“Content may rule, but your online content must be the right sort of content: Customer-focused. Authentic. Compelling. Entertaining. Surprising. Valuable. Interesting. In other words, you must earn the attention of people.”

Content Rules by Ann Handley & C.C. Chapman (emphasis mine)

You know that person who never ever stops talking about themselves? Or the one who always has something nice to say – right before they tell what their agenda really is? That’s probably not you.

When you and I are engaged in a conversation, there’s plenty of give-and-take. You’re a wonderfully empathetic listener offline. You share ideas that build my ideas into better ideas. You’re humble. You’re modest. I enjoy talking with you.

But when you write a blog post … it’s as if someone else has taken over your brain.

You write about you a lot. And how this idea or that plan will help your business. Dropping names and promoting specials is great now and then (70-20-10), but as your blog coach, let me share this tip:

Write with your Reader in Mind

Read from the other side of the computer for a minute and ask yourself three questions  (as the reader, not the writer):

1. Would I finish reading this post?
2. Would I share this post?
3. What would I remember about this post?

Use the quote above from Content Rules as a guideline: Customer-focused. Authentic. Compelling. Entertaining. Surprising. Valuable. Interesting.

Write with your Reader in Mind. Earn Their Attention

originally posted on Dialing8

Using lists in your content is a great way to gift readers by providing “eye rests” and making your content easier to read and share.

Is there a difference between using bullets or numbers? Yes.

Think of a numbered list as a step-by-step order and a bulleted list as unordered. In fact, these two types of lists are called “Ordered Lists” and “Unordered Lists”.

An unordered list might include things you would pick up at the grocery store:

• Eggs
• Green Onions
• Bread
• Bell Pepper
• Orange Juice

An ordered list might be the instructions on cooking breakfast:

1. Dice vegetables into bowl
2. Wisk three eggs into a different bowl
3. Sautee vegetables over medium heat
4. While vegetables are cooking, begin toasting bread
5. Pour a glass of orange juice
6. Pour egg mix into pan over vegetables
7. Flip eggs (if omelet  style) or scramble

In the second list, if I used an unordered list, we might’ve had cold toast, burnt eggs, and a salad for breakfast. So bullets are simply a list without specifically an order. An ordered list shows a list of items in order of priority.

I don’t know about you, but now I’m hungry.

Here’s a video by Tad on how to do lists in WordPress (with a bonus tutorial on blockquotes):

Friday afternoons are often a bit more relaxed, but relaxed doesn’t mean lazy. The Strong-End Summits (videos that will keep brains and hearts afire) are a way to end our week strong and come back refreshed.

Google’s Matt Cutts answers a deep question about How Google Search Works

Becky McCray discusses Small Town Rule # 4: Anywhere, Anywhen

A new site, TED-Ed, has tremendous potential for education on both sides of the room

Jon Loomer shows us how to use Facebook Insights to determine day, time, and types of content to post

The Piano Guys share a rendition of Bourne/Vivaldi (always great writing music)

Here’s to the start of a strong weekend

Banging out a blog post in a single sitting is a great feeling. Especially if it’s one of those 20-minute spills that seems to write itself.

My goal is to publish one post each day. My personal policy is to write at least 45 minutes each day (specifically for my blog) . Sometimes I can complete a post; Other times I start a post and keep it in draft status.

Since I’m an early riser, there’s not much to interrupt flow first thing in the morning, so …

4:45 am – I’m looking to complete a half-blog post that’s sitting in draft status. Yet if I awake with something specific in my head I’ll get that down. I can often compose a post, find a link and an image, and schedule promos for the post in a half hour or so. Time elapsed: 30 minutes

Idea Capturing – I’ve used various note taking devices (a pocket-sized notepad, index cards, post-its) to capture notes, ideas, headline ideas. I’ve settled on using Evernote because it synchs to any device I have at my fingertips. Time elapsed: never more than 5 minutes at once (and that’s probably two too many)

Good Night – Before turning off for the day, I will compose an outline of a post or some ideas so I something fresh in the morning. At this writing, I have about a dozen posts in draft or scheduled status. Time elapsed: 15 minutes

Images: If I get to an appointment early, I’ll cruise through Flickr or other image libraries and star or favorite good images for future use. This saves me time in the future, and allows me to still give proper attribution if I decide to use an image. Time elapsed: varies – I only do this when on hold for a phone or meeting.

Like any other exercise – the more you do it, the quicker and stronger you become. Invest an hour (in parts) crafting blog posts in the average day and you’ll be ahead of your goals quickly.