By Jessica Albon
I formed a resolution to never write a word I did not want to write; to think only of my own tastes and ideals.
C. S. Forester
Is this your approach to your own newsletter or blog: to write only what you want, to think only of your own tastes? If you’re like a lot of business owners, your first, and only, consideration is whether or not you’re interested in a topic. To me, this is akin to thinking your best niche is people who are carbon copies of you. (Like life coaches who only work with women between 45 and 48 who have recently been divorced, have no kids, like to play the ukulele, and watch documentaries about parrots who save people from burning buildings.)
It’s not inherently wrong, but it is limiting, and probably not in the best interests of your readers (and, therefore, you).
If you were …
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By Jessica Albon
Newsletters are magical things–they can attract customers, increase company profits, establish expertise and much more. But, did you know they can also help you increase your search engine rankings?
Your newsletter can help your search engine ranking by specifically focusing on your keyword phrases. Perhaps the easiest way to keep each issue of your newsletter relevant to your keyword phrases is to make a list of the phrases you target and brainstorm article ideas for each phrase. Then, as you write each article from your list, try to incorporate the keyword phrase into the title of the article, and, of course, use it regularly throughout your article (caution: don’t overdo it or your article will be awkward to read).
By posting archives of your newsletter on your website, you’ll be keeping each targeted issue available to search engine spiders. If you archive issues by subject (using your keyword phrases, …
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By Jessica Albon
“A man will give his life for a simple bit of colored ribbon.”
–Napoleon
First-grade-teacher Katrina decided to hold an awards ceremony mid-year to encourage great behavior during that time of year when kids tend to climb the walls.
She announced the ceremony a few weeks before it was to happen and told the kids about the different awards she’d be giving out–things like “Most imaginative color-er” and “Best at hand-raising.” As part of her announcement, she highlighted five specific awards.
“The student who does the best job finishing their homework between now and then will receive the “Homework Good Do-er Award,” she said. She had one student who struggled with his homework considerably. He often brought it back incomplete, usually a mess.
But something about her announcement inspired him and after the rest of the class had gone out to recess, he announced that he planned to win the …
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By Jessica Albon
Have you been being stingy with the spotlight in your newsletter? Shining it directly on yourself and leaving others in the dark?
Sure, your newsletter should be “all about you” in the sense that you want to keep each issue focused on the information and approach you use to serve clients and customers… But, that doesn’t mean sharing the spotlight is a bad idea.
In fact, there are five excellent reasons to start sharing the spotlight today.
- It makes you look well-connected.
Experts associate with other smart people. They don’t work in a cave. That means that when you share articles written by your brilliant friends in the industry, or mention that you found a certain resource through a colleague, that you’re demonstrating to readers your networking prowess. Showing readers that you’re well-connected is a great way to reassure them that you’re well-read and up on all the latest industry
…
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By Jessica Albon
Does this look like the face of a dog who’s obsessing over font choice? (This photo of Izzy really has nothing to do with today’s article, I just wanted to share it.)
Pamela can’t decide which font says “professional, efficient, and responsible” for her brand new newsletter nameplate. Robert isn’t sure if his selected font is “rugged” enough for his new blog. And Joan is struggling to find a font that’s retro and friendly but not an attention-hog.
Do these challenges sound familiar?
In the last month, about 50% of our WordPress design clients are launching new projects and they all want the “perfect” font to build an identity on. If you’re creating something new–a new service, a new blog, a new brand–you’re probably seeking the perfect font, too.
As you browse the font catalogs, you’re likely overwhelmed by all the choices. You want something unique, but not distractingly so. …
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By Jessica Albon
There’s a lot to love about newsletters; they’re a wonderful, rewarding, rich way to build relationships, connect with readers, and make sales. And I’ve been spending more time than usual thinking up all my favorite things to love 
.
Here’s my list of the top five things I most love about newsletters. I’d love to hear your own list, too!
1. Newsletters let you be yourself. When you’re marketing your business, there can be a lot of pressure to be one way or another. And, even if you’re not completely comfortable breaking free from that mold in other forms of marketing, you can in a newsletter. Because a newsletter is just an email (or letter) from you to one reader–so, being yourself is actually the only “right” way to be.
2. Newsletters reward persistence. Depending on your personality, you might not think this is such a wonderful quality, but I …
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By Jessica Albon
A few days ago, I attended a workshop at The Home Depot on embellishing basic furniture pieces. The attendees had varying levels of experience–some had never done anything home-improvement-ish while others had tackled complicated projects. And the questions they asked reflected each person’s level of experience.
