What is the difference between an article and a blog post?

An article is a lengthy piece of writing, written in an expert’s point of view, aimed at explaining a topic in great detail. A blog post is a shorter piece of writing, usually in a ‘conversational’ style, aimed at updating or educating your readers, or to spark ideas and interest in your business.

Articles are produced to promote the author’s expertise and prowess at writing and research, hence why they are long. A blog post should take one subject and explain it succinctly within a few short paragraphs, written from multiple view-points to gain the comprehension of the reader.

Articles can vary in length, and even though they are online, are designed to be printed out for leisurely reading. Blog posts are meant to be read immediately. The subject should be introduced within the headline and first sentence, and the concept within the first paragraph. As most blog readers only read the first 25% of a post, or spend an average of 96 seconds, getting the jist across at the very beginning is important to achieve your post being read in full.

Twitter has minimalised this even further (hence why it’s called micro-blogging). There are just 140 characters to get your point across and capture your reader’s interest, but you do have the advantage of interaction: a tinyurl link can be added to direct the reader to a blog post or article for further reading.

10 Fantastic Books About Marketing Your Blog Online

This is another excellent post by Randa Clay about 10 ‘must-have’ books if you want to succeed in blogging:

http://randaclay.com/blogging/10-fantastic-books-about-marketing-your-blog-online/

A well worth read!

How do I use my blog to promote my business?

Hello Alice,

I do have a blog but I am not sure if I use it correctly. I created my blog to promote my business and to benefit from Google ranking. I am afraid I am not writing as much as I wanted … my excuse not enough time, but the real reason is I don’t really know how to use it correctly and benefit from it.

I am open to suggestions. Please visit www.penelopesweddings.com/blog.

Penelope

–oo00oo–

Hi Penelope

Yes, you’re on the way to producing a great blog! But we need to make it more interesting, for both your readers and the internet spiders.

As a wedding business I’m sure you have some great images you can share – beautiful brides, sumptuous cakes, fabulous dresses, elegant receptions, giggling bridesmaids – advertise and promote your business through pictures! If you have a great set of photos to share you needn’t write that much to go with it, they will speak for themselves.

You need to upload an image that resembles the header on your website so that your blog looks more like its extension. You can do this through the Appearance link on the Dashboard and go down to Custom Header and download a header image. WordPress give instructions on how to do this, alternatively you could use my blogging package ‘Creating a visual identity’ which is part of my ‘Beautifying your Blog’ series I’m creating on my new blogsite.

I’m glad to see you’ve created categories and blogs, but I think you should vary your tags to capture a wider audience for search engine optimisation. I imagine you got these keywords from Wordtracker or some similar provider – great – but other words that are relevant to your post will increase spider activity and therefore traffic to your blog, and ultimately your website. And don’t forget to put the tag cloud widget onto your sidebar along with one for your recent posts.

Post a nice picture of you on your About page, plus a bit more about you and some links to your website. People like a personal touch, especially for the service industry.

And if you want to accumulate a following, get a RSS feed URL from feedburner.com or feedblitz.com and put the code for the chicklit button or new post subscription link into a text widget and place it at the top of your sidebar.

There’s quite a lot to be getting on with here, so take it step by step. But the best way to promote your blog is to keep putting up new posts, preferably short, concise and relevant, regularly rather than frequently, with content gathered from your day-to-day activities that you think will interest your readers and potential customers.

Alice

—

Hi Penelope

On further inspection I’ve worked out that your blog is actually a self-hosted WordPress blog attached to your existing website!

To accomplish what I said in my last post, uploading your matching header will have to be done through your ftp provider into an images file, and then allocated to that particular area of the .css within the theme. This is quite techie, so if you are not inclined in that department you will have to get your webmaster to do this for you.

The widget stuff is the same, except that because it is a self-hosted blog you can upload forms into your text widgets and posts, something you cannot do in a ‘free’ WordPress blog. Take advantage of this with a new post subscription sign-up box which is included with your blog’s RSS feed – encourage your followers to keep in the loop with any new information you post.

Alice

Blogs aren't scary, they're fun!

Hi Alice,

I just wanted to say a big thank you to you for your very helpful advice on blogging, I have just started my blog and was really unsure the how to’s etc. I will definitely be making it a part of my daily routine.

I would love your thoughts on mine (please be honest) we can only learn from it! http://fijianbeauty.wordpress.com

Again thanks for your honesty and very practical advice.

Julz

–oo00oo–

Hi Julz

Well done for starting a blog! That ’s probably the most frightening step taken, now comes the fun part.

You’re already got three posts up, and the headlines are good, because I immediately knew what you were about. These headlines are also permalinks (URLs) for each post, which have a separate page and identity, especially when it comes to search engine optimisation. They need to contain your keywords not only for your readers but for the internet spiders as well.

Where are the pictures? Your product is very visual, do don’t shy away from posting up images. You need to put a picture of yourself plus some more pictures into your About page too. Include some testimonials too if you have any good ones.

