Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Tips for Escaping Writer's Block

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



Most writers will experience at least some form of writer's block in the course of their efforts. It takes different forms for various people, as evidenced by the many expressions used to explain it.

"I don't have any ideas."

"Everything I write sounds stupid."

"I just can't get motivated."

At the root of it, most writer's block comes from fear or at least from uncertainty. Writing is like any other art - the writer must create something that will go out before the public for examination. This is a personal process, and carries with it the risk of rejection. Any artist can understand the fear of being mocked for his or her hard work, and it's equally understandable that this would intimidate some people into hesitating when the time comes to write.

Before going much further, it must be said that there is no cure for writer's block â€" those who suffer it push through to the other side with sheer willpower. The writer must exercise his or her judgment and forge ahead. Be that as it may, there are a number of techniques that can help rally a writer's determination in order to bring them forward through the wall of fear and into the realm of joyful writing.

Technique #1 - Stand on Giants' Shoulders

One of the most common instances of writer's block comes when writing on a subject that many people have covered before. The fear is that there is nothing new to contribute to the matter, that anything additional would seem superfluous.

One technique, popularized in the movie Finding Forrester, is to search out similar writings on the subject by other authors. When a writer finds a piece they particularly like, they borrow a line or two from the author, and try to write further material from there. Once they hit their stride, they move on and produce an article entirely their own.

Note that last proviso in the technique â€" this is not permission to plagiarize. The original author's contribution is simply to provide a starting point to the creative process, not to add anything to the final article. Once the process begins, the author must write his own work and not use anything from the original article unless he is willing to include it as a sourced quotation.

Technique #2 - Write in Bursts

Sometimes the psychological effects of writer's block feel like a weight. Sitting down and writing becomes burdensome and exhausting, and wears the writer out as surely as heavy exercise.

In these cases, it can be counterproductive to try and write everything at once. Instead, the writer should sit down and try to write to a certain goal, say 200 words. If she hits her goal, she should try and keep writing. If she cannot reach it or takes unusually long to do so, she should stop for five minutes and do something else. Listen to music, eat a tasty snack or read something enlightening â€" then try again. These repeated small attacks on the subject will help wear it down without it seeming quite so massive.

Technique #3 - Shut Down the Editor

An in-process version of writer's block was explained by Chris Baty, the creator of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Baty argues that many writers sabotage their productivity by constantly self-editing and self-criticizing as they work, spending more time correcting what's already been put down than putting out new copy.

The idea Baty suggests is to turn off this inner editor and write constantly without correction. The article will still be there when the writer finishes, so it can be corrected at the end rather than throughout the process. This allows writers to focus on the primary effort of creating their work rather than getting distracted.

Technique #4 - Write Backward

Another symptom of writer's block is feeling that writing has become routine and less enjoyable than it used to be. The process is always the same, and has become predictable and stagnant. The solution is to change the order of how one approaches things.

Instead of working from the introduction, through the body and to a conclusion, the writer should work on the conclusion first. Write up a spot-on end topic to the piece, then fill in the rest accordingly. A story writer could begin with the ending chapter, and then write the rest out of order in a Tarantino-style kind of time-play. Whatever specific way it's done, the idea is to approach writing from a different direction in order to awaken its enjoyment factor anew.

Technique #5 - Don't Write, Speak

A lot of focus has been made lately on the technique of writing the way one speaks. Instead of dividing the mind between writing and speaking, one simply writes AS one speaks, getting the material down in a more authentic way. This may not always be appropriate, but it's rarely completely out of place.

The idea is to avoid complicated sentences that reference back to parenthetical clauses and other assorted specialized writing hang-ups. The focus changes to short and direct language, with a clear message and point to each line.

This doesn't mean to include every verbatim tic of a writer's speaking style. "Ums" and "ahs" must, of course, be excised, since they don't add anything to the subject.

In short, writer's block doesn't have to be terrifying. There's always a way around it, and with a little force of will any writer can see that it isn't a brick wall so much as a cloth sewn to look like one.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Once More, With Feeling: Producing Consistent, Quality Blog Content

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



Quality is a key element in good blogging. If the material isn't interesting, it isn't going to be read. Of course, there are different standards of what is interesting. Some people find the day-to-day tweets of a celebrity interesting, while others can't get worked up about anything other than a discussion over literature that more closely resembles a bare-knuckle brawl than academic discourse.

The celebrity effect can be discounted — it isn't necessarily that Lady Gaga or Stephen Fry's tweets are composed in a particular way. It's the careers these stars have had and the interest in what such a career celebrity is saying that draws the people. Since most writers (and in particular most bloggers) are not cult celebrities, the focus on quality content is a safe focus to assume.

But what is it that makes content quality? How does one get those good ideas and, more importantly, convey them week after week with a steady updating schedule?

Worth Arguing Over

A good idea is one people can take sides on. Talk radio is based on this premise, as is the modern media system. Controversy sells brands like nothing else in this world. Rockstar Games doesn't mind that parenting organizations despise its popular Grand Theft Auto series — the controversy generated by people arguing over the merits of the game is free advertising, release after release.

So pick ideas that people can have an argument, or at least a spirited discussion, over. This involves including concrete details whenever possible. Don't argue over "Obama's healthcare plan;" rather, pick a specific portion of the plan and state why you are for or against it, with supporting reasoning. Then, encourage the discussion. Respond to those who disagree with you. Promote and highlight arguments over key points. Cater to peoples' innate need to share their views.

Watch Videos, Share Videos

Embedding videos from assorted hosting sites is absolutely no work at all. Most video places include blog-embedding code so people can do this very thing, and there's no reason at all not to do so.

Providing a good video is a mental shortcut that can help foster high quality content. If someone makes an insightful video on a topic, including it can provide good discussion and your actual blog entry can be an overview of the thoughts the video brings up. Alternatively, this is a good way to find someone with faulty ideas and provide a correction to their premises, again point by point. Entire blogs and video blogs have been made on the concept of lampooning or correcting the fallacies in other videos, so by no means should you ignore this potential feeding ground.

Participate in Other Blogs

Your blog should have a list of other blogs you visit, and you should be an active commenter on those blogs under your own name. This is free advertising, particularly if you include a link to your blog in your username. This is a common practice, and isn't spam. However, mentioning your blog and shoehorning it into every little conversation even if the topic under discussion is not on your blog at all IS spam, and will be received poorly.

And other blogs are great places to find ideas, particularly if these blogs are full of great discussion and content. Someone might share a good idea that you can bring over to your blog and write your thoughts about (of course including a link back to the original blog). A writer might say something you particularly agree with or vehemently oppose, but either way, if it gets you thinking, you now have something to blog about.

Resist the Urge to Navel Gaze

Some blogs take a turn for the surreal and super insightful. Sometimes this works, but often it does not. In his posthumously-published autobiography, comedian George Carlin discussed how his career went from performing at high-class clubs with playful character comedy to a bizarre retro-hippy style in which he discussed topics as banal as belly button lint. He described the latter period as one of the worst in his career, where people had essentially designated him as a historical curiosity to be forgotten.

This isn't to say a blog should ignore topics of interest to the blogger. If you aren't interested in your work, it will show and the content will suffer. However, it is an admonition to pay attention to your audience. Think about where the idea came from. If the idea is genuinely your own, then do feel free to test it out. However, don't ignore the reaction — if the interest is not there, chalk it up as an experiment and move on. If the audience does latch on, feel free to run with it.

Ideas that come from outside sources often are more interesting to work with. Your own material is important, but connect it to thoughts and concepts others are sharing. In short, build that bridge between your thoughts and theirs, rather than trying to bury them in your own disconnected speculations.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Read more Articles written by Enzo F. Cesario.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Yes You Can Judge a Book By Its Cover: Blog Design Considerations

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



Many of us have an almost childlike desire to have ideas judged on their own merits rather than on their presentation. We imagine it would be nice if every idea could be heard out for the validity of its claims instead of judged by the merits or flaws of the messenger. But in practice, none of us actually believes this. When is the last time you actually appreciated the look of a spinning .gif? Has Comic Sans font actually ever made you stop and look more closely at an article? Can you honestly say that a mingled mash of very bright colors doesn't put you off of a website?

