written on 1/15/2009 at 12:06 am by

5 Ways Blogging Can Make a Difference for You in This Economy

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Blog Tips

Dan Schawbel is the author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, and owner of the award winning Personal Branding Blog.

If you ever were scared or intimated of a blog, now is the best time to flush away those fears and start a blog. Forget about the economy and start thinking about how you can make a difference in your life and that of others. Blogging is a proven way to become extremely successful, no matter what the economic condition is. Today, I want to give you five ways that blogging can make a huge impact for your personal brand during this economy.

1. Protects you from Threats

Your name is your most important asset on the web, followed by your picture and then your positioning. Blogging allows you to own your Google results, which, in return will allow people to find you. I promise you that people are already searching for your name in Google and if you aren’t there, it’s a missed opportunity. Blogging is extremely powerful for search engine optimization (ranking high in Google), which means you can make your blog rank #1 for your name and have people find you every single time. Competitively, you need to blog because you don’t want anyone else claiming that top position from you, especially if they share your name.

2. Allows you to Network

By having a blog, you already have something in common with more than 100 million people across the world, which means each and every day you can connect with one or more faces, without leaving your computer chair. Networking with other people is the only insurance policy you can have during a bad economy and if you’ve already been networking online, you’re way ahead of the game. See, when you aren’t looking for a job, and you network, it comes off authentically and increases your chances of opening up a new opportunity. A blog is content driven and conversations are started around content, which gives you the ability to comment on other peoples blogs and then further that relationship off-blog with an email or message on social networks. In this way, your blog becomes the ultimate networking device for keeping you connected with people that can make you succeed!

3. Keeps your Skills Up

The two most crucial skills to have are writing and verbal communication skills. The best way to get better at both is to practice and by writing blog posts and filming podcasts, you are able to hone these skills and get better over time. This is extremely important when it comes to writing a resume, interviewing for a job, forming relationships with coworkers, writing to other bloggers online and commenting. By forcing yourself (hopefully you’ll be passionate enough about the subject not to be forced to write about it) to blog, your writing will get better and people will take notice. Think about how significant email is in our lives. If you’re currently employed and your writing isn’t satisfactory, then it will negatively impact the brand called you.

4. Promotes Brand You

When you’re sleeping, your blog is working for you overtime and you don’t even have to pay it! That’s right; a blog is an incredible marketing tool for your personal brand. Every blog post can be found in Google, commented on, shared and so on. A blog is an advertisement and, for those who read Problogger.net and craft a blog that looks professional, your blog is your resume. People are getting jobs all the time from their blogs and they aren’t even applying for them. Blogging is a form of attraction marketing, where people get interested in your content (that you give out for free) and then either hire you or give you an opportunity that can help you build your brand, such as a speaking gig. One of the main benefits of blogging, aside from positioning yourself as an expert, is the added visibility to your brand name. With a blog, you can rank high in search engines and have people link to you. You can spread your message to thousands of subscribers in a single post if you work at it.

5. Relieves you from Stress

Blogging is very good for the soul and keeps you active, to a point, where you’ll forget we are even in an economic recession. When you start blogging, you’ll realize that it really consumes your time and, in a sense, this is a very good thing for you when you hear stories of people getting laid off, left and right. A blog will settle you down, make you concentrate more and allows you to flush your ideas out, which can turn into new business ventures! Forget a stress ball and any other infomercials you might see on TV. A blog will actually help you become more of who you are and you can form relationships with people just like you. In this way, you have a whole choir to preach to, instead of just your family and friends.

Further Reading:

13 13 Tips to Recession Proof Your Blog

Written on 1/14/2009 at 7:32 am by

My Mum Doesn’t Get YouTube: Why Text is King

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Blog Tips

Steve Rubel has a smart post up at the moment on Why Text Remains King of the Web. In it he reflects upon why Robert Scoble’s videos don’t tend to generate the buzz that they could and why text has it over video:

  • It’s scannable
  • Text does better with SEO
  • Text is better to consume in the workplace
  • Text is better on mobile devices
  • Text is easier for distribution

While I think some of the above is slowly changing as technology catches up I think a lot of it rings true. It’s why I put most of my time into textual mediums rather than video.