What was intriguing was that one woman who’d never picked up a paint brush asked really interesting questions–questions I wouldn’t have thought to ask. Sure, they weren’t advanced, but they were compelling nonetheless because they arose out of a deep sense of curiosity.
I may have done a bit more than just hold a paintbrush, but I still loved hearing the answers to her questions. In fact, the answers to her questions held the interest of even the most advanced attendees and prompted some of the best discussions.
As the expert, you might hesitate to cover more basic topics because you worry about …
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By Jessica Albon
Image by gokoroko
I spent the weekend celebrating my birthday (thank you for the birthday wishes!) and out in the garden planting zinnias and planting my baby tomato plants in the garden. I mentioned before that this year I’ve grown a bunch of heirloom tomatoes from seed and it’s been really intriguing to watch them grow. They’re finally looking like real tomato plants so out into the garden they went.
What was interesting to me was the way their roots wound around the outside of the pot–checking that boundary and feeling their way against the plastic. Now that their roots have much more room to explore, I know they’ll once again test their new boundaries.
And, of course, while I was planting the tomatoes into the garden, I was thinking about your business and wondering if it’s time for you to “repot” yourself, too. I know for …
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By Jessica Albon
Image by leovdworp
I’m love, love, loving this weather. Today it’s gorgeous out, Carolina blue skies, just breezy enough, and lush shade from my gorgeous, healthy trees. Sure, I’m currently *inside* typing this on a desktop computer (why am I not on the laptop, I’m finding myself wondering…), but all the doors and windows are open so it’s almost as good as being outdoors.
A new project that’s so close to being launched has gotten me involved with some super great people–I can’t wait to share this particular link with y’all, but in the meantime, suffice to say that my designers have done a mind-bogglingly gorgeous job and I’m thrilled with how the project’s proceeding.
I’m delighted to have met several new folks lately to pass less-than-perfect-for-me clients along to. Over the past year, one of the big changes in my business has been that I’ve gotten
…
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By Jessica Albon
I’ve been knee-deep in hacked sites all week (last week, too, actually), so it seems like a good time to remind you of these five crucial things you should be doing regularly, but probably aren’t. Whether you do them often, or never, make some time to do them over the weekend.
- Sign up for an online backup service. I use Carbonite, but Mozy also gets great reviews. Remember, an online backup service isn’t a stand-alone never-back-up-your-computer-again service. You’ll still need an external hard drive. But, this is a great way to have a daily (or hourly) backup of the files you change often. (Downloading a complete system backup from one of these online services will make you pull all your hair out–so, use an external drive for the complete [once a week or once a month] backup, and an online service for the daily backup.)
- Buy an external hard
…
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By Jessica Albon
Image by jynmeyer.
This is a mildly embarrassing story. But, it fits so well with today’s topic, that I’m going to share it with you anyway.
I was a very, very bossy kid. And I have a younger brother who was very easy to boss around.
He’s two years younger than I am and didn’t talk all that much (he didn’t have to…)
When we would play role playing games (school, for instance), I would *give him his lines*. As in, “Joey, you say, ‘Teacher, how do I do this math problem?’”
(I told you it was embarrassing.)
Your readers have a lot in common with Joey. Generally, they’re not going to talk a lot. They’re just not comfortable jumping right in.
That’s why you want to give them their lines.
I’m not saying you should write in your WordPress website articles, “Reader, you say, ‘I love …
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By Jessica Albon
We had a fabulous vacation. You can see the view I woke up to (yadzooks the sun is rising early these days!) over on Twitter, and I’ll have more photos as I go through all the ones I took. I love my Olympus but sometimes I think digital makes taking photos way too easy.
Here’s Izzy having a blast at the beach the day we left. To say he slept soundly for the car ride home is definitely an understatement .
I’ll be adding more photos to this post as I go through them–I’ll even have a photo of that fudge I mentioned .
…
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By Jessica Albon
Just like in the garden, weeds in your newsletter take up valuable space that could be replaced with something a lot prettier. The five most common weeds I see in clients’ newsletters are:
- Jargon. Especially when you’re telling readers just what it is your company does and how you can help them, make sure you use your words wisely. Make every word clearly communicate–don’t drown readers in cryptic jargon. Read your company description out loud–replace anything you trip over or that sounds empty.
- Too much contact information. Giving readers a choice between emailing you and calling you is great. Giving readers a choice between five phone numbers, eight email addresses, and three physical addresses is not. Consolidate all contact information, and, if possible, give readers information specific to them (the nearest retail location, for instance).
- Classified ads. Seriously consider whether or not it makes sense to advertise other people’s stuff.