All right, so these are perhaps extreme examples, but they do illustrate the point that appearance is still considered important. And not all examples are so cut and dried; sometimes the text is just too small and poorly-spaced to read properly, the lack of pictures makes a site too text-dense, the color tone is just subtly off in a way that looks unpleasant and drives off potential readers or all the images and videos are on the front page, making it take excessively long to load.

Paying attention to appearance and to some basic web and blog design elements can make the visit to your blog more enjoyable for your audience and help you retain those vital traffic numbers.

First, the Background

The website your blog is on should adhere to some basic web design principles. After all, you don't want people to click away from an unappealing site before they get to your life-changing content, do you?

First, pick a reasonable color scheme. Sharply contrasting tones are a good start. Black text on a white background is highly visible, if a bit dull, and can be seen as a reliable standby. Background colors should be in shades complimentary to the primary tones. Consider the default settings of the WordPress site, for example. The primary fields are white, with other colors in grays and pale blues that compliment the overall look but still subtly convey a sense of where everything is. Important functions such as social media sharing tabs, links and scroll bars are in more vivid blues to easily set them apart.

Keep special touches to a minimum. Simple effects are nice, such as a straightforward and brief fade-in for your text. If, on the other hand, every single word has to fly in letter by letter with a cute sound effect, you may lose some audiences to impatience. If you must include effects, make them simple and integrated rather than attention grabbing. Also, keep sizes reasonably large for ease of sight, but not so big they would require a lot of scrolling on the average notebook computer.

Blog Design, Front and Center

There are many ways to organize the content of a blog, but, as always, using a few best principles will help you get the most out of your content.

First, remember that the goal of the blog is to convey information. It cannot do that buried in back pages, so whether your blog is the whole site or a part of a larger site, pertinent information must be on the front page, prominently displayed. The headlines should be links into the body of the articles, and of a size that makes them easy to pay attention to without overwhelming the page with absurdly large text.

One key is to make liberal use of the "more" function. Also called a jumpcut, this is essentially a trick similar to the way news shows keep peoples' attention throughout the broadcast. The front page of the site should have a number of very small posts, consisting of the blog headline, a few lines or a paragraph of introductory text, and then a tab that says "more," "keep reading" or something of that nature. The rest of the article content is accessed behind this link.

The jumpcut is a good tool because it allows you to show a great deal of content that is easy to browse. Use the newspaper-writing trick of getting a short summary of your article out in front of people so they can quickly decide which articles to follow. Putting the whole article on the front page stretches it out needlessly and makes it harder to scroll through and select articles of quality, particularly for new readers coming to your blog after it's been around a while.

Finally, make sure it's easy to navigate your blog content. Each blog should be tagged by content, and there must be a panel to navigate articles by tags. These tags are a great place to integrate SEO keywords, by the way — choose tags that are trending high in adwords if you can. There should be a best-of panel showing favorite or highly popular blog posts as well as a search function.

As ever, engage in good linking practices as well, with links to other blogs that are relevant to the content you provide, prominently-displayed but not particularly large. Keep it to five or six links you feel are particularly relevant, with a short summary on each.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Blog Writing Tips - Where to Find Great Guest Posters

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



One of the best ways to keep a fresh angle in blogging is the guest blogger. They can provide good content, take some of the work load off the primary blogger and can bring new perspectives and ideas that the parent blogger can follow up on in later posts as he or she sees fit. Guest blogging also promotes inter-community relations, resulting in shared links and audiences, and can bring together previously unrelated audiences who find they share interests. It may not be for everyone, but those who embrace guest posting have a lot going for them.

So where, exactly, does one find these mysterious guest posters?

Guest #1 — The Ascended Commenter
An active and successful blog should have an equally active comments section. Comments are a great way to gauge the level of interest a group has in the message of a blog. Sometimes a blog post will spawn a series of comments that end up being as or even more enriching than the blog itself, including links to other sites and videos that further expand on the message.

Some commenters are active, regular members of the community and consistently provide very good and insightful material on a number of topics. Those who participate in all the best discussions and are always there to provide discussion on the topics raised are a prime source for good guest-posting material.

If you have such a gem of a commenter, contact them and ask them if they'd be interested in writing up a guest post. Give them all the guidelines and style rules your publication uses, and of course draft-check their work to make sure it fits the needs of the site, but definitely recruit your commenters into your service. This will have the two-fold effect of creating guest posts and improving the quality of commentary in the blog as a whole. As guests see they can be invited to post, they will be encouraged to become more active if they want to do the same.

Guest # 2 — Fellow Bloggers
Many blogs provide cross-links to other blogs who discuss the same or similar issues. Blogs on cooking provide links to other blogs on cooking, or to blogs on cookware and appliances, and so on. Bloggers exercising good blogging judgment also go to their colleagues' blogs and participate in the comments sections as well.

Just like inviting in a member of the commentary team, calling in a fellow blogger is a great idea. As mentioned, it encourages cross-promotion of both blogs. Even though the audiences of the publications may not overlap 100 percent, each will at least see some benefit as visitors from the other blog come by to have a look. At least some will subscribe, and that's a big overall goal.

One of the best ways to arrange this is to propose a swap. Both bloggers trade posts for a day, so that both can get the benefit of the exchange. Additionally, try to focus on bloggers with a similar but slightly different focus. The idea is to get new information out there, after all.

Guest #3 — The Celebrity
People like big names; there's really no getting around it and no shame in it. Experts are good at what they do, and good at it for a reason. If our aforementioned cooking blog is able to get an authority figure with a big name in the community to post, they really should take advantage of the opportunity.

Celebrities are often hard to get ahold of, but not impossible. They are people, too, and they often have interests that they like to follow. Sometimes it requires contacting their agent or handler, but it can be rewarding to a blog to have a star pop on and offer some advice on the topic at hand.

On the other hand, such a post should stick firmly to the message at hand. Making it a chance for the celeb to simply promote his new cause or book might distract from the goal of the blog, and nobody wants that.

Guest #4 — A Polite Opponent
There is a benefit in bringing aboard someone whose views differ from those of the core audience for the blog. The most important mode of discussion for the web today is dialog. People want to talk, they want to learn and be heard. Unfortunately, the largest mode of dialog is argument and flaming, and very little gets accomplished in this circumstance.

On the other hand, if a blog has taken a principled and reasonable stand on a topic, chances are they have an open-minded yet critical commenter or "rival" whose views differ from their own. This is common in philosophy- and politics-oriented publications.

In these cases, consider contacting a rival and asking for an exchange of views. This may seem a bit odd, but it really can make all the difference. It will show both parties that the other side is willing to talk and reason about things. It will give both audiences a sense of pride in their chosen blogger. It will create a greater dialog and benefit the web as a whole and, if handled properly, it will almost always be a hit and generate a great deal of discussion. Take the risk and see if a civil exchange of conflicting ideas is right for your blog.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A Hard Look at PPC, Click Fraud and the Alternatives

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2006-2011 Bill Platt



With the creation of the Overture and Google Adwords systems, many webmasters believed they had finally hit the mother lode. It was no longer necessary for small online businesses to invest large amounts of money into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services to gain high search rankings in the natural search results.

Even webmasters committed to SEO campaigns began to realize its fleeting nature. Given frequent search engine algorithm changes, optimizing a website was no guarantee that in 6 months or less it wouldn't be back to square one and page twenty of the search results.


PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH ENGINE (PPCSE) PLACEMENT

With the advent of the PPCSE model created by Overture, and followed by Google Adwords, webmasters felt like they had finally found the level playing field that everyone talks about. Hiring a SEO company was no longer necessary to crack the top search engine results. A Page One placement could be purchased and often for far less than the cost of a SEO company's services.