I’ll add another point to what Steve’s written:

My Mum Doesn’t Get YouTube.

OK – perhaps Mum could work out YouTube if she put some time aside to learn – but recently I was talking to my family about online video and the blank stares that I got from my parents made me wonder if they’d ever watched a video online before. They’re not online all day every day but the majority of what they do is email and searching for articles on their subjects of interest with Google. They live in ‘text content land’ – right in the middle of it.

While many of us who are into the blogging and social media game have been doing video for years now and are completely at home with watching them, embedding them, sharing them with friends….. it can easy to forget that perhaps as a fairly tech savvy bunch we might be ahead of the field (or at least some of it).

Perhaps it is partly generational or perhaps it is about personality (or a mix of both) but I’d guess that there are a fairly significant proportion of the population who are either unsure how to view video, don’t know where to find video or have no interest in video and who are much more at home with ‘reading’.

I do see a future in online video (and think it’ll even increase in popularity in time, particularly with some demographics) and I’ll continue to use it on my own blogs – but I’m betting that text is also here to stay.

Written on 1/14/2009 at 12:02 am by

7 Tips on How to Write Sticky, Memorable Blog Posts

Filed Under: Writing Content

Today copywriter Glenn Murray from http://www.DivineWrite.com shares 7 tips on writing sticky blog posts.

People don’t want to read your post. Chances are, they’ve dedicated the first hour of their morning to staying in touch, and even that’s more than they really have time for. They checked out 4 or 5 posts before they stumbled across yours, and they know they face at least as many after. Not to mention emails, tweets and voicemails.

So they’re really just looking for an excuse to move on. Don’t give them that excuse.

It’s not enough that your posts are relevant and informative. In fact, even if your content is unique – or even groundbreaking – your posts still have to be sticky and memorable. Fortunately, it’s quite an easy thing to do. Let me explain…

It all comes down to 7 Signals in your Copywriting

There are 7 simple signals that you can include in your copywriting, that will get your visitors reading, keep them reading, and help them retain your message.

1. Signal that your post is relevant to your visitor

Make sure your headline is relevant. Don’t make it obscure in an attempt to be clever (or keyword-rich). An obscure headline is just one more obstacle to a busy reader. KISS is the best approach (Keep It Simple, Stupid!). Also, make sure you include an explicit statement, fairly early in the post, describing your subject matter and main point. (It’s not always possible to be this explicit in your headline.)

Examples from this post: My headline isn’t fancy. “7 Tips on How to Write Sticky, Memorable Blog Posts.” It’s straight to the point, but still engages because it promises something the reader wants. And my explicit early statement? “There are 7 simple signals that you can include in your copywriting… retain your message.” Once again, not fancy, but promising.

2. Signal that it’ll be easy to read

We all know that most people scan. Nothing new there. But it’s easy to overlook in the rush to post. Don’t. Always make sure you make it very clear to your visitors that your post is going to be easy to read. Make your first sentence succinct and friendly. Perhaps even raise an eyebrow or two. And consider using bulleted lists, numbered lists and sub-headers in your post body. Also, if your post is structured around a numbered list (as this one is), say so in the headline.

Examples from this post: My first sentence is only 7 words long, with just 1 multisyllabic word (and that word is just 2 syllables). It contains a contraction and addresses the reader directly (“your”), suggesting that the entire post will be fairly conversational and direct. The first sentence is also a little confronting, which may cause readers to ask, “Why don’t people want to read my post?” My entire post is delivered in bite-size chunks (tips), and this is promised in the headline. What’s more, I’ve used the magic number, 7, which is supposed to strike a chord with more readers (thanks to @schebesta for that tip!).

3. Signal that it’s got personality

People don’t want to read the same old conservative ho-hum they read everywhere else. They want to read something engaging. More to the point, they want to engage with the blogger who wrote it. That’s what blogging’s all about, after all. So make sure your post reflects your personality. Write how you talk. Allude to your own quirks. Show you don’t take yourself too seriously (maybe be self-deprecating, but not obsequious). In fact, unless you’re a writer, even your spelling and grammatical errors can reflect your personality. (But be careful here, as this can also undermine your professionalism.)

