A few weeks ago, a Facebook fan asked on our page, “Is it OK to post our news releases on our blog?”

Dear Facebook fan, see image to the left.

Just a couple of days ago, I was perusing through my personal Facebook stream and a friend of mine posted pretty much the same question.

Dear Facebook friend, see image to the left.

Actually, what I commented is exactly what the image says (even the “the end”) and Jennifer Windram thought it was funny enough to create the image (thank you, Jen!).

In 2001, I joined an advertising agency to help build their PR department. The first few months were really exciting because the account managers were introducing us to their clients and we were providing a new service. Super fun and lots of immediate work to do.

And then. Continue Reading »

When I speak to CEO organizations, I typically run through a series of quick slides that show where technology is right at this moment.

For instance: There were 107 trillion emails sent last year, Facebook is at more than 900 million users, Pinterest is closing in on 15 million users, and there are three billion videos streamed on YouTube every day.

I do this to show how many people are using the web, to preempt the “My customer doesn’t use the Internet” conversation (yes, I still hear that).

But the stat I want to talk about today is the number of blogs on the Internet. According to Technorati, there are 158 million blogs floating around, which is partly why I’m so surprised to keep reading that blogging is dead. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Jayme Soulati.

What the heck is voice? The honest-to-goodness answer is … I have no idea!

I’ll attempt a few tips and provide examples of bloggers’ styles that contribute to voice. Afterwards, I hope you’ll have a better understanding on the quest to find yours.

It takes the better part of a year to get comfortable in your own skin. Attaining voice is part of that 12-month blogging journey. (Hints 1 and 2: Have confidence and be time-tested.)

For me, I write the way I speak and I do it with snark and flowers. Is writing the way you speak considered “voice?” Absolutely, if you can pull it off naturally. (Hint 3: Be natural.)

There’s pressure to find it, have it, and keep it, and how does that work? With consistency. (Hint 4: Practice!) Continue Reading »

I hate to admit this out loud, but I know only a fraction about content marketing for the web.

I learned this flaw last night, as I watched the webinar Andy Crestodina is doing for us on Thursday – Build the Perfect Web Marketing Storm.

He talks about five weather systems in building the perfect storm: Blogging, email marketing, search engine optimization, social promotion, and writing.

Before I watched it, I went through that list and thought, “Surely I have all of this down, right?”

WRONG!

I also learned I’ve just been lucky with Spin Sucks and SmartTalk, but that I really could be much more strategic and smart about all of it and, perhaps, drive even more traffic.

He begins with a content marketing template. As I watched him explain it, I thought, “Come on. You don’t really use this for every piece of content you write, do you?”

And then he showed why he does. And, I’m pretty sure it works the way he demonstrates. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Jelena Woehr.

Are all bloggers also community managers?

Jayme Soulati , in suggesting this topic, wondered if ignorance regarding community management might explain some blog failures.

Because this post began as a comments-section Q&A, we’ll continue it in the same vein:

What Is Community Management?

Community management is the art of creating something by allowing it to create itself, then nurturing it by creating an environment in which it nurtures itself. Community managers conduct an orchestra of hundreds or thousands as a community forms or sustains itself, but the credit for a successfully developed online community belongs primarily to its members. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is by Nate Riggs. It is a long one; to address all the unanswered questions from last week’s webinar. We designed it so you can skim through any questions that are helpful to you.

Late last week, I was jazzed to have the opportunity to lead a Spin Sucks Pro webinar on the Art of Blogging (as opposed to the science and data of blogging). We discussed how we style our content on the screen to help your readers.

This topic is so important to me, that I’m writing an entire book about it that’s due out early next year.

The webinar was an outline of one of the style chapters that will be published along with 20-30 other blog post styles that you can use as a framework. This will allow you to expand, experiment, and add variety to your blogging discipline.

If you’re interested in learning what we discussed during the webinar, you can buy it on-demand by clicking here.  Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Marijean Jaggers.

I’m not a person who gets writer’s (or blogger’s) block. The challenge of writing daily, however, sometimes leaves me less than enthusiastic about the content I’m creating. Hey, we all get a little stuck for fresh ideas every once in a while, right?

I’ve been paying attention to what gets my synapses firing again when it all gets a little stale. I thought I’d share four helpful actions to help myself and others find inspiration, again. Continue Reading »

This afternoon’s post is a slight diversion from our typical schedule. We wanted to share with you the importance of blog styling and how you can learn more about it this week.

How many times have you landed on a blog post that was made up of nothing but large blocks of text on your screen? What happened? Did you read on or simply glance and then click away? Each and every one of us has very short attention spans. Right? Yes, I’m talking to you.

With volumes of new content being published online every minute, our attention spans will only begin to grow shorter as times passes.

Because of that, we’ve invited Nate Riggs to share his knowledge and help us all get some style in our lives blogs. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Michael Schechter.

Hey! You! Over there!

Dear blogger, we need to talk. Sit down for a second, ’cause I really want you to hear what I am saying.

You are taking yourself too seriously. No, don’t argue. Take a moment. Think about what I’m saying here.

Sure you take the work seriously, and that’s great. Sure, you have a blog that gets people’s attention and you’ve earned it. But at a certain point, a switch flipped (or a bit, for you geeks out there). You pushed yourself ahead of the work. What you were trying to say took a backseat to who you are trying to be. Continue Reading »

It’s Facebook question of the week time (clap, clap, clap)!

This week’s question comes from Alex Wood.

He asks:

“Hey Gini, happy Friday from Australia! I have a blog Q for you (and anyone else who feels like chiming in) Q: Are there any truly successful blogger ‘partnerships’ out there? I mean, two ppl working together on the one blog with the one vision. Sure, more hands, more contacts, more content = great! But I’m I just realized I’m about to start a blog with a colleague/friend and… well… I can’t think of an example of a similar blog or the potential issues they’d face. Am I missing something?? Alex” Continue Reading »