October 11, 2011

You’ve Got to Read This: October 11, 2011

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I usually start off my selection of good reads with something to help you save time or be more productive, but nothing wowed me this week. So I wrote my own: Be Productive While Having a Beer (or Two).

This is such a cool idea from Mike Brown at Brainzooming: assign extreme creativity makeover roles to everyone on your project team. You be the Outrageous Ideameister and I’ll be the Minister of Scare the S#!t Out of Us Possibilities!

I never get tired of sharing this type of post because I know many people are stumped when it comes to blog content. Jackie Roy at TMG Media’s Engage blog (a must read in my book) provides 7 Ways for Your Company to Break the Ice with the Blogosphere.

If you’re going to a conference or educational session and plan to tweet, read this post first. Megan Yarbrough at M+R Research Labs shares tips for thoughtful and effective live-tweeting from an event.

Standard press releases are often misdirected, irrelevant and boring. Here are some creative alternatives to sending a press release from Claire Celsi at Ragan’s PR Daily.

Yes, yes, we’re all professionals, but sometimes you just have to giggle in the middle of the day. One of my favorite sites for that is Funny or Die. If you’re an Arrested Development fan (hey, the rumor is the show’s coming back, woo hoo!), start with this slideshow of AD screen captures.

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October 8, 2011

Be Productive While Having a Beer (or Two)

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Is it five o’clock already? It’s been a good day. Most of the items on your daily to-do list have been crossed out. However, you’re getting your usual late afternoon second (or third?) wind. Your brain is still clicking. You could still put in a few hours work.

Then a thought rears up in your mind, or is it a little devil on the shoulder? Wouldn’t a beer or glass of wine taste good right now? Yes, it would. It would be especially good with that salmon cheese spread in the refrigerator. What to do, what to do…

The beauty of a home office is that the refrigerator is just steps away. But now you’re torn: stop working (it is the weekend after all) or relax with your favorite refreshing brew while getting a bit more done.

You can have it all. There are plenty of productive tasks you can do while enjoying a beverage. Or two. Or three.

Thank you cards. You send thank-you cards, don’t you? No, it’s not passé. Take a sip and shop online for handmade cards.

Addresses. Save time later by hunting down the addresses you’ll need for those thank you cards. But don’t write the cards. No permanent writing is allowed right now.

Read. Expand your mind by reading blogs and websites outside of your niche. If you’re a blogger, jot down post ideas. Take notes. Doodle. Get inspired. Make connections between random ideas.

Listen. Listen to podcasts. I like catching up on NPR shows I’ve missed, like Fresh Air or This American Life. What do you like?

Tidy up. While you’re listening to the podcast, clean and organize your desk. Clutter has such bad juju. Clean your computer screen and keyboard. But move your beer first. A tipped over beverage can lead to a short-circuited keyboard. It’s not important why I know this. While you’re at it, does the floor need a sweep?

Organize. Start your to-do list for next week. Jot down some of your big ideas for the future.

Tweet. Twitter’s great for conversation and random reading. Find an interesting hashtag to search and read. But please, no drunk tweeting. Stop after two beers. Please.

Emails. If you really want to be productive, draft emails you need to send, but don’t enter the email address into the To field and don’t even think about sending them.

Inbox. Power through your inbox. Delete the crap. Skim or read the newsletters. Mark things to read later.

Play. Exercise your creative muscle. Write in your journal. Make a visionboard (oops, I just lost half the crowd). Or do a Creative Copy Challenge.

Draft. Draft articles, reports, letters or blog posts about productive things you can do while having a beer with salmon cheese spread. Edit and publish later.

What productive work-related things do you do while you’re enjoying a beverage?

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photo by Karl Baron/Flickr

 

September 20, 2011

You’ve Got to Read This: September 20, 2011

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This is a big week in the association management industry — the week of Innovation Talks, aka #asaeinnov. I wrote about innovation in associations last week for the Avectra blog and will have another post on Wednesday about how Disney encourages an innovative culture.