…
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By Jessica Albon
One of the things I really love about writing a weekly newsletter is that it reminds me to stop and reflect on the previous week each Friday. Whether I write about one of my accomplishments (or mishaps) in the feature article or in the Editor’s Note or not, this weekly ritual has made me much more aware of how I’ve spent my time.
Most of the time, at least some portion of my reflection does make its way into this newsletter, and even when it doesn’t, the time is never wasted.
Today I’d like to share the five questions I ask that lead to great newsletter content.
- What am I especially happy about learning this week?
A week is a long time when you’re looking at what you’ve learned, so instead of reviewing everything that could go on that list, I focus on the things that were especially rewarding. Shortcuts,
…
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By Jessica Albon
Photo by Kriss Szkurlatowski
Is your newsletter languishing because you don’t have time to write new articles? Has your blog gone un-updated for months on end? Are you tired of feeling completely guilty because you’re not generating as much content as you’re “supposed” to?
If you’re not contributing to the hourly doubling of Internet content, it’s time to change that. But when you’ve already got too much to do in a day, how do you become more prolific? Here’s what works for my clients.
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Write more. It may be self-evident, but the simple act of writing more *is* an idea sparker in and of itself. See, if you decide you’re going to write one article a day for the next month, you’re going to have to let go of the idea that each of those articles needs to be a masterpiece. In fact, most of those articles might
…
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By Jessica Albon
Image by woodsy
This weekend, I finally started my tomato seeds–a little behind schedule, but fortunately we have a long growing season here in North Carolina. Before buying my seeds, I knew the types of tomatoes I’d plant, but there was one that was a surprise… Though I’d never heard of it before, the story on the back of the package intrigued me and before I knew it, seeds for tomatoes I’d never heard of were in my cart.
On the other hand, I also spent a half hour this weekend searching for a great coffee mug on Etsy, and came away empty handed. The mugs that I liked all suffered from one (or both) of two fatal flaws–no story, or no details. For me, one of the most important things to know about a coffee mug is … how much coffee it’ll hold, and yet click after click, …
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By Jessica Albon
Jessica’s note: I wrote this article originally in October of 2007, but it felt especially relevant to share today. Enjoy!
There’s a virus afoot. No, not a computer virus. Or a bird flu virus. But rather a Sameness Virus.
See, most of the articles that wind up on websites, in ezines, and being circulated at sites like EzineArticles.com are very much the same.
In fact, if you spend a lot of time browsing through content, you might just start to feel like the article writers took the old Sesame Street song a little too much to heart–and avoid standing out at all costs.
You probably think you’re immune. After all, you can see all the things that set your articles apart from other articles out there. But, here’s the thing: just because you know that your articles stand head and shoulders above the rest doesn’t mean your readers can …
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By Jessica Albon
Edited at 2:15 p.m. on March 19 (immediately following the call.)
Were you on the line with me? I hope so! (We had to score extra lines to fit everyone in–that was awesome! and nerve wracking!) The call went really well, if I do say so myself, except for that little interruption when Izzy decided he wanted to say hello! If you haven’t signed up, please do–I’ll send you the link to the recording. And, if you were on the line, please post any comments, feedback, or questions below. I can’t wait to hear about how you use what you learned to thrive your business and Thrive Your Tribe!
I don’t do teleclasses often, let alone free ones. My last teleclass was almost two years ago! I much prefer having my audience in the same room with me where I can see if people have questions, and chat with everyone …
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By Jessica Albon
Image by s-s
Apparently, communication between WordPress designers and their clients is really hard on both sides. Just in the last two weeks, I’ve heard from three people who have “absolutely had it” with their web designers and want to start fresh with someone new (me 
).
If you’re at your wits end with your designer, before you hire someone new, walk through this article with me. Because, just like divorce, if you don’t resolve the issues you’ve brought to this relationship, just hiring someone new won’t necessarily solve the problem.
1. Figure out what the heck you want.
This is the rant of designers everywhere. Under no circumstances are you allowed to say to me, “I’ll know it when I see it.” Unless you have a budget in the tens of thousands of dollars, this is not a game you will find an experienced designer willing to play.
So, …
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By Jessica Albon
Struggling to come up with the right stories for your newsletter? You’re not alone.
You know it’s important to share personal stories, but may not be quite sure what that should look like. You know it’s not enough to simply relay the story of the super cute thing Toby did this weekend, and think you should try to link it into your main story somehow… But, how?
One trick of expert writers is to use metaphors. But, these aren’t exactly the metaphors you were taught to use in school (e.g. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances.”). You’re not looking to write just a single sentence or two about your metaphor.
Rather, you’re going to use two advanced techniques to improve your use of metaphor (and really improve your articles).
So, let’s say that this weekend, …
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