Ideas

Within our first article in the series Build Blog Items that Sell, Greg McFarlane bakes an interesting point. “Don’t hesitate to solicit feedback,” he states, “but however, don’t cede down to initiative by asking your visitors, ‘So, what do you want to see?’” I needed to relate this in a bit more detail, since i realize that for individuals just beginning on their first foray into building blog items, and perhaps doing readers research, the excellence could be unclear. How Copyblogger made it happen An

Some bloggers just stare at a blank screen, hoping inspiration will appear from nowhere. It might work – but an easier, faster route is to actively seek out some ideas. You might want to try some of these: You can ask yourself questions, like “What do I wish I’d known when I started out?” and you can also ask questions on social networks, to get responses from your readers, such as: Often, you’ll get a fantastic new idea from something that a reader asks or suggests. If you’ve been blogging about your

After pushing my way through a number of difficult but important reads, it was a pleasure to rip through Steven Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From: A Natural History of Innovation. I consider Steven a friend and colleague, and that will color my review of his most recent work (it came out in paperback last Fall). In short, I really liked the book. There, now Steven will continue to accept my invitations to lunch…

This guest post is by Jo Gifford of Cherry Sorbet Creative. Keeping fresh and creative is key to keeping on top of the game when writing different blogs across various sectors, and for various clients. Working with efficient workflows, time management and organization all help to keep that valuable information harnessed to be used when you need it, but how about making sure you can produce great content on time and on demand?

Do you run out of ideas when you’re writing a post? Or do you find that you go down a huge tangent part-way through? Planning your posts helps to keep them on track from start to end. A good plan doesn’t take long – but it saves you a lot of time in rewriting and editing. Here’s how to plan your posts in just four simple steps: A great post starts with a clear idea. Select one topic to write about. You might find it helps to write a whole list of ideas before choosing your topic. If you

This guest post is by Jeff Goins of Goins, Writer. Some bloggers don’t start a blog to make money. They start blogging, because they have a message that the world needs to hear. In other words:

Sometimes I hear voices … they suggest I do crazy things … and sometimes they end up being the best things I’ve done! Okay, that’s one of the strangest first lines of a post that I’ve written but it struck me today as I was looking back over the past few years that some of the most successful things that I’ve done have often started out as a “crazy idea.” Perhaps it is just my personality type, but I’m a prolific idea generator. Barely a day goes by

If you’ve been blog writing for any length of time, I’m sure you have a lot of content. We’ve talked about repurposing your content in past articles. In this article we’re going to discuss ways you can maximize it and get even more bang for your buck.

With those summer whites put away, most brands are now in the midst of planning for 2012. As well as brainstorming big ideas, this involves looking at which marketing activities worked well and those that were not so effective to decide the exact mix for the next year. Which for many includes looking social media. 2011 has certainly been a break out year for social as brands continue to move up the social media adoption curve from the late adopters to brands where social is being applied across programs