Categories
content marketing strategy

Bragging and Your Professional Bio: What You Need To Know

When it comes to writing, bios are probably one of the most awkward things to write.

We’ve all been there. Writing in the third person. Bragging about how awesome we are. Feeling like a total you know what.

Over the course of a day, I visit a lot of other entrepreneur’s sites and there’s an epidemic in our midst.

People don’t have bios or if they do have them, they are missing the point of having one in the first place.

The bio is critical to your site. It’s what separates the pros from the amateurs.

If you’ve ever been on a corporate web site, they have the bios of the executive team on there. Media, customers, investors, partners, and everyone else needs to be able to see at a glance what leaders bring to the table.

The same thing goes for your site too. Especially if you want to be be seen as an expert. This is a critical part of the Press Kit Principle.

Click to Tweet: Don’t let that awkward writing in the 3rd person stop you. Tips for writing a pro bio with @magspatterson – http://bit.ly/1kfu9Tn

Bios, while they may seem “traditional” are a necessity.

Tips for Writing a Great Professional Bio

Over the course of my career, I’ve written a lot of bios for executives and leaders. Back in my PR firm days I was constantly fine tuning my bio for every proposal we prepared.

I learned a valuable lesson from all the tinkering with my bio and everyone else’s. If you put a stake in the ground and say you are an expert, it is a way more believable to you and everyone else. Otherwise, it looks like you are making it up as you go.

Early in my career, I worked with multiple security software companies giving me a specific area of expertise in security technology. Knowing that was a growth area for the firm I worked at, my bio quickly reflected that knowledge and experience. By stating in my bio that I was the in-house expert on security technology, I had instant credibility and I quickly came to believe it as well. While I was relatively young in my career, I took my expert status seriously; keeping up on the trends and reading the latest books because I knew how important it was to be able to back up that claim.

The lesson? Convincing yourself to believe your own hype is half the battle. Your bio should be the best version of you no matter how you really may feel inside. Too often, we are hesitant to say things because we aren’t fully convinced of it. If it is true and believable, it needs to go in your bio.

Click to Tweet: Convincing yourself to believe the hype is half the battle. Tips for a better professional bio  with @magspatterson –  http://bit.ly/1kfu9Tn

Bragging is Necessary

On the flip side, there’s often resistance to bios as we don’t want to brag. Your bio is the one place where bragging is required and you are fully authorized to do so.

Here’s a few things you must brag about:you’ve

  • Measurable professional accomplishments – Think along the lines of grew by XX, made XX, served XX.
  • Years of experience – Call out how long you’ve been in your field, working in this area, etc.
  • Specific areas of knowledge or expertise.
  • Professional designations or education.
  • Relevant awards.
  • Speaking gigs and media appearance.

That’s a lot of bragging, but you need to do it all in about four to five action-packed sentences. The key is to brag in a professional manner and not in a way that makes you look like an ass.

The secret is context. You don’t need to list every last thing you’ve ever done, just the highlights that are most relevant to your status as an expert here and now.

A final word on bios. You may want to create multiple versions for use for different purposes. For example, if you are pitching guest posts, you’ll need a different bio if you are speaking versus on your web site.

Click to Tweet: Why you need to brag in your professional bio and other truths with @magspatterson – http://bit.ly/1kfu9Tn

If you want to learn more about bios and get some examples of great bios, opt-in to the Press Kit Principle and get your free guide below.

And if you want to dive deep…join me for the FREE WEBINAR I’m hosting next week – Entrepreneur to Expert. Click here to register now.

 

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Categories
content marketing strategy

Five About Page Mistakes to Avoid

This week we are going deeper into the Press Kit Principle looking at one of the key elements of your web site that you need to be ready for media and other influencers to visit, your about page.

About pages consistently rank as one of the most visited pages on any web site. It is natural because anyone visiting your site wants to know who you are and what you are all about.

For media and influencers, your about page is the first stop to assessing your suitability as an expert and they need to be able to ascertain that information quickly.

Look at it from their perspective. It’s 4 p.m., you are a journalist on deadline and need a health coach to offer comment for the story in the next 90 minutes.

You get on a health coach’s site, and your first stop is the about page. Now, it’s decision time. I need to know you are credible, so I’m looking for your certifications. I want to know who you work with and how long you’ve been a health coach.

