Whilst a blog is good for building relationships and demonstrating the person behind a business, lots of irrelevant and/or personal posts won’t work so well to promote your business and products/services.

I have just read a blog post by Penelope who wrote about wasting your time unless you have a topic or focus. She makes the point that you can can use a wide-minded perspective on the focussed topic to keep it interesting, but that to keep people coming back for more they need to know what your blog is about.

 Withn each post, it is particularly important to stick to your topic so people can follow the message in each post. And each post should generally contribute to your overall topic – for example, my blog is about business communications and development so posts on email subjects, basic grammar, business resources and blog content are all relevant.

However, I think even a business blog can include the occasional off topic post and stay relevant to their readers. But it really does have to be infrequent to maintain the feel and theme of the blog.

Sometimes, you can find a relevant angle for off topic ideas. For instance, I recently joined in blog action day on climate change – while I believe in helping the environment, it isn’t what this blog is about so instead of writing about climate change in general, I wrote about how I run my business to reduce my impact on the environment and climate change. At other times, I have used personal experiences such as going on cuboree last year and being subscribed to newsletters by ‘friends’ to inspire relevant posts.

Using such personal moments for inspiration

• is more interesting to read than impersonal, almost text book type of posts
• gives you an insight into me as a person as well as a writer
• lets me be creative
• gives me opportunities to blend my personal and business lives
• demonstrates my versatility and real world understanding of my topic

So how tightly do you think a blog should stay to one topic? Does it vary for a personal blog compared to a business blog?

Does your own blog(s) match that opinion?

Chris Brogan and many people in his blog community give some ideas on filling an unexpected half hour in order to make use of their ’spare time’. Some of my favourites on the list are relaxing (meditating, walking, etc), a quick burst of filing or tidying, give some recommendations/referrals, contact people on a person level (it can be a business contact, but chat to them instead of always focussing on what has to be done) and catching up on some reading/learning.

Moving on from that list, I like the idea of making half an hour a day for these sorts of tasks. Maybe start your day with them, lift the ‘low’ times around lunchtime or finish off the working day, but make a time to do some little tasks.

Why? Those little tasks can be very important – to your calmness, clarity, happiness, productivity, relationships and creativity. And doing them regularly for a short time will keep things under control.

I’m going to give it a try, now that I’ve been inspired. Could you benefit from making 30 minutes a day, too?

You’d think that Santa is famous enough that people could spell his name, but unfortunately I often see it misspelt so it inspired this week’s Monday Meanings!

Claus – Santa’s surname/last night/family name; a first name for boys in some countries
Santa Claus is a very generous man.

Clause – part of a sentence  (including a subject and its verb) or a legal document
According to clause 23.4, all pilots must avoid flying at sleigh height on 24h December.

Claws - sharp nails growing from the fingers or paws of some animals, especially cats.
Santa’s kitten sharpens his claws on the couch.

How to remember these three words? Well, the easy one is relating claws to jaws as both are sharp and potentially dangerous!

Then just take the easier/shorter word for Santa as he is uncomplicated (magical and special, but uncomplicated!)

I was just reading some blogging secrets (shhh don’t tell anyone!) from Chris Brogan and he suggests using a picture in every blog post. His argument is (and a sound argument it is) that it catches people’s eye so can draw them into your blog.

Some people use pictures for inspiration for blog posts and some people blog about topics that really need images (I’m thinking in particular of someone like Lauren Perkins who often blogs about artwork she is working on).

I occassionally add an image to brighten up my blog and make it look more interesting, but don’t do it all the time because it may slow down the site itself, I write about writing so am not sure pictures suit my brand, and it isn’t always easy to find a relevant picture when you write about capital letters or pairs of misused words!

But I am curious – how effective do you think images are in blogs? Would you like to see images added to more or all of my blogposts?

 Finding ideas to write about, maximising your topics, building trust, attention grabbing titles, dealing with negative or poorly written comments, and ending your blog posts are all important parts of a successful blog. 

Recently, Raivyn gave some advice for anyone wanting to make money from a blog (or blogs) – some of that advice applies to all blogs whether their aim is to make money, share ideas, promote a business or anything else.

The points I most liked (rewritten into my own words and comments) were:

• keep writing – even if uninspired, you need to write to build the habit and experience
• find your own blog rules – some blogs have very short posts, some have long posts and some find a combination or middle ground works best. Instead of writing to a formula number of words, find what works for you and your readers. And apply the same logic to frequency, style, running carnivals, inviting guest bloggers, and so on.
• keep your credibility – recommend products/services/etcthat you truly think are worthwhile, not just those paying a commission or giving you a reciprocal link.
• write for your readers – this may not be so important for a personal blog, but to make money (directly or indirectly) you need to write what potential customers want to read about in a way that find interesting and useful. Knowing your audience is a key part of any good writing

Good luck with building your successful blog!

Raivyn (who apparently does make money from her blogs) wrote a blog post about the realities of blogs and money. I like the fact she starts with suggesting the need to know why you are blogging and what you want to achieve. If you love writing online and want to make enough for a weekly cup of coffee, then blogs may be the income stream you need; if you hate your job and want a full time income, then blogging needs a lot of thought before believing it is the solution.