Innovation is right up there as one of the most over-used words this past year, but maybe that’s because we finally realize that if we don’t innovate, we might become irrelevant. Apple’s been doing it right for a long time so Alan Webber at The Christian Science Monitor looks at what Apple can teach the rest of us.

You want to start a blog, you really do, but there are many factors to consider, or so you say. Laura Click examines The Top 10 Excuses That Keep You From Starting a Blog and tells you how to overcome each one.

Now you have a blog, but you still have trouble finding time to blog regularly, despite Laura’s good advice. Stephanie Cuevas to the rescue with her tips for Time Management for Ridiculously Busy Bloggers.

When’s the last time you took a hard look at the About Us page on your website? Is it the same old lame copy your organization has been using forever? Oh dear. Have no fear, Brian Eisenberg at ClickZ shares the Five Traits of an Effective ‘About Us’ Page. 

Sheila Scarborough provides some of the best advice I’ve read about conference tweeting plus Tips for Following Conference Twitter Hashtags. Bookmark this one so you’re ready for your next real or virtual conference experience.

Finally, and in keeping with the spirit of risk-taking and innovation, here’s a list by Michele Martin of Seven Dangerous Things Every Adult Should Do. I think I’ve done at least six of them. I’m honestly not sure about #4. Surely I’ve done that in a committee meeting in front of members, but I can’t say for sure. What about you?

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Photo by Flattop341 (Flickr)

 

September 6, 2011

You’ve Got to Read This: September 6, 2011

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Since this is a four-day work week, there’s no time to waste. You’ve got to hit that to-do list hard. No dilly-dallying. How would you like to learn the best procrastination tip ever? Leo Babuta (aka @zen_habits) has the answer.

Andrew Hannelly of TMG Custom Media dug into a research study and pulled out five stats showing the power of content marketing to build relationships with customers. What is content marketing? According to Junta42, “Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

A blog is one content marketing tool that will attract website visitors and hold their attention. Rebecca Corliss at HubSpot shares five reasons your blog needs more than one contributor. And, saving your sanity is not one of them, although it could be.

Once you collect a stable of writers for your blog, how do you manage it all? John Haydon provides excellent advice on managing a successful multi-author blog. John writes for the nonprofit crowd, but his smart and practical advice will work for any business or organization blog.

Anna Caraveli provides excellent advice for any website, a five-step, five-minute website copy retooling. It’s not about you, it’s about your customers or members. “Begin by changing your thinking and conversation with members (or customers) from what you do to what you can do for them.” Does your website copy reflect that?

How often do you unplug and pay attention to those you love? David Leite’s reflections on life, love and what really matters was prompted by the recent and sudden death of food blogger Jennie Perillo’s husband. I must share one of his paragraphs with you to make sure you and Iread it again and again because this is important.

“I know I must wring dry every moment of time I spend with those I love. I must push back from my desk at 6:00 p.m. and make dinner for The One. I must refuse to work on the weekends. I must slow down. I have Jennie–a woman I don’t even know–to thank for that realization.”

Thank you, David, and Jennie.

content marketing blogging website copy

photo by Lee & Chantelle McArthur

 

August 30, 2011

You’ve Got to Read This: August 30, 2011

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How often do you unplug? How many social media platforms do you participate in? Are you feeling a bit burnt, overloaded and stretched thin trying to keep up with it all? Yeah? Then, quick, read this short post by Simon Mainwaring at Fast Company: Top 10 Ways to Keep Social Media from Driving You Insane. I like #7, Refresh.

Cindy King collected advice from several Social Media Examiner writers in 21 Dangerous Blogging Mistakes (and How to Fix Them). Don’t steer away because the post focuses on mistakes, it’s really an excellent primer on effective blogging. Pay attention to Mistake #9, Bad Writing. (Said with just a bit of self-interest.)

Instead of a blog post, my next recommendation is a Prezi. What’s a Prezi? A more visually appealing alternative to PowerPoint. Maddie Grant at Socialfish shared a Prezi by Carie Lewis of The Humane Society. It’s the best advice I’ve seen about Facebook in a long time: Why I Don’t “Like” You. You need to read this if you, your business or your organization has a Facebook page. You’ll thank me, or Maddie, or even better, Carie, later.

