So We Know the Cool Kids are Blogging, Now What?

Barb — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:48:32 +0000

This past summer, intern Jillian talked about how blogging was advantageous. The benefits do sound fantastic, but with such easy access to a publishing platform, anyone can be a writer these days. So how do you hook your audience? Easy: be contagious and sticky.

Before we hit the ground running, let’s define these two terms. As described in Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, which shows the relationship between the spreading of marketing messages and viruses, the two terms refer to the ability to spread and be memorable. Such concepts are essential for you to not only wind up on everyone’s computer screen, but to also stay on everyone’s Google reader.

When penning down your article, only write as much as you need in order to express your point. Writing too much dilutes what you’re trying to say and dissuades the reader from visiting again. When blogs were not that common, it was easy to get away with ramblings, since there were not a lot of everyday Joe’s voicing their opinions. But since blogging has become so popular as of late, readers can freely pick and choose what they want to read.

Having great content isn’t enough, you need to build relationships! Engage yourself in the online community by reading and commenting on other blogs, as well as meeting up with the bloggers. Consider this: you network with others at work and at social events, right? So why not for the online community too! By networking with other bloggers, you stand to gain more exposure and more connections, which can help you reach your blog’s full potential.

And finally, get some back-end work done. You’re competing against a lot of other blogs, so you want to make sure that yours is search-engine optimized and populating as many corners of the web as possible. What I mean by populating corners is that you want to make sure that you’re part of blog directories and listings, and search engines. There are many online articles that can help you to search-engine optimize your webpage; many of which are catered to those who are not in the field of web design.

Make Your Readers Go “Wow!” with Your Bio

Barb — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:28:06 +0000

More and more people are hopping over to read your blog on investment banking, but what good is it if they know nothing about you – the author? I mean after all, you would like to be credited for what you say and hopefully get noticed by someone high up in the corporate world. So what better way is there for people to learn about you other than for you to tell them yourself in a well written bio.

One of the most important things to note is that the blurb should be written in third person. The reason for such is that the bio is something that others use to describe you; therefore, you should write as though it were a description. This concept makes referencing to you much easier since the bio is already written in the reader’s “lingo,” which eliminates the need for translation.

You also want to make sure that the reader knows what the subject of the blurb is (i.e. you), which can be easily accomplished by inserting your name within the first sentence. Doing so creates a clear association between you and the short piece that you are writing. In addition, be sure to state your profession. You need to, as soon as possible, establish your niche. Get the questions of “who you are” and “what do you do” out of the way before you can get to the juicy details.

Back up your profession with the mention of notable accomplishments. This can give credibility to your blog posts. For instance, if you have won awards for your contributions to investment banking, then the mindset of the reader places great importance on the fact that they should pay a lot of attention to you.

What is the most important part of the bio that we have yet to discuss? The photo! It’s good to put a face to the author; it takes down any barriers and gives the reader with which something else to associate you.

Finally, be sure to include your contact info so that you can be contacted immediately after reading the blurb without having to navigate through several pages of content.

The Ability Project » Blog

So We Know the Cool Kids are Blogging, Now What?

Make Your Readers Go “Wow!” with Your Bio