PRos in Training

Tag: Blogging

  • Beautiful Blog Posts Have Great Bone Structure

    Saturated colour spectrumImage by Kounelli via Flickr

    Creating a beautiful blog post isn’t difficult. Following a basic structure formula that gives your posts great bone structure will give you more room to drape with creative style, solid information and desirable resources.

    1. Craft a Great Headline. Include an active verb and try to squeeze some of your key topic words in as well. The search engines love the headlines and a strong headline will not only attract Google, but will also compel your visitors and regular readers to read on.
    2. Write a Compelling Lede. Provided your readers hang around to see what the headline is all about, a compelling lede will keep them reading. Establish what the post will cover, of course, but also flex your best writing muscle and write something people want to read.
    3. Start with Bullet Points. Use bullets to outline your ideas in an outline form. If you’re writing a list post, keep your bullets as your core structure. If you’re not, use your bullets to…
    4. Develop Sub-Headlines. Sub-heads help create a scanable page and make it easier for people to read on a computer screen and digest the information. (pssst… Google loves sub-heads, too).***Now is also a great time to ask your friends on Twitter what they think. Chances are you’ll get some great feedback that will mean a strong post in the end.***
    5. Fill in the Detail. Flesh out your bullet points and/or sub-heads to really bring the point home. Keep yourself on track (rambling is way too easy to do, especially if you feel passionately about something) and keep your readers in mind.
    6. Find a Great Image. I recommend Flickr. Under the “advanced search” link, check the creative commons button and make sure you credit the photographer. If you want to go with stock photography, istockphoto.com is low cost and has the best selection. Stock Xchange is free and you can usually find something decent.
    7. Double-Check Your Headline. Now that the post is complete, make sure your headline still reflects what your post is about and gets a reader’s attention. Can you refine it to be even stronger and more effective?
    8. Edit, Proof, Correct, Polish and Revise. Errors in grammar can kill a blogger’s credibility and traffic. Take time to make sure you’re putting out your best work. There’s a certain immediacy to blogging, and a stray comma or run on sentence doesn’t typically have dramatic consequences. But avoid the five grammar errors that make you look dumb.

    Resources:
    10 Tips for Writing a Blog Post

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  • Blog Clearly & Purposefully: Transparency for Newbies

    Blog Clearly & Purposefully: Transparency for Newbies

    We talk about transparency a lot in social media (in public relations, too, for that matter). But what does that mean if you’re a blogger? And particulary, if you’re a new blogger.

    According to Paul Gillin‘s book The New Influencers, “transparency is about a lot more than just not lying. It’s about opening yourself up to inspection, analysis, judgement, praise and ridicule.”

    Gulp.

    That sounds a little frightening. But the blogging community has, over time, worked out some standards and guidelines that are not that difficult to follow and understand.

    When you get down to the nuts and bolts, transparency in the blogosphere means adhering to these community standards. Some basic rules:

    • Be familiar with the basics of copyright and fair use limitations. It’s important that you don’t plagiarize content (just link to the source!) or present others ideas as your own.
    • Your posts should be well researched and complete, try to avoid sweeping generalizations and jumping to hasty conclusions. Honestly, this is the biggest mistake I see new bloggers, and students in general, make in their writing. You can have opinions, even strong ones (please do!), but make sure your opinions are well-founded and you build a foundation on which to stake your claims.
    • Once you’ve pushed “publish,” don’t edit your post. If you need to make a change, do a strikethough the old information and insert the new. It is worth noting, however, that a strikethough doesn’t always mean that the author has made a change, sometimes it’s done humorously. (exception: you can correct typos if you need to, but don’t change anything that alters the post’s content)
    • If you need to make major revisions to your original, leave a comment on your post as a way of public correction.
    • Deleting a post is considered a major no-no. The only time this might be an option is if you think the post might result in harm to someone or could be seriously misleading.

    Consider adopting a codes of ethics for your blog (either formally included on your site, or informally for you to know and abide by – I recommend the former). This example from Charlene Li has laid the groundwork for many ethics policies including the GM Fastlane blog.

    • I will tell the truth.
    • I will write deliberately and with accuracy.
    • I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly.
    • I will preserve the original post, using notations to show where I have made changes so as to maintain the integrity of my publishing.
    • I will never delete a post.
    • I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic.
    • I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate, and do so promptly.
    • I will strive for high quality with every post – including basic spellchecking.
    • I will stay on topic.
    • I will disagree with other opinions respectfully.
    • I will link to online references and original source materials directly.
    • I will disclose conflicts of interest.
    • I will keep private issues and topics private, since discussing private issues would jeopardize my personal and work relationships.

    What guidelines or standards have you seen, or do you recommend for bloggers? I know I’ve missed some of the deeper/more nuanced aspects of transparency and ethics, but anything I’ve missed here on the basics?

  • At the Starting Gate: Getting a Running Start on Your Blog

    Often the scariest thing about getting started with a brand new blog is the daunting task of coming up with new content on a regular basis. What on earth will you write about?

    My 16 Advanced PR Writing students are embarking on a blog-venture this week and I know this topic is top of mind.

    I’ve collected quite a few resources here that will give you plenty of ideas to get started (and honestly to keep you going for quite some time).

    OMG What Do I Blog About?: My list of 20+ ideas to get you started.

    20 Types of Blog Posts – Battling Bloggers Block: From ProBlogger, a terrific list of categories of posts, which might help you think about your own blog.

    Hey Blog Coach: My Blog Runs Dry, How Do I Get Started Again?    : While clearly for a re-blogger, this list is also good for newbies.

    7 Types of Blog Posts Which Always Seem to Get Links and Traffic: A simple list, but good ideas to think about. You don’t want to be blogging into a vacuum, it’s great if people actually read your stuff.

    101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle: Some common sense ideas, for the most part. But a good list to get you thinking.

    40 Ways to Deliver Killer Blog Content: From the master of content, Chris Brogan. Not a list of ideas, per se, but some great tips and ideas to make you think about your own blog. (P.S. Subscribe to Chris’ blog right now).

    50 Blog Topics Marketers Could Write for Their Companies: Think about this from a PR perspective, are there ways you could use these ideas and relate to your PR work in class or out.

    100 Blog Topics I Hope You Write    : Rounding out the trifecta from Chris Brogan, this is a stellar list of great topics that I’m sure you can find some good ideas in.

    10 Steps to Writing a Successful Series: A series of posts on one topic is a great way to knock of several posts at once. This post will help you think about a series for your blog.

  • OMG What Do I Blog About?

    OMG What Do I Blog About?

    I had a discussion last week with a few of the students who were in the summer PR Writing class. We talked about what they learned over the summer and what they could expect in Advanced PR Writing and other courses. One of questions they had was: what do I blog about??

    You’ll get lots of ideas from your feed reader. Listening is a big part of blogging. But… here are some more ideas off the top of my head:

    1. Take the day’s lecture from a favorite class and post a reaction to it or an opinion about it.
    2. PR advice for topics in the news: read the paper (you’re doing that anyway, right?) and post some advice for organizations making headlines in your community.
    3. Advice for junior students: share your best advice for succeeding in a course.
    4. Most surprising thing you’ve learned today
    5. Review a book.
    6. Profile a blog that you enjoy. Include favorite posts and what you’ve learned.
    7. Profile a blogger – many bloggers will answer interview questions via email. Ask things that students of public relations will be interested in. (bonus: networking!)
    8. Write about a new cool Web 2.0 gadget and it’s implications on PR. You can find a huge list at Go2Web2.0. Just pick one and review.
    9. Review a podcast. Find the PR podcasts here.
    10. Talk about the internship/job search process regardless of where you are in it. What are you doing to prepare for your next step.
    11. Interview a recent grad who landed a job and learn about the process they went through. (bonus: networking!)
    12. Profile a PR agency.
    13. Tips you learned from volunteering/interning.
    14. Talk about the results of your research or term paper. Summarize what you learned and link to the full paper.
    15. Relate a non-PR class to what you’re learning in PR.
    16. Create “best of” lists with links to other resources: Best Posts of the Week, Best Writing Tips, Best Personal Branding Advice.
    17. How have you changed (or not) your Facebook presence and why?
    18. Wish list of PR or social media books that you’d like to read.
    19. Break down a PR plan and explain the parts in your own words. Find some examples to illustrate!
    20. Discuss why you like or don’t like a particular campaign or brand.
    21. What do you find surprising about public relations?
    22. Why I should get a Google phone. (Just making sure you’re paying attention)

  • How to Blog, Comment & Manage Your Brand (A Brilliant Presentation!)

    Corinne Weisberger of St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas designs a mean presentation. Content is outstanding and definitely worth a look (or two or three), but hello? the design is gor-geous! I have design envy. Enjoy!

    Blogging & Managing your Personal Brand

    View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: commenting identity)

  • The Fall Freight Train is Coming – Get Back on Track

    Summer is coming to a close.The rapid pace at which the season has passed has my head spinning. My intent was to do a lot of blogging, spend some time doing research and even do some early class prep for a new academic year. Thanks to a rush of new business, a crisis to manage and moving out of our house, I’ve been less than productive in the ways I’d intended to be.

    So, I’m finding myself feeling like I need to get back on track – catch up with my feedreader, figure out what the PR blogosphere has been talking about the last 3 months and prep for the coming year. If you’re a student (or even a recent grad), you may be feeling the same way… summer can be distracting.

    I’ve been thinking about how to get myself in the groove and thought I’d share a few ideas with you. I welcome yours, too! Please leave them in the comments.

    • I went through my feeds and marked as read all my entertainment-related subscriptions. I have my feeds organized by category, so this was pretty easy. Sorry, Perez and the lovely ladies of Jezebel. I did the same with ‘non-essential’ feeds related to topics that have, at one time, piqued my interest but tend to go unread anyway most of the time (and I probably should unsubscribe). This left me with PR, Marketing, Social Media and a few others as well as feeds I read for clients and dropped my “unread” number to less than 3,000 posts.
    • I went through the rest of the feeds and started with those in each folder who I always find to be insightful and a good read. A few of my favorites: Kami Huyse, Gerald Baron, PR Squared, KD Paine and Media Bullseye. I have close to 200 feeds that I read for myself, so really, this is just a few. Those that I find occassional value in, but aren’t “favorites,” I opened and scanned quickly. If I had more than a month of posts to read on any blog, I didn’t. I stopped reading anything older than the first of August.
    • I spent a couple of days paying attention to links coming via Twitter. This was helpful to be able to jump into current conversations. If Todd Defren or Chris Brogan had a link, I clicked. Same with Robert French and Karen Russell.
    • I’ve been blogging. This is the second post this weekend for PRos and I also blogged on my agency blog. This has helped me start thinking more clearly about topical issues.

    I also plan to have lunch with Mrs. Gallicano this week and brainstorm ideas with her for this fall’s students (and of course catch up on gossip). I want to be in a thinking mode when I head to the Nevada desert to spend some time with my family. I find poolside to be an excellent place to read, think and write. 🙂

    How about you?

  • Are You Listening?


    Participating in the blogosphere and social media requires that you have an ear to the ground. But where do you start?

    Active listening is the first step to establishing a blogging or social media strategy (or any communication strategy for that matter…). As you think about blogging for a class or for a client or for your company, start with the basics.

    Some resources:
    Ogilvy Blog Feeds: A collection of some of the most influential blog feeds out there, from one of the most influential agencies.

    Constantin Basturea: Blogger & PR Guru with Converseon has a variety of PR-related social media projects. My favorites: PR Blogs (a massive 600+ feed list of the PR blogs being published), The New PR Wiki (a collective knowledge base and collaboration tool) and his Google Co-Op project (a Google search that searches PR-related blogs, sites and wikis).

    When you find a great blog like Communication Overtones or Spare Change, spend some time checking out the blogs on the author’s blogroll.

    Of course, if you’re looking for something industry specific, give Technorati a go, too.

    What resources did you find useful as you began blogging?

  • Some of the Best Posts from Students

    Students in my Advanced PR Writing have been blogging the last five weeks. It was an experiment on my part and it worked pretty well. In fact, I think next term I’ll have the students start sooner so they have time to find their blogging “voice.”

    Stu’s Clues: In my PR Thinkin’ Chair
    First of all, more than a little odd that Stu references the perennial children’s favorite – down the the “thinking chair” – but he did an outstanding job with this assignment and I hope he keeps his blog up. My favorite posts –
    I Keep a Fire Extinguisher in my Pants (ok, I admit it, I mostly like the headline. funny!)
    NBA Severs Ties with Tim Hardaway

    PRemonitions
    Danielle Galluzzo is a rising star. Not afraid to ask when she doesn’t know, contribute when she has a good idea and commit herself fully to every assignment (whether it is a new release critique, a blog assignment or a corporate booklet). Her blog was no different. A mix of the professional and the personal, Danielle has some great posts:
    Spring Break in Oregon (my son, Braxton liked this. He was giggling the whole time it was on)
    PR Portfolios (Thanks for these resources, Danielle!)

    Jay’s Ad Blog
    This is the first time I had Jay Hermele in a class. Now, in all fairness, he could’ve easily been in my PR Principles class but that doesn’t really count. There are typically 100+ students in that class. Jay was a great addition. He is a very thoughtful writer and does really top notch work. He had a couple of posts that I particularly enjoyed.
    Product Placement at a Whole New Level
    Entitled Kids

    Will post more tomorrow….

  • Thanks, Kami Huyse! A terrific corporate blogging primer

    Communication Overtones: Corporate PR 101: A Primer for Companies Interested in Social Media

    Kami presented to my class via teleconference this evening. Huge thanks to Kami for staying up late with us.

    As students head into their careers, they’ll certainly face these issues and now have a clearer road map to follow.

  • How Much Is Your Blog Worth?


    My blog is worth $1,129.08.
    How much is your blog worth?

    I’m not sure if I’m pleasantly surprised or embarrassed…

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