14 MORE blog improvement ideas!
January 11, 2010 at 12:50 pm | Posted in social media | 8 CommentsTags: blog, blog post, blog success, blogger, blogging, blogs, bolding, capitalisation, cliche, client, colon, company name, copywriter, customer, date format, duck shooting, feedback, optimisation, optimization, rabbit, social media, subtitle, T-shirt, wabbit, wabbit season, YouTube
Pic by ME! 
By Jove, I just did another blog analysis! (Earlier analysis here.)
Once again, many of my ideas were client specific (and of course confidential).
The rest are yours.
- ALL CAPITAL LETTERS in the banner is harder to read than Title Case and looks like ‘SHOUTING’ to some readers.
- The pic of the tree is pretty, but it doesn’t suggest a benefit for clients or a link to you. How about a pic of your products in action, in situ?
- The headers for the articles have varying capitalisation (Title Case and Sentence case). While this is a minor point, highly educated clients may find it distracting.
- Australians may prefer a Day/Month/Year format to the current American one.
- ‘Comment’ is simpler and shorter than ‘Add Your Comments Here’. The fewer words we use, the more info we impart.
- A relevant image at the top of each article would showcase your gear and make the blog much more interesting to readers.
- I had trouble understanding your company’s structure due to the varying names. It’d be good to have one long version and one short version and to use them consistently. Failing that, spell out what’s what at the start, so readers like me don’t feel stupid or waste time trying to figure it out instead of reading your content.
- Body copy capitalisation is also highly irregular. Unless corrected, this will erode your brand in the minds of some readers.
- Clichés kill interest faster than a road train wipes wabbits. Therefore, use your ‘natural voice’ to replace phrases like ‘110% effort’, ‘our dynamic team’ and ‘all this and much much more’. Doing so will make you appear human (and therefore, by implication, reasonable and trustworthy). And if your competitors don’t follow suit, you’ll open up an important point of difference in a homogenous market.
- I can’t see any tags, categories or keywords. You said your main site SEO gives you Google Page 1. What about this blog?
- A Bolded Subtitle doesn’t need a colon too.
- ‘Single quotes’ do the same thing (in less space) as “double quotes”.
- The wind energy article is great. This is another point-of-difference opportunity. Especially these days.
- YouTube is now massive. Some embedded videos of your products in action would be great. Especially for Gen Y and younger audience members.
Hope you dig. Let me know!
Paul Hassing, Founder and Senior Writer, The Feisty Empire.
Celebrity treatment
January 11, 2010 at 7:26 am | Posted in social media | Leave a commentTags: actor, blogger, blogosphere, celebrity, client, company name, endorsement, Hollywood, marketing, packaging, spokesperson, talk show, YouTube
Photo by Dave B
A client asked me to ‘search the blogosphere’ to see what people were saying about Product X.
My first search turned up a YouTube video showing a very famous actor on a very successful talk show saying very nice things about Product X.
I then found that several popular bloggers had referenced these positive comments, compounding the good vibe.
I next did an image search and found beautiful, high-resolution photographs of Product X in the actor’s home!
Delighted with my early success, I brought all this good news to my client’s attention – just in time for her to add it to her company newsletter.
The story was a great morale booster for staff (most of whom had no idea their products were beloved by Hollywood royalty).
I then suggested that my client send the actor a ‘show bag’ of Products Y, Z (and anything else to hand) in case he loved that stuff too (and perchance said so in public).
For all we know, the actor may become a spokesperson for the brand. Or at least consent to his comments appearing on product packaging and marketing materials.
When it comes to social media, it really is a case of ‘from little things, big things grow’!
Talk the walk
January 5, 2010 at 11:14 am | Posted in social media | 4 CommentsTags: blog post, blogging, cell phone, customer, dictate, dictation, email, field report, foundry, metallurgist, mobile phone, resin, sand core, scribe, social media, staff, student, transcribe
Walk and chew blog at the same time! Photo by James Cridland.
Does your whizz-bang new mobile (cell) phone have a built-in or downloadable dictaphone?
If it does, you may be able to blog without blogging.
Simply dictate short posts when you’re doing anything that may interest your staff, clients, suppliers or other ‘watchers’.
Then, get a keen youngster to transcribe them verbatim for a few coppers.
You can then whack these blog posts into shape yourself, or send them to me for optimisation.
Dictating on the run means you don’t have to find time to sit down and write from scratch.
It also adds an immediacy to content that readers find attractive and refreshing.
Imagine you run a foundry. One day, your metallurgist reports that a batch of casts is failing quality checks.
You hurry into the hot, dusty space, cursing into your dictaphone. Within minutes, your expert eye tells you the resin isn’t binding the sand cores as it should.
You press ‘record’ and rattle off your diagnosis and plan of action.
Then you email the sound file to your scribe.
Before day’s end, you have a blog post that:
- Alerts management and staff across your organisation so they can swing into action.
- Makes your resin supplier leap out of their skin to rectify the problem in record time.
- Explains to customers that a batch may be delayed (because you refuse to send imperfect products).
- Enthralls and educates students (i.e. future staff) and other parties interested in the cut and thrust of your products, processes and industry.
That’s what I call multi-tasking.
If your phone can’t do this, you may wish to invest in a dictaphone.
Let us know how you get on!
Your emails are blog posts!
January 4, 2010 at 9:28 am | Posted in social media | 2 CommentsTags: blog, blog post, client, consumer, customer, email, hamster, leverage, problem, resolution, sent folder, social media, vacuum, writing
A trove of blog posts may already be yours! Photo by Meanest Indian.
Many of my clients understand that they need to blog. Yet they’re thwarted by two mind blocks:
- What will I write about?
- How will I find the time?
What they don’t realise is that their blog posts may already be written – in their emails!
Let’s say you make uber-hi-tech vacuum cleaners.
One day, a frantic customer asks how to extract a hamster from the hypohepozappofilter without damaging either.
As a caring, conscientious manufacturer, you (or your tech person) take the time to write and send clear instructions to resolve this problem.
Six months later, you’re about to clean out your email Sent Folder.
DON’T TOUCH THAT FILE!
Your hamster extraction email needs only a brief ‘top and tail’ edit to become a blog post.
And while this problem may not be common, anyone who does suffer it in future will be mighty grateful the answer is already online.
They can search your blog and fix their issue, without the hassle and embarrassment of contacting you.
And you don’t have to waste time considering the situation and writing the solution all over again.
If you don’t keep an email Sent Folder, start today.
If you do, cast your eye over it.
I’ll bet London to a brick you and your staff have written heaps of content that’s begging to be posted on your blog.
I’m not fond of the word ‘leverage’.
But when it means wringing the last atom of utility from a piece of work you’ve already done by reusing it in elegant new ways, I’m a fan!
The future of damage control
January 3, 2010 at 10:00 am | Posted in social media | Leave a commentTags: company name, damage control, Groundswell, HP, media release, press release, social media, YouTube
Sometimes a press release just won't cut it. Pic by Rogue Soul.
The other day I was busy convincing a client to participate in social media.
At the perfect moment, a dramatic case in point featured on the front page of my online daily newspaper.
It concerned the apparent inability of HP computers to track ‘black’ people’s faces.
A potentially brand-crippling (though rather entertaining) YouTube video was circling the globe (more than 1.7 million views at time of writing).
Yet just as spectacular (to my mind, anyway) was HP’s instant response on their blog.
Rather than rail against or try to discredit the man who made the flaw-demonstrating video, they thanked him for his feedback.
They even provided a link to the video!
They then admitted that they:
- Didn’t know the cause of the problem.
- Had some good ideas as to what it might be.
- Were working hard to sort it out.
Compare this to the bullsh*t, no-fault, no-blame, no-nothing damage-control press releases of old.
I’d just finished reading Groundswell, which predicts that scenarios like this will occur with increasing frequency. (I know I keep mentioning this book, but by golly it’s a ripper.)
Anyway, I sent my client the story and wrote, ‘If the sh*t ever hits the fan with one of your products, you need to be able to respond this fast. You have been warned.’
We’re on friendly terms. And she got the point.
Then came the ultimate irony: one week later, her company had to do a major product recall.
We’re now talking blogs.
Are you?
Reach out
January 2, 2010 at 10:50 am | Posted in social media | 4 CommentsTags: blog, blogger, blogs, discussion, feedback, Gen Y, Generation Y, listening post, marketing, no-man's land, optimisation, optimization, social media, spokesperson, traffic, uniform resource locator, URL, visitor traffic, visitors
Photo by Janesdead
If you find a blogger who mentions your products or services, leave a comment or get your representative to do it.
Most blogs let you add a link (also called a URL – short for Uniform [or Universal] Resource Locator) back to your site when you comment.
This is good for creating fresh visitor traffic and improving your online search ranking performance.
It also shows that your organisation is active in the social media space (and therefore ’switched-on’ in the minds of Generation Y and younger audiences).
Better still, if your competitors don’t follow your lead, you may open a point of difference that they can never close.
Your social media participation may also prompt blog owners to ask you or your representative for content – or even an interview.
At this point, you can start steering the conversation your way.
Finally, consistent online participation by you or your rep provides a contact name for anyone with good or bad news to impart.
Thus, each blogger your cultivate is like a listening post in no-man’s land. The more you have, the better your field intelligence – which is vital for the battles ahead.
By promoting good things and resolving bad, you build and optimise your brand many times faster than has ever been possible.
On a roll
January 1, 2010 at 7:30 am | Posted in social media | 6 CommentsTags: 2009, blog, blog success, blogger, blogosphere, Blogroll, copywriter, copywriting, direct message, DM, endorsement, Google Alert, link, linking, Lorraine Thompson, MarketCopywriter Blog, mutual reciprocity, New Year's Eve, online search, Purple Cow, Seth Godin, social media, traffic, tweet, Twitter, visitors, website
The nice lady who blogrolled me. I'm on the right, third from the bottom. The listing is alphabetical.
I keep a series of ‘Google Alerts’ (which I’ll describe fully in another post).
One of these alerts lets me know if the phrase The Feisty Empire appears anywhere on the internet.
Last night, in the dying hours of 2009, this alert emailed me.
It said The Feisty Empire been ‘blogrolled’ on the MarketCopywriter Blog.
I clicked the link and there it was: my company name – right next to Seth Godin’s blog!
This was an amazing coincidence, as I’d only recently learned of my inclusion in Seth’s book Purple Cow.
MarketCopywriter Blog’s author, Lorraine Thompson, is a New York Hudson Valley freelance copywriter who writes print and digital copy for corporate, small business and non-profit clients.
I’d ‘known’ her for a few months via Twitter as a smart, kind, switched-on lady who wrote excellent copy and was generous in retweeting my content.
I never suspected she’d put a link to my site on her blog. Especially as we’re technically competitors!
Perhaps Lorraine, like me, believes in making the work ’pie’ bigger, rather than fighting for pieces.
Apart from the social validation, I knew from reading ProBlogger and Copyblogger that being blogrolled would trigger a fresh stream of visitors to my website.
It’d also improve my online search ranking.
So, with half of Melbourne pouring into town for the fireworks, I dived into WordPress to learn how to blogroll.
I got a bit confused by the blogroll jargon before realising that Links, Add New was where I needed to be. Once I knew what I was doing, it was easy.
I sent Lorraine a direct message (DM) via Twitter, thanking her and letting her know I’d returned the favour.
Then, still possessed by the positive vibe, I set about blogrolling the blogs and websites of my other online ‘friends’ (see below).
I enjoyed blogrolling those I admire and respect. See them at bottom right.
It gave me real pleasure to inform each person - especially when one replied with the same surprise and delight I’d felt.
I’d heard about the Law of Mutual Reciprocity – where you have the urge to help someone who’s helped you. But I’ve seldom felt it so strongly.
Anyway, that’s how I ended 2009. Not a bad note to finish on at all!
It’ll be fascinating to see what benefits flow to everyone involved in this blogrolling process.
Turn forums into temples
December 29, 2009 at 11:13 am | Posted in social media | Leave a commentTags: blog measurement, client, company name, consumer, customer, discussion, feedback, forum, Groundswell, namechk, social media
Photo by David Paul Ohmer
When searching online for the names of your organisation, products or services, keep a sharp eye out for forums.
This is where people gather to praise, study, discuss or revile what you do.
Often, you’ll see requests for help or information which the forum’s current participants can’t fulfil.
According to Groundswell, if you provide a forum with free tips on how to solve outstanding problems with your goods, users will worship your brand and spread the word.
You can do this task yourself, or delegate it to a product-savvy eager beaver in your organisation as a special assignment.
The results may pleasantly surprise you.
Social media spot check
December 29, 2009 at 3:13 am | Posted in social media | Leave a commentTags: company name, Facebook, identity, LinkedIn, namechk, social media, web 2.0, YouTube
I've covered my most important bases. For now!
namechk.com searches all social media applications to see if your name’s being used.
The screenshot above shows how I’m doing. While it covers the most popular social media applications, you can also run the program for all 132 applications!
You’d do well to check out these applications to see who’s doing what with your personal, company and product names.
It’d also be a good idea to register (and thus lock down) free names in at least the really important channels (e.g. YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn).
As this task would be more routine than expert (but still quite time consuming) it could be done cost effectively by an enthusiastic student with plenty of time on her hands.
Failing that, a junior IT person in your company could do it (and thus become a very valuable internal resource).
Failing that, I could do it myself.
Paul Hassing
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17 Blog improvement ideas
January 9, 2010 at 1:38 pm | Posted in social media | Leave a commentTags: abbreviation, avatar, banner, blog, blog improvement, blog measurement, blog post, blog success, blog tip, blogger, capitalisation, caption, client, comment, community, discussion, home page, internet, optimisation, optimization, photo, pic, reader, readership, rollover, social media, Twitter, visitor, visitors
Small changes can make a BIG difference. Photo by rwpeary.
A while ago I was asked to critique a blog. While many of my suggestions were client specific, there were some I thought you might find useful.
This list shows the sort of feedback I can give on your blog.
Was any of that useful? You can probably see I’m bringing my copywriting expertise to bear on the content.
And why not? Blogs are just another vehicle for interesting, relevant messages expressed in perfect English.
Did you want anything explained more fully? Just leave a comment; I’d love to hear from you!