blog tips

Blog topics: Break the 3-S rule on your blog

This rule is made to be broken, I thought when I read about the “3-S rule” of Marella Agnelli, wife of Fiat’s Gianni Agnelli in “Marella & Me” in The New York Times Style Magazine (Sept. 28, 2014). According to Marella, you should never discuss in public the three Ss of sogni (dreams), salute (health), […]

How the Ancients Read

Rome vs. today: My thoughts on readers’ access and attention

Visiting Rome’s Colosseum made me think about how our ease of accessing reading materials makes us less patient when we read. Back in the days of classical Rome, people had to work at reading. They didn’t have books lying around their homes — at least not according to the exhibit about libraries that I saw […]

white paper

4 reasons you shouldn’t write a white paper

White papers can be great marketing tools. Done right, they give web surfers reasons to join your email list and persuade them that you understand—and have solutions to —their problems. However, done poorly, white papers waste your time—and your readers’ time. To help you avoid pointlessly sinking your energy into white papers, I’m sharing four […]

Guest bloggers: 2014 in review

Looking for marketing and writing tips from diverse experts? Check out the posts from my 2014 guest bloggers listed below! Blog 5 Secrets to Finding the Best Virtual Assistant to Streamline Your Financial Advisor Blog by Kathy Goughenour (@expertVAmentor) Three Decisions You Need to Make Before Setting Up Your New Blog by Elizabeth Kricfalusi (@EKricfalusi) […]

Time to think as a writer’s technique

Is taking time to mull over your topic one of the best things you can do to succeed as a writer? The following quote from Rudolf Flesch’s chapter on “The Shape of Ideas” in The Art of Readable Writing set me to thinking: Every professional writer knows that this period of just-sitting-and-thinking between legwork and outline […]