You’ve entered some tags in your posts, good, but you haven’t chosen your categories yet. Categories are like chapters and help readers search for specific posts under subjects. You can list both your tags and widgets with their respective widgets in your side bar.

Your header still has the words ‘Just another WordPress.com blog’. In your Dashboard go into Appearance and choose Custom Header. There you can upload an image for your header, which can also include the correct text to publicise your business. Alternatively you can change the wording to suit, or delete it so it doesn’t show through your graphics.

You can go to town with your widgets: why not put up recent posts, top posts and comments along with your tag cloud and categories. Encourage feedback and interaction, it’s good for everybody.

If you’re feeling particularly techie, go to feedburner.com or feedblitz.com and sign up for your blog’s RSS URL, and put the code for the RSS button and new post subscription feed into a text widget right at the top of your side bar to encourage followers. This is always good for search engine optimisation purposes, and you’ll find lots of uses for it at a later date.

That’s enough to be getting on with. Keep posting regularly, that’s more important than frequently: spiders work better with regularity, and make sure all your posts are relevant and of value, and don’t make them too long. And keep me up to date with your developments too!

I’m writing a series of packages called ‘How to beautify your blog’ on my new blogsite which should be ready very soon; meanwhile you could join my blogging newsletter to keep in up-to-date with my latest blogging news, especially about my blogging teleseminar on 14 May.

Alice

Magazine awareness to provide marketing value

Guest post by Tamra Booth, Editor of Vive Magazine

Combining design with marketing? Well, this is absolutely essential if you want your marketing to be effective and to deliver value for money.

Magazines and newspapers are notoriously terrible at making sure their clients’ adverts are effective. How many times do you hear people say, ‘I never advertise, it doesn’t work’. Well, I have a fair few times, but that is because they have had an advert designed that might look pretty but it does not grab the reader’s attention, it does not relate to the reader, there is no call to action, so the reader’s eye moves on to the next advert. If we are sent an ineffective advert by a client then we send it back with suggestions. Our designer has a marketing background. Also we offer packages to clients so they reach their customers in different ways, so a mix of designs to drive home a clear and eye-catching marketing message.

Advertising can and does work wonders but it is all down to this Design/Marketing theory that Alice wisely promotes. Whether online or in-print marketing, a clear marketing objective is the way to go. Otherwise you might as well throw your money down the drain.

Tamra Booth | Editor | Vive Magazine
Tel/Fax: 01753 857855 | Mob: 07798 501549 |
25 Hemwood Road, Windsor SL4 4YX | tamra@vivemagazine.co.uk

Alice’s comments: Tamra failed to mention the importance of headlines highlighting the customer’s pain, the subheading announcing your solution to that pain, bullet points listing the benefits behind the purpose of the advert, provide an incentive-laden, time dependent call to action and make sure your contact details are large, clear and accompanied by a demand to ‘do’ something!

What should you say and how to say it within your leaflet campaign

Quick reference:
How to get your leaflets to start working for you
How to get your successful leaflets to look good

It’s not what you say, but how you say it, that contributes towards a successful campaign. Be aware that your customers come first; after all, your business would not exist without them, so therefore they need to be the main focus for your campaign. This means you need to turn your mindset around to accommodate the fact that your business comes way down the pecking order of importance.

Each element of your message needs to be carefully planned, placed and executed. The first thing at the top should not be your logo and company name. Even though most leaflets and adverts blare theirs out from this position, this only works for worldwide recognised businesses; otherwise the reader’s reaction is ‘who?’ or ‘so what?’.

The main key element is the headline, which should be designed to attract attention. Begin your campaign with a statement or question that stimulates a positive response to your customers’ pain or problem. You should have done adequate market research to find this out, so position yourself inside your customers’ head and start to think like them. Work with something that will result in the reader saying ‘yes’.

The subhead should provide the resolve or solution to the headline, and there you can subtly drop in the name of your company.  I mean subtly, as the solution should always come first. The result should be to increase the readers’ empathy towards what you are offering.

Next highlight your benefits in bullet points. Here most businesses happily list their features, but remember since you are focusing on your customers, turn these features around to their point of view, so that they become customer benefits. Take out all the ‘we’ and ‘our’ and substitute them with ‘you’ and ‘yours’ to achieve this.

Why use bullet points? Readers find it easier to scan or quick read through a list than to trawl through a dense paragraph. In this fast moving 21st century, bombarded with stimuli from every direction, people don’t have the time or inclination to read everything. A list containing concise, focused and relevant points is more likely to be absorbed.

If you don’t ask, you don’t get. How many campaigns forget to include a call to action? The remainder of your leaflet could contain all the right ingredients, but if you don’t ask your readers to do something, even to tell them to call you for more information, then what is the point? And by making this time-dependent you are more likely to stimulate a response, otherwise, even if they have the best intentions towards your campaign, there is no stimulus to demand a quick reaction and your leaflet could get forgotten.

