For the past two weeks, I have participated in #Blogchat; a Twitter chat organized by the amazing and prolific blogger (and my friend) Mack Collier. Last night was especially exciting as Mack invited guest host and blogging guru Brian Clark aka Copyblogger to ignite a conversation about writing compelling content online.
Ignite he did. It was a whirlwind of conversations, and even the most seasoned Twitter chatters had trouble keeping up as the tweets were flying at 100 miles an hour. Over 5,000 tweets were captured and archived here.
Here a look at THE BEST STUFF that whizzed by in my stream:
BEST ADVICE – GENERAL:
- BE YOU! The rest will fall into place!
- Dont just post information. Have an opinion. YOU are the value on your blog.
- It's all about the human touch- strategy doesn't matter if know one cares WHO you are.
- Think substance vs. success Blogging is not about eyeballs it is about hearts and minds!
BEST ADVICE FOR BLOG WRITING:
- Posts need 2 B clear, compelling, conversation-oriented, clever (images, humor)
- Short and Sweet wins- dwell too long on a post, you can lose sight of what the purpose and lose readers in the process. Be kind and be brief when possible.
- A must follow writing rule- ALWAYS write with the reader in mind
- @copyblogger is firm believer of the power of images (me, too!), they will draw you in esp w/ headline
- Keywords matter- chose them wisely. Keywords tips from Brian here.
BEST TIPS AND TRICKS:
- Turn Twitter conversations into posts. Start the questioning there, and curate the answers on your blog.
- Link Genrously- posts can go far AND wide by linking outside not just within your community
- Isn't a blogroll your "mentor" blogger list- mine is! Every day I read them as both reader AND writer.
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Lists posts are powerful and almost always work.
- Re-purpose blog posts (great examples here)
- And last but not least, WRITE people WRITE! Consistency is key!
BEST ADVICE FOR HEADLINES:
- Your headline is the first, and perhaps only, impression you make.
- Think of your headline as a compelling promise to your reader.
- Headlines need to hook the reader, make a promise about the post, and OVERdeliver with substance, honesty, intrigue in the writing.
- Think about writing the headline first!
BEST TOOLS:
- Entri A simnple way to sharing your blog post before you publish…love this one.
- Scribd – Great for series posts or any post you can turn into an instant white paper.
- Storify – Fun and easy tool to chronicle a twitter conversation.
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I use compfight.com and flickrstorm.com for quick image searches
- Blog smarter and more efficiently with post and image generator tools like Zemanta.
- Archive tweets with Twapperkeeper- also great for analizing the conversations.
My final tweets of the night sums up the feelings of the hundreds that participated in this event:
@AngelaMaiers Angela Maiers
Smarter than I was an hour ago – thanks everyone! Have a GREAT week! #blogchat
Guys PLEASE make sure you follow @copyblogger & would be good idea to sub to http://bit.ly/9I1nt #blogchat
Phote Credit: toprankblog.com
