WritingThoughts

Online identity is a huge topic these days, but how can we protect it? Keeping your online identity intact and professional for yourself and for your business is the topic of the guest post that I had published today at the b5media blog, WorkBoxers.

Here is the link to my guest post: How to Protect Your Identity in an Increasingly Public Online World.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

I’ve been seeing a lot of new names at WritingThoughts lately, which is a really good thing. I thought that now might be a good time to ask how you got here.

So, I’m asking you to please answer the following poll. It’s easy … there’s only one question! You can remain anonymous, or you are welcome to leave a comment.

Maybe we can all learn something about what drives traffic!

The post on 25 Best Selling Words got such a good response that I decided to share some commentator ideas with you, rather than leave them buried in the comments. One commentator even used some of the words to create linky love.

Here’s the commentator feedback:

• Tammi from Drawing on Words suggested that we remove “tested” from the selling words and add “effective” and “reliable.”
• Vivien Quek from Versa Creations added “No. 1,” and “trusted” to our list.
• Mihaela Lica from eWritings Online Public Relations had no words to add, but did offer this sage advice: “25 words: the magic ingredients. Handle with care or you might end up selling more than you can deliver.”

Thanks guys! Reading through your comments I can’t believe I left out so many selling words. (And I had sincerely tried to list all that I could think of, too!)

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

“Mom, we’re out of printer paper!” Darling Daughter number one (DD1) called out. “I’m ready to print now. My paper is due TOMORROW.”

That last word was a bit of a shout.

I walked over to her printer. I noticed that the paper tray was actually empty. I checked the other printers in the house and the storage cabinet. Yes, we were indeed out of paper.

(What ever happened to that huge cache of office supplies that we bought at the beginning of the school year?)

I looked it my watch. 9:05 p.m. … That meant that I had less than an hour to get to the office supply store before it closed. With a sigh, I headed out the door.

Once again, I had been blindsided by a last-minute school project.

My question for you today, WritingThoughts readers, what do you do when your child informs you of a crucial school project at the last minute? Do you rush out the door to buy whatever they need?

(The “need” has been everything from a football tee shirt, to poster board, to candy corn, to an actual can of corn.)

Or, do you tell your child to plan better and tell you sooner next time?

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

©Laura Spencer

Do you see the difference?

The key is to use selling words (which are mostly adjectives) in a way that is natural and not contrived.

Even if you don’t write marketing or advertising copy, you can use these words to liven up otherwise dull writing.

[Read more →]

One of the most frequent complaints from writers that I read about on message boards is that of content theft. Plagiarism Today describes itself as “a site targeted at Webmasters and copyright holders regarding the issue of plagiarism online.”

If you want to learn more about the issues of plagiarism and copyright infringement, Jonathan Bailey’s site, Plagiarism Today, may be just what you are looking for. In fact, in today’s Internet environment I’d call it a must-read for serious content writers.

Recent posts of interest at Plagiarism Today include:

• Copyright Cease and Desist Letters
• Game: Copyright 101 Quiz
• Copyright 101 Quiz Answers

Check Plagiarism Today frequently for more information about this troubling problem.

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 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

Last week I ran a poll asking you, the readers of WritingThoughts, to share what inspired you.

16 people, which is approximately 10% of you (since I usually have between 100 and 150 readers) answered.

I thought I’d share the results, although I’m sure they are by no means definitive. I did find them somewhat interesting.

In the poll there were five choices for a source of inspiration. The sources were:

• Art, Literature, or Music
• Other People
• Your Environment (nature and your surroundings)
• Competition
• Pressure to Perform (deadlines)

The big shocker, at least to me, was that only one person responded that deadlines inspire them. Since deadlines are so prevalent in our industry I had really expected that number to be higher. Evidently, we’re not the sort to be motivated by pressure.

Apparently no one who reads this blog is trying to “keep up with the Joneses,” because no one is inspired by competition. I have to admit, that was a little bit of a surprise for me too. I’ve always known people who set their goals according to what other people are doing.

