Name: Jeannette
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeannettepaladino
Personal Blog: http://www.writespeaksell.com
Posts by :
- Content (blogs, Google indexed pages and readability level)
- Optimization (metadata, headings, images, and interior page analysis)
- Promotion (how you rank on social media sites)
- Go to http://audioboo.fm/ to sign up for a free account and download your IPhone or Android App. Or you can download directly from your phone’s App store.
- Go to your WordPress blog and download the audioboo-wp plugin, which is actually a widget.
- Then drag your audioboo widget into the sidebar widget of your choice. I’ve used the sidebar in my blog page, which is where I get most of my traffic.
- Then you’re ready to record on your phone, no matter where you are, or directly on the audioboo.fm site.
- After recording on your smart phone you hit “publish” and the podcast is automatically uploaded to the widget in your blog.
- What would you change about your blog?
- What would you stop doing?
- What would you start doing?
- What would you do more of?
- A 10:1 advantage in Web traffic
- A 10:1 advantage in YouTube video viewership
- A 3:1 advantage in Twitter followers
- A 4:1 advantage in Facebook followers
- Establish two-way dialogue with employees. Ask employees about their perceptions of the company’s strengths and weaknesses and the words they use to talk about the company.
- Survey employees on social networking habits and interests. What social networks are your employees using and would they be willing to create branded accounts to serve as the company’s ambassadors.
- Cherry pick a pilot group. Use the survey to identify enthusiastic employees and train them. Integrate the social networking inside out program with traditional marketing campaigns.
- Craft information networking guidelines and incentives. Strike a balance between freewheeling and overbearing in advising employees what they can and cannot say. Incorporate responsibilities and goals into job descriptions and provide incentives and rewards just as you would for their other responsibilities.
- Work Your “Wingmen.” Start first with senior executives, the lead pilots, and ask your brand ambassadors, or wingmen, to comment on their posts and RT their tweets. With senior executives setting an example, employees can create their own branded content within company guidelines.
- Identify keywords to coalesce around. Establish the company’s keywords in priority order, with senior executives and employees using them as “smoke signals” to communicate with customers, partners and industry peers.
- Establish metrics. Every company will have its own measurement systems, but it will be important to know if relationships are extending beyond social networks and improving business. Is the company moving up with search engine rankings? Are employees motivated and is customer service improving?
Business.gov Offers Tips for Small Businesses and Bloggers
July 15th, 2010I just learned about a new site, Business.gov, which is hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration. I’ve joined this community where you can get useful advice about running a business, and posting topics for discussion. There are several guest bloggers (I don’t see how you get your name in front of the SBA staff to become a blogger but I’ll keep looking.) and the opportunity to comment on topics posted by community members. You need to be careful not to be too commercial but you are allowed one link back to your blog.
Business.gov helps bloggers
From the SBA website: “Idea Exchange: Each month, the Business.gov team poses a question to the Community about specific topics, features, or services provided on Business.gov. An idea exchange is a collection of ideas posted by members in the Community. Anyone in the Community can see and give Kudos to the ideas you post. July 2010 topic: How can traditional marketing techniques be changed to accommodate the rise of new media marketing, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, online coupons, and email campaigns? Traditional marketing and new media marketing can be integrated to cross promote your business and hit different potential customers.
For those who have utilized the synergies of traditional and new media marketing, please share with us what you have done and what has worked. If you haven’t integrated the two yet, participate with your ideas and thoughts.
Tell us… How do you use traditional and new media marketing together?”
I was shocked to see that the first comment on the topic had received 1,266 views, up from 1,197 when I started to write this post last evening. And the second comment had received 1,219, up from 1,166 views.
Your can peruse a Small Business Marketing section with information on topics such as Advertising Law, Developing a Marketing Budget, Learn About Your Customers, Traditional vs. New Media Marketing, Build Your Small Business Brand, Affiliate Marketing Basics, and Stand Out from the Crowd.
The SBA also sponsors a group on LinkedIn called Business.gov with 280 members but it seems to serve mostly as a launching pad to the Business.gov website.
Anyway, I’m still exploring the site and you might want to take a look too. Just one more place to learn and get some exposure for you and your blog.
How Does Your Blog Rate?
June 23rd, 2010
Does your blog earn a gold star?
You might be interested in trying out two free tools to help evaluate the effectiveness of your website/blog. Website Grader compares your site to other blogs and Headline Analyzer evaluates the Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) of your headlines, taking into account how the headline evokes intellectual, empathetic and spiritual responses. These tools won’t solve all your problems but they provide some interesting information and it’s fun to see how you stack up.
Website Grader is a HubSpot program and gives your site an overall grade. I entered my website address and got a grade of 95. A grade between 95.5/100 means that your site scores higher than the 2,512,992 websites that have been ranked so far. Wow! Then I got the score for The Bloggers’ Bulletin and it is 98. Wow, wow! Here is what the program analyzes:
HubSpot also offers a more detailed program, but that one costs (I do not have any financial connection).
Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) Headline Analyzer, administered by The Advanced Marketing Institute, is a tool that measures how you are touching the emotions of your readers, which they claim is the key to successful copywriting. You enter a headline and instantly get a score. According to the Institute, most professional copywriters’ headlines will have 30%-40% EMV Words in their headlines, while the most gifted copywriters will have 50%-75% EMV words in headlines.
I entered the headline of my most recent blog “AT&T Store Says IPhones Don’t Work.” I thought that was a pretty good grabber. My score: 0.00%! No emotional score. Yikes. So I tried another headline, “Why is the Business News Media So Far Behind on Social Networks?” Thank goodness, that scored 33.33% and has a predominately empathetic appeal. Now I’m going for gold. I entered the headline of a blog that I wrote last fall that’s always high in my reader stats, “Is Letter Writing Dead?” – another bagel.
So I decided to enter arguably the most famous headline of all, written by the legendary copywriter John Caples back in 1926. Variations are still being used by copywriters today. It is “They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano But When I Started to Play!” EMV score: 20.00.
So should you play around with these tools anyway? I’d say yes because you may find nuggets of helpful information (I learned that you shouldn’t have a lot of textual content in images because it will not be seen by website crawlers). But I also learned another good lesson. Try, test, retry. You are your own best judge of what’s working and not working.
Great New Tool for WordPress Podcasts – Audioboo
June 3rd, 2010Thanks to my blog coach, Bea Fields, for bringing this new App to my attention – it’s called Audioboo. This is a super simple way to record a podcast and upload it to your WordPress blog in about five minutes. It’s designed specifically for use with an IPhone or Android smart phone. Bea has created a tutorial that I don’t think she’ll mind if I share with you. But, briefly, here is how it works: 
Here is the link to my first podcast if you’d like to listen. Audioboo is a neat tool – give it a try.
P.S. — A Google Alert came in for my first podcast, so if you enter your Google Analytics ID in your Audioboo settings it will improve your SEO.
What Would You Change About Your Blog?
April 30th, 2010That’s the question my blogging coach Bea Fields who conducts the “Become a Blogging Maniac” course asked several of us on our weekly call where we offer each other advice, the names of new WordPress plug-ins, articles to read, etc. We’re graduates of her course and have formed a nice circle of bloggers who care about each other. She asked us to look at our blogs and ask ourselves:
After some thought, I realized that the questions were really about how would changing our blogs change our business. It was surprising how frank we were in admitting we don’t have all the answers. I know I don’t. My blog has become central to my business and how I promote myself. Honestly, without getting too gushy, my blog is me. Putting in the work, week in and week out, I have accumulated a body of writing that has literally pulled me in the direction I want to go.
Would you change your blog?
In looking back at the topics I’ve covered in my blog, I’ve found where my passion lies. I know every professional blogger out there says to have a plan that outlines your blogs and posting schedule, but I’ll be honest, I winged it a lot. And I’m glad I did because it gave me the freedom to let my words take me where I was destined to go.
First thing is, I’m changing my blog template so that it emphasizes my three basic service offers as a business writer: blogs and web copy, employee engagement and branding. That’s where I’ve learned my passion and focus lies.
Second, I’m cancelling most of my subscriptions to the blogging newsletters and tip sheets that cram my email box every day, and paring down to only one or two that I feel are essential. Ditto with all the news and discussions updates from most of my LinkedIn groups. I was reading more than writing.
Third, I need to start reaching out more to fellow bloggers, and leveraging social networks – particularly LinkedIn – to begin establishing more productive business relationships.
I’m glad I’ve put this all down on paper, because we’re continuing our discussion on next week’s call and I’ll be ready.
What would you change about YOUR blog?
In Building a Social Community are We Becoming Snobs?
April 6th, 2010
Social Media Snob
To continue our discussions about building a social community, are we in danger of becoming social media snobs?
I recently bought an IPhone because too many people were teasing me about using an old-fashioned date book. True, I find it useful to be connected to email when I’m away from my office for an extended period, and like playing with some of the apps. But, honestly, I find it just as easy to put my dates in my dog-eared calendar as it is to input them to my ICal.
By the same token, should we look down on colleagues who don’t have a presence on every social media site? I was with a client the other day and she apologized for not being on Twitter and Facebook. She was embarrassed to admit it.
Well, maybe her business doesn’t call for her to have those accounts. She’s got a very successful company and sending out tweets may not be necessary. She doesn’t have time, with all the business she’s managing, and may not feel the need to become part of a social community.
I honestly think a lot of people are stepping back and saying, whoa, what am I doing here? Can I truly master all these networks and become an active contributor to the social community? Do I have the time to build a legion of followers on Facebook and what good will it do me?
I personally have a presence on the most popular sites, but I’ve decided to focus on blogging and LinkedIn. They are working for me and I can devote the time and energy to leveraging these social media communities. I don’t want to feel embarrassed, as I did the other day, when someone asked me in a snarky tone of voice, “How many followers do YOU have on Twitter,” and I owned up to only 422. After that, I categorized him as a social media snob.
Regarding the debate about authenticity in social media – who is writing your blogs and tweets – the snobs are particularly outspoken. Ghost blogging (or flogging) is out.
Admit it if it applies: are you becoming a social media snob? Do you look down your nose when someone admits s/he doesn’t blog, or tweet or whatever?
Is Ghost Blogging Fraud?
February 28th, 2010
Andy Wibbels writes a well-read blog “Small business blogging for instant global impact.” In one of his latest posts he stirred the pot when he stated that “Ghost Blogging is Fraud.” He received quite a few comments, both pro and con. I added a comment after a lot of thought.
In reviewing what I wrote, I stand by what I said, but made some tweaks. I think this is an important topic and would like to hear from our bloggers and readers. What do think? Here is my point of view.
The word “fraud” is much too strong in my view. Having worked with CEOs and other top executives over the years on their communications, I never met one who simply let a writer take off expressing his own thoughts and POVs.
Ideally, the CEO and the writer discuss the general theme and POV of the article and the key messages to be communicated. Sometimes the CEO does a first rough draft that the writer whips into shape.
The key is this: is the POV, language and voice the CEOs? In the case of employees who are thirsting to hear more from their leader, then it is more important that they hear from the CEO, whether every single word was written by her or she got an assist from a writer.
We keep talking about the messenger (the CEO or her ghost writer). What about the recipients? What are their information needs? Isn’t consistent communications that reflects the CEO’s heartfelt opinions (possibly put into words by a writer) the objective?
I do believe times are changing, and that more CEOs will start giving credit to writers, especially in social media like a blog, which is no doubt a more personal expression. Maybe at the bottom of the article, something like “Written with John Smith.”
On other hand, if you are a writer/blogger as I am, it would be foolish to have some one write my blogs: they are my work product and go into my portfolio. Besides, I enjoy the writing.
There seems to be agreement that ghost writing a speech for the CEO, or a byliner or op-ed piece for a newspaper is OK, presented as written by the CEO. They supposedly represent that leader’s views.
So why is a blog different? Why does social media make it different? Does your CEO, if you work for a company, or your clients, if you are a consultant, ask you to write their blogs without giving you credit? And is it honest?
Simplicity, Clarity, Singleness: Goals for Bloggers to Achieve
February 24th, 2010Every day I receive an email with motivational quote from HeartMath and I’ve saved many
of them because they resonated at a particular time in my life. Last week, I received this one and it seemed totally appropriate for bloggers, so let me share it with you:
“Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy.”
—– Richard Halloway
These are the attributes that bloggers also strive for in their writing. I know that I do. Sometimes I find myself including too much information in a post. And I especially think that trying to stuff a post with key words so the search engines can find you can ruin a post – from the readers’ perspective.
This applies to large businesses, too, that have the resources to research the information needs of their customers. Maybe the words customers use are not the words the company is using in its advertising and promotional materials — and this includes blogs. What is great about blogging by companies is that they can generate immediate feedback from customers, if you hit their hot buttons — or key words.
Whether you are writing for yourself or your employer ask yourself these questions: Are the key words really relevant to your content? Are you writing for your readers with simplicity and clarity? Are you articulating one key idea in the post that is easy for the readers to understand? Is the idea likely to stir comments from readers?
It’s easy to get discouraged when a brilliantly written blog (in your view) falls flat with readers. Let’s all keep at it with a will to getting better and generating enthusiasm for our ideas. I will leave you with another quote that I hope will make your blogging a happy and productive experience.
“Begin growing from where you are – not from where others think you ought to be by now.”
—— Steven Douglas Lawrence
Other Favorite Social Media Experts
February 4th, 2010
When I embarked on my journey as a blogger last year, I began to search out information and inspiration on the web. Over time, I came to enjoy and trust a number of bloggers and other sources such as Twitter and LinkedIn. I get feeds from some of them and I also regularly visit a number of social media sites. And, of course, I faithfully read the wonderful posts of our The Bloggers’ Bulletin-team who are also expert at what they do. In no particular order, here they are:
Seth Godin – Seth Godin’s Blog
One of my favorites because he has a way of putting a new twist on ideas. His posts come into my mailbox everyday and I almost always find something I hadn’t thought about in just that way before. He also publishes Squidoo, where you can create your own “lens” or article to promote yourself and earn a royalty for you or a charity.
Darren Rowse – ProBlogger
Excellent tips on blogging. He is also very open about his own challenges and sharing the mistakes he’s made on the way to becoming one of the best-read blogs on blogging. Author of “31 Days to Building a Better Blog.”
Chris Garrett – Chris Garrett on New Media
Also writes about blogging and is the co-author with Darren Rowse of “ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income.”
Michael Stelzner – Writing White Papers
He’s considered the maven of white papers and how they can grow your business. Last summer, he organized the highly successful “Social Media Success Summit 2009” featuring well-known social media experts, as well as this past fall’s “Copywriting Success Summit 2009.” Now, in February, he’s organized “White Paper Success Summit 2010” on how white papers can generate quality leads for your business.
Dan Schwabel – Personal Branding Blog
Considered the leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y, often quoted by leading publications like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He writes the Personal Branding Blog and Personal Branding Magazine.
Alex – Blogussion
Alex (no last name) owns this site with “blogging discussion, tips and tricks.” He’s the principal author and destined for big things because he’s still a teenager.
Denise Wakeman – The Blog Squad
Considered a leading authority on blogging. Author of “Build a Better Blog: The Ultimate Guide for Boosting Your Business with a Professional Blog.”
Mari Smith – Social Media Consultant, Speaker and Trainer
Considered the leading authority on FaceBook. Recently launched the membership organization, International Social Media Association (ISMA) that offers training, seminars and a certification program.
Dave Kaminski — Web Video University
Offers video tips on creating, getting traffic and getting paid from web videos.
Brian Clark – Copyblogger
One of the earliest social media experts with a huge following. Tips on copywriting and social media. Along with Darren Rowse, Chris Brogan and Sonia Simone has just launched Third Tribe Marketing, described as “We’re building a community of learning, but often the greatest growth in your business comes from interacting with instructors, mentors, and other entrepreneurs. This is the true vision for the Third Tribe.” A paid service, it costs $47 a month.
