Writing for Your Website When You’ve Run Out of Things to Write

Need assistance with article marketing? Spider Writers is a full-service social media marketing company ready to assist with building your social media presence. Call us today at 757-499-1990, ext. 104 for your free estimate.

As a writer, you may fear the inevitable wall, that moment when you feel you have exhausted your idea repository and aren’t sure what to write for your website or blog. You know it’s important to keep your online presence relevant and fresh in order to maintain high readership – with certain fields, there is always something new to explore. If your business is slow to offer innovations and new events, however, it’s possible to spend more time staring at the monitor screen than filling it.

Whether writing non-fiction or a story, everything begins with an idea, a question that needs to be answered, or a “what if” scenario burning to be played out. If ever you find it a challenge to crank out a minimum of 300 words designed to promote your products and services you may wish to employ a few writing exercises designed to stimulate your brain and turn one uncertain sentence into a flowing narrative rich in key phrases to help readers find you via search. Here are a few I recommend, which have worked in different situations and may be applied to any topic:

Top Five: This is a good topic especially for retailers or those in the mechanical or technical trade. Ultimately, no matter what you do for a living, you will be asked about the top products or devices in your field. Contractors swear by specific brands of windows and plumbing, and boutique owners may recommend certain designers for formal events. Think about a topic related to your business where at least five brands compete for your and your clientele’s attention, then compare and contrast.

How To: The simple how-to article works to establish you as an authority in your field. If you sell goods, draft step by step instructions on how to use them, and if you offer services – labor or clerical – you can offer tips on handling certain issues without necessarily giving away the store.

I Remember…: Do certain products or services you offer tie in to a specific memory? Does what you do know require more advanced work and equipment than in years past? Take readers on a trip down memory lane and provide a history for your company in the process.

Anti-Top  Five: For every top five products and paradigms, there is advice on what not to buy and how not to do things. Offers readers the consequences of the wrong decisions and products for the work you provide, and you may find this strengthens your authority.

Worst Case Scenario: If troubleshooting constitutes a good part of your business, nip those frequent calls for assistance with a series of articles designed to help readers face different challenges.

Once you’ve exhausted these ideas, keep brainstorming. Check the daily news wires and set up keyword alerts for your e-mail to lead you to related blogs and sites. Sometimes it takes only word to spark an idea, be sure you search well for it.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media optimization and travel social media services. Clients include Gainesville hotels, European hotels, and Virginia web design firms.

Engaging Readers to Comment on Blogs and Social Networks

Do all these funny-sounding social media sites cross your eyes? You need help sorting the tweets from the buzzes! Spider Writers can develop a sound social media marketing plan that brings followers to your profiles, and your business. Contact us today at 757-499-1990, ext. 104 for a free consultation.

You can write for miles, you can post links to funny videos on your Facebook page, and you can tweet until your online voice gives out…it’s great to have the ability to easily produce content, but none it means much unless you know for certain people are processing it. What good does it do to have 500+ Twitter followers or a thousand fans on Facebook if none of them are regularly checking your content?

Where success in social media is concerned, we tend to gauge the effectiveness of updates by how often posts are “retweeted” or shared across over platforms. How often people “Digg” your articles or link to your YouTube depends on overall interest – did you produce something thought-provoking or funny? You may be encouraged to see numbers increase every time you check your social profiles, but when it comes to your blog you have analytics and, more importantly, comments. When you post, do people have to something to say about it? Does what you write move people to want to share their opinions? If not, there’s a chance you aren’t blogging correctly.

Are there rules to proper blogging? Not really. The beauty of blogging comes in the freedom allowed the writer – you can share as much or as little information as you wish, enhance your entries with photos or video embeds, and even creative hypertext that guides readers to relevant spots on the Internet. As a blogger, you can also monetize your material with affiliate or point of sale links to products and services. The more you blog, the greater the opportunity to reach people interested in your topic, though the one thing that will keep readers returning to your blog is active engagement. Don’t just blog at visitors, but to them.

Ask Questions: If the purpose of your weblog is to establish yourself as an authority in your field, you might at first be reluctant to entertain opposing views. While some may find debates daunting, encouraging readers to answer to questions you pose can make for good interaction, which in turn may lead readers to share these only discussions via social media.

Accept Criticism: In a perfect world, everybody agrees with what we have to say, and everything we say is correct. Not so online – it seems the Internet was made to create controversy, and nobody is immune to negative feedback. Rather than take a curt remark on your comment wall personally and ignite a flame war, take a deep breath and examine why a reader would disagree with you, or criticize your company, product, or service. The temptation to erase bad history is tempting, but you’ll be the bigger person if you let these comments remain and accept them with grace.

