I have been having such a great time with my blog that I wanted to share this article I found on the Top 10 blog writing tips. I hope that it helps you as well:

Most of the “rules” about writing for ezines and newsletters apply to writing posts for your blog, but there are some important differences. Keep these 10 tips in mind and you’ll be publishing great blog content that attracts prospects and clients in your niche market.

1. Write with the reader in mind. Remember WIIFM? It’s marketing jargon for What’s In It For Me? That’s what you should be keeping in mind. Your reader will read your post looking for what’s in it for them.

2. Make it valuable and worthwhile. Don’t waste people’s time. If you don’t have anything to say, no problem, plenty other people do. So share their articles, do an interview, review a book.

3. Proof-read for typos and glaring grammatical errors. You wouldn’t go out of the house with dirty hair or missing a sock, so why would you publish spelling mistakes? Respect your readers by polishing up your stuff.

4. Keep it short and simple, sweetie. (KISS). Most people are scanners. You may have a lot to say and think it interesting, and it may be. But people are reading online and out of time. Get to the point quickly. Publishing short posts more frequently is a better format than publishing lengthy articles every few weeks.

5. Keep it lively, make it snappy and snazzy. Even if you aren’t a natural born writer, you can write for your blog. Just write like you’re speaking to your friend…or to yourself! Remember though, get to the point quickly. Keep in mind the journalist’s rule of 5 W’s in the first paragraph: who, what, why, when and where.

6. Link often. This builds credibility and positions you as an expert in your field. People don’t have time to know what others are doing, you should tell them. Linking to other blogs and websites also helps you build a network of associates who will in turn link to your blog.

7. Use keywords often. This will help you stay on purpose, and the search engines will love your blog. Your rankings will go up. This is one of the reasons we have you write out your purpose statements before beginning your blog. The clearer you are about your purpose, the more consistently you will deliver messages that are on target. And the more often your keywords show up, the better your search engine results.

8. Write clearly (short sentences, only one concept per sentence). No double speak or jargon; no more than one idea in one sentence- don’t make your readers have to think about your meaning. Spoon feed them. Use commas and dashes liberally.

9. Write like you talk. It’s okay to use common expressions from speech.

Examples:

Go figure.

Don’t even go there…

Now, I ask you…

Gotta love it…

(And, remember the age group of your readers…)

10. Use a clear headline, and don’t be afraid to make bold statements (but don’t mislead people either). Make it snazzy and use key words. Example: Ex-Techno-Weenie Masters HTML Code

BONUS: After you write a post and BEFORE you hit the save button

Use this checklist to ask yourself a few questions as you are reading through for typos and grammar:

__ Is the topic clear to someone who only reads the headline?

__Does the lead paragraph tell who and what the story is about and why the reader should care about it?

__ Is the angle you’ve used likely to seem newsworthy?

__Would someone who knows absolutely nothing about this topic understand this post?

__ Is the post free of jargon?

__ Is it written in journalistic style and does it make an effort to be objective?

__ Have you peppered the headline and the post with keywords and phrases that will be attractive to search engines?

__ Did you remember to ask your readers a question at the end, or something to stimulate readers to comment?

__ Did you remember to write with the reader in mind, always keeping in mind WIIFT? (What’s in It for Them?)

Patsi Krakoff of Customized Newsletter Services, and Denise Wakeman of Next Level Partnership, have teamed up to create blogging classes and marketing services for independent professionals. You can read and subscribe to their blogs at http://www.coachezines.com, http://www.bizbooknuggets.com and http://www.biztipsblog.com

I have been feeling very overwhelmed lately and took sometime to organize where everything goes. The important thing for me to remember now is to put things back in their proper places because it is amazing how quickly things can become disorganized. Here is an article I found that I thought was excellent and wanted to share. I know that it talks about WAHM (Work at Home Moms), but I feel the information can be easily utilized by anyone running an office from their home:

For any work at home mom it is important to be organized so that things can run in a businesslike manner and yet remain relatively stress free. To avoid being swamped with work or overwhelmed with laundry, I will cover some organization tips for Wahms that I have discovered over time have helped me to work better from home.

Establishing Business Hours
There are benefits to having set work times each day. First, you will become more consistent with your business. You will work more efficiently when you have a set start and stop time, just as you would with any job outside the home. When your time is managed you will no doubt reduce distractions such as emails, chatting on the phone, watching TV.

There is less chance of you stopping at a moments notice to do things like laundry or doing errands. With set hours you will be more focused on your work. Family and friends will learn to understand that, just like any other job, you are available to them only at certain times.

Delegating
Sure, you could just do everything yourself becoming stressed and frustrated, what with your new business, the laundry, housework, cooking, shopping, etc. Or you could do the wise thing and delegate some tasks. Get the kids to fold the laundry, do some vacuuming, and pick up after themselves. You might ask your husband to cook dinner a couple nights.

Things may not be getting done the way you would do them, but they are getting done. In my home, together we keep on top of the basics and then I take a few hours on the weekend and do a good cleaning.

By sharing in these chores you will find that you may have a little extra time to do some work on your business and will feel pleasantly rested.

Organize Your Home
By this I mean, your entire house. It may take some time to do it all, but your efforts will be well worth it. The best way to tackle this job is to do it in sections, rather than diving in and doing it all in one day or weekend.

Start at the desk where you will be working, get rid of or donate anything that you do not need. Find a place for the things that you will be using. This way, during your working hours, you will not have to stop whatever it is you are doing because you can’t find something.

Once your desk is organized, move onto something else, doing the same. You might want to go to the home improvement store or dollar store and get yourself some shelving, bins or cabinets to put things in. Now when you find something where it shouldn’t be you can easily put it in its storage space.

Organization for Wahms takes time and work. Your organizational system will improve in time. Together you and your family can make your home run more smoothly, allowing you to concentrate more closely on your work when needed. You will discover that when you are organized, your business, as well as your home life will blossom.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Connie McKenzie is a full-time work at home mom who devotes herself to doing the things she loves to do most. Family, friends, volunteer work, writing articles and affiliate marketing. Learn how real women run a home business, get your Free WAHM-IT! The Masters Course.

I am not even going to make excuses for not posting yesterday except to say I have been lacking motivation the last couple of days. We are in the process of moving and that is taking up a lot of my time, energy and thoughts. I found this really interesting article on-line today though and really wanted to share it.

The link if you want to read the rest of this information on-line is here.

Here’s why they say we procrastinate:

1. Avoidance: We often disguise our avoidance by being very busy doing things that may be interesting, and even useful, things that don’t contribute to our goals.

2. Fear of failure and self-doubt: Judging yourself as not good enough or worried that others won’t like or accept you, you may keep putting off getting started or getting finished with a project. You may even convince yourself that failing at a small task will result in devastating consequences.

3. Feeling overwhelmed: This can directly related to not being able to get your thoughts around everything on your list. This bout of stress can be more related to the large amount of commitments you may have.

4. Lack of commitment: No desire to get the job done, no matter what because of the inability to distinguish between what is important and what is unimportant.

5. Low Self-Esteem: You may insist upon a high level of performance even though you may feel inadequate or incapable of actually achieving that level.

6. Not A High Enough Priority: You have challenges evaluating your obligations and demands and prioritizing them.

7. Perfectionism: This can referral to “starts and spurts” in your performance, meaning that you go on a cleaning spree, or attack a task with great energy and then slump back in exhaustion after having exasperated, irritated, or alienated everyone around you.

8. Resentment: When you tell yourself that you have to do something, you’re implying that you’re being forced to do it.

9. Undervaluing the Rewards: you feel that the effort to complete the task (almost any task) would not be worth the rewards.

10. You Just Plain Don’t Want To:

So why do you procrastinate? How do you find your motivation when you are lacking the desire to just get moving?

The other day I wrote an article about how I was clearing the clutter and today I found an excellent blog post that you should really check out all about clearing the clutter …

Declutter - Organising Queen

I found this article on Ezine Articles and found that it said pretty much what I was going to tell you so … as the saying goes … why try to reinvent the wheel!!

Let me know your thoughts …

NOW IS THE TIME OF YEAR TO FOCUS ON THE FUTURE OF YOUR BUSINESS PART I

I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels a bit rushed over the holidays When you actually take the time to think about it, you’ve probably had some incredible experiences during the past year, but it is also time to focus on your business and its marketing especially if you are in a service related industry which tends to be slower now. Reflect on the past year…

Write down what inspires you now … What inspired you to start your own business? I believe that every business has a story to tell and that story is your “brand” that is just bursting to escape and be shared with the world through your poignant marketing campaign.

Describe what you would like your business to look like three years from now. Write a descriptive paragraph or two of what your business would look like if you were describing it to another person. Now imagine you’re one of your customers three years from now. Describe your experience in doing business with you or your company. How is the experience? What is it like? Can you get excited? Is this the kind of business you’d feel proud telling your closest friends and family members about?

Now that you’ve done that write down what has to happen between now and then for your business to actually look like you just described? What are some of the things that are in your control… that you can do something about? And what are some of the things that could happen that are not necessarily in your control… that you have no influence over? Things like price increases by your suppliers, tightening of credit guidelines, market conditions, the economy, and so on.

Next, what back-up plans do you need to put in place to compensate for the things you have no (or limited) control over? Are there some other products or services you might be able to represent or lean on if things get tough with your main products or services? Have you worked out a joint venture arrangement with another complimentary but non-competing company who represents other products that you may refer your customers and qualified prospects to?

And finally, who are the people and what are the resources you need to help you accomplish your three-year goal? Do you know who they are? Can you identify them? Do you have the proper relationship with them that you can enlist their aid when you need it? Do you have a plan that you can readily describe and discuss with them that will sell them on helping you?

Are you ready to take your business to the next level?

Copyright 2007 ProfitsMakeOver, Inc.

Gail M. Barsky, ProfitsMakeOver, Inc. works primarily with small business owners. Gail’s proven systems and strategies help business owners’ increase: the size of customer transactions, profit margins, the frequency of purchases, the number of years customers do business with you, referrals and boost conversion rates. Gail works only with a handful of personal clients. Her results have been impressive and have earned her substantial recognition and notoriety. Gail frequently offers “Breakthrough Business Development Seminars & Workshops.”

Gail M. Barsky, Esquire offers a FREE 20 Minute Business Strategy Session Call to interested business owners. Schedule your FREE private call with Gail M. Barsky, personally at http://www.profitsmakeover.com and click on the link marked FREE Strategy Call.

I will bring you Part II tomorrow.

Here is the continuation of yesterday’s article …

You have read and answered the questions set forth in Part I of this article so now you are ready to look at what business are you really in?

The first question, “My prospects contact me (or my business) for the products and/or services we offer because: ___________.” And the second question, “My customers or clients make repeat purchases with me or my business because: ___________.”

Now let’s take a look at what you wrote. Why do people who are not yet doing business with you - your prospects - contact you for the products or services you offer? Is it that your office happens to be in the neighborhood and they just stop in? Or is it because they find your name in the yellow pages, in an ad you run, a direct mail piece you send, or because someone… one of your current customers refers them to you because they’re thrilled with the work you do for them?

Do most of your prospects contact you because they just happen to stumble across your name by accident or because of something you proactively do that cause them to seek you out? Is it because they’re in need of the types of products or services your company sells or because they’re looking specifically for you?

Next, why do your current customers make repeat purchases with you? Is it because you’re business just happens to be in the same neighborhood that they live in and it’s convenient for them? Or does it go beyond that? Do they make repeat purchases with you because they can’t get the kind, amount and quality of service, helpfulness and friendliness from anyone else but you? That they’ve come to the realization that they’d have to be totally out of their mind to do business with anyone else but you?

These are important questions and it’s critical that you take the time to think through your answers and make sure they reflect the reality of your business and situation.

The point of this exercise is not to try and fool anyone… especially yourself. These questions are not going to be graded or even seen by anyone else. These are strictly for your own use and benefit. And if you delude yourself and write in other than what is reality you’re deceiving yourself and will never be able to take your business to where you want it to be.

Now that you’ve completed the two questions I’m going to give you one answer for both questions that you should strive for. Here’s the position you want to get yourself in as to why your prospects contact you and your on-board clients renew with you. You want to lead them to come to the inescapable and undeniable conclusion that… “I’d have to be thinking completely irrationally, to even consider doing business with anyone else but you regardless of the manufacturers or product lines you represent, regardless of the prices you charge, regardless of where your office or business location is located, and regardless of the relationship I have with my current supplier and salesperson.”

You see, once you get your business to that point, all your customer acquisition and retention problems will disappear. You’ll have more efficiency, more fun, and infinitely more of a profitable business than you ever imagined. Can you do it? Sure you can.

Copyright 2007 ProfitsMakeOver, Inc.

Gail M. Barsky, ProfitsMakeOver, Inc. works primarily with small business owners. Gail’s proven systems and strategies help business owners’ increase: the size of customer transactions, profit margins, the frequency of purchases, the number of years customers do business with you, referrals and boost conversion rates. Gail works only with a handful of personal clients. Her results have been impressive and have earned her substantial recognition and notoriety. Gail frequently offers “Breakthrough Business Development Seminars & Workshops.”

Gail M. Barsky, Esquire offers a FREE 20 Minute Business Strategy Session Call to interested business owners. Schedule your FREE private call with Gail M. Barsky, personally at http://www.profitsmakeover.com and click on the link marked FREE Strategy Call.