Webmasters discovered that they could get traffic to their website for as little as one cent per click.

Pay-per-click, however, has evolved over the last 5 years and not to the benefit of most webmasters. Although five cents is currently the average starting bid price at most major search engines, many sought after keyword terms can cost as much as $30 - $50 per click. Given the increasingly competitive nature of PPC advertising and spiraling costs, many small- to medium- sized businesses today might be better served hiring a good SEO company to search optimize their websites.


WHO IS CLICKING YOUR PAY-PER-CLICK LINKS?

There are four types of people who click on pay-per-click ads. Knowing who these people are helps explain why experts keep telling us that 20% to 25% of all clicks on PPC listings are "fraudulent clicks".

Personality Type #1: True-Blue Prospects

These are the people for whom you have placed your pay-per-click ads. They see your advertisement; they like what they see; and they click your link to see if you can actually serve their needs.

Personality Type #2: Accidental Clickers

Every once in a while, even my finger misfires, and I click an advertisement that I did not intend on clicking. My first thought is usually, "Oh no...", and my first action is to find the back button.

I didn't mean to cost that person money by clicking his advertisement... but I did. It was an accident. Now, the advertiser has to pay for my mistake. That bites.

Personality Type #3: Jealous Competitors

I would like to think that all of my, and your, competitors are fine, upstanding people. And most of them are. But, there are some who are not, and they click on pay-per-click links just to be spiteful or just to cost their business rivals a few dollars.

Believe it or not, a good percentage of "fraudulent clicks" are believed to be clicks perpetrated by people against their competitors.

Personality Type #4: True-Blue Fraudsters

Not that long ago pay-per-click providers realized that there was tremendous opportunity in offering small website owners a method for cashing in on their limited traffic.

Today, a webmaster can go to any number of pay-per-click services, add a small piece of code to a webpage and start serving paid advertising the same day. Webmasters thus become revenue share partners with the PPC provider, splitting revenues with the PPC provider for each click.

Ethical webmasters, of course, put the needs of their advertisers first and focus on putting eyeballs on their website so that visitors can click on the advertising links.

But, the word "ethical" doesn't exist in the vocabulary of some webmasters. These are the "true-blue fraudsters" who believe in making "revenue at any cost... no matter who might be hurt by their actions." They devise schemes to have their own ads clicked in order to drive up their revenue share.

These webmasters, although a minority, are responsible for the vast majority of fraudulent clicks. And, they are the same people that should be taken out behind the barn, for a good old-fashioned flogging --- one lashing for each stolen dollar would be fine with me.


THE UNSEEN COSTS OF THE PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH GAME

If the experts are correct in estimating that 25% of all clicks are fraudulent, then you are paying out 33% more than you should have to pay to get your business.

If you are converting PPCSE clicks-to-sales at a rate of $20 per transaction, then you should be aware that your actual conversion rate for non-PPCSE advertising would cost you an average of $15 per transaction. By escaping the pay-per-click search engine model, you could in effect make an additional $5 per transaction by cutting the fraud out of your marketing budget.

Personally, I would rather not pay the pay-per-click mafia the $5 a transaction that they are exacting against pay-per-click advertisers.


WHERE MY ADVERTISING MONEY WORKS BEST

I have always gained the best bang for my buck with pay-for-placement advertising. In a nutshell, I pay a monthly, quarterly or yearly fee to have my advertising seen on various websites. Banner advertising is always an option, but text links provide better click-through rates (CTR's).

At any one time, you can find links to my websites on dozens of other websites.

Here are a few examples of pay-for-placement, often referred to as "paid inclusion", advertising networks:

ISEDN.org Network:
( http://www.ISEDN.org )

The Independent Search Engine and Directory Network (powered by ExactSeek.com) is comprised of more than 200 specialty search engines, search directories and article directories. Through their system, you can buy quarterly or yearly top ten exposure (http://www.exactseek.com/featured_listings.html) for specific keyword phrases which are then shown through the ISEDN's 200 plus member websites. Their network claims to show paid inclusion ads 150 million times per month.

Pricing starts at $4 per month per keyword phrase and goes down according to the number of keyword phrases purchased. Quarterly and yearly rates for one keyword phrase are $12 and $36, respectively.


AdBrite Advertising provides access to a large network of independent publishers who are willing to let you advertise on their websites: http://www.adbrite.com/


BraveNet Media Network is the number one provider of free web tools in the world ( http://www.bravenetmedianetwork.com/ ), their network serves over 500 million page views per month.


WHO LEFT THE BARN DOOR OPEN?

We put locks and deadbolts on our doors. In some localities, we put bars on our windows. We keep our valuables in safes. We keep our cars locked when we are not in them. We are a nation obsessed with protecting our valuables.

And yet, when we advertise our online businesses, we seem to be willing to let PPCSE providers steal 25% of our advertising budget? It boggles the mind.

Personally, I am done with PPCSE companies until they can assure me that my advertising dollars are protected from click fraud.

I have always relied on my own search engine optimization skills to strengthen my natural search results. And frankly, I am pretty good at it.

And, to supplement my own SEO efforts and organic search result placement successes, or lack thereof, paid inclusion currently offers me the best value for my money.


About the Author:
If you want to learn how to make article marketing effective and profitable for the promotion of your online business, you will be able to locate several article marketing training guides at http://WritingPuzzle.com/ If you are looking for an article syndication service company to help you promote your online articles, explore http://thephantomwriters.com/ which has been providing article marketing services since 2001. Bill Platt is the owner of both of these web properties.


Follow Bill Platt on Twitter.

Making Corporate Blogging Credible

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



Most blogs are personal. Blogging's beginnings are closely associated with personal sites such as livejournal. Thus, blogs have tended to center around a single personality, and that person's emphases and interests. But as more and more people come to understand the power of a blog for leveraging client interest, that trend is changing. Corporations in particular now are taking part in the blogging scene, given that in many cases companies with blogs tend to attract half again as much traffic as sites without them.

Still, there is a sense of cynicism about corporations in the world. The greedy advertisers, the soulless profiteers — these images tend to stick with people even when they aren't necessarily appropriate. Corporate blogs need to stop catering to this mindset, as well. Blogging is about communication. It is a dynamic medium. (That's why blogging software comes with a comments function.) Yet so many corporations just use it as another type of newsletter or circular, not really taking advantage of the chance to break out and take advantage of the blogging ethos the way it was intended. So what are some ways a corporation can make its blog more credible?

First, Do No Advertising
Specifically, a blog should avoid the trap of trying to directly market things. Announcements must be limited to the main site, and advertisements are for the marketing department. The blog is about communication with the readers — readers who are tired of constantly being marketed to. Keep the direct marketing out of the blog.

This isn't to say you must be silent about big projects. If your company gets a hot new app or is able to offer a really big new consumer service, it would make no sense to go utterly quiet about it. However, a blog is a tool for commentary as much as it is a presentation. Provide analysis, not advertisements. Explain a specific thing you find worthwhile about the new tool rather than regurgitating promotional materials. Share a story about last year's corporate retreat and the effect it had. As a rule of thumb, give your readers something to discuss rather than something that reads like an announcement.

Stay on Message
Personal blogs can sometimes get away with scattered topics, but a corporate blog needs to establish some editorial guidelines. People come to a corporate blog for messages and discussion about the products and services the corporation is providing. A computer programming blog shouldn't diverge too far afield, and a blog focusing on luxury lifestyles should always have content about high-class homes and parties.

Be Personal
This might seem like it clashes with the previous point, but in reality the two work together quite well. Once you have a message to stay on topic about, then you can focus on developing a distinct personality within that message. This is a large part of developing the conversation with your readers, for a number of reasons.

Let's take our luxury lifestyles blog. We'll assume it has two regular contributors and one monthly correspondent. The content is very clearly defined; contributors Allan and Becca must consistently talk about fine living from the perspective of luxury homes, and the correspondent covers social events. Within these guidelines, however, is room aplenty for specialization. Allan might have a passion for kitchen design and the ways it can make fine living so enjoyable, while Becca could have an abiding interest in architectural layout and the way it affects people's quality of life. The social events writer probably has a passion as well, like a desire to focus on parties more than fundraisers. These areas of specialty allow them to let their own personalities shine through while still adhering to the editorial mandate of the blog.

Prepare to Talk
As mentioned repeatedly, blogging is about eliciting commentary, and this will include comments of every stripe. You'll receive enthusiastic praise, well-reasoned criticism, insightful asides and more than your fair share of trolls, spam bots and the like.

This is why it is important to make an actual policy for comments that will be published on your blog. Having a policy in place ahead of time is a good way to avoid the criticisms and missteps that often plague bloggers unused to the, shall we say, frank commentary that the web can provide.

The best default is toward free speech. Allow people to comment mostly freely, within some clearly defined guidelines. Patent "trolling," such as posts that say genuinely hateful or bigoted things or are intended simply to start an argument can be safely moderated away. However, allow people to post disagreements and disputes, and make it a point to respond directly to these. In fact, give disputes higher priority for comment, since responding to your detractors politely and clearly can give you a measure of credibility that simply sharing information with your admirers will not. That said, do not neglect your fan base either — show them you care about their interests by responding to their thoughts, as well.

Some Final Thoughts
Blogging is not a science — it is much more of an art. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not, and all too often it goes off into strange places we weren't prepared for. Give some thought to this, and accept that a little oddness is the price of working on the web. Be willing to relax and let your personality shine through, and you should be fine.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Monday, August 22, 2011

Blog Writing Tips: Keeping Content Fresh

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



Content may be king, but to torture a metaphor somewhat, even the most brilliant crown can grow tarnished. Generating good content isn't always an easy thing, and it requires a great deal of effort to avoid getting into rote postings and halfhearted content that isn't of the quality a blog and its audience deserve.

A lot already has been written about the common mistakes bloggers can make. Text walls, keyword cipher content, bland posts on stuff that's been covered before — these things are not good. But simply pointing out what not to do isn't very helpful. After all, anyone can "not do" certain things. But as any fiction writer worth the name will say, listing and focusing on all the things one isn't going to do results in one not doing anything at all. There has to be a positive focus and some manner of a goal. To that end, what are some of the things bloggers can do to keep their content fresh and interesting?

Step 1 — Alternate Angles

Keeping content interesting doesn't necessarily always involve doing something completely and utterly unrelated. It can, instead, involve taking a new approach to the tried-and-true material at hand, and coming at it from a new direction that brings together previous posts in a different way.

For example, consider a blog focused on consumer advocacy and customers' rights. The main focus of the blog could be on specific instances of consumer abuse, such as dangerous products or other examples of corporate irresponsibility. This is an example of a highly-specialized blog with a narrow intent.

However, posting all the time about corporate abuses might get disheartening — both to the writer and the reader — so the blogger should try introducing a post series on corporate hijinks that are more hilarious than harmful. A practical example of this is the Cake Wrecks blog; while the main content is specifically focused on truly terrible cake designs, the blog also features a "Sunday Sweets" post series focusing on cakes done particularly well.

Step 2 — Fresh Faces

There is a lot of debate in the blogging community about the value of guest posters. Without going into all the assorted arguments, the fact is that if a blogger trusts someone enough to let them submit a post for publication, it can be a valuable tool for a number of reasons.

Guest posters offer several opportunities for the experienced blogger. They can establish networking options between the audiences of the respective writers, particularly if drawn between blogs. If drawn from the comments section, they can give the blog audience something to aspire to and more reason to become active with the blog. In the special event that a blogger can get a big name in the field to write a post, the credibility and prestige of the blog generally benefits as well.

Step 3 — Cause Crusades

Many of the more successful blogs touch on some manner of major social issues. Consumer advocacy, personal rights, political freedoms — each of these topics is the subject of major discourse in the world at large. Many people in a blogger's audience probably want to do something to help out with a cause, but they aren't sure how. They might not know how to check out a nonprofit's credentials the way a savvy fundraising blogger might, or might not know specific organizations related to their personal cause of choice.

Blogs are a great force in the field of micro-transaction fundraising. If a blog has even 5,000 followers and can convince them to donate 50 cents apiece on average, that translates to $2,500 in real dollars raised. That money can pay for quite a few things, be it advertising space, medical procedures or even a research grant for a small lab doing vital inquiry. As an example, consider the success of Penny Arcade, which leveraged its extensive comic and blog audience's goodwill to create a charity dedicated to giving sick children as many games and reading materials as they could. It's one of the fastest growing charities in history, and started as "just an idea."

Step 4 — Evading Ennui

Sometimes there isn't any way to get around the fact that a specific topic is played out. Be it the activities of a certain politician, a specific corporate scandal or even a general topic such as free speech, people eventually get tired of writing and reading the same material. Sometimes no new news stories come up, or there isn't any fresh information to cover.

In such cases, it's perfectly acceptable to switch topics. Perhaps the topic change need not be exceptionally drastic. Consider the earlier example of a consumer advocacy blog. Perhaps there simply are no new or funny stories to cover that won't seem boring or rehashed. This might be the time to discuss the theory of the blog, the "why" angle behind the matter. Our blogger could write a post explaining his or her personal experiences with corporate indifference, or discuss the good that consumer advocacy has done for people in the past.

Other times, the change could be as drastic as can be. Maybe a blogger just enjoys a particular band or bit of music, and writes an entirely personal post sharing the music and how they came to love it. The readers get a personal connection, and the blogger can let his mind work on the big problems again.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Blog Management - Go Blog Wild

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



Maintaining a blog is about much more than simply presenting the latest news in the life of a person or a brand. A good blog is about conveying the writer's personality and interests to his audience. To that end, the comments section should be one of the liveliest parts of a blog. In addition, there should be an array of links available to promote similar or interesting sites for the readers, and the content should be on-topic and creative.

One of the most interesting things about the web is the ease with which people can organize events. Flash mobs are a great example of this: A quick handful of tweets or SMS messages, and kids show up at a public school to perform an elaborate dance routine in protest against bullying. Blogging can take advantage of this same phenomenon, using the web to advocate causes or interests that appeal to their readers, increasing readership by making waves in the online pool.

Blog-a-Thon

The original signature blogging event, and likely the one that did the most work in bringing blogging to the mainstream that it now enjoys, Blog-a-Thon is an annual, 24-hour event. Bloggers sign up, then write posts continuously for 24 hours in order to raise money for charity. Rules vary, such as writing a post per hour, or having to write a guest post on another blog every third hour. Donation schemes also vary, with some readers contributing set amounts and others paying per post.

Above all, this is a charity event. But at the heart of it, Blog-a-Thon is also a significant publicity tool. People used to coming by a blog just a few times a week can check in constantly with their favorite blogger. It's a creative challenge for the writer, as well, both physically and mentally. It can do wonderful things for a blogger's career, allowing them to exercise their mind in unique ways and open up a kind of pressure valve that overwhelms writer's block in a wave of pure content.

Blog-a-Thon took a hiatus in 2010, but is slated to return this summer.

Blogging Circles

A blogging circle is very similar to a writing circle. A handful of bloggers, typically at least 5 but potentially many more, get together and agree to write on a particular topic. One begins the chain, putting together the initial post on the topic, and "tags" the next blogger at the end of the post. They pick up the chain and run with it, and it goes on and on as the thought evolves.

This is a great way to develop some cross-audience interest between blogs, encouraging the readers of various blogs to look into new places and grow the audiences of each. That's one of the interesting things about blog audiences — they aren't like political party members, only able to help one entity. If the same 500 people read 4 blogs, each of those blogs has an audience of 500. So share those readers, and try out a blogging circle.

NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month is an interesting event. For 30 days in November, participants are expected to write continuously, about 1,700 words a day, until 50,000 words are reached. Depending on the focus of your blog, taking advantage of NaNo can be an interesting change of pace for your audience. It is particularly popular among creatively minded blogs, though brands focusing on activism of some stripe may also find it enlightening to participate as the blogger crafts a story about the topic the readers are interested in.

The idea here is to post either excerpts from or the entire contents of the day's writing output. This brings the audience along in the formation of the story, very similar to the serial format of novels Charles Dickens was so famous for.

Again, this isn't for everyone. Nuts and bolts blogs about home repair or market analysis will probably find little overlap with NaNo's mission.

Inside the Box, Outside the Box — Whatever You Do, Think!

The idea isn't that all or any of these events is necessarily appropriate to any given blog. Each one has its merits, but our aforementioned market analysis blog may not find any of them particularly useful. However, most blogs will, and even those that don't can find some manner of event to participate in that can gather the attention and promote new interest from its readers.

The key is to be willing to innovate and try new things. Blogging isn't a hard-and-fast science; as said above, it's largely personality-driven. Talk to other bloggers and gain their insights about such events. Consider organizing a miniature blog-off of your own, or try out the writing circle idea every Friday for a month. If someone suggests a different type of event you haven't heard of, give it a try.

The audiences on the web have a reputation for being unforgiving, but that's only half the picture. People like routine and will stick around for their favorite sources of information even if they try a few experiments that don't quite work out. The key is to be honest about things, and to always try to engage your audience with any particular experiment.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Social Media Management: Quality Social Experiences

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



You've heard it before, here and probably elsewhere: Social media is about much more than exposure or coverage. Simply putting a friend request out and amassing a ton of retweets is not enough to achieve genuine social impact.

Now there's some additional evidence that bears this argument out:

http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleWebmasterHelp#p/a/u/2/ofhwPC-5Ub4

In short, Google officials have said that while the search engine giant does use Facebook and Twitter as part of the input in determining a site's SEO ranking, it is a very small, low-key part. It's more of a modifier of other data than it is an actual contributor in and of itself.

But before you go slashing the budget to your social media marketing department, hear out these few issues that explain why this means more attention, not less, should be paid to social media efforts.

It's Social, not Digital

Despite being in the online realm (insert all the stereotypes about the cold, impersonal Internet here), social media is all about the first word. Social interactions are about relationships, conversations and, above all, respect and trust. Violate a trust or fail to provide respect, and you gain nothing at all. You could even find yourself blackballed as your reputation flies out of control online.

There is no magic formula to social media success, just as there is no magic formula to being socially acceptable and friendly. It involves politeness, attentiveness to the interests and needs of others (not just your own) and participation in the social scene as a whole. That's it — hard work, performed with an attitude of courtesy. It isn't complicated, just slow and requiring attention.

But Why Bother?

After all, it doesn't correspond to SEO, so why sink more effort into social media?

Because social media is the key motivating factor in whether a video, advertisement or even random picture goes viral. The average user on Facebook has dozens of friends, and not all of those friends are the same. Say you have three people who are friends, each having 10 other friends. Only six of these friends are mutual friends among the three, which means there are 24 more people to reach. If each of them has the same ratio of friends... you get the picture.

So yes, adapting to social media does mean changing your perceptions of how marketing works. People can ignore it... they can block you online like they can't block most commercials on television. You have to engage with them directly, converse in intelligent fashion and have the respect not to bombard them with your product nonstop. You have to know when to provide helpful input about your material, and when simply to listen. But the value of it, the potential return of genuine word of mouth rather than abstracted "website performance" metrics, is something worth fighting for and investing the additional time and money in.

Why Does It Work?

People like to be talked to. We are social animals, by and large, and having the ability to discuss topics with others is of vital importance to us instinctively, even if not consciously.

Additionally, people can see through fakes. Everyone has a customer service story where they're told, "We appreciate your input," and realize they're just being read a line while their input is filed in the circular file. People respond far better to an honest comment, like, "We understand what you are saying, but for the following reasons we're going to do what we feel works," rather than being given the runaround. A genuine response reminds them there is another human being with their own restrictions and worries on the other side of the screen, and honesty gets a branding campaign point. Responsiveness and actual replies to commentary rather than rote recitations is also important, showing them you are listening and engaged, not just copypasting.

Indirect SEO

Believe it or not, engaging in good practices on social media sites while representing your brand will result in improved SEO for the brand whether Google directly ranks your Facebook performance in searches or not.

Word of mouth is still the strongest motivating factor in advertising. It's the coveted Holy Grail. As you engage with others in social media, you are harnessing this power for your purposes. People who think highly of you will be more inclined to check out your website, and tell others to do so as well. Someone to whom you provide an answer to a particular issue that your brand covers might respond favorably to a request to link to you on his site. Traffic will build in the background, enhancing your standing. A conversation might lead to an interview with an online publication, or an advertising spot with a site whose owner you've had chats with.

They key is to understand the value of delayed benefits that result from being a nice, reasonable person. Gain a reputation as someone who is worthwhile to talk to, and people will want to talk to AND about you. The effort is extensive and the value is delayed; however, it will result in long-term support to your reputation that will allow your short-term advertising campaigns to go further, with more weight and endurance than if they were performed alone.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Thursday, August 11, 2011

Me-Too Branding and the Dearth of Creativity

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



Nothing new under the sun, good writers simply steal well, homage, pastiche, parody, satire... the assorted excuses that come up for shamelessly ripping off other advertising ideas may as well be named Legion, for they are certainly many.

Emblematic of this phenomenon is the Mac/PC ad format. The initial idea was clever enough — personalizing the PC vs. Mac experience with actual actors standing in for the machines ties into storytelling techniques that have gone back to the Greeks and the Babylonians, if not further. We as a people have personified lightning, war and other concepts into gods and heroes for time immemorial, so there's no reason the trend should stop now.

Inevitably, of course, the copycats came up. For example, consider Sprint's recent G4 smartphone commercials. There is an element of delicious reversal in these; after all, Sprint is making fun of Apple's iPhone the same way that Macs were trashing on PCs not too long ago. Still, the entire thing has an air of "we've seen this already." The format is identical, with the white background, the two personalities bickering in passive aggressive wordplay... what's new here?

Granted, this isn't the first time the web and society have seen branding styles copied. Every new automobile model that comes out has scenes of it being driven over rough fields, empty roads, or racetracks depending on what the design is trying to accomplish. Medicine commercials all seem to have caring moms or smart people in lab coats; even telling action movie posters apart is an exercise in higher art criticism given the homogenizing trends that are making themselves known in that industry.

A Case for Branding Independence

Before we go down the road of originality for originality's sake, let's bring things back a little bit. Simply backlashing against the trend and coming up with something different for no other reason than trying to be different doesn't work, either.

Thinking about it is enough to make anyone schizophrenic, so what is there to be done?

Well, consider how some of the branding success stories of the web have gone about making themselves known. The Nostalgia Critic, Penny Arcade, Google, Memebase/Cheezburger — they all have one thing in common that they did with their brand: They made it work.

Each of these examples put together an organization to accomplish a task the creators loved. Penny Arcade talks about gaming and various social issues touching on it, and appealed so strongly to its target audience with its simple adherence to this core concept that it was able to kick off a charity for sick children. Google started out as a web browser with a weird name, and now is basically the first course in SEO 101 classes, with every other browser out there filed under "other."

These companies didn't start out with the idea of making a powerful brand; they began with the idea of marketing a product, a service, an activity that they were good at, and stuck to it.

