My first encounter with a journalist didn’t quite live up to my expectations. Instead of sharing stories about the interesting people he had met, a Chicago TV anchor visiting my high school bemoaned the grueling hours and the lack of a personal life facing journalists.
He sternly warned the group of stone-faced juniors and seniors against getting into the profession unless they were willing to deal with the long work hours, stiff competition and, even worse, inadequate pay. It quite literally turned into a lecture. Read more »
The recent Netflix fiasco should give business owners — both large and small —a powerful case study in the need to openly communicate with their client base.
According to a recent report by the Associated Press, the video subscription service already has lost about 800,000 customers in the wake of a price hike. And it’s expected to lose even more in the coming months. As a result, the company’s shares have dropped by nearly 30 percent.
What happened to cause so many customers to take flight?
In an interview, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings admitted that the company didn’t do a good job communicating its reasons behind the pay hike. In the absence of that communication, he says, Netflix transformed itself into an image of an “evil, greedy corporation” in the eyes of its customers. Read more »
Ken Moorhead is the social media manager and blog editor for Compendium, the business blogging platform. When not busy writing creative briefs for the Compendium staff blog, he fills the hours with MBA studies and general hijinx.
In the comments following my last post, Six Minutes to Understanding Business Blogging, Kyle Lacy brought up an excellent point that I left off about business blogging – your blog posts should elicit an emotional response from readers. In order for a business blog to be effective as a marketing tool, readers must, above all else, identify with the content to be willing to take some kind of action.
Taking some time to mull over just how to get an emotional response, I realized there’s a big difference between knowing what’s important to good business blogging and executing an effective content strategy that compels readers to react. Over the past month of reading industry blogs daily, I discovered a quick(er) way to help readers connect with a business: borrowing quotes from historical figures or celebrities. Read more »
Sucky writing is going to hurt you more than you thought, thanks to the new Google Panda update.
Used to be, if you used the different search engine optimization tactics, like backlinks and proper keyword density, you achieved that first page ranking.
Of course, if your writing sucked, visitors didn’t stick around for very long anyway, but hey, you were at the top of the search engines, right? Read more »
In this age of technology, cheating has never been easier.
No, I’m not talking about cheating on your better half. That’s an entirely different story that – as we would say here at Slingshot – doesn’t fit into our RELEVANCY standards for this particular blog. Read more »
For those who know me, I’ve got this thing called a “major block” when it comes to plastering paint on canvas. My cabinets are stocked with everything it takes to create a facsimile of a masterpiece … acrylic paints, watercolors, brushes, palettes, canvasses, Mason jars. I even have three easels out in the garage.
Yes, I have the materials, but let’s just say there’s not a whole lot of original art hanging on my walls … at least nothing with my name on it.
In my past life as a reporter, I interviewed plenty of artists who couldn’t seem to relate to my predicament as a frustrated artist. During that time, I received plenty of advice about getting unblocked. Here are a just few that stand out:
• “Just go out in the yard and throw some paint on canvas.” • “Start with a small canvas so you’re not overwhelmed.” Read more »
Ken Moorhead is the social media manager and blog editor for Compendium, the business blogging platform. When not busy writing creative briefs for the Compendium staff blog, he fills the hours with MBA studies and general hijinx.
Blogging. More like “blah-ging” right? Not quite, people. Sure, a blog is a great place to post funny pictures of cats, but it’s also a killer marketing tool that can fuel both your search and social media strategies. Business blogging is a different animal with its own tricks of the trade. But what makes a blog good for business in the first place? Lucky you: that’s exactly what the next six minutes of reading are all about.
Blogging is conversational
A blog is a great place to toss aside the super-polished “marketing-approved” buzzphrases and actually speak in a natural, informal voice. Don’t get me wrong – carefully crafted marketing messages are important to any brand strategy, and elements of them should be present in a business blog. But a blog is also a great place to try new angles on your messages – take advantage of the less formal setting, play with some wacky analogies and ask readers to interact and participate. Read more »
For years, I’ve been preaching on behalf of the shorter article … even in my print days.