You can always count on Andrew Hannelly at TMG Custom Media for good advice, the kind of advice that people normally pay for. If you want to know why your email subscribers stop subscribing, he’ll give you seven reasons. And, he’ll tell you what you can do about it. If you follow his advice, and it works, at least buy the man a beer.

I’ve always been a language nut. I’ve studied Portuguese, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Chinese, and learned enough of a few others to get by as a tourist. Can I speak any of them now? Heck, no, if you don’t use it, you lose it, cliché, but true. One of the cool things about studying languages is the insight it gives you into how other people perceive and deal with the world around them. When you study Chinese, it’s like traveling to another culture’s brain without leaving your living room.

I was reminded of that when reading this interesting post by Emily Badger at the Miller-McCune blog, Rescuing Endangered Languages Means Saving Ideas. Here’s what she means by that:

“Language systems don’t merely translate universal ideas into different spellings; they encode different concepts. And when we lose a language, we risk losing those concepts. A lot of concepts are on the edge of oblivion — out of about 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, half are projected to disappear by the end of the century, if not sooner. That’s an amazing amount of knowledge.”

That’s all for this week. Go learn a language and happy reading!

raleigh freelance writer blogger copywriter

photo by Mike Licht

 

August 23, 2011

You’ve Got to Read This: August 23, 2011

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It’s a big week here at Reid All About It, I’ll tell you why later.

But enough about life for now, let’s get back to business. If you have trouble coming up with good content for your organization’s blog, you’ll like these 5 Sources for Great Blog Post Ideas by Joseph Wesley Putnam at Blogtweaks. Sources #1 and #4, concepts you explain and questions you answer, both rely on listening and capturing. Make it a habit to capture post ideas whenever and wherever you get them — in a computer file, on a notepad or in your phone. The more you train your mind to listen, the more ideas you’ll get.

Once you have a good topic, review The Ultimate 8-Point Checklist for Remarkable Content by Pamela Seiple on the Hubspot blog. There’s no use writing about something unless the topic is worthy of your readers’ time.

I love Twitter. It’s my favorite social media platform by far. However, many people on Twitter don’t know how to use it, don’t give a hoot about their followers or suffer from a combination of the two. Peter Shankman lists The Top 10 Things That Need to Die on Twitter. I don’t usually like “rules” posts that mandate how we should and shouldn’t tweet, but I agree with Shankman’s list, except for #6, Foursquare check-ins. I don’t mind seeing where my friends are, unless they’re checking in at the office (seriously, who cares). However, I stop following people if their twitter stream contains more check-ins than any other type of tweet.

Claire Celsi asks us to: “Challenge yourself never to send another standard press release again.” She wants us to use our skills and creativity instead to get our news in front of reporters, and gives Six Alternatives to Sending a Press Release. If you absolutely must send a press release, I wrote earlier this year about ways to improve a press release’s chances of piquing interest.

Gayle C. Thorsen shares Ten Time Management Tips for Nonprofit Communicators. Don’t pass her by because of the word “nonprofit.” Her tips apply to anyone whose plate is too full, to-do list is too long and schedule is too busy. I can vouch for #3, Monday morning me-time. Give it a try.

You’ve strategized, read how-to posts, made editorial calendars and stressed over it, but still you can’t find the time or talent to write your organization’s blog posts. Don’t worry, the folks at Calvert Creative explain how busy leaders can blog without really blogging in The Number One Way to Kill Your Business Blog. The number one killer is not writing at all, turning your blog into a ghost town. Their answer: get help. Agencies and freelance writers, like me (ahem), can help you get your blog up and running again.

I have a very big special birthday coming up on Thursday, so I’ve been more reflective than usual. A few younger friends also celebrate birthdays this week, so this morning I imagined what words of wisdom I’d share with them, if they asked. “Fly your freak flag,” that’s what I’d say. I can’t take credit for those wise words, they’re from Joe Gerstandt, who every Friday encourages his readers, followers, friends, acquaintances and friends-he-hasn’t-yet-met (like me) to let their freak flags fly. You’ll have to read the “love note” he wrote to us last Friday to find out what that means: Put It Up In The Air. Hoist it up, friends!

raleigh freelance writer blogging content copywriting

photo by nataliekbeats/flickr

 

August 16, 2011

You’ve Got to Read This: August 16, 2011

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I’m back from the beach and plowing through emails, blog posts, conference tweets and more. Thanks to Andrew Hanelly at TMG Custom Media’s Engage blog, I found seven ways to tame the beast: 7 Steps to Dealing with Information Overload.