And last but not least, make sure your contact details are large, clear and easily accessible. If your telephone number doesn’t jump out to hit them between the eyes, your landing page web-address is not clearly visible, or your email is hidden amongst other text, you will not encourage your customers to make contact. And no customer contact means no sales.

How to get your successful leaflets to look good

The misfortune of the single leaflet (or postcard) campaign is that there is limited space for what you have to say. By choosing only one shot at your potential customer market, you will have to cram in a lot of information into a relatively small space to get the full message across.

The initial reaction, after scanning the grey mass in front of them, is that readers will look for a way out: get rid. Even if all the marketing criteria are met: headline, sub-headline, bullet points, call to action, special offer, contact details, the fact that they are virtually sitting on top of each other defeats their objective.

When laying out your leaflet, the first thing to consider is your margins; wide borders navigate the eye towards a focal point: the message inside. Adequate white space provides sufficient elbow room to allow the leaflet to breathe, so each marketing element has a chance to succeed.

Next, consider which kind of picture you are going to have. Background images can backfire: one particular advert had a relevant picture behind all its text, but it was so complex you couldn’t make out what it was trying to say. Presented by itself it would have been easier to understand its message, therefore providing a more effective contribution.

Another problem with a complex background is that it detracts from the words in front of it. Messages are not easily understood if they have to compete with their surroundings. Clean, clear backgrounds, preferably white or pale in colour, combined with a darker colour for the words, will have far more impact for quick recognition and readability than the reverse.

Pictures should be relevant, and not just a smiling tele-operator who looks good. It’s easy to get a picture off the net that will do, but then it may be so popular that everybody uses it, thus reducing your impact. A good quality, well produced photograph is vital, with excellent focus and presentation within its own frame; a home produced job with camera shake or low resolution taken from a mobile phone will not cut to the chase.

And finally how the leaflet is prepared for the printer will make or break a good campaign. Customers respond to quality, and an obvious product of the office ink-jet will certainly not provide the impression you are looking for. Neither will a leaflet whose pictures are not converted to the printers’ resolution, as failure to do so will result in flat, 2D, uninteresting images that also suggest low quality.

Also the kind of paper or card used will make a difference: good quality with a clean finish will easily sway the customer to read, absorb, understand and therefore take action – ultimately resulting in a sale.

Postcard Pointers for Pertinent Promotions

This is my version of the subject on postcards mentioned a few posts ago:

Take another look at the humble postcard. Size A6, although appears small, is actually quite versatile (and fits nicely into a C6 envelope if necessary), and even though it’s dimensions restrict the amount of content you can fit on it, there is no reason why you should stick to only one at a time.

Set up a series of postcards as part of a promotional exercise. Think of a story you would like to share with your prospective customers, or isolate valuable items or points you would like to tell them about. Put together a coherent message in separate episodes using a connective theme, target your audience, decide on a timeframe, chose which day they will receive your postcards, and remember to get them professionally designed and printed.

You will make it easier for your target market to cope by sending out your mail-shot in manageable bite-sized amounts, because at the end of your campaign you will need to call each recipient to ask them if they have received your postcards, find out what they thought of them, ask if they struck a chord with their business and whether they interested in what you are offering.  Restrict your mail-outs to a small number at a time to make the follow-up a little easier and less daunting.

Using this slow trickle of reminding advertising will give your potential customers a chance to remember you, especially if the theme is clever, relevant, amusing or eye-catching.  When you do make contact, remember to listen carefully to their answers and take their lead to arrange a meeting with them to discuss their part in your campaign.

What to include in your postcard

The beauty of the postcard is that it can be used in so many ways.  Both sides can be filled with information, or one side only with a picture that is relevant, coercive, stimulating, funny, different or influential. The other face could be designed like a postcard with separate areas for the message and address.  If you’re doing a long-term campaign remember ‘more is less’, especially if your message is thought-provoking, contains an incentive-laden cliff-hanger, or maybe includes a series of clues to culminate in the final issue.

An excellent headline is vital to draw attention to your reader.  Make it short and snappy, rememberable by being amusing, using gimmicks like alliteration or playing on a colloquial phrase, or posed in a question leading to an affirmative answer relevant to your purpose. A sub-heading or catch-phrase will help emphasise it further, or even explain or support particularly ‘clever’ examples.

Advertise your solution to your customers’ pain by highlighting your business benefits, arranged in a scanable format with jargon-free, simply digestible words. Add a time-induced call to action, laced with gifts or incentives, to keep the momentum going.  And make sure your contact details are always highly visible, just in case they don’t want to wait until the end of your campaign.

Presentation is always important, as good quality and well designed publicity reflects well on the professionalism of your company. Care should be taken on the materials used, colours and fonts for modern and noticeable effect, and layout for efficient use of space. If you want to know more, then just go ask Alice!