I never went to journalism school. I never really wanted to be a journalist, I just liked writing and telling stories. Lucky for me, a series of serendipitous circumstances led me to a pretty illustrious career as an award-winning journalist and, more importantly, led me to a pretty amazing editor. I knew how to write; she taught me how to be a journalist.
One of the basic lessons she taught me was to always ask the five Ws: who, what, when, where, why, and how. That’s like Journalism 101 for …
A new study out shows that email, not Facebook or Twitter, is still crushing it in terms of converting readers to customers.
Can I hear a “DUH??”
But let’s step back for a second.
How do you get people to sign up for your emails?
Well, having a good opt-in offer is a good start—a free ebook, report, checklist, coupon, or other goodie that people can download in exchange for giving out their email address. And that’s great; that gets your foot through the proverbial door and your messages into their email inbox.
But how …
In my other writing life as a restaurant reviewer, I spend a lot of time writing sentences like:
I decided to go for the gusto and sample three of their Mexico-City-style tacos: the carne asada served with pico de gallo and cotija; the chile lime shrimp served with a pickled cabbage slaw and a tomato pasilla chile salsa that had a pleasant kick; and the pork carnitas taco dressed in tomatillo salsa and cotija.
…and looking for synonyms for the word “delicious.”
But I discovered that when I started writing sentences more like …
Lots of small business owners have heard that they ought to have a blog to keep readers (aka: potential customers) coming back to their website and keep their business top of mind.
But too many take the plunge into blogging without ever asking themselves: who am I blogging …