If you’re coming back from vacation to blog editor duties, you’ll appreciate the advice in this post from Sarah Arrow at For Bloggers by Bloggers, especially if your blog relies on several contributors: 7 Laws That Make Your Multi Author Blog a Success.

When I tweeted out the link to this post, I described it as my best read all day. Noah Brier says the number one question he gets from brand marketers is: “What should I tweet about?” He goes on to write in Want to Tweet? First, Teach Your Brand to Speak at AdAge Digital: “What eludes brands so persistently in new media comes to people naturally.…The content people are sharing, unsurprisingly, is the content they are consuming.”

Ian Greenleigh laments the state of company websites in Quit Blogging Like a Tech Company at Dare to Comment. After posting product release notes and press releases, he says, “They discover how easy it is to blog about themselves. But no one reads it, or cares. Sooner or later, when that ROI never appears from the ether, they give up. And then they’re really blogging like a tech company, because they’re actually blogging so infrequently, it’s a sad little ghost town of quarterly posts.”

Why are Restaurant Websites so Horrifically Bad? asks Farhad Manjoo at Slate. Using hideous examples from some top-notch restaurants, he shows how the design and content fails miserably. The topic was picked up by the readers of Andrew Sullivan’s The Dish who pointed out the weaknesses of artist and college websites as well as restaurant sites. Although the posts are good for a laugh, there is a lot to learn here. Take a hard look at your organization’s website when you’re done.

My last one is for office refrigerators and bulletin boards everywhere, by my online association pal Jeffrey Cufaude: Anyone Can: So Why Not You? I’ve always been fond of #5: “Say what everyone knows but is afraid to bring up.” Who wouldn’t love #12? “Bring in a healthy snack for what will be a very long meeting.”

 

August 2, 2011

You’ve Got to Read This: August 2, 2011

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It’s been a while since I’ve written a curated post. If you or your organization have trouble finding time to write a post or figuring out what to write about, consider publishing a weekly curated post. As a reader, I love them – my favorite bloggers filter their information stream and select some of their best reads of the week. It’s just like Twitter but instead it’s all in one place and delivered via my Google Reader.

So how do you find great content? Well, it’s funny you ask. Mike Stelzner wrote about eight ways to do just that on Social Media Examiner.

I’ll let you in on my little secret for having great content to share on Twitter. You can scoff if you want but it’s been working for me for years. I explain it all in my post about tweeting like a real tweep.

Bob Leonard shares good basic advice on how to repurpose content you already have – speeches, white papers and sales presentations. He also explains how to find and curate content.

Now you might be thinking, “Nice, but how do I find the time to do all this stuff?” The Nonprofit Blog Carnival, hosted this month by Britt Bravo at Have Fun Do Good, gathered several posts about time management. I haven’t yet dipped into it but wanted to share it with you. I’ll pick a few favorites for a future You’ve Got to Read This post.

Or, you might be thinking, “Ok, I get the need for fresh useful and interesting content. But I don’t have time to write.” No problem, you can tell your story through a ghostwriter. The Winn Group (more accurately, their ghostwriter) explains what to look for in a ghostwriter. But, psst, you don’t need to contact them to find a ghostwriter, give me a holler instead.

If you write about social media, you might wonder how to spell some of its newfangled lingo. ReTweet or retweet? Fear not, Kerry Jones of Bluegrass Media gives us The Grammar of Social Media. Turn it into a one-pager and tack it up on your bulletin board.

And now for something completely different, the most awkward 404 page on the Internet (love it!) by Steve Lambert. Save this one for when you have several minutes to watch, it’s worth it.

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Steve Lambert helping lost website visitors

 

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