Examples from this post: I’ve used a conversational style (contractions, “you”, short sentences). I’ve even used an informal acronym (“KISS”), a colloquialism (“fancy”) and a bit of slang (“ho-hum”). I’ve thanked someone in an informal way (@schebesta). I’ve used metaphors to color the copy (“raise an eyebrow”). I’ve even broken some rules of grammar (I’m pretty sure “Don’t” isn’t a full sentence, nor is “Nothing new there” – grammarians’ opinions???). There are bound to be plenty of other examples too.

4. Signal that there’s more to come

People know that each paragraph links logically to the next. But by making that link explicit, you’ll increase the likelihood that they’ll read on. (This is a trick I learned from Joseph Sugarman.) So, every couple of paragraphs, finish off with an explicit lead-in to the next paragraph. Lead-ins like, “I’ll tell you how…”, “He wasn’t the first…”, “This is just the first of many…”, and “You’re about to find out how…”. But don’t over-use them. Otherwise you’ll sound like an infomercial offering steak knives! (“But wait, there’s more…!!!”)

Examples from this post: “Let me explain…” That’s about the only one I’ve used, because most of the post is in the numbered list, and lead-ins would get in the way down here.

5. Signal where the meat of the post is

Scanners know that most of your intro can be skipped. So long as you’ve used Signal 1, above, many will scan the page looking for the meat of your post. Make it easy for them to find. You might use a numbered list or a bulleted list, for example. Or some sub-heads. Often, longer paragraphs suggest meat too.

Examples from this post: The numbered list is the most obvious cue. But I’ve backed it up with a sub-head (“It all comes down to 7 signals in your copywriting”).

6. Signal your professionalism

Even if you adopt a conversational style, some colloquialism, slang, humor, or whatever, you should always make sure your reader knows you’re a professional writing to your audience (not just a bumpkin bangin’ some words onto the page). Intersperse your post with some language that your reader will perceive as professional. Whether it’s a certain way of phrasing things, some meaningful jargon, or just a big word or two.

Examples from this post: There are heaps, but here are a few. I started out pretty casual: “People don’t want to read your post. Chances are…” But paragraph 3 is slightly more serious: “…not enough that your posts are relevant and informative.” Then each numbered item is a mix of casual and professional. E.g. Casual: “Once again, not fancy, but promising.” Professional: “An obscure headline is just one more obstacle to a busy reader.”

7. Signal when the reader can stop reading

This isn’t as obvious as it sounds. We’ve already established that readers are in a hurry, and that they don’t want to read your whole post. The important thing to realize is that this applies not just to the START of your post, but also to the END. If your reader can glean everything they want without reading right to the end, they will. This point is really the corollary of Signal 5, above. Just as you signal where the meat starts, signal where it ends. For a simple numbered list post, without a trailing discussion, the stop-reading signal is the end of the list. For other posts, a ‘Conclusion’ sub-head is a good idea.

Examples from this post: I didn’t feel any further discussion was needed for this post. The numbered list is enough. And without much following the numbered list, it’s clear that when it ends, the meat ends.

Don’t assume your subject matter will hook readers. Always craft your copy so that it gives readers the cues they look for. They’ll not only be more likely to read on, but also more likely to come back.

PS. There are, no doubt, other copywriting signals that readers heed when deciding whether to persist with a post. If you can think of any, please share…

Author Bio: Glenn Murray is a specialist SEO copywriter. He heads copywriting studio, Divine Write, and can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.DivineWrite.com for further details.

Written on 1/13/2009 at 8:12 am by

Digital Photography School just got a New Design

Filed Under: Blog Design

Digital Photography SchoolBlog redesigns are always experiences that are mixed with excitement and a little fear – today has been a day for both of those feelings as we launched a new design for Digital Photography School.

The new design includes an expansion from 1 blog to 3, a new portal/aggregation front page, Gravatars in comments and a lot more.

I won’t fully outline it here right now because I’ve asked the designer – Matt Brett (who has been a pleasure to work with) – if he’ll write a post for ProBlogger about it – but you can read my introduction to some of the changes on DPS in a post here.