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I do a significant amount of writing and while I might occasionally find myself in a bind while trying to express a thought, or momentarily confused about the correct use of a specific word, there is one thing that I never find troublesome and that is coming up with topics to write about. It’s never an issue and in fact, I often have enough topics for weeks or months to come. Here are some tips on how you can do the same: 1. Be very attentive to the questions asked by clients and prospects and if a particular question is frequently raised you can turn it into a blog post. It’s been shown that the interest is there. 2. Business newsletters and digital publications often provide ideas for topics that your readers might find interesting and valuable. Use these articles to spark ideas for your own content. 3. Ask your contacts what sort of information they'd like to get in your blog. 4. Take a step back and think about the work that you are currently doing and create topics around the various tactics and strategies. Regardless of how you go about doing it, coming up with content takes time. Your goal is to write about things that can position you as a subject matter expert and drive interest and intent to connect with you for work. My advice is to either jump into this blogging pool and swim fast and furious. Create a list of topics, develop the schedule to write the content and get started now. If you see any red flags and decide that you don't have the time to do this on your own then reach out and we can either help you ourselves or point you in the right direction to get it done.

You've seen it before. A website with a blog “Coming Soon.” Or perhaps the blog already exists but with few posts and the most recent dated 6 months ago. Or perhaps the posts are frequent yet read like bad advertisements. It's not uncommon for blogs to start and all of a sudden stop or otherwise get derailed from the initial plan. With all good intentions people imagine blogging is easy and straightforward: write and share, right? Alas this isn’t always the case. A successful blog provides relevant, insightful content to a targeted audience on a regularly distributed schedule. These elements are difficult for some folks, however, for lack of writing skills and a demonstrable scarcity of interesting things to say. Though these obstacles exist for all would-be bloggers, there are very real solutions to overcome them, including: Outsource to an outside resource If you're a solopreneur and/or don't have staff to do the blogging, you can easily find a qualified outside professional resource to take on the responsibility for you. A simple online search will lead you to content developers who specialize in your specific industry and others who are more industry agnostic. Remember to carefully vet the resource so you can be confident the writer is capable of communicating in your voice. Make an “appointment” with yourself to do the writing Sometimes blog writing is overlooked because it isn’t on a scheduled To Do list. If you don’t make the time to get it done, it will be difficult to commit to the blog over the long term. Set up a window of time for a blogging “appointment” in which no other work can interrupt you. Research topics of interest A truly successful blog will have well-researched topics. Do your research. If you're having difficulty coming up with topics or themes, look at blogs written by your industry competitors or industry association. The goal is to write content that is interesting and beneficial to your readers, not material that is overtly self-promotional in nature. Write in an engaging, “reader-friendly” style Know your audience. Communicate with the voice and style that readers will enjoy and earn their appreciation for your writing. Effective bloggers write as if they are speaking directly to the reader. Have fun Most importantly, have fun! Blogging should be an enjoyable endeavor. If you find it to be more of a chore and something that you dread doing, it's best to take a step back from the responsibility and allow someone else to write the blog for you.