I can’t find that info, so I quickly move on to the next coach on the list, who happens to be your business nemesis. Again, you are trumped by someone less qualified but with way more game. She’s quoted in your dream publication and it makes you nuts.

What are you going to do about it? Start with fixing your about page.

Getting Clear on the Purpose of Your About Page

First things first. If you have a web site, you need an about page. If you don’t have one, you need to get one written and up on your site, stat. By not having one, whatever your reason, you likely are losing valuable site traffic. No one likes to do business with someone who’s credibility isn’t obvious.

It’s not enough to simply have an about page, you need one that meets the needs of both your target customers and media/influencers. If you aren’t sure, you need to take the time to truly understand your ideal customers and what they see/think/feel and do before you can communicate clearly with them.

About pages, despite how critical they are when it comes to securing media or speaking gigs, and connecting with customers, are fraught with a number of common mistakes.

Here are five big about page mistakes to avoid.

1. It’s All About You

The name “about” page, may be misleading, but it’s not all about you. Your about page needs to be a place to connect with your customers and explain what you do and how you are qualified to do it. You want to create confidence that you can meet their needs and understand their challenges.

2. It’s Not About You…At All!

While about pages should address your customers, you need to include how you are the right person for the “job” in terms of experience and credibility. The page should not sound like anyone else but you – be authentic. If you work in a more formal market, breaking out casual, conversational copy may not be appropriate. And if you work with free-spirited entrepreneurs, you want to lose the stiff corporate speak.

Tweet This – It’s not all about you…well, at least with your about page. @magspatterson talks about page mistakes – http://bit.ly/1bYV9nc

Your about page is where your personality should come through so anyone who visits your site can quickly figure out if you are a good fit for them. Your experience should be showcased including your measurable achievements. The trick is to strike a balance between being humble and sharing your accomplishments.

Finally, be sure to include your picture so they can “see” you as well.

3. It’s Seriously Long and B-O-R-I-N-G

Your about page should educate and entertain. The idea is to have whoever is reading the page think “yes, I want to work with him” or “wow, I can’t wait to interview her”. Think of your about page as telling a story, so you need to keep it bite-sized and make it skimmable so readers can quickly get the key points. Freely use subheads and bullets to break up your copy.

4. You Don’t Showcase Your Relevant Experience

Don’t save your media or speaking experience for your press page. It has a place on your about page as well. Including this information signals to customers and media that you have authority and not just making it up as you go. If appropriate, link to your speaker or press page from your about page.

5. You Don’t Have a Formal Bio

If you are jockeying to get noticed, you need a formal bio ready to go. Your bio should be one or two paragraphs long and highlight who you are, what you do and why you are qualified to do it. Your should be added to to the bottom of your about page so it can be readily accessed by media/influencers and anyone else who is interested.

Need Help Sprucing up Your About Page?

I’ve opened up a number of Rapid Fire About Page Makeovers for late November and early December. Last week I was told I was “straight up crazy town” to keep doing this these sessions at such a low price, so they will be going up in price come January! Click here for more info.

Tweet This – Are you making one of these common about page mistakes? Fix them with these ideas from @magspatterson – http://bit.ly/1bYV9nc

Tweet This – Get your about page in order before you pitch the media and avoid these deal breakers via @magspatterson – http://bit.ly/1bYV9nc

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Categories
PR for small business

The Press Kit Principle: Why Your Web Site is Holding You Back

Things are going well in your business, but something seems to be missing. Something, but you aren’t sure what, is holding you back from the next big thing. A new partnership, client or direction.

Let’s say you are a life or health coach. It’s no big secret that the coaching market is pretty competitive.  You are feeling like the best kept secret in your industry as you’ve got happy clients and major experience. But there’s another coach

The Press Kit Principle

or someone you look up to that seems to get all the attention. Let’s call this person your business nemesis. (And don’t pretend you don’t have one, we all do and it’s totally normal.)

Ever wondered why your nemesis gets guest posts, podcasts appearances, telesummits, and more? First because they ask, they are open and then extend themselves. You simply cannot wait for people to come to you.

But reason number two, especially if you are starting to put yourself out there…is your web site. It may be hard to hear, but your web site may be majorly dropping the ball.

Your Web Site Isn’t Just for Your Clients

While your web site is there to serve your customers, it needs to serve a critical secondary audience that most coaches overlook – media and industry influencers.

