Writing for Your Website When You’ve Run Out of Things to Write

As a writer, you may fear the inevitable wall, that moment when you feel you have exhausted your idea repository and aren’t sure what to write for your website or blog. You know it’s important to keep your online presence relevant and fresh in order to maintain high readership – with certain fields, there is always something new to explore. If your business is slow to offer innovations and new events, however, it’s possible to spend more time staring at the monitor screen than filling it.

Whether writing non-fiction or a story, everything begins with an idea, a question that needs to be answered, or a “what if” scenario burning to be played out. If ever you find it a challenge to crank out a minimum of 300 words designed to promote your products and services you may wish to employ a few writing exercises designed to stimulate your brain and turn one uncertain sentence into a flowing narrative rich in key phrases to help readers find you via search. Here are a few I recommend, which have worked in different situations and may be applied to any topic:

Top Five: This is a good topic especially for retailers or those in the mechanical or technical trade. Ultimately, no matter what you do for a living, you will be asked about the top products or devices in your field. Contractors swear by specific brands of windows and plumbing, and boutique owners may recommend certain designers for formal events. Think about a topic related to your business where at least five brands compete for your and your clientele’s attention, then compare and contrast.

How To: The simple how-to article works to establish you as an authority in your field. If you sell goods, draft step by step instructions on how to use them, and if you offer services – labor or clerical – you can offer tips on handling certain issues without necessarily giving away the store.

I Remember…: Do certain products or services you offer tie in to a specific memory? Does what you do know require more advanced work and equipment than in years past? Take readers on a trip down memory lane and provide a history for your company in the process.

Anti-Top  Five: For every top five products and paradigms, there is advice on what not to buy and how not to do things. Offers readers the consequences of the wrong decisions and products for the work you provide, and you may find this strengthens your authority.

Worst Case Scenario: If troubleshooting constitutes a good part of your business, nip those frequent calls for assistance with a series of articles designed to help readers face different challenges.

Once you’ve exhausted these ideas, keep brainstorming. Check the daily news wires and set up keyword alerts for your e-mail to lead you to related blogs and sites. Sometimes it takes only word to spark an idea, be sure you search well for it.

Kathryn Lively is a Virginia Beach social media specialist assisting clients with social media optimization and travel social media services. Clients include Gainesville hotels, European hotels, and Virginia web design firms.

Blogger’s New Pages Feature: Turning Your Blog Into a Mini-Site

As far as blogging platforms go, Blogger has always presented itself as user-friendly and quite adaptable…to an extent. If one had to compare Blogger to other instant publishing platforms available, one might have considered them a good start-up or practice publisher for the novice, with the hopes one might graduate to the likes of Wordpress, etc. Indeed, for the longest time it seemed Blogger’s devotion to simplicity – a broadsheet style layout of posts, drag and drop options on the sidebar – might remain for those uninterested in bells and whistles. Recently, though, Blogger has finally introduced page publishing functionality, moving one step closer to equality in the blogging world.

Among the professional bloggers I know, many tend to lean toward Wordpress for the options offered in the back end. One can create a Wordpress site to resemble a high-tech, Flashy and widget-built wonder, and the even the prospect of learning enough PHP to get by with minimal customization didn’t seem to scare them away. Others, however, have liked Blogger for it simple dashboard, which allows a user to access all accounts from one port – even if the blogs aren’t hosted at Blogspot. Template design, while not as sophisticated as other platforms, does permit for customization if you have the knack for it, and now with the Pages function increases the ability to turn a Blogger blog into a full website.

Now when one logs into his/her Blogger account, each blog dashboard features a new selection under the Posting tab. Up to ten pages may be created, and use the same text box as the New Post selection. Once a page is created, you have the choice of creating a widget for your sidebar or having the page links appear horizontally below your header. Or, if you prefer to use an alternate method for linking to the pages, you can click the manual option. As you create and make pages live, advanced options include hiding certain pages from a menu, arranging their link order, and creating tabs. Blogger offers a detailed tutorial on pages at their website.