I admit it: I love e-newsletters. Some of my favorites I open as soon as they come in, while others are placed into a subfolder of my inbox for me to review at a later time. Those of lesser quality or importance are simply unsubscribed. I’m happy with my newsletter evaluation process because it’s rather easy and I’m in control from the moment I sign up. There’s no one telling me I must read a newsletter, and if I determine one is just not worth my time or attention, well, I can choose to ignore it or jettison it away from my email altogether. You may be saying to yourself, “Oh please, I get way too many newsletters to even begin reading them let alone start writing my own!” Let me remind you that a well-written, insightful, and timely newsletter allows you to remain visible to clients, prospects, and referral sources, as well as help you earn recognition as a subject matter expert. Most newsletter services even provide reporting and analytics so you can visualize and respond to important data such as open rate and audience reach. Whether or not you accept it, the fact is that newsletters are a time-efficient, cost-effective method of staying in front of your contacts. Here are 5 ways to ensure your newsletter is opened, read, and followed: Share relevant content No one willingly reads boring, irrelevant material. Your content should be interesting and appropriate for the audience you most want to reach. Select your topics judiciously, and compose each portion of the newsletter so there is a clear message or purpose. Do not be blatantly and excessively self-promotional. Instead, write educational and informative content so your expertise shines. At the end of the day, open rate and engagement numbers will show whether people find your content relevant to them. Keep it brief When I first started my newsletter, readers opened and read articles on their desktop. Not anymore. Today most people read newsletters on their phone or tablet. Long reads are not conducive to the small screens and continuous page scrolling required to read on these devices. Be aware of how people are reading your newsletter, because you may find that even your best lengthy articles simply do not have the success as shorter, more succinct ones. Distribute to the right audience No matter how interesting your articles may be, if a newsletter is distributed to the wrong audience it won’t gain any traction. People will sign up to receive and are more likely to follow your newsletter when they know the content is written for them. Tailored material always “hits home” the strongest and makes for the most successful newsletter. Know your target audience and, if necessary, send different material to different segments of your database. Have a regular distribution schedule My morning routine consists of perusing several relevant, insightful newsletters that arrive at my inbox overnight. I find the regular distribution fits with my routine. Your newsletter recipients will be similarly pleased with a reliable distribution schedule. If they see your newsletter come always on a certain day or time, they will get into a habit of opening and reading it. You can experiment with the specifics, but remember to review the analytics to develop the best schedule for getting your newsletter out. (As an aside, Constant Contact offers suggestions on the best day and time for distribution.) Include videos and pictures Media including videos and pictures stimulate audience engagement. Data shows that a newsletter will receive better click-through rates, engagement, and sharing if certain types of video and/or images are part of the content. For example, consider sharing the occasional video interview or tutorial in lieu of an article, or photographs of an event instead of a list of highlights. Videos should, of course, be short and accessible to readers on all devices. You do not need to invest in expensive videography either since high-definition video can be recorded and edited with your phone. If you do a newsletter, you should constantly be seeking the best open rates possible. If you don’t do one you might want to start.

I admit it. It’s only January and I’ve gotten pretty sick of winter. It’s been particularly nasty here in New York and it’s dragging me down, to the point where sitting at my computer and doing work has become a tad problematic. Pulling me away from work are thoughts of cozy slippers, hot cocoa and endless hours spent reading some good fiction. You know, the kind of thing that is best left to Saturday and Sunday and as a reward for a productive workweek. Do you ever have those kinds of days when being lazy is not so much a choice as a mandate and getting out of your pajamas requires Herculean strength? I know that I can’t allow myself to wallow in such a state and so I’ve developed my own little action plan that gets me going despite my inner voice shouting for tea and flannel. Here’s what works for me; perhaps it can for you as well: Have a morning routine. Knowing what I am going to do for the first 30 minutes of the morning helps me to get out of bed no matter what the weather. It certainly helps that I have a cat that sets to howling if he doesn’t see a new bowl of food first thing in the morning but even if he didn’t make his needs known I have my own plan of action. Mine includes a very large mug of cappuccino and the New York Times after which I do a few necessary chores and then get showered and out the door. It’s comforting to know the coffee and newspaper are waiting and since I find this time enjoyable I find it easy to “get started.” Record 5 things for which I am grateful. 931 days ago I joined a Facebook group called “90 Days of Gratitude.” Since then I have recorded my gratitudes each morning without fail and it has become my anchor for each day. Besides giving me clarity it helps me to stay motivated and keep my eyes on what is important in the short and long-term too. I don’t exercise (in the morning that is). Exercising in the morning IS NOT good for me. My mind is distracted by work and I am too anxious for it to be over for me to enjoy it very much at all. My point here is that you should exercise when it feels right for you and not because people have told you that exercising in the morning gets them going. Trust me, I’ve tried it and it just doesn’t suit the way I like to run my day. You have no one to answer to but yourself so work out when it feels right for you. As for me, I love exercising in the evening when I can clear my brain and focus on me. I believe in rewards. The frigid temps might be a turn-off but I know that in 6 weeks I’ll be frolicking in Key West just like I have for the past 26 years. On my desktop you can also find the itinerary for two other trips that are already planned and booked. I get it. Travel might not be your thing but you should allow yourself to indulge in whatever gives you pleasure and reward yourself for all of your hard work and effort. The reward doesn’t have to be large in order for it to be meaningful just as long as it brings you joy. Surround yourself with positivity. I’m very lucky in that I work for myself and hence I have a tremendous amount of freedom in my choice of clients, vendors and work associates. Even with that being said I still have to make choices and actively slow down or end relationships with individuals that do little to lift me up but instead bring me down. It’s pretty difficult to get out of bed in the morning when you know that the first appointment of the day is with someone that undermines your confidence and motivation. Be self-protective and steer clear of the people that suck your power.