Yes, you need to woo your clients when they visit your web site but you also need to be wooing media, influencers, show organizers and everyone else who can help you reach your goals.

Tweet This: Why your web site is holding you back. And it’s not what you think. http://bit.ly/1e2Nbve via @magspatterson

Enter the Press Kit Principle

Quick history lesson. Back in the day before the interwebs were the way to do business, companies used to put together press kits as a way to sell their client. As a junior PR person doing primarily media relations back before email was all the rage, let me tell you, I sent a lot of press kits, created a lot of press guides and faxed a lot of press backgrounders.

Press Kits were the way we’d sell stories and our clients to the media. It was a single place for them to get the info they needed.

Fast forward to 2013. Press Kits have largely been replaced by web sites as information can be accessed in a few clicks. All that stuff that we used to but in the press kit needs to be on your site.

Your web site is your press kit.

Every single time you connect with people online or in person, they are going to check you out.

BAM! 10 seconds to make an impression.

If you are out there pitching yourself, media are going to look specifically for a few things and decide in a split second if you are worth talking to or not. If you are credible or not. In that second, your fate relies on your web site.

The Press Kit Principle: Straight Up Human Psychology at Work 

We are trained from the time we are born to make snap judgments. We make them all day long without even realizing it. Some experts estimate that the average person makes 612 decisions every single day. (Thank you Ask.com)

There’s a lot of things that go into each decision from experience to intuition. The reality is that while you may truly be the expert on an issue, your web site visitor is going to make a decision based on their own biases and assessing limited information.

If you don’t cover all your bases, you aren’t going to make the cut, regardless of how good you may be. Your business nemesis who gets all the attention is beating you by providing better information.

Aside from your actual design, you are going to get judged on a number of things which make up the Press Kit Principle:

  • Your Home Page – Do I know what they do? Are they credible?
  • Your About Page – Who do you work with? Are they experienced?
  • Your Media/Speaker Page – Where have the been featured? What areas can they address?

If you nail these you’ll be ready for primetime. By applying the Press Kit Principle, you greatly improve your chances of making the cut and securing the opportunities you need to build your business.

When a blogger, influencer, journalist, producer or show organizer arrives, they can decide in seconds flat that you are an expert. You tick off the boxes which say you are a good person to work with.

Right or wrong. It’s true. Pay attention to how fast you make judgements next time you land on a web site. See? You don’t even realize it. It’s primal. That’s what people are doing to you and you can’t afford to make a bad first impression when you are out there hustling.

Ready to learn more? You can get the Press Kit Principle Guide for free below or you can book a consult your strategy call to talk about how we can work together to apply the the principle to your website.

Tweet This: Ever wonder why your business nemesis gets more time and attention than you do? @magspatterson has a theory http://bit.ly/1e2Nbve

Tweet This: Big web mistakes that are holding you back – The Press Kit Principle  – via @magspatterson http://bit.ly/1e2Nbve

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Categories
content marketing strategy

Bust Out. What’s your Blue Ocean Strategy?

blue ocean strategy The more time I spend in entrepreneurial circles, I’ve noticed a big mistake that many of us are making. When it comes to networking and hanging out online, we tend to flock to our own kind.

For  support and the occasional referral, I’m a huge advocate of the value this offers, but for building your business, we usually aren’t doing ourselves any favours.

Hello, comfort zone. The more time you spend there…the less action you are going to see in your business.  Stating the obvious, I know. But stick with me for a minute.

Wondering why you aren’t bringing in new business? Could it be that you are a writer hanging in groups full of writers and you are only guest posting on blogs that writers read?

Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.

I’m looking at you coaches, marketers and designers too. Guilty as charged. (Myself included.)

Ever had that moment in a group where you are excited that someone mentions your name…but then you read the thread and 10 other people in a similar line of work have been recommended? No matter how awesome you are it’s pretty anti-climatic. 

So, what’s a smart and savvy entrepreneur to do? Get out of dodge and find places where you can truly be the expert.  Wouldn’t you rather be the go-to web designer for wineries and breweries instead of grinding out any job you can get by swimming in the sea of many?

What’s Your Blue Ocean?