Depending on how your Blogger blog is accessible – perhaps as a tab on your main site directing visitors to updated news – you might wonder if pages are useful at all. If you have used the Blogger CMS as your main website – perhaps hosted on a third party server and connected to a unique URL, you’ll definitely find this addition handy for showcasing specific products, services, or other vital information on a static page. If your blog is only part of your online marketing strategy, you may find pages can prove beneficial in highlighting the more important aspects of your business. With specific code from a photo sharing site like Flickr or Picasa, you can create a photo album on your blog, or else adapt code from Paypal or Google Checkout to create a shopping cart. Whatever ideas you’ve had for pages on a traditional website can now be transferred to Blogger and implemented within your template.

That search engines favor weblogs in terms of relevant results makes the idea of Blogger pages all the more exciting for the novice/intermediate blogger or the site owner looking for methods of supplementing web presence. If you use Blogger for your promotion, take advantage of the Pages function to build your brand.

Kathryn Lively is a Virginia Beach social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing and travel social media services. Clients include Gainesville hotels, European hotels, and Virginia web design firms.

Expanding Your Reach Through Digital Publishing

The recent unveiling of Apple’s iPad set the social networks ablaze with commentary. While many oohed and ahhed over the device’s shiny appearance and capability for making life and work run more smoothly, others wondered aloud (and on Twitter) if the gadget would only serve users as an expensive, tricked out Kindle-type monitor. To be certain, if Apple succeeded in anything with its initial push, they added fuel to already animated discussions on the future of publishing in the digital age. For the business using the Internet to strengthen brand visibility and customer reach, this represents progress worth watching, even if you don’t work in publishing.

Experts may debate whether or not print is dead, but it can be agreed upon that digital production of books and documents won’t fade anytime soon. Amazon.com reported a record high for Kindle eBook sales late in 2009, while document sharing sites Wattpad and Scribd boast thousands of available works – everything from novels to dissertations to poetry and plays – for download to laptops and smart phone reader applications.

Amateur writers are not the only ones making use of this exposure, either. Scribd, for one, distributes works by major corporations and publishers, including Ford and Simon and Schuster. Recently, self-publishing platform Smashwords, which allows authors to make content available for sale or free, signed agreements to allow the works of registered users to be distributed to Barnes and Noble’s website. Not to be outdone, Amazon cooperates with authors directly to sell their books via their Kindle store.

Bottom line: if you have written something worth sharing, and wide distribution can benefit your business, it should be seriously considered. All you need to do, once the writing and editing is completed, is plan accordingly. As you ponder this type of marketing strategy, ask yourself these questions:

1) What can I write about my company/products/services that people may want to read?

What is your main line of business? If you work in construction, perhaps you have extensive original material on home repairs and tips that can be collected in a digital booklet and distributed. If you deal in antique, you can lend your expertise to a pricing guide or series of articles on properly buying and selling items. For everything you do, you can provide instructions and insight.

When you do prepare work for distribution, take care to make certain your work is original, with attributions to other sources made where needed, and that your website and business information is provided. Cover art is not necessary, but if you feel it would help readership you can easily find royalty-free artwork online to use.

2) How do I format my book/lets?

Common formats of electronic documents include HTML and PDF, which may be created easily through the proper software or freeware. Other formats, readable on proprietary readers like Kindle or Sony’s reader, can be translated through free publishing services like Smashwords.

3) Where do I offer my book/lets?

For marketing purposes, it is beneficial to make any complimentary digital downloads easily attainable. Offer the files on your site’s server, and take advantage of free distribution channels like Wattpad, Scribd, Smashwords, and similar sites. Advertise links on your blog and social profiles for maximum exposure.

Similar to article marketing, creating digital downloads can work to lend authoritative value to your brand and increase awareness of your business. As people turn more toward sharing free content via social media and smart phones, so you have the opportunity to raise exposure of your work, products and services.

Kathryn Lively is a Virginia Beach social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing and travel social media services. Clients include Gainesville hotels and Virginia web design companies.

Article Marketing for Improving Sales