Adrian Miller. Wordsworth Copywriting.

As the year comes to a close, many companies I know are in the final stages of developing their 2018 strategies. Some have decided to redesign their website to be more SEO friendly, while others are going “old school” by hiring telemarketers to generate warm leads for their sales reps. And then there are other companies about to take the newsletter plunge. To these companies I applaud you, because a newsletter is a terrific initiative to take on in the year ahead. Think about it this way: A newsletter provides an excellent platform to showcase your subject matter expertise and position yourself as a thought leader in your field. You may be the leading authority on something; a well-written newsletter is the perfect way to demonstrate this. Staying on the grid and maintaining visibility among your suspects, prospects, clients, dormant accounts, and networking referral sources is incredibly important if you want to get your maximum ROT (Return on Time) and ROI (Return on Investment). Although you may have many other touch points for the various segments in your database, a newsletter provides a medium in which you can touch all of them cost efficiently and effectively. You can customize your content for each client category so that individual segments will receive information relevant to their needs. A well-conceived newsletter allows you to distill and disseminate your articles and opinions to the appropriate audience. Newsletter and email marketing services such as Constant Contact and MailChimp provide data-driven reports that will quantify your best performing categories, titles, and topics. You can even see the open rate among your potential readers. This information can be invaluable as you use a newsletter to identify the best prospects to follow-up with. And while content development may not be in your wheelhouse, it can be readily outsourced to a professional resource. Certain service providers will work with you in various capacities and in all cases remain behind the scenes so that you are identified as the writer. The relationship can function many ways: They can develop topics, draft articles, and submit for your final approval You can provide the topics and they will write the articles on your terms They can interview you, transcribe the notes, and write the article Companies resist having a newsletter for any number of reasons. For example: They have no one to write the content They are pressed for time They are uncertain what to write about They are concerned about “bothering” their customers While these may be valid issues from a staffing standpoint, they shouldn’t prevent you from outsourcing this important touch point to an expert newsletter service provider. Soon it will be January and the start of another year. How do you plan to improve? What will be different in your 2018? Use a newsletter to stay on the grid and create more robust relationships with your clients, prospects, and referral sources. Begin to develop your content now or bring on an outsourced content development resource to do it for you.

In today's business world, online visibility is increasingly important, and the motto for Internet Marketing is "Content is King." While your content doesn't need to be long, it does need to be interesting, engaging, timely, relevant, and edited well. To enhance your rank on the search engines, particularly Google, it also needs to be fresh. For your website to rank well, it also needs fresh content added regularly -- and the best way to make that happen is often by adding a blog. Sales guru Adrian Miller has already written several posts for this blog about blogging -- here I'm adding a note on making sure your copy's grammar and punctuation perfect if you do it yourself. We recommend using Grammarly's App for Microsoft iWindows or Mac and/or Chrome Extension, or both, to make it easy for yourself. The free App edits writing on your computer; the Chrome Extension edits what you write on the web. You can also get the business version for use by up to three people, and other bonuses. Upgrade to Grammarly Business Clear, effective communication for your whole team. Monthly price per member $10 Minimum number of members 3 400+ checks and features Works in browsers and MS Office Centralized billing Team member management Monitoring tools “ Grammarly allows me to have confidence that I have two pairs of eyes on everything that I write.” – Sara Hetyonk, HR Professional