Peter Cashmore – Mashable
Mashable is the world’s largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and Social Media news. I don’t have a particular expert on Twitter, but Mashable does, so check out http://mashable.com/2009/08/10/twitter-usability/.
Chris Brogan — New Marketing Labs
President of his own social media agency. Runs the Thesis theme for WordPress.
Jason Alba – JibberJobber.com
Leading authority on LinkedIn and author of “I’m on LinkedIn – Now What??” Jibber Jobber is a networking site designed to help people in job transition, which he started when he was in the job market himself.
Guy Kawasaki — How To Change The World
Tips about blogging. Also owner of Alltop, a site that collects the headlines of the latest stories from the best sites and blogs that cover various topics and aggregates into individual web pages.
Joost de Valk Yoast – WordPress Newsletter
Contains general WordPress news, information on new plugins he’s found and ones he’s invented, SEO, etc.
Toma Bonciu – Optimizing the Web
Lots of good SEO tips.
Various Authors — The LinkedIn Blog
I hope that you will comment and add other social media experts that you favor (yes, I know that I’ve probably left out a few that you swear by).
Social Media and “IT” Factors Behind Election of Scott Brown
January 23rd, 2010The country is still reeling from the upset that U.S. Senator-Elect Scott Brown pulled off in winning the special election to fill Senator Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat from Massachusetts. Imagine, a Republican Senator from the most Blue state in the nation. 
The political pundits are still chewing over Martha Coakley’s defeat – she ran a lackluster campaign, she sent the wrong message by taking a vacation in December, she mistakenly said that former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling was a Yankees fan. A Yankees fan!
But I’d like to examine what I think were two of the most decisive factors:
Social Media
Scott Brown’s tremendous advantage in numbers of fans and followers on the social media sites Facebook and Twitter. His conservative message resonated on the Internet. On Facebook Brown had 150,000 fans to Coakley’s 18,463. On Twitter, Brown had 17,312 followers to Coakley’s 4,271. Just look at the multiples as each fan and follower’s messages in turn sped through the blogosphere to their followers. A social media poll the WordStream Internet Marketing Blog claimed that Scott Brown held a significant edge over Martha Coakley in social media engagement metrics and predicted his election while he was still trailing badly in other polls. Consider Brown’s numbers:
The “IT” Factor
OK, we know that social media played a major role in Brown’s election. But let’s be honest, folks, it didn’t hurt that he was handsome, had a daughter who was an American Idol finalist and that he posed nude for a Cosmo centerfold when he was a 22-year-old student, winning the magazine’s “America’s Sexiest Man” competition.
As Cosmo says on its site, “Compared to some men in the GOP, this politician looks pretty damn good for his age. We bet he still has an amazing body underneath his suit and tie. There have been plenty of pics of our president running around without his shirt, so now that a precedent has been set, we’re hoping to see Scott shirtless again.”
Scott Brown has the “IT” factor. He’s hot. Call it charisma, fantasize about his abs, but don’t think his sex appeal didn’t sway some voters.
By Jeannette Paladino, Writer-in-Chief Write Speak Sell
Empowering Employees as Brand Ambassadors in 7 Easy Steps
January 12th, 2010Corporate employees can be the organization’s best brand ambassadors. This means that an army of employees can be dedicated to communicating the company’s key messages and building its brand reputation online through blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. 
First, it is essential to establish a positive two-way dialogue with employees so they feel involved in the process of promoting the company. They need to know management is listening to them and that they are important to the company’s success. The key is trust – companies can’t control what employees say but companies that have good relations with employees can trust they will represent the company well. Zappos, Intel, Comcast, IBM, Diamond Technologies and a host of other companies have proven that it can be done and that it works well.
Here are 7 steps to making employees brand ambassadors that my colleague Amy Dean, president of Keyword Communication, and I developed. We call the process “Inside Out Public Relations.” The accompanying slide presentation will give you more details. Here is what we believe needs to be done to mobilize employees as brand advocates:
Engaging employees won’t happen overnight. But who could better represent a company to the outside world than its employees, singing the praises of the company and what it stands for?
Inside Out Public Relations Slide Show
