WritingThoughts

Usually we talk about writing web content on Web Content Thursdays. Today I’m going to turn the tables a little bit. Instead of talking about writing, we’re going to talk about reading – specifically, what blogs you should be reading as a web content writer.

Here’s a list of five must-read blogs for any web content writer:

1. The Leading Blog In Your Genre – It’s a good idea to keep up with the leading blogs for your particular type of writing.
2. Leading Blogs About Blogging – If you blog, then you need to keep up with what’s going on in the blogosphere. Some of the top blogs to help you with this include: ProBlogger, Daily Blog Tips, The Blog Herald, and Performancing.
3. Your Client/Employer’s Blog – Do you really want to be the last one to know that your client/employer is having problems? Whether you have one major client, or many – if they blog, then you should read it. I might not always leave a comment on my clients’ blogs, but you’d better believe that I read them.
4. Any Blog That Links to Yours – Don’t you want to know what they’re saying? (If not, why not?)
5. Your Own Blog – Yes, it’s important to go back and reread your own blog from time to time. There are a number of reasons to do this. First, you might find old typos that need to be corrected (ugh!). Secondly, you might remember some projects that you started and never quite finished. Third, you might find some posts that you’ve changed your mind about or that need updating.

So, with this list of must-read blogs in mind, what’s in your feed reader?

Contents (c) Copyright 2008, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down and visit with the mother of one of my daughter’s friends that I only know casually.

The conversation when something like this:

Her, in a pitying tone: So, are you writing a novel from home?

(If there had been one of those cartoon bubbles over her head to show her thoughts, it probably would have read something like this: poor deluded thing, she thinks that she’s an author…)

Me, somewhat surprised at her tone: Actually, I do all of my writing for businesses. I write study guides and tests for business professionals, create content for companies that have websites, and develop instructional manuals for software systems. I have also done some newsletters.

(I didn’t even attempt to explain what a blog is to her.)

Her turn to be surprised: So you really do stay busy…

She sighs: I need to find something that I can do from home and get paid.

Unfortunately, her response is not all that unusual. When I tell people that I’m a writer they typically ask to read one of my books. That’s because, for most people the occupation title “professional writer” seems to be synonymous with the occupation title “book author.” Most people think that writing a book is the only way that a writer can get paid.

I ran across this post from my blogging friend, Nikki, that asks when you should call yourself a professional writer.

My opinion is that you are a professional writer if you are earning your living from writing, but I’m curious to find out what you think.

What do you think? At what point can you call yourself a professional writer?

Contents (c) Copyright 2008, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

A few weeks ago I read this excellent post by Randa Clay on reasons every blogger should participate in forums.

I have to say that I agree with Randa’s list of forum participation benefits. My own experience with forums has been extremely positive. In fact, I might not even be blogging today if it hadn’t been for those that I ‘met’ through online forums.

Yet, just a few days after reading Randa’s post, two of my favorite blogging forums closed down for good.

Now, I have to admit (with some degree of guilt) that I had not been paying enough attention to said forums. I’d allowed business to get in the way.

I fully understand that forums require a lot of work. Forum moderation, in and of itself, can be a full-time job.

I have to wonder, though, were the closures more than just a coincidence? Were these closures a sign of a coming trend? Are forums and message boards on their way to becoming a thing of the past?

What do you think?

Contents (c) Copyright 2008, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

Something that I’ve wondered about is whether or not anyone has ever been reconnected to old friends through blogging.

Personally, it hasn’t happened to me yet. I’m a little surprised, though. I keep half-expecting to get an e-mail from someone that says: “are you the Laura Spencer that I knew at XYZ college?” Or, “are you the same person that I worked with at ABC company?”

On the one hand, you’d think that this would happen all the time. On the other hand, my blog probably doesn’t really have that much reach.

However, I’m curious as to whether or not this has happened to any of my readers.

Has it? Has someone that you’ve lost touch with contacted you through your blog?

Contents (c) Copyright 2008, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

One of the best things that you can do for your writing career is to find one, or more, writers with whom you can share career goals and milestones.

Your relationships with other writers are unlike any other relationships that you’ll have.

Other writers will sharpen your skills. They’ll inspire you. They’ll teach you. They’ll encourage you. And yes, they’ll provide much-needed constructive criticism.

