You CAN Write Remarkable Content

by | Apr 27, 2013 | Blogging, Business, Sales and Marketing

You Can Write Remarkable Content

It may take a few tries but hang in there

I was privileged to attend a conference a few weeks ago presented by Merrimack College as part of it’s 2012-2013 Leadership Series entitled “It’s Time to Create Your Digital Platform!” As a perk of membership in the Peabody Area Chamber of Commerce, admission was free. I gladly would have paid. Two of the three speakers, Michael Hyatt and Brian Halligan, are best selling  authors. Halligan also happens to be co-founder and CEO of Hubspot, a marketing software company that helps businesses transform the way they market their products. The third, Sally Falkow, is a highly respected public relations guru. I took notes, scribbled down links to websites, wrote down recommended book titles, sent out real time tweets and, giving in to my inner geek, got my books signed by the authors. Later, when life had slowed  down some, I looked over  my notes. One phrase jumped off the page. Each of the speakers said it during their presentations. Some said it more than once.  It took on the aspect of a mantra. To get noticed in a noisy world, you have to write remarkable content.

Sound Scary? It Doesn’t Have To Be

I started thinking about my clients – you – the good people who sometimes read my blog. I’ve heard you say it. “I’m not a writer. I can’t write remarkable content.” Well here’s how my trusty Oxford American Dictionary defines the word “remarkable.”

re • mark • a • ble (ri-mahr-ka-bel) adj. worth noticing, exceptional, unusual.

If you’re not a professional writer I understand why you would be intimidated at the prospect of writing exceptional or unusual content.

It’s All About Your Audience

My point is this. If you sell concrete, your website should be geared to people who want to know more about concrete. Since concrete is your area of expertise I’m betting that you can produce content that, if not exceptional or unusual, is at least  worth noticing? That is to say worth noticing to your audience. Don’t get me wrong. No matter how much expertise you have in your field, a professional writer will always do a better job at crafting your web copy than you will. But if you focus more on the worth noticing part of the definition of remarkable and less on the exceptional and unusual parts, you just might be surprised at how remarkable your content is.

Some Helpful Resources

If you’d like to dive a little deeper into the world of remarkable content, here are a few links that are favorites of mine. I hope you’ll find them helpful:

Now Back to You

Did you write your own copy for your website? How did that go? Or did you hire someone to write it for you? Were you satisfied with the result?

P.S. To my writer friends and colleagues. Don’t be angry with me for suggesting that clients on a limited budget might want to try writing their own copy. My intent here was to give them some helpful advice if they want to go in that direction. Know this. They will never replace you.

How Not to Write a Blog

by | Feb 28, 2012 | Business

My introduction to blogging was through a colorful Canadian who hails by the moniker Yarn Harlot. If you like funny, then this is your gal – even more so if you have thing for wool, which I do.

The Yarn Harlot, aka Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, writes about knitting and life and yarn with such a unique perspective that she attracts even non-knitters. Her blog led to book deals. The books led to talks all over North America. Now, those books and talks draw in more readers for the blog, creating a sweet little loop toward ever growing popularity. As an indication of how many readers she has, each post draws more than 100 and often more than 200 comments.

Looking at this as a newbie blogger, it all seemed so simple. Start a blog, get a book deal, give some talks, watch the blog audience grow, get a bigger book deal, give more talks…you get the idea. I knew it really wasn’t that easy when I launched my blog, knitaway.blogspot.com, but in the back of my mind, I had hopes of at least building a small following.

After a lot of time and effort, that’s all I ever generated with that blog – a very small following. No book deals. No speaking engagements:  Just a tiny audience that consisted of my mother and a couple of friends.

It wasn’t a total waste. I had fun. I connected with some people in other parts of the country that I would never have met otherwise and I have a great online journal. What I didn’t get, however, is something some people would call a “return on investment.”

That’s fine if blogging is a hobby, or something you want to do just for fun. But, if you want to blog to build your expertise or promote your business, you certainly have to get more readers than my mother, or your mother, or your mother’s mother, for that matter.

So do what my father says and “Do as I say, not as I did.”

The blog isn’t about you, even if it’s about you

The topic may be your thoughts and activities, but ultimately this is about your readers. What do they want to hear or know about? Maybe you’ll entertain them with funny stores from the shop. Maybe you’ll educate them about a particular subject. If you’re tempted to write about your root canal, that’s okay as long as you can answer the question, “Why would a reader care?”

Listen to others

This is actually one thing I did. I spent a lot of time on other people’s blogs. I read them and commented on them. Many of those people became a part of my small audience.

Blog regularly

Since mine was a hobby blog, I never felt a strong obligation to post on a regular basis. I’d go weeks without a post. This is a big part of why it never progressed beyond a hobby blog. This is a quick way to lose potential readers. Even if a reader is blown away by a post, he’s not going to keep coming back if there’s no new material. There are just too many other great things to draw his attention.

Know your audience

When I started blogging, I thought very little about who would read my blog. This is something you should think a lot about. Who do you want to reach? You may want a broad audience, but you are best off focusing on one specific person. This will help you tailor the blog and make it personal. Plus, once you know who that is, you will have a much easier time finding good material because you will be looking for things that will interest that person.