Which leads, of course, to why do I write this blog? There are a few reasons, but my aim has never been to make money directly or to be a pro-blogger.

Having a blog attached to my business website allows me to promote my business indirectly – it lets customers know who I am, it is an easy way to add content to my site frequently which gives people a reason to return and search engines a reason to find me, and it is related to my business anyway.

I also enjoy helping people and sharing knowledge which is what most of my blog posts are aimed at.

Of course, if anyone wants to pay me riches for reading my blog, I’m open to new ideas! But making money is not my priority from the blog.

So why do you have a blog ? Is your reason for continuing it the same reason you started it? Does blogging bring you an income? An income worth the time and effort it takes to run a blog?

Let me share the laugh with you!

I received an email from someone who tried to be my friend and show how good he is at internet marketing – mind you, he isn’t good enough to find my name on my website and use it in an email! He does point out that he has my contact details, including phone number, from my site though.

This email was about word constructions - a professional writing service in Australia and his email includes the following (in blue – the black text is my response!):

I’m not sure if you’re aware of why you’re ranked this low but more importantly how easily correctable this is. I’m guessing it’s because I don’t have a childcare centre or use that keyword? If he found me through that keyword, it says a lot for my childcare articles though!

There’s no reason you can’t have a top three ranking for the keyword childcare centre based on your site structure and content. You have a very nice site. Perhaps the fact I don’t have a childcare centre (or a website about childcare) is a good reason not to rank top three? And if you don’t know that, I have no reason whatsoever to believe you have looked at my site to know it’s good!

•  be relevant – don’t contact a business about something they don’t offer
• be honest – adding blatant lies makes it likely you’ll be caught out and lose whatever credibility you may have had
• if you claim to have viewed my site, then have the courtesy to find and use my name
•  don’t overstate your importance – if Jason is so successful and owns the 1,000s of sites he claims, why does he need to spam people around the world to get further business? Again, it just destroys your credibility if your claims and behaviours don’t match

Here’s to lots of laughs and very little spam in our lives!

When I wrote about numbered lists the other day, I mentioned that one item doesn’t make a list so something like the following looks a little silly:

Our product comes in these colours:

1. blue

In this case, you have two real options – incorporate the item into a sentence or use a non-numbered list.

For the above example, sentence form will work much better:

Our product comes in blue.

In other situations, it may be required to use a list format even if there is only one item. A bullet point or em-dash is better than using a numbering system. This may apply, for example, making a point within a list…

Our product has the following specifications:

1. 1m wide
2. made of stainless steel
3. suitable for domestic use
   - 10 year guarantee void in business settings
4. 50kg when constructed

Using a list can be a better way to present information than just using straight text all the time – it can simplify things for the reader, it is generally much easier as a quick reference and it can make the document more visually interesting than a page of text alone.

Adding numbers to a list (and although I use the word number, a numbered list may use roman numerals or letters instead of Arabic numbers) is usually reserved for when the order of the list is important or when reference to specific points is likely.

Clarity and consistency are the two keys to making a useful list. If the items in a list have further divisions, make sure those divisions are clear – or make multiple lists. Lists with divisions are generally referred to as outline lists, such as the following:

1. prepare a draft
2. edit the draft
   1. check spelling
   2. check grammar
   3. ensure everything makes sense
3. get someone else to review the draft
4. edit the draft
5. finalise the draft
   1. add formatting
   2. check page breaks and similar details
   3. send to print

The sub divisions in this list are clear to the eye but would be much clearer overall if they used a different numbering system (for example, ‘add formatting’ would be a or i and ’send to print’ would be c or iii.)

If there is only one item, it technically isn’t a list so a number isn’t required. A single item can either be incorporated into sentence form or just be listed with a bullet or em-dash. Adding a number to a single item is likely to confuse people as they look for subsequent points that don’t exist.

Keeping numbering clear and consistent is also critical for speakers, not just writers. I have attended a number of presentations where they start with clear points (E.g. “here are five ways to get website traffic. Number one is…”) but get sidetracked or forget the numbering and my notes are confused and/or disjointed as a result.

Do you have any further questions about numbered lists I might be able to help with?

Use your words, and numbers, wisely!

One of the most common questions I have seen in online surveys is the following:

Are you …

male
female?

Technically, the answer is yes  – I am male or female and so is every other human I know of! Fairly pointless question to ask unless you have a third group responding.

In this case, we can see what is really being asked (”which are you?”) and the available answers lead us to answering correctly, but it isn’t always so easy.

It was great recently to be asked to help a major research centre refine their questionnaire. They had determined the questions they wanted to ask but understood that how they asked was critical to the final result of their research.

So if you are preparing surveys or questionnaires, my two key tips are:

• read the questions to make sure the options answer the question and suit your needs
• get at least one other person to read the questions to ensure they make sense to a less involved pair of eyes

Use your words wisely!