Take Google in particular — not only did Google make searching the web simple, they strove to make it ethical. They adopted their unofficial slogan of "don't be evil" and leaked it into the world. This appeals highly to the dedicated web user — the Internet and the web gained the power they have because people were adamant about the freedom to share information and the technology to do so, and having the most powerful web browser in the world on their side appealed to them and brought them into the brand.

Now, there have been rough spots. Google's wishy-washy policies with China, the potential privacy invasion of Street View and other projects... these all have Google's fan base talking animatedly to Google about what's seen as a problem.

But notice what they're doing: They are talking. Notice what they aren't doing: They're not leaving. Google has established its brand as a company that listens to its consumers and tries to do the right thing. Whether that perception is true remains to be seen, but the brand has convinced people it IS true, because Google has MADE it true in the past, so the client/customer is willing to stay and talk things out.

What does this mean for your brand? Simple — do what you love, and do it well.

It is, of course, naive to say that Google doesn't think about marketing at all, or that the guys behind Penny Arcade are some kind of gamer saints who never "sell out" for advertising considerations. But their branding efforts clearly come as an extension of their core, unfailing missions.

So if you want to build a solid brand, you have to build a strong foundation to support it. Don't try to cash in on the latest style of advertisements, whether for popularity, edginess or "irony." Instead, make sure your brand conveys that you do whatever it is you do the best way it has ever been done. Let your branding be an extension of your core business model, an effort to bring your passion to the world so customers will want what you have to offer, and your brand will thrive long after Sprint is still living down the shame of copying Apple.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.

Blog Management - Know When to Let Go

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



Sometimes a topic just isn't working - you can tell when you're writing it, and you can tell when you're reading it. Maybe the humor is forced, tired, or rote. Maybe the blogger didn't go into the same level of interesting side detail that he usually does, or perhaps her topic looks like she fell back on a safe and reliable piece, rather than going somewhere new like her last eight. Whatever the reason, not every topic is created equal, and sometimes a post just isn't up to anything like your usual standards.

There are a lot of reasons, most of them hard to pin down, for why a post might not be making the cut. Perhaps the details are just too sparse to get ahold of, or the interview that the post is based on just went poorly and the subject has almost no personality to do a piece on, or maybe it's just mind-numbingly dull to the writer and he can't work up any enthusiasm for it. These things happen, not necessarily to every writer, but they are likely to happen to most.

So the question becomes, how do you deal with a bad topic?

The professional answer might be to "chin up and bear through it, deliver what you were hired to write and just try harder next time." For some of us, this is acceptable and even good practice. After all, not every assignment can be gravy; sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

However, this article aims to argue that this is not always or even often the case, and writers need to learn when to let a topic go and move on to something else more frequently.

How Does This Work?

After all, professional bloggers in particular are hired to write about specific subjects — how can they get away with writing about something else or just dropping a topic?

It has to be said, the option to leave a post behind isn't always there. Sometimes an assignment is too specific, and one has to go through with it. However, this is actually very rarely the case. An engaging blog is about the writer's personality, not necessarily the content (although the content is how this persona is put forward). Thus if a particular topic or, more importantly, a particular approach to a topic is not working for a writer, then a change is needed in either small or great degree to allow the writer to work their particular magic.

Side Doors

The first step in letting go of an article is to let go of your initial approach to it. It may be that the subject itself actually isn't all that bad, just that the initial or usual way of approaching it isn't working out so well. Take that interview example: Say our mysterious blogger is an interviewing genius, and has had some exceptional success with interview-driven blog posts so far. However, the latest interviewee, an artist in this case, is just dreadful. Their work is exciting, their reputation amazing, but in person or in print they're as dull as a brick! The blogger can't get their normal approach to work.

Alright, another approach is warranted. So instead of using the actual interview, our blogger makes one up. This isn't to say they make up the actual interview with the artist, which would be illegal and wrong. Instead, they interview the person's art itself. They raise questions they have, and look at what answers the art itself provides.

This is a bit of an esoteric example, but it illustrates the key point — if you're having trouble doing something, try approaching it from a different angle. Languages are flexible, with shades of meaning and cultural variations that can surprise you. Experiment a bit and see if a new method opens new successes.

Genuinely Drop It

Some topics, however, just don't work. It happens, be it writer's block or just a lack of information.

The solution here is be honest. If you are your own boss, just accept that you tried and it's time to write something else. Writers of fiction do it all the time; bloggers should be no different.

If you're writing for an organization that expects you to cover certain topics, be up front as early as possible and go to your bosses with an explanation in detail why the topic isn't working, and why you think posting it would be detrimental rather than helpful. To make the process easier, go with alternative ideas — already written out or at least drafted in proposal form — so they can see you know what you're talking about and have the content ready.

Why Letting Go is Good

Burnout is a very real phenomenon among bloggers. People can sense when a writer hasn't put their heart and soul into a piece, and they can tell when something was forced out of their keyboard at gunpoint. Consistently forcing oneself to write articles that wear on them will wear a writer down and diminish their blogging talents. So for the sake of your creativity and excellence, make sure that you know when an article needs either a different approach, or a graceful decline.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Some Thoughts on Specialty Blogging

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



Blogging is held up in many circles as the epitome of the personal project. Blogs are praised for their focus on the personality of the blogger, the flexibility of the medium (text only, vlog, podcast) and the relatively limitless topics that can be blogged on.

Given that the division of labor allows for the formation of specialized approaches, it shouldn't be a surprise that niche and specialty blogs have become part of this great journalistic movement. There are blogs covering all manner of specialties, from arts and craft-focused publications to hard-hitting diatribes on the political situation in foreign hotspots. The powers of SEO and keyword writing allow these blogs to stand out to their intended audiences during searches, so clearly all that remains is for the next blogging genius to unleash his specialized knowledge upon the world, yes?

Well, as ever, the situation is perhaps slightly more complex than that, and for good reason. Let's have a look at some of the pros and cons alike of dedicating a blog to a particular topic.

The Sublime

There is something very satisfying in reading a well-crafted blog on a particular subject when it's put out by a skilled and well-versed master of that topic. A specialized blog is more than single mindedness when done properly — it is a treasure house of many varied gems.

A genuine expert writing a specialty blog is what really makes the medium come alive, in fact. It's one thing to simply have anyone writing about something they care about and focusing on that topic. Having someone who knows it, who "groks" it as Heinlein would say, means that the blog can cover the various shades in between the obvious postings.

As an example, consider a blog focusing on the latest in board games (and if you think gaming of all sorts isn't a topic worth considering, you haven't seen Steve Jackson Games' 2010 shareholder report, in which they posted $3.5 million in gross earnings). Our gaming blog, written by an interested observer rather than an expert, could cover the major releases for the year. Big gaming companies like Wizards of the Coast, Steve Jackson Games, Battlefront and so forth could be profiled, the occasional interview with a game designer could be featured, trade shows could be reported on. It would be nice and informative, and safe for all those reasons.

A genuine expert in game publication and game theory, on the other hand, could get into the subtleties of game mechanics. They could explain how a certain game is literally impossible to play properly because of bad designs in the rules, or illustrate how a new game just released takes all the problems inherent in a timeless classic and makes a much better game of it. Rising stars in the independent development industry could be pointed out and brought to greater prominence.

Basically, the blog would look very similar, but would have many varying shades of interest and subtlety between the more common flavor of post, allowing for so much more interaction and engagement with the material.

The Unfortunate

Specialization is, by necessity, also exclusive. Choosing to specialize in a particular topic to any degree automatically alienates a set of readers not interested in that specialization. So while a specialty blog can allow an expert to really illustrate the varying shades and joys inherent in their favorite topic, each level of focus it dives into cuts away that much more of an audience — and readers are certainly not an infinite resource.

Again, take our gaming blog: Gaming as a whole topic is fairly broad, encompassing video games, board games, roleplaying games, casual games, serious-hardcore games and so forth. And yes, there is a certain amount of overlap; many people enjoy playing games of all sorts, so a blog about any one of them isn't going to outright sever all connection with the others.

