Sep
13

How to Subscribe to this Blog

In the past few weeks I’ve received several comments on this blog asking how to subscribe to this blog. For some, the subscribe button seems to work, for others it is not clear how to subscribe.

If you want to subscribe in a reader, there is a link directly to the right of this post that says “Subscribe in a Reader” with the RSS symbol. Simply click on that link, click on the RSS tool you use, and you’re set to go!

If you would rather receive updates via email, there is a form also directly to the right where you can enter in your email address. Every time I post a new entry, you will receive it by email.

If all else fails, simply to go your reader’s website and type in ‘A New Generation’ and then click ‘Subscribe.’

I’m sorry about the confusion on how to subscribe. I will look into getting a more prominent subscribe button on here soon.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask! And again, thanks for your continued readership, sharing of my articles, and valuable comments and questions.

Keep them coming and I’ll keep on writing!

Kristin

Sep
02

10 Ways to Overcome Writers Block

broken pencil

We’ve all experienced it: the blank stare at the screen, an idea in our head that we just can’t put into words, or an outright empty bucket of blog ideas. In fact, I just experienced it yesterday while coming up with two blog posts to write for today for my company’s blog. Thankfully, I came up with two solid posts here and here.

I always end up coming through with an idea or two, but have certainly been in that spot where you just have no clue what else to write or don’t know how to start or finish a post. I write 7 to 10 blog posts a week for Backupify, one for BostInnovation, and 2 to 3 on this site. That can lead up to 14 posts a week, or two a DAY! I’m sure I’m not the only one who does this either, especially those who blog for their job at places like Mashable and TechCrunch.

While you could choose to just wait out the block, there are ways to be proactive and search for fresh new ideas.

Here are 10 effective tips to overcome writer’s block:

1. Spin Offs. Skim through some of your favorite blogs and pick up an idea or two and do a unique spin off of them. This could be refuting their point, making it an opinion piece or taking a whole new perspective on the same topic.

2. Coorelation. Pick a very unique object laying around you and relate it to something that you like to write about. For example, I’m sitting at a desk right now and a pen is to the left of me. You could talk about how pens once were crucial to our productivity but now we hardly even use them for to-do lists anymore. Almost everything is computerized, etc, etc, etc. You get the point.

3. Read a book or watch a movie and do a review of it. I usually do this after I have read a great book. This past winter I read Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah of Hubspot and loved it so much that I decided to blog about it. You can take mental or written out notes while reading/watching and then come up with your review of it that many will enjoy reading before buying a new book or watching a new movie.

4. Write about your surroundings. Go for a walk and take in everything around you. If you live in a city, observe the hustle and bustle of people, the smells, clothing styles, ethnicities, houses, animals, noises, etc. If you live in a rural area, take in the vast amounts of land, big yards, serenity, open skies, cars passing by, and calm lifestyle. Wherever you live, give a new appreciation for your surroundings by writing about it; maybe others will feel inspired to do the same.

5. Write about something you are doing at work (as long as it is not confidential). A month ago our company had a major press release go out. Around the same time, I expressed to my boss that I was having writer’s block and felt terrible that I was ignoring my own blog (this one). He suggested that I take something I have learned while working here and write about it. I decided to write about how social media can help leverage a press release online.

6. Interview someone. Is there someone you admire in your industry? Do you look up to your parents or grandparents? Was there one teacher or professor that had a profound impact on your life? Do you love your little cousin’s quirky comments? Interview anyone you find interesting and write about your experience talking to them. Appreciating the viewpoints and personalities of those around us can be more valuable thank you think.

7. Event Recaps. Write about an event that you went to for work. I try to attend a few marketing events around Boston every month, and if I go to a good one or met a lot of great people, I’ll blog about it. Those that attended will appreciate the recap too. This February I went to an event in Fenway Park called #Soxup where social media marketing professionals all met up to network. I blogged about it here. I also went to a CRM Acceleration event sponsored by BrainSell and Sugar CRM and blogged about it here.

8. Create a content list and calendar. Some days I find myself flowing with great blog ideas but never write them down. When I go to write one, my mind goes blank. To combat that, I keep a Google Doc list of content ideas I have both for my personal site, Backupify and BostInnovation so that I never forget a good idea again. You can then make it very organized by noting when it needs to be published by.