If you took Marie Forleo’s B-School, you are totally nodding along as the Blue Ocean Strategy is something that she covers in the first week. If you aren’t familiar with this concept, the idea is that for you to truly stand out you need to create your own blue ocean, otherwise you’ll be grinding it out swimming in a bloody ocean along with your competitors. (And definitely pick up the book, worth a quick read to get your head around this concept.)

When it comes to products or offerings, you’ve likely nailed your Blue Ocean. But what about when it comes to your target audience?  Out of fear we tend to go too broad and say our audience is “creatives” or “entrepreneurs”.  It’s safe. It’s easy. And when you are starting out, you sure as sh*t don’t want to turn away a possible client.

And yes, yet again, I’m guilty as charged. I’m writing this post as I’ve been digging deep on this one over the past two weeks.

Be the Best Damn {Fill in the Blank}

Brace yourself for my harsh reality check. You’re welcome.

Staying in the echo chamber is going to stunt your long-term growth potential. Do you want to grind it out to fight for clients or have a line up of clients dying to work with you?

Wouldn’t you rather work in a niche where you are the best damn {fill in the blank} in the history of the industry?

Raises hand. Me, pick me! I’m in!

For me, this means it’s time to sit down and define those niches where I have expertise and can show up and rock their work with sweet content and communications. Less competition, more market opportunity and guess what, even more media and speaking opportunities. Win-win-win.  I’m willing to bet, the Association of Legal Administrators isn’t getting a lot of proposals on building your personal brand or Social Media 101 for legal administrators for their annual conference.

If you want to see this strategy in action, check out Sophie Bujold (travel industry) and Carrie Smith (financial services). Thanks to both of them for inspiring me and helping me realize what I already knew – stop trying to be everything to everyone already.  File under rookie mistake.

Who’s with me?

Are you ready to dig deeper and do better for your biz?  Hit me up in the comments below.

Categories
PR for small business

Seriously Spooky PR Mistakes You May Be Making

spooky PR mistakesWorking with the media, you become hyper aware of the seasons and holidays. Always thinking of a tie in or a way to package your story so that it is timely. So when I started off writing this post on PR mistakes you may be making, I couldn’t resist tying it into Halloween.

Let’s face it, PR can be a bit of a mystery, so it become easy to make best guesses and figure it out as you go. While I love hands-on learning, there’s some things you simply cannot afford to mess up, especially as you are first out there trying to build your reputation.

With that in mind, I present, seriously spooky PR mistakes you may be making (with some practical tips, because that’s how we roll):

You’re a PR Ghost Outside of Launch
You are gearing up for the launch of your next e-course or info-product and you decide to throw some PR in the mix to round out your marketing. It’s the natural course of things to want more PR around the time of certain events in your business, but you need to avoid being a PR ghost when it isn’t launch time.

PR is about relationships and building credibility, so if you only “do it” when there’s something in it for you, that’s going to make people less receptive to your pitches in the long-run. PR isn’t seasonal, it should be something you focus on all year long.

Your Pitching is Right Out of a Horror Movie
You are in get it done mode, so you just want that speaking proposal submitted and that guest post pitch sent. So you slash through it to get it off the list.

Pitching is an art, one that requires preparation, starting with doing your research. Know who exactly you are pitching and what they are looking for. Understand the kind of content they publish or that speakers present at events.

Without your research, you know the stereotypical horror movie scene where the girl is running away from the killer? That’s the media or show organizers getting as far away from you as possible. You’ll be Freddy Krueger, Jason and Michael Myers all rolled into one.

You want to be the lovable heroine, think Sandra Bullock or even Katniss Everdeen if that’s more your style, but avoid pulling a Carrie and scaring off influencers for good.

Your Bio Makes You Sound Like a Zombie
As an entrepreneur, you probably have a bio that’s hanging out on your sales and about pages and selling you as an awesome expert of some sort. Often, the bio is an afterthought that gets done after these pages are written, which is wrong in so many ways.

That bio paragraph is probably more critical than you realize. It’s a first point of reference for customers and media, so it needs to sell you in 10 seconds or less. Go look at your bio. Does it sell you or do you sound like a zombie?

No matter what industry you work in, your bio should have some color. You are very much alive so you need you bio to show it. Sure, you need to be audience appropriate, but it should not read like it could be anyone in your industry’s bio.