However, there are people who are interested in some things, but not others. Focusing a blog on RPGs and not video games eliminates a major portion of the gaming crowd (RPGs haven't been the largest contender in the gaming market in more than a decade now). There is a lot to talk about in roleplaying game development, of course — but it will never approach the scale of video game development as a market, and thus any blog about it is never going to attract the same degree of attention.

So, what to about it.

There is fortunately a very clear answer: Do what you can do best. If you know your niche, and are confident you can make it work, try it. Start right now, put up that first post, and begin shopping around for good keywords, listing your blog in directories and promoting gently on social media networks. You will never have success if you don't try. If, on the other hand, you feel more comfortable taking a generalist approach, understand that this isn't bad. There are many readers out there, and a general approach to blogging can bring them in. And if you start wide, there's nothing to say you cannot drill down to a more specific angle later.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Read more Articles written by Enzo F. Cesario.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Brand Management - Press Release Fundamentals

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



Certain concepts just carry over well from print journalism. The press release, the tried and true method of updating the public on an organization's affairs, is an example of just how well such a concept can survive. While there have been a few adjustments to the specifics, such as the use of keywords and SEO-oriented writing, the core structure of the press release remains the same.

Of course, as with all well-established writing conventions, the press release has seen its share of abuses. Press releases are such a routine part of any organization's operations that they often see quality sacrificed in the name of quantity. They're viewed as a source of easy SEO rankings if they're given any thought at all, and naturally the quality of these publications suffers in line with the degree of neglect.

Of course, no one has to follow this trend. There are a number of things one can do to create a solid press release. Here are a few of the simpler but oft-overlooked steps that can redeem this marketing tool into a primary force.

Hook with the Lede

The lede is that first sentence in a journalism story, a press release included. The lede must contain everything the story is going to talk about. If nothing else, it must boil the story down to its most relevant points, because very often people read the first few lines of a news story, then move on.

The key then lies in finding the most interesting part of the story and making the lede into a verbal "hook" that people can get ahold of. Don't hide your big announcement; sure, it works for Steve Jobs because attendees at the Apple conferences aren't going to leave mid-speech. But people reading a press release can always click away, so make sure you get the "what's that now?" out in front of them immediately.

Keep the Headline on Topic, Not on Company

The headline is not the place to brand your company. There are many wonderful venues for promoting your brand or company name; trying to sandwich it into the headline is simply asking for trouble, because all it does is give the press release away as a marketing effort. The story may well be solid journalistic gold, but it will still be ignored because people were turned off by the marketing.

Instead, treat the headline as a summary companion to the lede, with catchy writing and an on-topic message that draws readers' eyes down to the lede in order to see what the headline is talking about.

Simplify

Remember Strunk and White's eternal maxim: omit needless words. Remember once more that people tend to read a few lines into any news story, then move on. The longer a story can keep the reader's attention, the better it is doing. Words that hinder this process are introducing friction into what should ideally be a smooth process. This includes words that are obscure, very long words and, worst of all, jargon.

There is a place in the world for jargon. That place is between experts in a field who want to communicate more precisely and effectively. It is not in the lines of a press release. Most people are not experts in any given field, so using highly specific terms such as jargon is not going to help. It does not make a publication sound more intelligent — it makes it sound like it's geared toward someone else at best, or pretentious at worst. Discard the jargon and go for simple explanations instead.

Dress it Up

Simplicity is ideal for the core message of a press release, but there are ways to amplify the effectiveness of each part of the release given the power of online media.

Given the widespread access to broadband, embedding photos and videos is no longer a faux pas. If you're doing a press release on a trade show, include some pictures of the booths from the last year's show, perhaps a video of a short interview talking about the highlights of this year's events. Again, keep the material on-topic; the goal is to amplify what you're talking about in the release, not to distract from it.

Additionally, linking content is easy and efficient. Perhaps your release cites a major study your organization just completed and is releasing. Include a link to the study in the headline or lede so that people can click over to it immediately. This technique works for all manner of content, incidentally. If you're mentioning some manner of content that your organization is providing, be it product or service, put a link to it in the lede or near to the lede, so people can go right over and take a look.

The Basics

It shouldn't have to be said anymore, but there is always a need to remember the basic principles of good writing. Pay attention to grammar and punctuation. Use brief and active-voice statements. Don't editorialize. Keep the press release straightforward and cite the facts you want conveyed.

These are not options, they're important fundamentals. If you break the rules of the basics, your credibility will suffer. Remembering to mind them will help reduce the polish that has to go into a release later on.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Good Press: Promoting Your Blog

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



There are numerous ways to get a blog noticed and mentioned online. Some are good and others are atrocious. We're all aware of "that guy" who simply joins conversations online and says, "Wow, that's interesting. Hey, have you read my blog about..." Sometimes the blog covers the topic being discussed — but usually it doesn't. Sometimes our "friend" doesn't even go to the trouble of actually even trying to comment on the conversation and simply spams his blog's links everywhere he can, hoping someone somewhere will accidentally click the link instead of the block button.

So how do we avoid becoming "that guy?" The blog needs promoting; blogs that people don't know about don't get read… it's as simple as that. But there are polite ways to promote your blog in an active sense without becoming a blog-spamming troll.

Directories
There are a number of website and blog-specific directories out there. Most of us are familiar with these, so a short summary is all I'll include here. In essence, these are websites that will host and promote various other sites for a subscription of sorts. Some are ad-supported, others require payment or contracts of a certain period of time. What these do is allow another angle of search engine optimization so that people looking for topics relating to your blog will have more of a chance of finding your hard-written content.

SEO
By now, good SEO practices should be seen as mandatory. Keywords, meta-tags and other good SEO practices will promote your blog for you without ever requiring you to contact anyone. Do it.

However, there is the related, yet not identical, field of topic tagging. Many blogs have an option to tag an article with topics. These don't necessarily directly relate to SEO results, though in some cases they do get listed. What they do is allow people using the same blogging software to browse based on topics. So if you're discussing a particular issue or news story, tag it in the categories or topics section, and fellow WordPress or Blogger users might just come across your work.

Social Media
The previous techniques are useful because they don't require direct interaction with others. They're based on letting searches promote your work for you. However, nothing in the world beats the personal touch, and there's nothing more personal than social media. As mentioned above, the personal approach is risky, because people have fickle moods. Not everyone is in the mood to hear about a blog when they're having a discussion. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be as crass as the above example of our blog-desperate friend.

First, there are online forums. These are a great place to ease into the social media experience. Find a forum or two related to the topic of your blog, and begin participating. When it comes time to create your profile, make sure good content is provided. Provide a short but informative bio about what you do, put keyword relevant tags to your blog in the activities section and make sure your blog is linked in either the website or signature portions of your forum, or both.

These practices, you'll note, can be repeated on any social media site. Facebook in particular is good for this, as it has a very robust background and biography section to work from.

Once in the forum or social media discussion group, participate actively. Introduce yourself if there is an appropriate place to do so. Mention your blog and what it is about briefly, and then drop it for a while. Drop in on discussions that you feel you have something relevant to contribute to, always being sure to be polite and provide insightful commentary. If you can't think of something to say, don't force it.

One good "bridging" method in these cases is using your fellow conversationalists' comments as inspiration for a blog post. Suppose someone brings up a commonly held misconception, or mentions something you genuinely hadn't thought of before. Write a post about it, and link to that post in the message. Use this technique sparingly — you want to be known for your own unique content, not as a topic-miner. However, when done politely and genuinely, this can get people interested in speaking with you and reading what you have to write.

Habits and Practices
Those paying attention will see that this is a process, not a "step." Blog promotion is an activity that takes time to properly cultivate and is very easy to get wrong. The steady and measured approach is the best way to avoid taxing peoples' patience — pushing too hard will get you flagged for spam or banned, which results in a bad reputation.