Since I’m also in the sales consulting and training business I am frequently meeting with clients to work on strategies to effectively retain and grow their clients. A conversation about having a newsletter and blog almost always ensues. Full disclosure - I’m a raving fan of newsletters and blogs and most of my clients agree with me but there are some clients that do pushback. Here’s what they tell me: I don’t have the time to do any writing I’m bad at writing There’s no way that I can do this on a consistent basis I have no idea what to write about Here are my replies: I don’t have the time to do any writing I get it, I really do. We’re all incredibly busy and you may be right, you might not have the time to do your own writing. I hate to be so obvious but no one has to write his or her own content anymore. There are resources galore that can do it for you leaving you with the time to take care of all of the other mission critical aspects of your company. And when I say resources “galore” I really mean it. Companies and individuals that can adopt your voice, provide customized content on an almost endless diversity of topics and with little for you to do but to read and approve. (I’d be silly if I didn’t remind you that that’s exactly what wordsworkcopywriting can do for you!) I’m bad at writing See above There’s no way that I can do this on a consistent basis See above I have no idea what to write about See above Once again I’m not so much as trying to sell you on working with wordsworkcopywriting.com as to persuade you to seriously consider doing a newsletter and blog to help position yourself as a thought leader and subject matter expert. There’s lots of upside if you take on this initiative so don’t put it off another day.

It’s amazing how quickly the week rolls by. Seems like one day it is Sunday and then in the next moment it is the following Saturday and you’re about to start all over again. As for those weekly “deliverables” the days seem to pass by even more quickly. It’s an immutable fact that blogs must be maintained and without a long gap between postings. The same holds true with newsletters. Once you establish your schedule it must be adhered to lest you start to lose the momentum you’ve worked so hard to build up. Don’t get me wrong; I know it can be difficult to stay on top of this. For many it is the sheer discipline required for writing. For others it’s the impossibility to attend to writing on top of (other) mission critical work. And of course, for others, it’s the OMG feeling of “now what do I write about.” I know it well, not personally of course but well because I hear about these issues almost every day from coworkers, clients, networking partners and even the guy down at the dry cleaner that was trying to do some social media posts when I came into his shop. It can be stressful BUT there’s a solution. There are others that can pick up the proverbial baton and do the writing for you. I’m not pitching our company but I am pitching the idea that you don’t have to go it alone. Not now, not ever. Give up the stress and take back the time you need to put against other work. Make it a commitment to outsource your content and start now. Don't wait for 2018. You’ve got many posts due before we turn the page on the calendar. Why wait?

Congratulations, you’ve decided to start blogging and I’m here to tell you that it is one of the best ways to gain visibility and establish yourself as a subject matter expert. It’s going to take a little work but there’s value to be gained just as long as you follow a few basic guidelines: Know your audience. The more you know about your target audience the better you will be able to focus the content on their interests. Write things in which they have no interest and you will lose readers quicker than you can say “not relevant!” Decide on your topic and title. Relax and the ideas will come. My personal approach is to sit back and reflect on the questions people ask me about sales, networking, content development and the other business areas in which I am involved. Their questions become my topics. Pretty easy, huh? Start writing and let it flow. Don't worry about your grammar, punctuation or anything else that will stop the flow of words. Keep it conversational and write like you are speaking to just one person. The more conversational the better and ditch the jargon - it’s alienating and no one likes it. Take a break and reread what you’ve written in a few hours or the next day. It’s amazing what a little time will do to your thoughts and how you wish to communicate your ideas. Tighten the content, add additional key points, delete anything that is weak and continue to fine-tune for another day. Correct your grammar and punctuation. Once you are happy with your article it’s time to correct your grammar and punctuation. Reread your blog several times and try to be thorough. If possible ask someone else to read the content as often as a new set of eyes can catch errors that you missed in your own editing. Of course if all of this seems to be too burdensome and if you really have neither the time nor inclination to do your own writing you should seriously consider outsourcing your content development. You have many options, the costs are reasonable and by relieving yourself of the burden of writing you’ll have more time to attend to the other areas of your business. Let us know if we can help.