Read more.

The contest to find the notable blogs for writers for 2007 is over. It’s time to start discovering new notable writing blogs.

To start off this year, I’m naming a must-read blog. If you write web content and you aren’t already reading Copyblogger, then you should be.

With Copyblogger Brian sets about to correct writing problems. Each post is practical and yet entertaining. Not only does Brian product great content for the blog, but he also lines up great guest bloggers.

Copyblogger’s most recent post is from the Copywriting Maven, Roberta Rosenberg. Check it out for yourself.

Note: If you’re consistently posting great information and haven’t seen your blog featured in Of Note yet, I apologize. I’ll probably find you soon. I know there are a lot of great blogs out there; I discover more new ones each day. (So many blogs, so little time.)

Contents (c) Copyright 2008, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

As I was doing some research the other day, I found a great site that contained an article about the topic I was researching. Then, I clicked on another link. Lo and behold, it was the exact some article. I found it again on a third site.

Was this a case blatent plagiarism? Had someone scraped the content of the article and reposted it?

No, they had not.

The fourth site where I encountered the article explained everything. This was an article from an article directory – freely available to be reprinted on multiple sites as long as the author received credit.

The experience got me wondering about duplicate content, however. Like you, I’ve heard the term “Duplicate Penalty” and wondered what it means for sites like these.

I decided to do a little research.

The first thing that I learned is that the so-called penalty is actually a filter. When a search engine finds duplicate content, then it excludes links from the duplicates. So, it’s not actually a penalty as much as it is an exclusion. You can read more about it at Nitro Marketing.

Here’s a great post from the Online Marketing Performance that gives guidelines, based on a post from Google Matt Cutts, on how to correctly use duplicate content.

Finally, Problogger published a really good explanation of keywords and search engine optimization (SEO) just a few days ago. It’s from Ciaran McKeever of Chance Favors. This is a great post, especially if you are just learning about SEO.

I’ll throw the question about duplicate content out to the experience of the readers. Doubtless, many of you have your own tips to share.

Do you use article directories to find articles for your site? What has your experience been with that?

Do you publish articles on article directories? What has been your experience with that?

Contents (c) Copyright 2008, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

At least we say that we’re not. Not very much, anyway…

A few weeks ago I asked WritingThoughts readers whether or not they found blogging to be stressful.

The poll is closed now. Seventeen readers took part. Here are the results:

• 41% of you answered that blogging was slightly stressful.
• 36% of you answered that blogging is either not at all stressful, or is a stress reliever.
• 18% of you answered that blogging is moderately stressful.
• 6% (or one of you) find blogging to be so stressful that it “affects my physical and/or mental well-being.”

By the way, I didn’t take the survey. I feel it’s only fair to share my answer now. I would have answered that I find blogging to be slightly stressful. That’s because spending too much time blogging (and there’s always a temptation to spend too much time blogging) takes time away from my other responsibilities.

Watching the results come in for the survey was interesting. It was as though we are afraid to admit that something we love so much, blogging, might cause us a little stress.

The first votes that came in were almost unanimously against blogging as a cause of stress. As time went by, however, I watched the votes creep up the chart. First someone admitted that blogging might be slightly stressful, and a few other voters followed. Then someone else admitted that blogging might be moderately stressful for them, and a few others followed.

Feel free to leave your own comments about stress.

Contents (c) Copyright 2008, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

You’ve been waiting for it, it’s up now!

See the Winner’s Page for the “Of Note” competition.

Contents (c) Copyright 2008, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

For the past few weeks I’ve been playing with the Advanced Marketing Institute’s Free Headline Analyzer to see if it can help me to create more effective headlines for my blog posts.

(I wish I remembered for sure where I originally saw this tool, but it’s one of those links that I bookmarked ages ago and finally got around to looking at in more detail.)

Anyway, the Advanced Marketing Institute tool claims to analyze headline phrases for emotional marketing value. The headline of this post, for example, scored 50%, so I left it as it was.

The analyzer says that this post’s headline appeals to the intellectual and spiritual spheres. Who am I to argue?

Does this tool work? Well, if you are reading this post because the headline caught your eye, why not leave a comment and let me know?

Contents (c) Copyright 2008, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved