atkinson advisor

Brian Clark and Sonia Simone write for a successful blog called Copyblogger, which focuses on writing for sales and marketing. They give away valuable writing advice and insights every day.

Yet when you contact them, they say they are not taking on any new projects right now.

How can a company give away its expertise yet be so busy it cannot accept new clients?

It’s because Brian and Simone have established themselves as authorities. Marketing has entered a new era where authority matters and is accessible to any individual or organization.

Check out our conversation about authority on the new Atkinson Public Relations Web site.

Read Brian Clark’s Authority Rules.

The fear of content – more precisely the fear of a lack of content – stifles most blogs before they launch or grounds them soon after.

Sonia Simone is an expert blogger who writes for copyblogger.com and her personal blog. Here is a content mix that she suggests in her Internet Marketing for Smart People series.

• Tips: 50 – 60%
• Weighty, cerebral content: 10 -15%
• Entertainment/personality: 10 -15%
• References to other blogger’s content:  5 -15%
• Selling what you do:  5%

Simone’s recommendations are an excellent starting point and help to demystify blog content.  Not everything has to be weighty and groundbreaking. In fact, tips are the most useful.

It’s a good practice to share content from other bloggers. It generates link traffic and positions you as a resource for readers.

Personality is important but must be balanced. Readers want to understand the people with whom they are doing business. Personality creates that connection.

Next time you want to write an e-mail that gets answered, try these tips from Chris Brogan.

• Include the action requested in the subject line. For example, start the subject line with “For review” or “Decision needed.”
• Be brief. E-mails with a short list of numbered questions are more likely to get answered than ones that hide the questions in a big block of text.
• Make every e-mail definitive. When bringing it to a close, be clear about what you need and include enough information so the other person can give you an answer. If you’re trying to schedule a meeting, include some available dates and times instead of leaving it open ended.

See more of Chris’ tips for writing effective e-mails.

www.wordscount.info/index.html

WordsCount allows you to assess the grade level of your writing and receive interesting statistics about your writing. For example, the grade level of this newsletter is seven. It has 193 big words that have three or more syllables and 26 hard words (grade 7 and above). WordsCount is a great tool to test and simplify your writing.

Next time you have to write an important memo or e-mail, try using the inverted funnel approach to writing. In this approach, you provide the important information – conclusions, recommendations, next steps etc. – in the first sentence or two and then use the rest of the memo or e-mail to provide rationale. This approach ensures the first words readers see are the most important.

Ctn im @wrk hand

Can you read the “sentence” above? You’ve probably said the same thing yourself, just not in the same way. It’s text-speak for “Can’t talk now. I’m at work. Have a nice day.”

Teenagers are proficient when it comes to learning the new language of text messaging. It certainly has its place when sending phone messages, but it becomes alarming when they start using shortened phrases start in their written essays and homework assignments.

The text language has started to show up in business communications as well. Suddenly, professionals are lacing their e-mails with phrases such as “R U going 2 dinner 2nite?” and signing off with a “thx.”

Now that more businesspeople are using a BlackBerry or an iPhone to send work e-mails, the lines between texting and e-mailing are blurring. We’ve come up with our own handy rule:

If you’re using a full keyboard, type full words and phrases, preferably in full sentences.

If you need to send an e-mail from a phone that has a truncated keyboard, it’s okay to use a few shorthand terms that everyone understands. T2ul8r