Tag Archive for: blog writing

Old vs. young for your blog

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Looking for a new angle on a classic investment or financial topic? Try the following suggestion from Ray Peter Clark’s Help! for Writers:

Interview the oldest person you know, and the youngest.

I can imagine a nonagenarian and a child would have very different perspectives about topics such as “Why save money?” or “What should you spend money on?”

You might use your interview results in different ways.

  1. Select quotes to enliven your article.
  2. Use a quote or opinion as your article’s starting point.
  3. Tell your interviewee’s story to make a point.
  4. Generalize about the wisdom of youth or old age.
  5. Compare and contrast the positions of young and old.
  6. Point out the weaknesses in an opinion

Have you tried this?

If you’ve used this technique, I’d like to learn about your success with it. Please comment.

 

Image courtesy of Timeless Photography/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Turn questions into blog posts

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Tired of writing explanations for an audience of one?

Your clients, prospects, or even folks doing Google searches, may contact you with questions. Depending on your relationship and availability, you may respond at some length. This takes time.

Your blog makes it possible for you to get more mileage out of these inquiries. If the question fits your blog’s theme and has reasonably broad appeal, consider turning it into a blog post. You can write it as a simple Q&A, as I did in “Reader question: How can communicators manage difficult portfolio managers?” or a plain blog post.

Should you mention that your new blog post originated in a question from a client, prospect, or reader? Yes, if you want to seem approachable and interested in your blog’s audience.

Another alternative: Add to FAQ

If the question isn’t right for your blog, it may still be worth sharing. Consider adding the question and answer to the frequently asked questions (FAQ) section of your website.

Image courtesy of xedos4 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Blog like a Sasanian

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You want to distinguish yourself from other advisors. One way you can achieve this in your blog posts is to learn a

Sasanian coin 1

Sasanian coin 2–if my photos were better, you could contrast this crown with the other

lesson from the Sasanian kings of ancient Iran, as I did when I visited “Feast Your Eyes: A Taste for Luxury in Ancient Iran” at the Sackler Museum in Washington, D.C.

Sasanian kings put their images on coins. To ensure that one coin didn’t look like another, each king adopted a distinctly shaped crown.

You can put on a metaphorical crown by showing some personality in your blog posts. This will ensure that no one confuses your blog posts – your metaphorical coins – with anyone else.

If you don’t know how to inject personality into your posts, check out my two posts on the topic, “How to add personality and warmth to your financial writing: Part one” and “How to add personality and warmth to your financial writing: Part two.”