Getting readers to come to a blog is like developing any good relationship. Businesses tend to thrive on repeat customers rather than one-time visitors, and a blog is the same way. You want a loyal readership? Show them you're trustworthy and friendly before they ever show up. You aren't going to be able to force interest — either it is there or it isn't. Do your blog a favor and remove the roadblocks of over eagerness by accepting the long-term view of solid promotion.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Read more Articles written by Enzo F. Cesario.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Blog Management - How to Work Interviews Into Your Blog

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



Being a subset of journalism, it is no surprise that blogging shares many traits with its parent. In particular, blogging strongly resembles the feature or editorials pages of many newspapers. Not beholden to quite the same rules of timeliness or AP style guidelines as the news sections, these sections focus on matters of personal interest to the writer, or on a specific topic of particular relevance or human interest.

So, given that blogging tends to be derived from these sections, it is reasonable to look into the tactics that bring traditional journalists such success in their writing and to borrow the best ideas from them. In particular, many bloggers have discovered the value of including interviews in their publications.

An interview is fairly straightforward: a conversation between the blogger and another party, generally about a topic of mutual interest to the blogger, the subject and the readers. Some interviews are scripted, some are more extemporaneous, but at their heart they all have the mission of illuminating the thoughts of the interviewee to the audience of the publication in order to shed some extra light on the subject being discussed.

In the world of blogging, there are generally three approaches to integrating an interview into a blog.

The Writeup

This is the general, news-story style form of an interview. The blogger contacts the subject, does their interview, then writes a story around the interview using the subject's quotations as a framework. It tends to look something like:

Recently I spoke to branding icon John Doe, asking his thoughts on the importance of personal identity. "You really need a strong name, something people can get ahold of and never forget, that's the first thing." When I asked him for details, John commented, "Well, if you don't have a name that people remember, they'll just refer to you as 'that one guy' or any old thing."

The structure is easy to follow, and very much suited to blogging as a style of writing. It doesn't have to be in first person; it is easily adapted to any blogging style. It has the value of letting the blogger do most of the writing. This way, their style remains intact and the interview is presented on their terms to the readers, maintaining a unique voice.

The weakness of this style is that it tends to raise questions. Did the blogger use the whole interview? Are they editorializing in their choice of quotes? and so on. For example, in the choice above, When I asked him for details could actually have played out as "Well, that's obvious. Could you be more specific?" and our imaginary blogger simply rephrased to make himself look less confrontational.

The Reprint

The alternative is simply to reprint the entire interview, without editing other than to remove little asides such as "um" and other verbal tics. This tends to look as follows:

BenjaminBrandBlog - Hello, John.

John Doe - Hello. Thanks for interviewing me.

BBB - Glad to talk with you. So, what would you say is the first thing that comes to your mind when talking about branding?

JD - You really need a strong name, something people can get ahold of and never forget, that's the first thing.

The reprint is rather an unusual choice, very rarely seen in blogging or in print journalism. This is because it has some obvious weaknesses. For example, not every question in an interview ends up being relevant. Not all interviews follow a particular script; some go down tangents, interesting or dull asides, and so on. It is the job of the journalist to edit the content so that the material that stayed on subject gets to the readers.

However, there are some cases in which reprinting an interview is an interesting alternative. If a conversation was purely illuminating, if it covered some amazing grounds that people didn't expect, and the writer wishes to share it, then by all means share the interview itself.

The Podcast or Video

Similar to the reprint, this is the process of using recording equipment to make an audio podcast or videoblog of the interview in question. This has a number of advantages over the simple reprint, because it allows the personality of the two subjects to shine through in a way that text doesn't always quite capture. Sarcasm and wit come through a bit more readily when tone of voice or body language are added into the subject matter, making the whole process more dynamic and interesting.

The difficulty of these formats is in their complexity. The logistics of getting recording software to work, of cleaning up audio and video for proper use on the net if they aren't your blog's primary medium, etc. can all make this a bit out of reach for the average blogger. They require the dedication of actual time and effort to produce, share and refine as a series. Further, not everyone is as suited for speaking as they are for writing; some just aren't as comfortable in a spoken medium, and a skilled writer isn't always a stunning speaker.

That said, there is strong value in this type of process, as it can add variety and interest to the usual presentation of a good blog.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Read more Articles written by Enzo F. Cesario.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Response and Rebuttal: Having a Good Argument on a Blog

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario



According to one theory of knowledge, there are no original facts. All knowing is gained through more knowing, each fact tied to every other fact like a spider web — none supported completely on its own, but all working beautifully in concert. Whether this is ultimately true philosophically, it illustrates a key point of online knowledge: Everything worthwhile refers back to something else.

This is particularly true of the many arguments on the web. The strongest arguments are those that can relate their case to other fields of knowledge and understanding. While there are always those who will buy into constantly debunked arguments, by and large the web is a place where the meritocracy of truth can hold court.

So, how exactly does one harness this for his or her own blog?

First, understand that an argument always produces hard feelings. This is the inherent risk of it; people do not like to be proven wrong. Whether it is cultural or evolutionary in nature, there is an almost gut-level need to be right in an argument. If you have a discussion of this sort, you will run the risk of alienating some audience members.

However, the same effect can gain you a strong readership if handled properly. People admire those who can demonstrate a strong case against consistent criticism. Take the video bloggers Thunderf00t and AronRa on YouTube. Both of these men advocate very specific positions about science, free speech and religion, and the role of these entities in the modern world. Both have come under extensive attack, including outright legal action in some cases, for advocating their views and maintaining the argument about these issues. Yet both have very popular YouTube channels, and both writers have been booked for speaking engagements as a result of their work. Their channels are consistently growing, largely because they are willing to have arguments and back them up with strong evidence.

The first step is to make sure the argument is worth having. Is it genuinely an issue worth arguing over, with significant relevance to the average user? Consider your audience carefully for this one. Arguments about freedom of speech may well touch on everyone's lives in some degree, but if your blog is dedicated to the subtleties of audiophile technologies, it might not be the argument to have.

Once you have made the decision that a point needs to be argued, it is important to match the intensity of your tone to the relevance of the point. If you have a relatively academic disagreement with one portion of another blogger's work, then it would likely not be appropriate to ream the entire piece based on one disagreement, or to focus on the disagreement instead of the areas of concordance.

This should be common sense, but the web seems to create a tendency in people to narrow their focus onto odd elements.

Begin with a post stating the basics of the other party's case, honestly and omitting nothing relevant. Then provide your commentary and rebuttal in specific terms, providing due credit and citations and making sure to link to your opposite number's blog if the argument is occurring between the blogs, or in the comments section if the discussion is to be had there.

Remember also to be gracious in victory and polite in defeat. It may well be that you utterly end their argument. If so, then well done. If they concede the point, accept the concession and move on. People have had their show, things have been learned, and hopefully both of you have benefited. Similarly, if you are clearly shown to be in the wrong, you gain much more credibility by revising your stance and acknowledging the opposing party's points. This is not formal debate, where the idea is to win points — it's to maintain good discussion and draw in the kind of people who take your work seriously.

Tying in with this effect is the user effect. People feel more invested in a blog when they feel their contributions are honored and considered worthwhile. So if a commenter to your blog provides a particular insight on an ongoing discussion or argument you are having with another blogger, bring them in. Highlight insightful commentary from your readers with a post, or incorporate it into one if appropriate to do so. This will encourage more people to bring commentary in, both for and against your point of view. This is a great way to attract the viewers of your opposite number's blog, as they feel their input will not be ignored.

So, in the end, should you go looking for arguments to start? Probably not; enough of them will present themselves to you. This is evident from reading just about any blog on the web. Read enough of them, and you will find something you disagree with. If you feel you can have a reasonable dialog with the writer of another blog, or if you feel their views are so drastically wrong as to require your rebuttal, then by all means do so. Simply do not forget to make it an argument worth having, and one that will educate and entertain your readers.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.