{Need help with your bio? Check out the new Media Moxie offering – now in beta for only $99. Click here for the details.}

Tweet This

Click to Tweet: Does your bio sell you or do you sound like a zombie? Spooky PR mistakes you ma be making via @magspatterson http://bit.ly/H7ni1N

Click to Tweet: Is your media pitching out of a horror movie? @magspatterson shares spooky PR mistakes you may be making. http://bit.ly/H7ni1N

Categories
business storytelling

Three Unexpected Lessons from My Online Business

unexpected lessons about online business Since I started this blog three months ago, every single post has literally flown out of my fingers. Not a moment of hesitation as I shared my ideas, tips and PR secrets. Until now. Complete idea paralysis.

I was supposed to write about bios today, but I wasn’t feeling it. Then I decided I’d write about media pages and then Google Authorship. And finally, I decided to do about a million other things instead of writing this post. Folding the laundry was starting to look good. Not a good sign.

Like many of you I’m a master procrastinator when I feel resistance. And for some reason, I realized I was not going to write about bios this week, or anything specifically about PR.

After a day of decisions and planning, I decided I’d rather write this post about my business.

I’m eight years into my journey as an entrepreneur as a PR strategist and freelance writer. But when it comes to the online world, I’m a fresh new baby still figuring this thing out, so I thought I’d share a few things I’ve learned so far. Consider it my 90-day recap.

1. Transparency is Where it is At
Up until now, transparency has meant being straightforward with my clients and that’s about it. Because, let’s face it, PR is about telling a story and more often than not you are going to stretch that story to the most believable claim. That’s PR speak for finding a story and being creative, but staying within the lines of what’s true.

Online entrepreneurship is like the wild west in so many ways. So many claims and sales pitches, it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s spin. It’s noisy and it’s tiring at times.

That’s where transparency comes in. I find that I personally respect those entrepreneurs with authentic transparency. That is, they are honest and share, but not to the point of ridiculousness or so much so that it just doesn’t feel real. Sharing insights and inspiration (and not the humble brag about the time you made 7-figures) is what resonates with me.

Click to Tweet – Why I don’t want to hear your humble brag and other lessons about online business from @magspatterson http://bit.ly/1amik8v

So, in the true spirit of business transparency, yesterday I decided to kill my Claim Your Fame workshop. It wasn’t the right time and I’m more than okay with that. Sometimes you need to cut your losses and I’m surprisingly good with it. (Insert cartwheel here if I could actually still do one.)

My mission is to focus on my one on one offerings and writing services through 2014 and see where this adventure takes me. And so far, so good. I love being able to get down and dirty in someone’s business, digging out their stories, nailing their PR strategy writing their about page or ghost writing their killer content. The point is to do more of what you love, right?

2. I’m Beyond Grateful for My Clients, Corporate and Otherwise
Shifting from corporate, service-based consulting services to a fully online business is going to take a long time. Hello, elephant in the room.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I’ve realized that I’m deliriously happy that I can take my time and figure this out as I go, and not be worried about my bottom line.

For someone who’s a full speed ahead, let’s make this shit happen kind of girl, that’s a biggie. Major. Possibly earth shattering.

Doing things slowly isn’t really how I roll. Eight years ago I quit my job, without a client in sight, so I sort of had it in my head that I could pull that off again.

Three months in I realize that idea is going to be a recipe for disaster. Could I do it? Totally.

I know that I don’t really want to. Maybe my hustle is approaching middle age and I’m willing to try a different way. I want to have the cash to bootstrap this baby so I can grow it the way it was meant to be. I truly enjoy the work I do every day for my corporate clients and there’s no reason I can’t do that and work with entrepreneurs too.  I know, totally obvious, but I was in all or nothing mode.  Bad business decision adverted.

Good news for my corporate clients, you are safe for a good long time, I’m not going anywhere. Your guest posting programs, blog posts and whitepapers are still going to get all the TLC in the world from yours truly.

3. Crazy Good Relationships
As an adult, especially when you work from home, your opportunities to meet people, especially ones you have things in common with are limited. I have no coworkers to bond with and leaving my house requires putting on real pants. (Only partially joking.)

It’s not like I’m hurting for friends. I’ve got a circle of friends that truly get me like no other. They’ve seen the good, bad and seriously ugly cry. If I was going to give them a them a hashtag it would be #knowswherethebodiesareburied or #friendswhoholdbackyourhair.