Remain Topical: Part of maintaining online popularity involves looking for content that is…well, popular. It’s a challenge to raise your voice and talk about your business when people are more interested in sharing viral videos and pictures of funny-looking cats. You might wish to experiment with levity in your blogs and social profiles – join ‘em instead of beat ‘em by sharing popular content, and test reader response. If you can find a way to integrate what is popular and maintain relevance to your topics, all the better.

Above All Else, Ask! Never fear that asking questions of others will diminish your authority. The only way to grow is to learn, and engaging people online can snowball into full-fledged conversations that keep people visiting your profiles. What have you done recently to help blog comments skyrocket? How do you engage social friends and fans to keep talking? Feel free to share your ideas here.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media optimization and travel social media services. Clients include Gainesville hotels, European hotels, and Virginia web design firms.

Top Blog Enhancements for Maximizing Your Presence

Do all these funny-sounding social media sites cross your eyes? You need help sorting the tweets from the buzzes! Spider Writers can develop a sound social media marketing plan that brings followers to your profiles, and your business. Contact us today at 757-499-1990, ext. 104 for a free consultation.

It’s not enough anymore to simply pen an amazing blog post, then kick back and wait for the traffic to roll in. With social media at the forefront of general consciousness, the mindset now is that people don’t search for news…it finds you. While you might think it a daunting task not only to create your brand’s news and updates but to actively seek out willing readers, know you don’t necessarily have to do all the work. If you write compelling copy, those who follow you will spread your gospel. It is up to you, however, to make that task easier.

Visit any blog you enjoy frequenting, particularly the heavy hitters, and what do you see? The sidebar may be stuffed with feed widgets and social media badges meant to entice new fans and followers, but above all else you should notice the body of each post. Let’s presume for a moment the casual Internet user isn’t geeked up with browser share buttons and tool bars…how do you think they intend to share an article with friends?

The idea of having to cut and paste long URLs strings can be a turn-off, though it’s a simple thing to do. Pasted  URLs may break in transit via Twitter or e-mail. Click-throughs to dead links inspire frustration, and ultimately a reluctance to share more. A few quick fixes to your blog, however, provide a streamlined sharing experience that can expose your brand to a new audience.

Buttons and Buzzing: We should all know by heart now which 32×32 chicklet goes with which social network. Programs like AddThis, Sociable, and Add to Any allow you to implement widgets that encourage readers to retweet posts, share links on Digg and Facebook and promote via other networks. With the advent of Google Buzz, you won’t see that option on these free for all sets just yet, but if you are into Buzzing, pick up the additional Google Buzz Button for Wordpress.

Monetize and Advertise: Depending on the purpose of your blog, you may be interested in having it work for you to the point that you are compensated for your efforts. Blogger and Wordpress, for two, offer widgets that allow you to integrate Google AdSense, between posts or on the sidebar. Authors listed with Amazon.com have the added bonus on Blogger of setting up Amazon Associates ads for their products – even if you have nothing to sell on the mega-retail site, Blogger users can take advantage of the feature to promote items similar to the blog topic and receive commissions on click-through purchases.

Global Commenting: While it’s true blog platforms featuring their own commenting systems, you might wonder if there is a more enhanced method that allows readers to share their comments through social media. When you sign on to DISQUS, an advanced commenting system that integrates easily into most blog platforms, you allow readers not only to remark on your updates but share their opinions via Twitter and Facebook automatically. In turn, this could provide added exposure to your site and perhaps more traffic.

Blogging is terrific marketing. Blogging to an attentive audience is even better. With a few simple enhancements to your blog you can increase readership and foster a following willing to share what you have to say.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media optimization and travel social media services. Clients include Gainesville hotels, European hotels, and Virginia web design firms.

Blogger’s New Pages Feature: Turning Your Blog Into a Mini-Site

Looking for help maintaining your blog and keeping it updated with relevant articles about your business? Do you want a blog that attracts new visitors through timely search and keeps them coming back with thoughtful articles on your field of expertise? SpiderWriters’ team of professional writers has assisted clients on the East Coast with quality blogging that gets noticed. We can help you today! Call 757-499-1990, ext. 104 for your free consultation.
As far as blogging platforms go, Blogger has always presented itself as user-friendly and quite adaptable…to an extent. If one had to compare Blogger to other instant publishing platforms available, one might have considered them a good start-up or practice publisher for the novice, with the hopes one might graduate to the likes of Wordpress, etc. Indeed, for the longest time it seemed Blogger’s devotion to simplicity – a broadsheet style layout of posts, drag and drop options on the sidebar – might remain for those uninterested in bells and whistles. Recently, though, Blogger has finally introduced page publishing functionality, moving one step closer to equality in the blogging world.

Among the professional bloggers I know, many tend to lean toward Wordpress for the options offered in the back end. One can create a Wordpress site to resemble a high-tech, Flashy and widget-built wonder, and the even the prospect of learning enough PHP to get by with minimal customization didn’t seem to scare them away. Others, however, have liked Blogger for it simple dashboard, which allows a user to access all accounts from one port – even if the blogs aren’t hosted at Blogspot. Template design, while not as sophisticated as other platforms, does permit for customization if you have the knack for it, and now with the Pages function increases the ability to turn a Blogger blog into a full website.

Now when one logs into his/her Blogger account, each blog dashboard features a new selection under the Posting tab. Up to ten pages may be created, and use the same text box as the New Post selection. Once a page is created, you have the choice of creating a widget for your sidebar or having the page links appear horizontally below your header. Or, if you prefer to use an alternate method for linking to the pages, you can click the manual option. As you create and make pages live, advanced options include hiding certain pages from a menu, arranging their link order, and creating tabs. Blogger offers a detailed tutorial on pages at their website.

Depending on how your Blogger blog is accessible – perhaps as a tab on your main site directing visitors to updated news – you might wonder if pages are useful at all. If you have used the Blogger CMS as your main website – perhaps hosted on a third party server and connected to a unique URL, you’ll definitely find this addition handy for showcasing specific products, services, or other vital information on a static page. If your blog is only part of your online marketing strategy, you may find pages can prove beneficial in highlighting the more important aspects of your business. With specific code from a photo sharing site like Flickr or Picasa, you can create a photo album on your blog, or else adapt code from Paypal or Google Checkout to create a shopping cart. Whatever ideas you’ve had for pages on a traditional website can now be transferred to Blogger and implemented within your template.

That search engines favor weblogs in terms of relevant results makes the idea of Blogger pages all the more exciting for the novice/intermediate blogger or the site owner looking for methods of supplementing web presence. If you use Blogger for your promotion, take advantage of the Pages function to build your brand.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing and travel social media services. Clients include Gainesville hotels, European hotels, and Virginia web design firms.

What’s on Your Blog? Widgetize That Sidebar for Fun and (Maybe) Profit

Regardless of the number of social media fads destined to launch and fold in the next decade, one thing remains clear: the blog will likely never go away. Once a popular platform for angst-filled personal journal entries and detailed political commentary not accessible in the traditional media, blogs are fast becoming the traditional media – they are cited as sources by television news networks, have been known to break stories, and provide readers with the ability to easily share information. It’s amazing to think twenty years ago one had to read a newspaper or watch for a special bulletin to be informed – these days it seems we hear about news before it happens, and blog are instrumental in bringing information to us in a timely manner.

That said, if blogging  factors into your online marketing strategy, you want readers to get the most of the experience. While a percentage of your following may aggregate your posts through an RSS reader on their Google or Yahoo start-up pages, some likely prefer to read on-site. Looking at some of the more popular news and entertainment blogs, you’re certain to find advertising, supporting links, and widgets displaying related social profiles – these are helpful in that they present a well-rounded profile of the blog, and encourage readers to subscribe via alternative outlets. Visitors to blogs may come and go, but one who clicks to follow the blogger via Twitter or Facebook becomes an opt-in capture, one who may be interested in contact for future products and services.

So if you’re blog sidebar is naked – doesn’t matter if you use Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, or another CMS – it’s seriously time to consider dressing it up. If somebody is aware of your blog and reading it, they should know where else they can find you. Here are just a few widgetized goodies to use to brighten up one of your Internet homes.

AddThis Button: You blog needs to go viral in order for it to improve your business and income. A reader enjoys an article, and needs encouragement to share it with friends. The AddThis button is the one-stop shop for data sharing.  Hover over the button to share an article with as many as 225 social media profiles, everything from AIM to YouMob. Even if you don’t have 200+ separate accounts for all these sites, somebody else might. Give them the opportunity to advertise for you.

FriendFeed Widget: If you don’t have a FriendFeed account, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to collect your blogs and social profiles together in one place. One person may not be interested in visiting your blog, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube channel in the same day, but with FriendFeed they can. Adding a join box on your sidebar lets people know about this great catchall service.

Twitter Widget: I hear two schools of thought on adding a Twitter widget, particularly if your blog feeds into your Twitter account. On one hand, why display a widget that basically repeats information there? On the other, a blog reader will catch from this widget other posts you make, and in turn can catch up on blog links he/she may have missed. Even if you do integrate your RSS into Twitter, it’s handy to have this widget up, and perhaps an additional one that tracks the tweets of like-minded accounts.

Facebook Badge: Facebook allows you to create different styles of badges for widgets. A “Join Us” badge may offer rudimentary information on your fan page, or a scrolling widget may preview posts and information featured there. Determine which would work best (if you don’t have many fans to start with, try a style that doesn’t highlight that fact) and get it up there.

Digg Widget: Perhaps one of the best known of the data sharing social sites, Digg allows users to determine a story’s popularity by having them “dig” URLs toward the top of the search heap, or else “bury” links so they are not found. If you have a Digg account, more than likely you intend to submit your own blog posts to the site, but as a prolific Digg user you to need to share the wealth. This Digg widget lets readers know what articles and videos interest you the most.

Flickr Widget: Keep your photos in one place, particularly where they can integrate into other social networks and sites. Yahoo’s Flickr photo sharing site gives you the advantage of placing slideshows and photo grids on your sidebar, so visitors can peripherally glance at your albums while reading.

AdSense: If you enjoy a large enough fanbase, why not take advantage of it and try to make a bit of money to support hosting, and perhaps pizza? Save some room on the sidebar for Adsense ads and earn some cash for every click-through. Bloggers users have the advantage of a built-in Adsense option, provided the content of your blog permits it.

The more information you provide in one place, the more likely you are to have visitors follow you wherever you go.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing and tourism social media services. Clients include Gainesville hotels and European hotels.

Lessons Learned at Internet Summit – Blogging is NOT Dead

With this year’s Internet Summit 2009 and the promising list of guest speakers and panelists, we couldn’t say no to attending. With Raleigh, NC just under four hours away, we decided a quick overnight trip might just be the ticket to get the scoop on the state of the Internet and the proper directions in which we should steer our clients.

We do have to offer our kudos to the organizers for a well-planned event. Good food, interesting topics to cover, and the whole day moved so well. The Raleigh Convention Center was a hotbed of activity and networking among people who own/operate Web firms, or work for companies with online marketing departments. We met people from as far as New York and Pittsburgh come to hear what the next Twitter will be in a few years, and what the best methods are for monetizing sites and social media. Indeed, the subtext theme of the day appeared to be “Blogging is not dead.”

Richard Jalichandra, head of Technorati, stressed as much in his keynote. Blogs are the new longtail, and microblogging has exploded. This doesn’t mean, he believes, that one should abandon blogging altogether to tweet full-time. There is value in operating a blog that allows for great growth potential. When you consider the Huffington Post once started as a simple blog for Ariana Huffington to voice her political views in a forum she controlled…and now it’s one of the top news blogs out there, it’s amazing!

Later on in the day, Rick Klau of Blogger stepped up to emphasize similar sentiment. Content is still king, and blogs are the driving force of content. Other lessons learned this day:

• Social media isn’t necessarily a “blog killer” – more interactions with Facebook and Twitter may help blog readership
• Feeds are going to be a big traffic driver for the Web, but not once did we hear RSS mentioned. Social media feeds, status updates, etc.
• Video and images are among the top shared data over the Internet
• More time is spent on social media than e-mail
• Don’t discount social bookmarking when planning your SMO strategy

We met a number of the top movers and shakers in social media at this seminar, among them Matt Van Horn of Digg.

We came away from Internet Summit with a better understanding of how social media will impact the way people use the Internet, and with many helpful tips to assist our clients. If you are new to the social scene online, just you wait!

Blog Writing Proves Necessary For Any Business

There seems to be many rules about Web site maintenance these days. Twitter this, SEO that — sometimes it’s hard to keep up. Of all of the rules of thumb to obey, one rule stands out above the others: your company needs a blog.

Blog writing is important for many reasons. For starters, generating new content keeps people coming back. For your current customers, think of blogging as a way to write press releases in a way that will engage them and keep them updated on your products and services in a more personable way. Also, continuously writing articles about your business and industry can make your customers (both current and future) feel confident that you are well-researched in your field.

Blog writing also allows your site to be noticed by search engines. By constantly providing new content with specific keywords, it is more likely to move up the results list on Google.

Finally, blogs give you an opportunity to bookmark each entry on a social networking site like Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon or Reddit. By reposting each entry on different sites, you increase the chance of being discovered by different audiences, all of which will be directed back to your company’s home page. Providing the opportunity for site visitors to bookmark each page on each entry also expands your potential audience.

If you need help getting started in content writing or article marketing, look no further. Spider Writers has specialized SEO content writers to provide relevant content for your site, as well as manage social media accounts across the Web. For more information,  contact us today.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer specializing in articles about Social Media Optimization and SEO for travel Web sites.

Increase Search Engine Hits by Improving Article Content

Here are a few scenarios that the average person has more than likely encountered at least once:

• Buying something from an infomercial or store that they couldn’t live without, but the product fell flat
• Finally scoring a date with that gorgeous piece of eye-candy, only to realize he or she is awfully boring
• Going to a restaurant because its food on TV looked so incredibly appetizing, but the commercial and the real thing appear completely different.
• Changing an outward appearance to get a desired result, however the transformation results in no net change, or something even worse

While these categories are pretty general, one scenario that happens all too often is visiting a “pretty” Web site, only to realize that there is nothing else the site can provide for you. All of the flashy graphics might get visitors to the site, but if there is nothing that keeps them there, why stay or ever come back?

Your Web site should be focused on SEO content writing, which uses relevant keywords to get your site noticed by search engines. By writing for these search engines, your site can not only get noticed by more Web visitors, but it will keep your content focused on your products and/or services. Keeping your site visitors focused will impress them, and they might feel respected that you aren’t enticing them by pizazz, but treating them like adults.

Spider Writers offers professional SEO writing services that assist your site in moving up search engine ratings. Specialized content writers can improve your site’s appearance, and can also market articles through social media optimization. Contact us today for more information.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer is specializing in articles about SEO for travel Web sites and social media optimization.

SEO Copywriting Promotes Search Engine Marketing Placement

The days of the door-to-door salesman are numbered (if they even still exist anymore). While the marketing approach of “here’s the product, look at all the bells and whistles” might have sold a few vacuum cleaners or knife sets from many door steps, it simply does not work online.

When people go to the Internet to find their desired product, their first stop is Google, or a similar search engine. If someone is looking for a pest control company, they more than likely aren’t going to use search terms that describe the process of extermination, but they will search for companies in their area who are proven experts in their fields. That is where search engine market placement comes in.

SEO copywriting involves using the most popular searched keywords about your product or business and incorporates those words in your Web site to increase it’s presense in search engines. Once people find your Web site on a search engine, they then have the opportunity to visit your site and receive all the information they desire. Writing articles for your Web site should also be done in a way that site visitors won’t get bored and go to another search result. The average time spent on a Web site is less than one minute, so users need to be immediately captivated and interested in exploring everything your site has to offer. Statistics, customer reviews, product guarantees and fast bits of information may have a better chance of getting read by site visitors than long paragraphs of product descriptions and processes.

Spider Writers will provide the SEO-friendly content you need for your Web site to succeed. After your site is rich in popular search engine keywords, we can also market your content to drive traffic to your site by using social media. This improves link popularity and increase viral marketing for your business or organization, all the while increasing your home page popularity. Contact us today for more information.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer is specializing in articles about SEO for travel Web sites and social media optimization.

Internet Marketing To Women Made Easy With Social Bookmarking

When it comes to social bookmarking, there is one main goal: users bookmark articles on sites they think are the most interesting, then put them in a popularity contest against each other. While most bookmarking sites are generally the same, one differentiates itself by catering specifically to women.

Kirtsy has the skeleton of Digg and Delicious, but makes articles easier to find for women by categorizing them into these categories:

• Arts & Entertainment
• Design & Crafts
• Family & Parenting
• Fashion & Style
• Food & Home
• Internet & Technology
• Mind, Body & Spirit
• Travel & Leisure
• Politics, World & Business

Here, users can post Web sites and articles in these categories, and women across the country can read them and choose to make an article popular, comment on an article, or “Lose” an article that is irrelevant to what women really want.

Kirtsy comes in handy in article marketing because this gives freelance writers a chance to post content on their sites, pushing into the desktops of women across the country. By having articles floating freely on this site, each click on an article generates hits to a company’s Web site, increasing traffic.

Spider Writers represents a specialized branch of SEO services of with a concentration on content and search optimization writing. If you don’t already have an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, or other hot social platforms, we’ll create them for you. As these sites gain popularity over various demographics, so their referral influence can help draw people to your main Web site. We emphasize the “social” in social networking, and will help build your audience. Contact us to discuss a social media optimization plan that is right for you.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer is specializing in articles about SEO for travel Web sites and social media optimization.