Tip for bloggers from novelist Will Self

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Bloggers should constantly be on the lookout for topics. Inspiration often hits at awkward times. That’s why I like the following advice from British novelist Will Self.

Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.

I recently wished I’d taken a notebook onto the elliptical machine. A women’s magazine sparked a new blog post idea. I was so worried about forgetting the idea that I didn’t enjoy the rest of my workout.

Self was quoted in “Ten rules for writing fiction (part two),” which appeared in The Guardian, a U.K. newspaper.

Financial writers clinic: Lessons from Floyd Norris of The New York Times

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I’m a big fan of New York Times columnist Floyd Norris. His Feb. 27 column illustrates techniques you can use for your financial articles and blog posts. 

Lesson 1: Make your title provocative–and consider giving away your conclusion. “Think Banks Are Out of the Woods? Maybe Not,” says Norris’ title. 

The title achieves two positive results. First, it challenges a growing number of pundits who believe banks are in much better shape than one year ago. That’s provocative. Folks will want to know the reasons behind his statement.

Second, the title gives away the article’s main point. Making your conclusion clear up front will attract more people than a title that doesn’t express an opinion, such as “Percentage of bad bank loans” or even “Bad bank loans soar.” Busy people want to get a sense upfront of whether an article will justify their spending the time to read it. 

Lesson 2: A startling fact will hook your readers in your opening sentence. Norris opens with “More than $1 in every $10 that American banks have outstanding in loans is lent to a troubled borrower, a ratio far higher than previously seen in the quarter-century that such numbers have been compiled.” I had to continue reading after that opening. 

Lesson 3: Lead with your message, not your source, as I’ve written on this blog. Norris didn’t mention the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation report that’s the source of his data until his third paragraph. Naming your source boosts the credibility of your article or blog post. But it’s usually not a particularly interesting piece of information. 

Lesson 4: Use graphs or some sort of graphic. A non-text element attracts the eyes of people who might otherwise skip an article. However, Norris’ graphs could have been stronger if they were integrated into the layout of the article and carried more descriptive text. 

Lesson 5: Your ideas count. Norris always has something interesting to say. I might read his articles even if they weren’t well organized.

Image courtesy of pakora at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Related posts
*  Vary your paragraph length like NYT writer Floyd Norris
*  Financial writers clinic: Getting rid of “mitigate”
*  Financial writers clinic: Rhythm can help you 
*  Financial writers clinic: Great title, lousy intro

My best posts for financial advisors who blog

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If you’re a financial blogger who cares about well-written blog posts, you’ll find something useful in these posts.

By the way, if you’re struggling to crank out a steady stream of blog posts, “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read,” my 5-week teleclass for financial advisors, starts tomorrow, Feb. 25.

Moldy websites hurt your SEO, but blogging can help

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Your website needs regular infusions of fresh content to help potential clients find you.

That’s one of the lessons I took away from “Things that can hurt your website’s ranking” in The Boston Globe on Jan. 24. The author advised against “Building your website but letting it molder for months without updates,” if you’d like your website to show up in searches.  

If you blog regularly on your website, that counts as an update. The same thing applies if you add your regular newsletters to your site. If you blog somewhere other than your website, consider feeding your blog to your website, as I’ve done on my Investment Writing website. I also regularly add my monthly newsletter and occasionally update my portfolio of writing samples and other website pages.

By the way, while I couldn’t find a link to the website ranking article that I quote above, I believe it appeared as a sidebar to Scott Kirsner’s “In Web world, a successful marketing effort means gaining inside track on searches.”

What about YOU? Have you found that updating your website regularly has improved your online search rankings?
____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
If you’re struggling to pump out a steady flow of good blog posts, check out my five-week teleclass for financial advisors, “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read,” and sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Five-Week Writing Teleclass for Financial Advisors: "How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read"

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Blogging has become a “must” for many independent and fee-only financial advisors. It’s a great way to connect with current and potential clients. Blogging also helps drive traffic to your website and cement your reputation as a leader in your field. But many advisors struggle to crank out a steady flow of compelling blog posts. That’s why you need to enroll in “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read,” my NEW five-week teleclass for financial advisors.

You will learn how to
o  Generate and refine ideas for blog posts that will engage your readers
o  Organize your thoughts before you write, so you can write more quickly and effectively
o  Edit your writing, so it’s reader-friendly and appealing

The inaugural class will be offered exclusively to my newsletter subscribers and to clients. Participants in the initial class will receive a 50% discount in return for participating fully and providing detailed feedback.

When you participate fully in this class, you’ll end up with one polished blog post–and a process you can follow to generate many more.

How you’ll get there
o Small class–limited to 12 advisors–so you can participate, not just listen passively. Research shows that people learn best when they act on new information.
o Classes will meet on five successive Thursdays–Feb. 25, March 4, March 11, March 18 and March 25– on a teleconference call from 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Eastern Time
o Convenience because you can dial into the weekly phone calls from anywhere–and classes are recorded, in case you can’t attend “live”
o Guidance through a step-by-step process of writing blog posts, including
o  Generating blog post topics
o  Organizing your thoughts before you write
o  Positioning your blog post to appeal to readers
o  Editing your posts to boost their reader-friendliness      
o  “Hands on” practice through completing your weekly homework assignments
o  Resources for the future because you can download
o  Class recordings
o  Class handouts
o  E-booklet
o Feedback from a seasoned financial writer-editor whose clients range from the country’s largest asset managers to solo professionals to trade and retail publications

Register Now!

