The Life and Death of Blogs
Posted on | January 21, 2012 | No Comments
Organizing my Google Reader blog RSS subscriptions this evening, I realized just how many of blogs have fallen by the wayside. In one case, the blog’s author died. Another blog fell off the rails when the blogger succumbed to his drug addictions. Most of the blogs just stopped publishing for far less dramatic reasons.
In some cases, the blog always had a definite end in mind. A blog about being unemployed ended when the blogger got a job. Another blog about being an ex-pat who moved to Vancouver dried up after the writer had pretty definitively covered every aspect of his transition between the USA and Canada.
In other cases, the blogger just ran out of steam. A blogger who wrote about their personal life surely hasn’t stopped having a personal life; they just stopped feeling the need to document it. Another blogger who wrote about American politics similarly would not have run out of material; but for whatever reason, their passion died.
Blogs die all the time. It often happens when the blogger doesn’t have another reason besides passion to keep going. Bloggers usually need something behind a sheer bloody-minded writing urge to keep the blog alive:
- Financial incentive. Whether you’re being paid to write the blog by a client, taking Google ad revenue or using your blog as a marketing strategy to bring in customers for a business, money is a big motivator to keep blogging. Heck, money is a big motivator to do anything. (This is also a reason why some of my clients keep me on as a blogger on their site — they’ve lost the passion to keep blogging, but they don’t want to lose the revenue they get from social media marketing).
- An engaged audience. Particularly when bloggers are starting out and not getting a whole lot of attention, the isolation can be really demoralizing. If a blog manages to engage its audience to leave comments and share links, and traffic seems to be growing, a blogger will keep up the hard work in the hope of even greater reward and attention.
- Collaborators. Getting friends and colleagues to contribute to a blog doesn’t just help keep the blog fresh. Being part of something bigger also imposes certain psychological obligations. Now you’re not just writing for yourself; if you don’t write your heart out, you’re letting your team down. With community blogs, you can also have a kind of succession. The original blogger who started the thing moves on, but the blog takes on a life of its own beyond what the prime mover foresaw.
It’s a little bit sad when blogs die, but no more than when a magazine or television series stops production. If there’s an audience, a blog will emerge to cater to it. When the audience’s tastes change, other blogs will rise up to cater to them. An online version of natural selection takes place in a world of ideas. There will be death. There will be life. But so long as you take care to update your Google Reader to keep track of all the new stuff, at least it’s always interesting.
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Tags: life and death of blogs > Social Media > Vancouver blogger
Remembering Christopher Hitchens
Posted on | December 16, 2011 | No Comments
Some called Christopher Hitchens the greatest living writer in the English-speaking world. The man will be sorely missed by those who can only aspire to live up to his standard.
Web Pages That Suck
Posted on | November 30, 2011 | No Comments
I have a new favorite YouTube video category: Web Pages That Suck. A series was put together by a guy named Vincent Flanders. Here are some examples of website pages that don’t quite make the grade in terms of design, content and navigation. Rest assured that good SEO website copywriting was also not a factor in any of these sites.
Sooner or Later, We All Start Using Google Plus
Posted on | November 30, 2011 | No Comments
Here’s a decent video explaining why someone would move over to Google + from Facebook. It covers the basics. Google + has already added business user accounts. Anyone have any interesting insights about moving over?
Social Media Case Studies and Return On Investment
Posted on | November 28, 2011 | No Comments
One of the most common questions I get these days from my SEO website copywriting clients is “what kind of ROI can I expect from social media?” This often happens after I’ve written them some content for their website and they’ve begun to realize they might want to get some more links in to that content.
(Naturally, it would be better if the social media promotion and website content development was designed in tandem as part of an overall communications strategy, but many clients prefer a more cautious, piecemeal approach — which is fine, too. Baby steps).
What they’re often really asking is “if I invest X amount of dollars into social media, what is going to be my guaranteed result” — notwithstanding that even specialists using the standard print and advertising marketing methods we’ve had with us for decades have not been able to answer that question with 100 percent certainty.
They’re looking for reassurance. At this point, I often point them to examples from Tod Maffin’s handy social media case studies website, Case Studies Online. There you will find real case studies of companies in just about every sector, using every social media platform we’ve got, from blogs, Facebook and Twitter to Flickr and YouTube. You can see how much these companies spent and the results they got, often in very specific dollar amounts. You can search case studies by industry or by specific social media tactic.
It’s a great resource. Check it out.
