Need blogging help?

I have just found out that Simpleology is running a course on blogging (how to get one started and working well I believe.) What’s more, you can download a copy for free if you’re willing to blog about it yourself

So, here is the info from them:

Here’s a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I have downloaded it so I’ll read it and review it here - but just in case it doesn’t stay free for very long I thought I’d better tell you now so you can grab a copy (you can always delete it if it isn’t any good!)

Dreams

So many of our dreams

at first seem impossible,

then they seem improbable,

and then, when we summon the will,

they soon become inevitable.

~ Christopher Reeve.

I have read the first of Reeve’s autobiographies, which gives this quote even more power to my mind. The man struggled to do anything much after his accident, yet he exercised for hours every day (not exercise as the rest of us take for granted) so if he could keep reaching for his dreams, and get acting roles, and help charities and inspire people when he was immobile from the neck down…

I think we can take his ideas about dreams seriously and confront the difficult challenges with the belief we CAN do it.

~~~~~~~

My dreams story: 

Some years ago, I had a dream of not working for anyone else. Then I had a mortgage and that dream seemed highly unlikely if not impossible. But I worked hard, saving money and reducing my debt, interest rates fell and I sold the shares I’d been given at work for a good price. The mortgage was no longer a reason to work for someone else.

But then I doubted I had a marketable skill so my own business was still improbable. Until I did a few writing/editing projects for friends and appreciated I had a skill with words that others valued.

Suddenly, I had a business doing something I love and working for myself was inevitable. And I wouldn’t give it up for a job, either.

What is your dream story?

Merry Christmas!

I wish you the best of times over the festive season - lots of laughter, friendship, contentment, peace and gratitude.

Have a wonderful day tomorrow and take time to enjoy the people you love.

Check details - and check again

Let’s face it not everyone will notice or care about a couple of small spelling or grammatical mistakes. But getting the details correct is absolutely critical.

Make sure you go back and check details in your work - whether it is something you have written, a professional wrote for you or a graphic designer has worked on for you. Ideally, get someone else to check your document just for details.

If in doubt at how easy it can be to make such mistakes, here are some real life examples…

1. A marketing flyer for a local shopping strip where each shop added their ad looked great except for one little detail - they spelt the name of the suburb incorrectly! And I know because I saw the flyer in circulation so it went out without being corrected.
2. A course registration form included a second page with the following under the header:
   Invoice Date:             18 December 2008

   Event:                        Course Name, Melbourne – 20 February 2008
   Obviously, prompt payment isn’t an issue with these people!

3. A business sent out invitations to an event that cost them a lot of money to arrange. The invitations were sent out stating a day and date that didn’t match so they risked many people not turning up.
4. 500 business cards were printed with the wrong mobile phone number because no one checked the original source. Luckily, the problem was noticed before any cards were given out.
5. 100,000 letterhead were printed before anyone realised the disclaimer mentioned another (related) company name. Could you afford this sort of reprint?
6. a book on small business quoted someone but used the wrong first name for her, which put her offside and made it hard for readers to research that woman
7. the male CEO of a Melbourne company was named in a photo in an industry magazine - however, the photo was a woman and the article was not even related to the CEO or his company.

 So while you won’t be alone with such mistakes, your credibility is better if you take the time to make sure details are present and correct. The cost of not checking can be huge.

Misuse of English

I found the following sign (posted in Germany’s Black Forest) to be a funny translation - at least  I hope the translating is what caused the bad expression!

It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose.

I wonder what other sexes there are as men and women are only examples of the possibilities!

Want it written better?

Unmarried males and females must not share a tent in the Black Forest Camping Site.

Makes more sense and is simpler, but nowhere near as funny

Taking a holiday

Word Constructions will be on holiday between 1 January and 15 January 2008. We will also be closed for the public holidays on the 25th and 26th December.

We won’t be answering emails or phone calls, or even approving comments on the blog, during that time. We’ve never closed for this long before but I need a real break - time ot unwind and then time to enjoy a holiday so that’s what we’re doing!

I hope you experience a real break sometime soon, too. In the meantime, take care of yourself and don’t forget to smell the roses!

Be careful with satire

Writing satire can be difficult but can produce some very funny work. However, you need to match the satire to an appropriate audience.

Some time ago, I wrote a satirical piece about being a year 12 student - I referred to the wonderful social life (visiting a newsagent, a library, seeing movies of books under study, etc) and the joy of always having something to do (hmm, now I think of it, it is pretty similar to running your own business!)

I know it worked as various friends and teachers at my writing course read it and laughed. Yet I gave it to another person once and she took it very seriously. Her comment was along the lines of “That’s an interesting piece, but I’m not sure how many other year 12 students would agree with you about the highlight of the year”

Personally, I found her response funnier than the original story! However, it does prove a point - if you are writing in a style that is not mainstream or is perhaps different to the norm in a particular context, then take care that your piece will not be misinterpreted in a way it is meaningless.

Learn about your target audience and preferably test your work on a couple of them. You don’t want to waste your best writing on an unappreciative audience!

Answering negative comments

Someone has posted something negative on your blog. You’ve decided to keep their comment live on the blog, so now you need to answer the comment with one of your own.

You could:

• be negative or even abusive back
• ignore the negative aspects of their comment
• be upset and cry ‘unfair’
• be extremely humble and apologetic
• agree to disagree
• agree with them in parts
• agree with them and indicate how you will deal with the issue

So which is the best option?

Well, attacking back isn’t a good idea - it may help you feel better immediately, but it is unprofessional and will be remembered more than the original comment. It also doesn’t solve anything.