TESTIMONIALS
What advisors say about other workshops by Susan Weiner, CFA
o “I found this presentation very helpful because it focused on key elements to being an influential but understandable advisor.”
o  “Susan’s presentation brought to life the benefits of better writing.”
o  “Great tips for jump starting my client communications”
o  “Susan’s presentation made me want to go back to my office and juice up my emails and letters.”
 
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS?
Contact Susan at learn@investmentwriting.com or 617-969-4509.

Register Now!

Bloggers, one theme per post, please

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Blog posts aren’t books. You only have time to make one major point per post.

In support of my thesis, I offer three quotes from The Elements of Story: Field Notes on Nonfiction Writing by Francis Flaherty, an editor at The New York Times.

  • “A writer is like a gardener who knows one tree can serve as a focal point in a garden, but that many trees will just muck up the impact of each. Also, a good writer realizes that readers have the mental room to store just one large thought from a story,” pages 32-33.
  • “A subject is not a story; it is many possible stories. To write is to choose, which is to exclude,” p. 33.
  • “No detail belongs in a story if it doesn’t serve some role therein. As Chekhov said, don’t put a gun on stage in Act I if it doesn’t get used by the end of the play,” p. 37

What do YOU think of Flaherty’s quotes?

By the way, if you’re struggling to crank out a steady stream of readable blog posts, consider enrolling in my five-week class for financial advisors, “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read.”

Related posts
*  Five great writing tips: They’re not just for ads
*  Financial writers, lead with your message, not your source
*  Bloggers’ top two punctuation mistakes 

 

NOTE: On May 25, 2021, I updated the link to my financial blogging class and to my related posts.

My most popular blog posts of 2009

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My most popular blog posts of 2009 fall into categories including social media, written communications, investment and wealth management, and careers.



Social media

Written communications

Investment and wealth management

Careers

I feel that “Dan Fuss: The 50-Year Opportunity in Bonds” deserves mention. Although published in December 2008, it was one of my most popular posts in 2009. It also made the list of Advisor Perspective‘s top ten most read articles for 2008. It looks as if legendary investors draw readers.

CFA Magazine on social media and your career

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“Stepping Out: Digital Footprints Can Make Or Break a Career” by Rhea Wessel appears in the Nov./Dec. issue of CFA Magazine, starting on page 34 of the digital edition (page 32 of the print edition). 


It’s a cautionary tale that quotes several CFA charterholders including yours truly. It even refers indirectly to my “Top five tips for financial advisors dipping their toes in the Twitterverse.“


Here’s the bit that quotes me

“Don’t land yourself in hot water by starting to blog before you consult with your compliance officer,” she says. “However, you can get an idea of industry norms by studying bloggers whom you respect and who work in positions similar to yours.”

Financial writers, lead with your message, not your source

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Sometimes you go to a conference or talk with an expert and return to your office with a message you’ve just got to share. That’s great. But in their enthusiasm, financial advisors often make the mistake of starting their article or blog post with the name and credentials of the expert or conference, instead of their message. 

Here’s a made-up example of this common mistake. It’s the kind of problem I often see in advisor-written articles.

Last month, Jane Miller, an estate planning attorney with 30 years experience, gave a great talk at the Anytown Library about estate planning for families including children with special needs. Jane practices in Nexttown with the firm of Miller, Brown, and Lopez. I’m going to share some of her main points with you.

Let’s assume this paragraph went out in a client newsletter. Do any clients care about Jane, where she spoke, and the identity of the partners in her law firm?  Maybe some do. But I’ll bet the families with children who have special needs care a lot more about the details of Jane’s advice.

I suggest rewriting the beginning of the article to focus on the message, rather than the source.

Sometimes your clients’ best-intentioned efforts to help their children with special needs may backfire, as I learned in a presentation by attorney Jane Miller of Miller, Brown, and Lopez. There are three steps you can take to help your child financially, while maintaining their access to means-tested programs.

Do you grasp the difference between the two approaches?

Unless you’re reporting on your one-to-one meeting at the White House with President Obama or your Hollywood meeting with the hottest movie star, start your article with your strongest message.

 

Interesting example of fund company using YouTube

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I  normally think of a fund company using YouTube–if it uses YouTube at all–to show off its talking heads. But times are changing.

U.S. Global Investors’ “Shanghai City Lights” video, which you can view below, doesn’t mention the fund firm’s name or investments. It doesn’t even show any people. I think this video has the potential to reach more viewers than the firm’s more traditional videos. Heck, I already forwarded the video to my husband to remind him of our visit to Shanghai.  However, I wonder how many of this video’s viewers will be potential fund buyers.


US Global Investors seems to have moved away from talking heads and toward more visually appealing pieces. Its initial YouTube video was “Frank Holmes Explains the Key Drivers for Gold and Mining Stock,” followed by “What the Global Infrastructure Story Looks Like” and “A Firsthand Look at Mining Operations in Brazil.” To view these videos, go to the USFunds YouTube channel. So far the Frank Holmes video has gained the most viewers on YouTube, with 218 views as of Nov. 16.

However, US Global Investors hasn’t given up on more traditional communications. For example, “Five Reasons China is Not a Bubble” appears on its blog and the firm’s Fall 2009 Shareholder Report leads with a letter titled “Just Back from Shanghai.”

Do you think US Global Investors’ YouTube video about Shanghai represents the start of a trend? While their videos haven’t attracted many viewers yet. the firm’s YouTube presence is pretty new.