For All Your Holiday Copywriting Needs
Posted on | November 25, 2011 | No Comments
The biggest shopping season of the year has begun. Are you ready to compete with great marketing content that will promote your company’s products and services over your competitors while buyers are still ready to spend? If not, there still a little time to hire a copywriter to get it done.
Here’s a common scenario:
President Bob: “OK, people! It’s been a tough year and this holiday Xmas shopping season could make or break our company. But we’ve got a secret weapon: we’re launching the X-5000. This product has got it all. Our competitors are going to be falling over themselves.”
Sales VP Sally: “We’re going to make this happen, Mr. President. The X-5000 is going to sell itself.”
President Bob: “Lucky for you, it won’t have to. You’ve got your sales campaign ready to go with a custom sales letter, new SEO website content for our custom landing page, newsletter update and all the rest of it.”
Sales VP Sally: “Totally, boss, we’re… come again?”
President Bob: “You have all those promotional materials ready, right?”
Sales VP Sally: “Jerry in Marketing was supposed to have all that ready.”
President Bob: “Well, Jerry’s been away with pneumonia for a week and he was already behind, working on those brochures I asked him for two months ago. You know that. I haven’t seen a draft of any of that promotional stuff. Have you seen any website content? Newsletter? Anything?”
Sales VP Sally: “Noooooo… I just thought he’d be taking care of it.”
President Bob: “So, Jerry’s away. And you haven’t drafted anything…”
Sales VP Sally: “Um, well, copywriting isn’t really my job…”
President Bob: “Jerry won’t be back until next week at the earliest. We have to have stuff going out yesterday.”
Sales VP Sally: “I guess I could draft something.”
President Bob: “I’ve seen your writing. That’s why you’re not our copywriter. And it’s looking like Jerry isn’t going to be for much longer either. That lazy germ-infested weasel…”
Sales VP Sally: “We’re just going to have to hire an outside copywriter to get this done, then.”
And that’s where we come in. Happy holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah, people.
Zangief vs. Copywriter
Posted on | November 25, 2011 | No Comments
A little bit of Friday silliness: while the pen is stronger than the sword, the professional SEO website copywriter is not necessarily stronger than a 400-pound former street-fighting Russian wrestler.
New Resources. SEO, Web Copywriting, Communications and more
Posted on | November 24, 2011 | No Comments
OK, most of the articles on our new Resources page, with tips on SEO for websites, social media strategy, communications and more were written a while back. But if you haven’t stopped in for a while, or this is your first time, they’re “new” for you. If you’ve been thinking about updating your company’s web presence, these resources are there to give you some ideas.
You can always contact us directly if you’ve got more questions about basic concepts of SEO, website content, blogging, etc.
Already pretty informed about SEO and the rest and want to know more about our company’s copywriting process? Have a look at our FAQ and learn how we help clients get better website content, newsletters, press releases and more.
Tags: SEO copywriting resources > SEO website copywriting Vancouver > social media strategy
Learn How To Make Your Website SEO Friendly From Google
Posted on | November 19, 2011 | No Comments
Ever wonder how website copywriters use search engine optimization (SEO) to get companies top-ranked on Google and other search engines? It’s not magic. We do actually have best practices.
I’ve gone over some of the standard website SEO strategies on this blog before, but if you want something a little more comprehensive, feel free to go right to the source: Google. That’s right — Google has published it’s own official SEO Starter Guide. It’s actually been out for a while. Here you go:
Why am I just giving this information away on my website? Won’t my clients be tempted to just read the document and stop using my services? I doubt it.
First of all, Google has already shared this information on search engine optimization with millions of people. And SEO wonks like me have been helping give this information away for free in a more curated form for years. I’ve been giving it away and I’ll keep giving it away.
Second, there’s a difference between knowing the rules and being able to actually do the work. SEO is akin to the game of Chess, in that the basic rules can be learned in a single session: expertise takes years.
The advantage in sharing this information with my clients and colleagues is that they understand the value that an SEO website copywriter provides to them. The more they know about the process, the more they’ll appreciate the work that’s being done — and the better they’ll be able to strategize their website presence for their business.
Need help with your website? Contact us today to learn more about our SEO website copywriting services
Tags: business website content writer > search engine optimization Google > SEO website content copywriter Vancouver
Ray Bradbury on Writing Persistently
Posted on | November 19, 2011 | No Comments
A writer writes. It’s that simple.
We write your SEO web content, newsletters and more, so you don’t have to.
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