9. Write about old posts. Maybe you have something new to add to an old posts, want to list your most popular blog posts, or want to summarize a few posts into one. Any of these are a great refresher and polisher both for you and your readers. A few months ago I blogged about my most popular blogs thus far based on retweets, Facebook shares, number of visits and comments.

10. Invite a guest blogger to write. If you are out of ideas and can think of a writer who could provide a really good and unique perspective on something related to your blog, invite them to guest blog for you! Most people love to do this as it gives them exposure and a link back to their site if you offer it. Usually if you give them a link back, they can do it for free since an inbound link has power in terms of Google’s ranking. I have had several guest bloggers on my site whom have all provided great content for my readers.

What do you do to combat writer’s block? Do you use any of these tips or have some of your own to add? Let me know in the comments section below!

Related articles by Zemanta
Enhanced by Zemanta

Aug
24

10 Crucial Blogging Mistakes To Avoid

mistakeWhile I haven’t been a blogger for an extended amount of time (only since January 2010 to be exact) I have had a significant amount of time to learn about blog writing. To date, I have experience publishing 101 blogs on this site (this is 102), was invited or asked to guest blog on over thirty sites, and I have written well over forty blogs for the company I now work for. This adds up to a little less than 200 blog posts written in just eight months.

From this experience, I have gained a good understanding of the do’s and don’ts of blogging, both for a personal site and a company blog.

Below are the top 10 most common mistakes I have experienced or seen to avoid:

1. Not backing up statistics.

Coming out of college, I started blog writing the way I wrote research papers. I very quickly realized that the two writing styles were very different in several ways.

a. How you cite your source. When writing college research papers, I was accustomed to using parenthesis and citing the source of information. In blogs, you use a link over the text. In general, whether it is a paper or blog, it is crucial to cite your source to establish credibility.

b. If you spout of statistics like “80% of X attributed to a 25% increase in X” without any link, how will anyone know you are correct?

c. The first step to establishing blog credibility is in linking your statistics and research to real links.

2. Promoting you or your product in every blog post

You may be familiar with the inbound marketing rule that no one cares about you or what you sell; they only care about what is in it for them. This means that while blogging, don’t write about yourself or your products. Instead, write about what interests your customers. At Backupify, our customers are interested in social media compliance, new technologies, computer security, etc. We write about our research on this and how to safeguard against security threats. Not once do we promote our service in the blogs.

3. Not editing posts before they are published

Thankfully I am a stickler when it comes to editing and writing good sentences, but it surprises me to see how many people forget spaces between words, misspell the most common words, use the wrong word type (i.e. their instead of there), or write incomplete sentences. Even people who are regarded as thought leaders and who have high subscription rates on their blogs still make obvious mistakes. All it takes is a few glances back over your post to check for spelling and grammatical correctness. This goes a long way towards establishing credibility.

4. Writing an unorganized post

Many times when writers sit down to write a blog post (and I am guilty of this as well), they get so excited about what they are going to write that they forget that there must be a structure to the post in order to engage the reader. If your writing is all over the place, the reader will wonder what you are trying to say.

As I am a writer for BostInnovation here in Boston, my editor, Kyle Psaty taught me that there must be a strong, compelling introduction that explains why I am talking about my topic. Then I need to bring the reader through my story in a clear, chronological order followed by a strong summation of the importance of what I learned from what I am writing about. People want to read a story, not a random collection of sentences that seem semi-related. Always keep the reader in mind.

5. SEO is ignored

If you are trying to rank your post in search engines, make sure to pay careful attention when adding relevant and targeted keywords into your post. There are several keyword discovery tools including Trellian Keyword Discovery, Hubspot’s Keyword Grader, Wordstream, etc. Also, just putting yourself in your reader’s head and thinking about what they would be searching for to come to your post is very helpful. Make this the last part of what you do before publishing to ensure you include all relevant keywords.

6. Headlines are sloppy and uninviting

Many of you have experienced the dramatic increase of information available to us on the web. While this is generally a good thing, it also causes us to put up strong information filters while looking for information. If your blog is in a blog aggregator site such as StumbleUpon or Digg and your title, for lack of a better word, sucks, no one will want to read it. Why would I open up an article with a title like “Inbound Marketing is the New Thing” when I could open one up that says “Ramp Up Your Company’s Marketing With These 10 Internet Marketing Tips”. Not only is this more eye catching and intriguing (people LOVE tips) but it also includes important keywords in the title that will help your article rank in search engines.

7. Not including keywords in the title

As a follow up to the point above, it is also crucial to include keywords in your title. This is important for many reasons:

a. Search engines will pick up your post as related to a particular search term much easier.

b. People will click on it more if it has keywords they are searching for right in it.

c. Google Alerts and other web filters will be more likely to pick it up with a keyword included in the title.

8. You’re writing about something you think you should write about, not what you want to write about

While it is sometimes hard to avoid writing about something you aren’t inspired to write about (such as if you are doing it for your company) it is very important to be passionate and excited about what you are writing. If you don’t even want to read what you are going to write, why will anyone else? If you write with conviction, passion and integrity, it will surely show. You can probably tell that I am passionate about this post by the detail and conversation-like tone I have added to it. This has hopefully led you to read this far down. If this was a post that I was negatively motivated to write, you would not have read down this far.

9. Not including keywords in the post itself

Many times when writing, you don’t think about SEO until right before you are about to publish. However, since SEO is still such a huge part of getting found online, it helps to put keywords not only in the title and post description, but in the body as well. This helps Google confirm that what you say the post is about is really what it is about. For example, if you are writing about the importance of mobile advertising, make sure to include mobile advertising and variations of that phrase inside your post.

10. Not promoting it or making it easy to share

After all the hard work you have put into your post, why not share it with the world?! Your blog should have multiple social sharing buttons such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Email, etc. This allows visitors to easily share a post they love without having the trouble of submitting it themselves. It is also important to share your posts on your own social channels. After I publish this post, I’ll share it on social media so my network will see it. This exposes it to thousands of eyes who will then pass it onto thousand more. Once you hit publish, begin sharing!

For beginning bloggers, this may seem like a daunting task. It takes a conscious effort to incorporate all these skills into every post, so integrate them at your own digestible pace. After a few posts, you’ll get the hang of it and will become a blogging maven!

To find out more about blogging best practices and to follow up with me, make sure to follow up with me on Twitter @kristinedziadul.

Jul
13

Is Fresh Content Dead?

rotten fruitBloggers all over the world started developing incredible content to attract readers and customers only a few years ago once research was in that it worked to grow a business. However, there is only so much ‘incredible’ content that can be developed until it is dead. If everyone came up with one incredible idea every day, that would be a miracle!

Yes, great content sells, and can sell big (especially for Cambridge-based Hubspot) However, for companies that do not have the research, resources or human capacity to turn out tons of original, fresh content daily, this concept of constant fresh content seems impossible.

There is only so much you can write about on a particular topic, and also only so much you can read about as well. I have felt that as of now I am going through this phase, which is troubling. I have been going full steam ahead on this blog since December. Recently, I have not had time to update it daily like I did before, as I have a full time job now which involves blogging twice daily. However, I am running out of a flowing river of fresh new ideas on new marketing to write about.

As you have probably noticed, I have began to post just once a week, providing my most valuable ideas of the week. While it is less frequent, I still enjoy writing once weekly to give you, my readers, something worth sticking around for.

So what do you do when your company or personal blog runs out of ideas to write about? It is a good idea to revisit old blog posts to enhance them or do a recap of your best-of blog posts so far. It also helps to occasionally write customer success stories (if you are a business, of course) to highlight your readers and get a break from your traditional theme of content.

When you reach the inevitable readers block, think outside of the box.

There are always ways to get around this problem, you just need to be more creative. Don’t force yourself to create incredible content every day as this may be nearly impossible, but focus also on writing fun, engaging stories about your industry, company, customers, etc.

For example, if you mainly focus on your very small niche market, expand your topic a bit to discuss how your small industry impacts the larger economy as a whole. Providing reading material for a larger audience like this can be very beneficial to your business.

At my company (Backupify) we primarily blog about cloud computing and online social media and SaaS backup. While this is a hot topic with many new developments, there is only so much that our customers and readers want to read about until it gets old. Occasionally I try to write about our best blog posts, examples of our service in action, a recap of an event, etc. This all helps to keep both my readers and I interested and digesting relevant yet diverse information.

How has your company developed its ‘incredible content creation’ strategy? Has it stayed successful or is it getting stale? If stale, how are you overcoming it? Leave your comments below!

Jun
23

Data Explosion: What it Means for Bloggers

Data ExplosionWhether you write or read blogs (or both) you have probably noticed the massive increase in available data right at the click of the mouse. At this point it becomes hard to filter all this data down to only what you need.

Like most of you, every day I send and receive tons of emails, receive eNewsletters, tune into webinars, read through my Google Reader subscriptions, and read blogs that friends share on social media. Boy does that get exhausting after awhile!

I now find myself putting up strict filters in my mind when I am scanning for important data. I am constantly searching for new types of information to write or learn about, but it sometimes can get buried by other less relevant information, and search engines cannot filter this out for me at all times.

What I have found very effective to combat this overwhelming feeling is to write down a list of topics that you are truly interested in reading about so that you are not taken off track when scanning through blog articles.

You can also set up Google Alerts for particular keywords or phrases to receive targeted email results with links just to these topics. Personally, this helps out tremendously when I am about to write a blog post and need specific resources.

With more data being published on the Internet also comes repetitiveness. People may scan an article and say, “Oh I like that topic I’m going to cover that too!” However, when someone enters a keyword search term in Google and your article shows up among hundreds if not thousands of similar posts, you will easily get lost.

Instead of covering a topic that a hundred other bloggers have already done, why not do a twist on it or compile a unique set of data to give a completely new aspect on a subject?

For example, say you are interested in the social media explosion during the World Cup. While this is a hot topic (and Twitter trending topics can prove this) it is nothing new to write about. Instead, why not write about something else less prominent yet still fascinating that is going on during the World Cup. You could instead write about how South Africa’s businesses are fairing during this crowded time in their country. This is certainly a less frequently covered topic yet still relevant. You will still appear in search results and will stand out since you cover a different topic.

In general, if you want your link to be clicked on (and for the reader to stay on the page once there) write incredible and fresh content by immediately drawing them in via your title and subtitle, and then create a compelling story backed by interesting data.

Put yourself in your readers shoes. If you subscribe to several tech blogs and find that may are covering the same topics and events, you will hardly read all of them. Instead, wouldn’t you be interested in learning something new from your sources? The same goes for your audience. Give them something different and interesting aside from whatever else they read.

This will keep current readers interested (and hopefully subscribing to your blog) and will attract new visitors as well. You can easily track how effective this is for you by checking your site analytics on a weekly basis to see the percentage of new and returning visitors and what keywords they are coming in for.

Don’t let the data explosion bury your blog. Stand out from the rubble and scream to readers “I have the latest and most interesting news, read me!”

How have you differentiated your content to increase site traffic and loyalty? What have been some of your tactics? Tell me your examples in the comments section below.

Jun
10

BostInnovation’s New Marketing Writer

Last week I was asked to be the newest contributing writer for BostInnovation, a Boston-based blog website discussing disrupting technologies, tech events, marketing, and other interesting innovations around the area.

I accepted with a beaming smile as I knew I would be joining a team of like-minded entrepreneurial people who love to write. I always love to surround myself with motivated people who want to make a difference, and this was one of those perfect opportunities. I am very eager to share with the blog’s readers my thoughts and observations on new marketing techniques in the industry.

This week I was featured in the new column, New Marketing, for my first blog post. As you may have heard, Hubspot ran an alternate reality game (ARG) experiment with their community last week which tested their trust with customers. In this post, I explored what happened, the community’s reaction, and Hubspot’s marketing takeaways. It was a very interesting case study that I have been enjoying following since it started.

Check out my first post and let me know your thoughts!

Apr
30

Blogs to #FollowFriday

As so many people on my Twitter feed are involved with #FollowFriday, I tend to tune out more and more. There are only so many people I can manage to follow, and right now I am probably following most of them. So taking the suggestion of a few people who have written about implementing a new #FollowFriday for blogs, I am following suit.

I find that learning from experts and leaders in the industry are excellent ways to gain great knowledge. I am an avid learner and try to learn about as much as I can every day. I rely on my Google Reader subscriptions to provide me with the cutting edge research, case studies, and blog articles to keep me informed. I am currently subscribed to 27 blogs and sites, but have a few that I rely on on a daily basis to give me relevant, new information on the marketing, internet, high-tech and social media worlds.

Here are my top 7 blogs that act as my Internet marketing, blogging and social media bibles:

1. Problogger is my favorite resource for blogging tips and tricks. He is an inspiration to me because he runs a full blogging business and the purpose is to help other bloggers become as good as him.

2. Write to Done is similar to Problogger with the tips and ideas they give, but they write with a flare that I like.

3. The Next Web great innovative Internet technologies and developments.

4. Mashable provides excellent social media case studies, new programs, etc.

5. TechCrunch blogs about high tech gadgets and businesses on a daily basis of which to keep track.

6. Hubspot writes on best inbound marketing techniques, webinar overviews, cartoons, video blogs, and much more. I love their diversified blog style and they always provide something new and interesting to read.

7. SEOMoz is a great resource for both beginner and advanced SEOs. I am a beginner and find most of their posts easy-to-understand and informative. I end up printing off lots of their posts so that I can read into them further to help me optimize the SEO on my own site.

Another one that is a bit unrelated but nonetheless interesting and cool is Popular Science. They are always writing on new technologies, inventions, technology adoptions, etc. Some topics I have found particularly cool are NASA developments, MIT technology creations, genetics, and Google Earth case studies.

Apr
28

The Editorial Calendar: Are You Using One?

Frustrated kid

Coming up with new content can be frustrating, time consuming, aggravating and repetitive. Don’t pull your hair out over this problem anymore because there is a much easier way to manage your content.

Is your team utilizing an editorial calendar to dole out responsibilities for blog posts and other content alike? If not, you should be.

One of the major problems facing companies today, especially ones without much bandwidth to blog or produce original content, is that they find it hard to create fresh content on a regular basis. This can be from a lack of structure in content production, no set schedule of when to blog, or a low priority is put on blogging and other content development activities. When it comes down to it, management finds that it is best to focus on client deliverables, product development, advertising, etc. While these are a priority, there is a way to fit in content production without feeling a burden.

Editorial calendars are a great way for your company to dole out responsibilities and keep track of scheduled content to be produced to keep the audience engaged. These can be created on a weekly, monthly or even yearly basis to divide up when and how content will be created and published, and by whom. This document then can either be uploaded on an Intranet database for all employees to see, or emailed to everyone. This leaves no question among anyone as to when content is to be ready by and whose responsibility it is.

Editorial calendars can be quite simple to create, which is quite the contrary to what many may think. Employees should be responsible for keeping note of any blog post or content ideas as they come to them, so that when it is time to create the editorial calendar, ideas can easily be added to the sheet.

I believe it would be ideal for the team responsible for content to sit down once weekly or monthly to share and develop their ideas, plan them out on the calendar, update it regularly, and keep track of when the deliverables are complete. This way, everyone in the team is informed about what is going on and when and there is no question about content creation and publishing. In turn, audiences will be satisfied with fresh, frequent content and your company will be seen as delivering relevant, interesting information to visitors and readers to help them learn about the industry and be assured that the company is an expert.

When I am asked to be a blogger for a company as a freelance job, I ask them if they would like me to use an editorial calendar to display my topic ideas to them and when I plan to have each post ready by. Then I send it over to them for their approval and begin blogging. This process has been very well received and keeps everyone in the loop.

One great aspect of editorial calendars is that they can easily be adapted to changes and evolving trends. This means that content can be moved around when needed, and new content can also be added in on short notice. This is great for a company that has created a yearly editorial calendar. The topics that were listed to be published four months from now may in time become outdated with new technologies, trends, and events, so editorial calendars are perfect for adapting to emerging topics.