In a world dominated by CNN Headline News, breakfast-, lunch- and dinner-on-the go, overnight deliveries and promises of miraculously fast weight loss, it’s obvious we’ve become a culture accustomed to instant gratification.
Who has time to read a 1,000-word article? Especially on the Internet, which is notorious for attracting millions of “browsers?”
So why did I pause when a journalism student recently asked about the need to edit down his lengthy articles? Just after giving him my spiel about the need to grab readers fast and keeping their attention by writing succinctly, the face of Marge Schott popped into my mind. Read more »
When it really comes down to it, good writing — the type of stuff people will actually bother to read — is built on a foundation that you probably learned back in grade school.
As Sherlock supposedly would put it: “Elementary, my dear Watson. Elementary.”
The truth of that hit home to me the other day as I sifted through the mound of books, homework, binders and parental consent forms my 11-year-old dumped on the kitchen table after just a couple of weeks at school.
In the midst of all this stuff, something caught my eye: “6 + 1 Traits of Writing Checklist.” I fully expected to find something a bit lightweight — targeted to the level of a bunch of kids still mesmerized by the likes of Justin Bieber. Read more »
It all begins with what we like to call “Guy meets Girl.” When a guy meets a girl he’s attracted to, he’s determined to woo her, and if Girl is worth it, Guy will woo her by any means necessary. So Guy wants Girl’s attention, and to get it he has to be creative. What does he do? He buys her a diamond. I will admit, the diamond is not usually the first trick guys pull out of the bag, but for the purposes of creating a visual, I am working on the fast track.
Slingshot SEO has a method of tackling enterprise SEO: C.L.A.S.S.—Content, Links, Architecture, Social and Strategy. As a member of the Slingshot team, C.L.A.S.S. means a great deal to me, but the fact that I am a Search Media Editor makes one particular letter a prime focus: C. With over three years of editing experience content has always had a special place in my heart, and thanks to the Google algorithm, content should have a special place in the heart of any company striving for SEO success.
Let’s think of content in terms of diamonds. Diamond is to Girl as Content is to the Google Algorithm
By anyone’s standards, it’s safe to say that ranking on Google is worth the extra woo efforts. The higher quality your content is, the better your chances with the algorithm. Consider Guy offering Girl a ruby instead of a diamond. By no means is a ruby a cheap investment. It’s a nice gesture, but a gesture is all it is. A site with little or no content is equivalent to the ruby. It may be worth looking at, but it doesn’t encourage staying power.
With talk of bounce rates playing a role in search, staying power is what you need. Having quality content on your site encourages users to stay longer, giving you a regular bounce rate which, in theory, plays a more positive role in search than the actual bounce rate which is calculated by viewers coming to your site and leaving immediately because they don’t find what they want, or in some cases because there is no content to read.
But having content isn’t the end of the road. Diamonds are nice, but only when they appeal to the four C’s—Clarity, Carat, Cut and Color. For those of you who aren’t diamond connoisseurs, the bottom line is that having a 4 carat diamond that is poor in color or isn’t cut in a way to allow light to pass through is insignificant—there is just no dazzle. Just the same, you don’t want your web content to be lacking in any area either.
So what are the 4 C’s of writing for the web? Clarity: Have a point, know your point and get to it quickly. Concision: Use the least amount of words possible to make your point. Character: Connect with your readers through an engaging voice. Correctness: Make credible statements, and check your grammar.
Pay attention to the style and the voice of your content. Understand your target audience, and write in a way to woo them. Give them the diamond of their dreams, and then sit back and watch the magic. How do ensure that you content meets the 4 C’s of writing for the web?
Erik co-authored 
Business blogging is a different animal with its own tricks of the trade. But what makes a blog good for business in the first place? Lucky you: that’s exactly what the next six minutes of reading are all about.