To have the opportunity to meet even more smart, strong women that share my passion for the Internet, books and so many other things has been incredible. This has been probably the biggest surprise of all about doing business online, the crazy good relationships I’m forming with women that are beyond awesome. (I know that’s a lot of effusive language, but I promise you, it’s all true.)

Words truly escape me trying to sum this up. And that’s saying something. Because, I’ve got words, words and more words at all times.

There’s always someone willing to help, to answer a question or to pick you up. Amazing. And something I now realize that I’ve been sorely lacking in my business. I may be in business for myself, but I am definitely not alone. I’d list you all, but it’s a long list , so I’m sending a special shout out to the Fresh Crew, and Thrive Hive.

Tweet This – 3 Unexpected Lessons @magspatterson has learned from her online biz. http://bit.ly/1amik8v

Got a lesson learned from your online business? Comment below.

Categories
how to guest post PR for small business

Your Guest Post is Published. Now What?

  • You’ve waited weeks or even months for your guest post to be published. The post goes live, you tweet it out once and wait. And wait some more.Taps foot. Twiddles thumbs. Still nothing. Disappointment creeps in.

    I’m active in a lot of Facebook business groups, and often hear grumbling about guest posting opportunities that didn’t quite go as expected. Sure, maybe you didn’t get 100 new subscribers or an immediate booking, but this is a marathon not a sprint.

    Each guest post, on its own, isn’t going to amount to a lot. The real power comes in the momentum of guest posting and the body of work you’ll build over time.

    But enough with managing expectations. Your sweet words are out in the universe, so now what?

    Remember all that hard work and hustle it took to get the opportunity in the first place? Time to summon it up and get ready to promote the ever lovin’ out of that guest post.

    This is all on you. You can’t wait for people to find it. And definitely do not wait for the blog it’s running on to promote it. It’s your content, so own it and create a plan for promoting it.

    Let’s break out the “how” promoting your awesomesauce content on publishing day and for months after that!

    Your Guest Post is LIVE – Sharing is the Name of the Game 
    Today’s the day and your little slice of genius has been shared with the world. Don’t drop the ball now and let your guest post go unnoticed. It’s time to share, loud and proud what you’ve been up to:

    • Share Guest Posts with Your List. In your next regular communication with your list share your latest guest posts. This builds you up as an expert with a little bit of old fashioned third party credibility. If appropriate, you could also ask them to share the content to their networks.
    • Share on Your Social Networks. Share it widely – vary your intro to it, pull out different things as most appropriate for the platform. Be sure to cover off all of the ones you are active on.
    • Share an Excerpt on your Blog. Just an excerpt with a link back to the original content. Do not post the entire article, because Google has a hate on for duplicate content.
    • Ask Friends and Supporters to Share the Content. Ask for people to share it when appropriate. It’s amazing what can happen when you simply ask. Write the tweet or post for them to make it dead easy for them to share it.
    • Post in Groups. If you are active in Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn groups, you can share the content there as a resource for the other members. If you are going to go this route, make sure you don’t only show up to shamelessly plug yourself.

    A few other things you want to make sure you have on the radar for when the post goes live:

    • Monitor and Respond to Comments. Responding to comments and being active with those engaging with your post is one of the key areas that many guest bloggers miss. This is just good follow-through and helps add to your credibility. Plus, the blog owner will notice if you do or don’t do this.
    • Track Results. In the days following the post, you want to track sign ups to your list, referral traffic and other key metrics. Don’t get too stuck on the numbers, this is more to give you a snapshot, numbers don’t always tell the whole story.

    Ongoing Promotion – Recycling Guest Post Content for Months to Come 
    The true value of any guest post (or media coverage) is what you do with it in the long-term. The majority of the content shared in guest posts is evergreen meaning it has a long shelf-life.

    Here’s some ways to keep your guest post content front and centre for months to come:

    • Use it to Answer Questions. Seek out opportunities to answer questions on your areas of expertise in Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn Groups. Find industry forums or communities to participate in. Your guest post becomes a quick way to answer questions as they arise.
    • Keep on Sharing. As you plan your social media content, add tweets and posts about older guest posts. Think “from the archives” or “you may have missed”. Add something new when you share it to dress it up, or highlight something you think is timely.

    Are you ready to get out there and promote your guest posts? If you have one coming up, create a checklist so you can make the most of it.

Categories
how to guest post PR for small business

Guest Posting: Writing and Editing Tips for Your Post

tips for writing a guest blog postLove it. Hate it. Writing is an all too necessary reality when it comes to guest posting. No matter how your feel you’ll need to embrace it wholeheartedly.

That said, it doesn’t have to be a chore. There are some specific things you can do to make your writing comfortable and fun. I know for me, much of the stress around writing comes from being strapped for time and then “having” to write something.

Inspiration doesn’t always strike on a schedule…

Batch it, Baby

By doing solid research and writing pitches, you’ve got a lot of the hard stuff out of the way. So, it’s just a matter of making time to write the post.

Writing is one of those things where you need to get in the groove. So if you can, but aside time every week for writing your guest posts. If you are pitching on an ongoing basis you’ll quickly have a couple to write each week.  By batching them this way you can save time and energy.

Set up shop somewhere that inspires you or at a time of day that you find super productive.  If you get distracted turn off the Internet to help you stay on task.  Just do what you need to do to get the post written and ready to share with the world.

Creating Compelling and Complete Content 

Sure you’ve got your pitch as a starting point, but when you sit down to write, there’s a few things you do not want to miss as part of the writing process.

First stop, SEOville.  That’s right, time to talk keywords:

  • Title: If possible include them in your title for the piece, as close to the beginning of the title as possible.  If you want to learn more about great titles, check out Using Titles Effectively on ProBlogger.

  • Body Copy: Use your keywords throughout your copy but avoid using too many links, particularly back to your web site. This is a complicated issue and really needs its own post, but the bottom line is to not add a whole pile of links back to your web site in the post. If you are interested, you can check out this article from PC World on all the Google ins and outs on backlinks.

Now that we’ve got that pesky SEO stuff out of the way, here are some additional things you need to check as you write your post:

  • Tone: Avoid sounding like a professor. Yes, you want to write with authority, but you want to approach it from the place of “hey, I’ve totally been there” instead of “yo, I’m all-knowing”.

  • Research: Ensure you back up what you are writing as much as possible. It’s not about your opinion but an industry best practice or proven tactic. That’s where statistics, quotes and other things come in handy.

  • Be Specific: Deliver content that readers can take action from instead of talking in generalities. What do you want them to walk away and be able to do?

  • Create Original Content: Whatever you do, do not simply take another blog post you’ve written and slap a new title on it. Google wants original content and you want to serve your desination blog well with quality content not something you grabbed out of the recycle bin.

Edit Like a Pro or At Least Like You Mean It 

Once you have a finished piece, get ready for editing. This is where you should spend the bulk of your time.  The goal is to cut, tighten and improve your copy time and time again. So, last minute Lucy, this is why you do not want to write your guest post the night before the deadline, okay?

For your editing, if you can, trade off with friend or someone with a keen set of eyes. Recruit your VA or business BFF to get them to review and make changes.  A second set of eyes is always a good idea as sloppy mistakes can quickly kill your post if you submit it that way.

Self-editing is always a challenge, so try one of these tried and true editing tricks:

  • Read your text backwards. It’s a great way to find spelling or grammar mistakes.

  • Print it up and read it in hardcopy. It’s easier to see mistakes offline.

  • Read out loud. Does it sound like something you’d actually say? Does it make sense?

Finally, once you’ve written and edited, if you can give the post a day or two to mellow so you can come back to it with a new perspective. This is the perfect way to ensure you can chop sections that aren’t relevant and spiffy things up as you aren’t as attached the product. It’s no longer the masterpiece you just wrote but that post you are working on so you can definitely polish it up.  Good luck!

 

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how to guest post PR for small business

Guest Posting: Avoiding Looking Like the Freakin’ Amateur Hour

If you’ve done your research and taken the time to write a pitch that is targeted to the audience, you should be confident about sending your pitch.  I get all the mental stuff that goes with pitching, because after 15 years of pitching the media, I still get a feeling in my gut.   It’s a cocktail of excitement with a sprinkling of the “what ifs”.

The good news for you is that we are doing this pitch on email, so really you only have a few possible outcomes:

1. They like the pitch and say yes.

2. They like your pitch and forget to respond to you.

3. They don’t think it’s a fit and delete it.

Not so scary now is it? You can totally deal with being deleted.  No pain in that one.  You won’t even know about it.