We had a three-way tie (five votes each) between Art, Literature, or Music, Other People, and Your Environment. So, those categories are the winners as far as providing us with inspiration.

Did you participate? Of course the poll was anonymous, but if you’d like to share more about what you selected feel free to leave a comment. If you missed the poll but would like to share what inspires you, you are also welcome to leave a comment.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

There are all kinds of social media out there. (My personal favorite is StumbleUpon.) However, the only social media that my kids ever talk about are Facebook and MySpace. In fact, those are the only social media that I’ve ever heard any kids talk about…

As a mom, I have to tell you that social media for kids makes me VERY, VERY nervous. Despite the fact that the news often carries stories about how various social media companies will do a better job of protecting our kids, I have to admit that I still don’t feel completely comfortable with it for kids and teens.

What do you think? Is social media safe for our kids? What Internet safety precautions do you take with your family?

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

There have been a lot of posts about writing captivating headings. I’ve even written about the importance of headlines myself.

It’s true, headlines are very important for capturing the attention of your reader – especially on the web. It’s not true, however, that the heading is the only important thing about your article or post, or even the most import part of your document.

If you’ve ever read a book or watched a movie where the ending just fell flat, you know how disappointing that can be. In fact, a lot of times the quality of the ending is the difference between a great work and, well, something else.

It’s no different in copywriting. While it’s important to capture your reader’s attention initially, what you do with their attention (once you have it) is also important.

Just today I read a piece of marketing documentation that was great, except when I got to the end. I was all motivated to do something, even to buy the author’s product – but the document didn’t tell me how I could do that! Will I buy the product? Currently I have no idea how to do that and when I do find out how to buy it, I may have lost interest in it.

Here are three reasons to pay particular attention to your endings:

1. Someone who reads all the way to the end of your document is truly interested. He or she is likely to be a member of your target audience and a potential future customer.
2. Because your ending is the last part of your document to be read, it is likely to be the freshest in your reader’s memory.
3. A fuzzy ending or disappointing ending can actually hurt your business. How many times have you read all the way through a document and then thought to yourself: Who Cares!!!

What should a good conclusion contain? There are several effective ways to conclude a document, but at a minimum you’ll usually want to include one or more of the following elements:

• A summary of your main points
• A call to action
• Contact information

So, here’s your homework: take a look at the endings of your recent articles and posts. Is there a way that they could be strengthened? If your answer is “yes,” rewrite the ending(s) to be more effective (even if the piece is already published, the practice will help).

Was this post helpful? Leave a comment and let me know.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved

Okay, it wasn’t the dog. It was the computer.

I had today’s post all neatly outlined yesterday when the computer crashed. Now, I’m in the situation of having to come up with a post, get a shower, and get myself in the car to pick my kids up from school on an early release date – all in a half an hour.

So, instead of the original, high quality, organized post that I had outlined yesterday – you’re getting this one that I pulled from my head.

It’s sort of a blogger cheat sheet for times like this. Use it sparingly, or it will spoil the soup.

Five Things To Post When You Don’t Have Anything Else to Post 

1. A poll. (Thanks to Eliza’s recommendation at I’m not just a mom … I’m a Home Mom I’ve started to use polldaddy for my polls. It seems to work well with WordPress.)

2. A photo. A picture is worth a thousand words.

3. A cartoon. Thanks to ProBlogger for pointing me to this free resource for cartoons. (The downside is: it’s been on ProBlogger. Now everybody will be using these cartoons.)

4. A blogthing. The blogthings site has a host of illustrated quizzes specifically for displaying on blogs. If you’ve ever wondered what your leprechaun name is, this site may be for you.

5. Link love. Post a list of links to recent articles from five of your favorite bloggers.

Now, who’s going to ‘fess up? Don’t tell me that this has never happened to you.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved