Reading Time: < 1 min Empathy is the key to great writing. If you can really understand the worldview of those that are reading what you write, you’ll tend to be much more effective. In her book “Everybody Writes“, author Ann Hadley shared two great quotes that go into this. First, she shares how empathy isn’t just something you have; […]
Content
Algorithms versus value
Reading Time: < 1 min As I’ve been working to improve my content on my LinkedIn profile over the past few months, I’ve learned a lot about how their algorithm works. For a while I was trying to tailor my posts to better suit their algorithm, but I’ve learned to (mostly) ignore it and focus on providing great value. For […]
I was fantastic with Google+
Reading Time: < 1 min I thought Google+ was a great product. I dug in deep, and developed a solid following on there. Today, that’s worth absolutely nothing. It’s good to develop strong skills in a particular area, but it’s even better to develop skills that don’t rely on a particular piece of technology or a single service. My Google+ […]
Anchor and twist
Reading Time: < 1 min This term has been around for a long time, but I hadn’t noticed it until very recently. It has to do with sharing new ideas, and “anchoring” them to something people are familiar with and then “twisting” into how the new product is different. It’s similar to Seth Godin’s concept of putting your new product […]
Mise en place for better writing
Reading Time: < 1 min When I cook, which is fairly rarely, I try to follow the French concept of mise en place, where you have everything prepped and ready to go before you actually start. Given my weak cooking skills, it’s very helpful to do that. I’m finding that writing works best for me when I follow the same […]
Does accessibility help your website rank higher?
Reading Time: < 1 min Online accessibility has become an important topic over the past few years. I’ve shared some tips on how you can improve accessibility on your site, and this short podcast offers a few more bits of advice. The question is — does Google reward your site for being accessible? The short answer is “no”, but the […]
Are your requests scaring customers away?
Reading Time: 2 min When we’re developing a website, we work hard to make sure that every single page has a goal. The call-to-action (CTA) might be to sign up for a newsletter, reach out with more questions, or to simply continue on to another article for more information, but you have to have something there. Too often I […]
Keep It Tight
Reading Time: < 1 min I’ve shared before that I tend to use as few words as possible when writing or speaking. It was something that I tried for a while to “fix” before I realized that it was already a pretty good thing. Fewer words doesn’t mean that something needs to be thin, just that you can remove the […]
Write first, fix later
Reading Time: < 1 min I’ve talked a good bit about the idea of writer’s block, and how a blank page can be a tough thing to get past. However, if you can just get a smidge of an idea started, that’s often all you’ll need to get the full concept written out. When you get it all written it […]
User engagement doesn’t impact your search rankings
Reading Time: 2 min Keeping users engaged on your website is vitally important, but Google says it doesn’t affect your rankings. I suspect they want it to, but they don’t have a good way to tie your site engagement to the rankings. The problem for Google is two-fold: If you have Google Analytics on your website, which captures many […]