Ignoring the negative bits. If the comment is mostly ok and just has some negative bit, you may be able to just answer the main part of the comment and get away with it. But ignoring the negative part looks like you are avoiding it, doesn’t make the commenter feel heard, doesn’t help your business grow and doesn’t stop people believing the negative comment.

You may well feel upset by something in a comment, but posting in that way doesn’t look professional or constructive.

Humble is good and an apology where warranted is a must, but don’t go overboard with it. Being too apologetic and humble removes your credibility and is unlikely to earn you more clients. A simple “I’m sorry you feel that way,” ”Sorry - I made a mistake” or “I think I mucked that up - let me try again” is usually enough.

If the comment is just negative because they disagree with you - that’s great! It is an opportunity for discussion (and isn’t that what a blog is for?) and for you to learn. You may never agree with the comment, but reading it and considering it may give you a new perspective.

A response that acknowledges the others person’s opinion shows respect and an open mind - it doesn’t mean you have to lie and agree with everything they write, just be polite and find a positive aspect to their opinion. You can respond with comments such as

• “I can see where you are coming from but I still like my logo”
• “That’s an interesting idea. Personally, I don’t like pumpkin but it would add great colour to the dish”
• “I prefer brand X but it’s good to hear how it has worked for other people”
• “You are probably right about the rules, but I still think this is safer”
• “Mary thinks long domain names are great, I prefer short ones - what do you think?”
• “I agree that Christmas preparations can start in July but I don’t like decorations in shops in October”
• “I had never thought about it like that before.”
• “I think you’re right - that article is too long. But it would be incomplete if I cut out the examples”

If the negative comment is actually constructive feedback, the best thing you can do is act on it. You may give an initial response in your blog thanking them for their feedback and noting that you are looking into the issue - and don’t forget to come back and post about the fix once it is in place. This is a powerful process. You will show you are listening to your readers/clients, you respect their opinions and you will admit mistakes in order to improve your service/products. The person making the comment will appreciate being heard and may turn into a supporter; other readers will admire and remember your willingness to change.

So the best option to respond to a negative comment partially depends on the nature of the comment. But always respond with respect in a polite way and acknowledge their point of view. Agree, disagree or make amends as the situation calls for.

Consider negative comments as a way of showing your professionalism and building true relationships with your blog readers and clients, and the comments won’t seem so difficult or painful anymore.

Always double-check your writing

Writing well is more than just getting words onto the page - you also need to check the correct words and spelling are there to be read.

I was looking at a website the other day and I’m sure they didn’t proof read it - maybe they didn’t actually read it at all once it was written. On their contact page it states:

Submit your answers and reply or call at no time.

The bit that jumped out at me was ‘call at no time’ - not exactly a welcoming message for a business! The mistake of ‘no’ instead of ‘any’ is simple to make but has a big impact on the final meaning of your words.

Of course, ’submit your answers and reply’ doesn’t make sense either. Reading over their work (or getting someone else to read it for them) could have ended with webcopy that made sense.

So always read through and check your writing says what you wanted it to say, without missing words.

Dealing with negative comments

As soon as you put a blog online and open it up to comments, you face the risk of receiving negative comments on there. The only way to guarantee none of these is to not allow comments - or not have a blog!

Obviously, you can also get negative comments about you and/or your business in emails, by phone and via other online means, but dealing with those is very different to dealing with blog comments.

The first step is to control comments getting onto your blog. The best way to do this is make sure comments are moderated - that means that people can enter comments but they will only go live when you approve them. Not only does this control what goes live, it also means that you can reply as soon as the comment is live so the comment needs never be read by itself online.

So, you go to moderate a new comment and you don’t like it. What do you do?

Well, why don’t you like it? I see 3 main categories of comments you may not like a comment - rude and inappropriate, highly critical or disagreeing with you.

Your choices:

delete it- it is then gone form your blog forever and no one else needs ever know about it. This is the best choice for spam and highly inappropriate comments. Be careful of deleting comments that you just don’t like personally as the person involved may complain about your censorship*

modify it and approve it -you have the ability to edit any comments so that they are less unpleasant to you. An example of when this may be useful is when someone posts some constructive feedback but uses inappropriate language to do so - you could delete the swear words and approve the main message. However, note that some people will be offended and/or vocal if you change what they wrote -  you may want to contact them personally and explain why you are making such changes and give them the option of an edited version being approved or all of it deleted.

approve it and do nothing -it is then live for all to see but you don’t respond to it in anyway.  To me, this is burying your head in the sand - the comment is there for anyone to read so it would be better to reply and possibly turn it into something of value. Readers may also perceive it as you ignoring problems or criticisms, so the blog will be too one-sided and not worth returning to.

approve it and respond- allow the comment to go live and add your response as a new comment. Then you are giving your readers your reaction and are showing that you listen to your readers, which is important if you want your blog to be a community and readers to keep coming back.

Approve it, respond to it and act on it -while it isn;t always appropriate to act on a comment, read it carefully and consider things from the commenter’s point of view. Are they justified in saying your orders are always late or your emails too technical? Can you improve your business or blog by listening to those comments and making a change? If you do that, and add a comment once the change has been made, your business will be strengthened and your credibility increased. You may just turn that commentor into a supporter.

Remember to consider why you don’t like the comment and the potential impact the comment will have on your readers and your blog before you decide how to treat any negative comments.

* censorship - it is your blog so you do have the right to choose what is/isn’t included on it. However, if you say you want an interactive blog and a community, then too much censoring may seem contradictory and may raise more complaints.