I highly recommend that you and your team begin creating an editorial calendar, if you have not done so already. They serve as an excellent blackboard for ideas and keep content organized, fresh, and updated.

In what ways does your company use an editorial calendar (or if you are a freelancer, how do you use it)? If you are not using one, why not?

Apr
22

Blur II

city blur
Last week I was reading one of Chris Brogan’s blog posts, titled Blur. Even though it was such a simple and obvious message that Chris was giving us, it really made me think.

With so much technology at our hands and so many more career and personal demands on our plates, we tend to live life in a blur. We multi-task WAY too much and stop appreciating the little things. In order to be great, we must be able to focus 100% on the task at hand. Not many can say they did something with the best of their ability with the best possible result while multi-tasking; this is almost impossible.

For example, if I was writing a blog post while checking e-mails throughout and tuning into a webinar, I could not honestly say I would be putting forth my best effort towards the post. Thankfully, I tune out almost all distractions while writing so I can put my best effort into each one, but this is just an example.

While you are reading this, what else are you doing? Talking on the phone? Thinking of what you are going to be doing next? Reflecting on the meeting you just came from? We do this out of habit, not on purpose. Stop what you are doing for a second and think about your main goals and priorities for the day. Highlight in your mind which goals you would like to accomplish today, this week, this month, and even this year. Create a plan to efficiently and effectively complete them WITHOUT distractions (well, as much as possible).

After reading Chris’ post last week, I have thought of this every day. I tend to be a huge multi-tasker because I am a quick and efficient worker, however I know that it is also important to slow down a bit and truly take in and enjoy what I am doing.

While driving, take time to turn down the music, observe what is around you, focus on relaxing, and be in the moment, not a moment ahead. While writing your own blog post, be in the moment and let your writing flow, don’t rush it because you have to write a report or review right afterwards. I am sure that if we take time to reprioritize what we are doing and stop multi-tasking when possible, we will be much calmer and clearer thinkers and maybe even enjoy what we are doing on a daily basis much more.

What do you say?

Apr
15

Get An Edge on Your Competitors with Video Blogging

Daniel Offer of Chit Chat for Facebook, a Facebook App, writes about Video Blogging. Chit Chat let’s you send Facebook Chat messages from your desktop.

Blogging’s Offspring – Podcasts & vblogs


Blogging over the past ten years has become increasingly popular; blogging is now main stream. Almost everyone seems to be posting online diaries, advice, recipes and their thoughts online.

Whilst the first offspring to blogging, podcasts (audio blogs) gained much media attention it failed to capture the imagination of most webmasters. Indeed, the medium lacked the immediacy of information access that we have grown so accustomed to on the internet.

Blogging’s most recent offspring, video blogging – commonly known in the community as vblogs, are however, gaining increasing favor. Similar to blogging, regular posts result in return visits by visitors. Many video bloggers – “vbloggers” use RSS feeds in order to deliver updates instantly.

vBlogging for an Existing Blogger?


If you already regularly blog, then you’re probably thinking whether a video blog would add value to your existing blog. Think of it this way – it’s difficult to portray humor and sarcasm on a webpage, moreover, it’s also difficult to establish a personal relationship with your audience. Videos are also useful for providing tutorials, showing what to do rather than merely explaining.

If you consider your persona more captivating than your writing a vblog could be useful to you.

Video blogging doesn’t necessarily need to replace your existing blogging style, consider videos as a supplement to what you’re currently doing. A video can be much more powerful than simply telling a story in words. Consider watching a video about a hurricane vs. reading about it.

See what I mean?

What Do You Need To Video Blog?

In order to video blog you need a device that can capture video – you may wish to use a web cam, video camera or your digital camera. All of these devices are fairly affordable, and you’ll probably find that you already have an existing device that can create video for you – consider using this existing device prior to buying something new.

You’ll need to host your video somewhere – perhaps you have your own hosting, or would prefer to use youtube.com.

Vblogging – The Future

Given the personal relationship that can be developed by vBlogging, it’s my opinion that video blogging is going to obtain increasing favor, particularly amongst marketers.

Go back to top