Notice I didn’t say anything about being yelled at or publicly called out? If you’ve followed along with the past few posts, you are going to be pitching the right way. I’ve got you covered. So no fear of ending up on the Bad Pitch Blog or being the subject of Ash Ambridge’s ire.

Before You Hit Send on the Pitch – The Top Five Check List

So, you’ve got your pitch, you are nearly ready to hit send, so here’s your last minute checklist to ensure you don’t come off looking like the freakin’ amateur hour. Hard to look like an expert when you make rookie mistakes, right?

1. No Dear Editor. Make sure you are pitching the right person and using their name.  Do everything you can to find the name instead of just sending them to “hi editor”.  Double check spelling and names.

2. Review Guidelines. Do a quick review on any guidelines they may have to ensure your pitch complies.

3. Have a Clear Subject Line.  This is not the time to get all cute and clever. Be clear with your subject line using something like Idea for Guest Post or Proposed Guest Post for X Site.

4. Proof It.  Double, triple, and quadruple check that your pitch is correct and complete.  Typos are a deal breaker.

5. Send More than the Pitch. Remember you want to send an intro, your pitch, your two line bio and a couple writing samples. Make it simple for them to say yes to your guest post.

Are you ready to hit send? Do it, you’ve got nothing to lose and expert status to gain. Deep breath and go!

If they don’t get right back to you, do not despair. How many unread emails do you have in your inbox. Exactly! Your pitch probably hasn’t been read or was missed. After a week or two, go back and follow-up to see if they are interested. The key is to be gentle.  Usually then they will get back to you with a yay or nay.

If they don’t get back to you, feel free to recycle the pitch for another target. Whatever you do just don’t threaten to do this in your follow-up pitch, because that’s like stomping your feet because you are pissy. Not cool.

The key to great guest post pitching is to be professional and patient. And just know that not every single pitch will be a success. It’s all part of the game.

 

Categories
how to guest post PR for small business

Writing Your Guest Post Pitches: Why Pitching is Like Dating

Once you’ve done your homework and figured out where to guest post, now you’ll need to start working on your pitches.

Before you start sending pitches, you may want to spend sometime connecting with the people you are going to pitch.  Start by following them on Twitter, engaging on their blog by commenting and getting on their email list.

The goal, if possible, is to make yourself a “known” entity before you land in their inbox.

 In doing this, be genuine, because fakery and B.S. can be smelled a mile away. And then your guest post efforts are going nowhere fast.

Think of dating – people know when people are desperate, right. Total turnoff! If you were meeting Ryan Gosling, would you go all fan girl, or would you play it cool?  Experts add value, but they don’t go all fan girl.

Remember, good relationships are built over time and are based on trust.  Being helpful, knowledgable and of service can go a long way to helping your business in the long-term.

Be Unique – Create Stories that Sell 

As part of your preparation you should have developed specific stories for you guest posting. So before you  start writing your pitch,  do a full search on the blog/site you are targeting and make sure they have not had this story appear on their site before.   If they have, find an approach that will make it fresh and new.  Create a story you can sell.

If the blog has already done this topic to death, they are going to delete your pitch as you aren’t saying anything new.  True experts have something new and interesting to say, so take your expert status seriously.

Elements of Your Successful Pitch

For each of your desired targets, you will want to prepare:

  • Title of your post

  • Summary paragraph outlining the key points for your story

  • Short two line bio that jives with their site

  • Links to your best writing samples

The bulk of your time should be spent on creating a short and impactful summary paragraph that sells your story.  Remember, you want to establish the issue and outline what you are going to talk about in your story. Keep pitches short, short, short. (Seriously, I mean short!)

People skim over emails, so you are going to lose the blogger/editor if you send an epic pitch.  If they want more detail, they will ask for it.

Your bio should be short and to the point as well. Give them enough to know that you are qualified to write on the topic you are pitching and have experience in your field. Two lines maximum.

More than anything, pitching is about providing everything they need so they know they can trust you to execute and you are legit. Before you send that pitch, consider things from the decision maker’s point of view – is your pitch correct and complete, are you credible, are you professional? If you can cross those things off the list, you’ll greatly increase your chances of success.