Editing guest blog posts

April 10th, 2012

Accepting guest blog posts for your blog can be a win-win-win situation if they are good quality posts.

Sometimes you will receive guest blog posts that are pretty good but not quite at the standard you want for your blog.

I know I have read blog posts that have great ideas and tips but are poorly written or posts that seem good but don’t quite develop the ideas enough to be useful.

The temptation is therefore to edit the posts so they also read well or make their intended point.

Is it ok to edit guest posts?

Yes and no!Adapting blog posts to suit he blog

If the guest blogger has made a simple error or two (for example you instead of your, busniess instead of business, or copywrite instead of copyright), then I would fix it for them.

A good writer would prefer you to fix that (or ask them to) then let them have public errors. And may not realise you have made the changes if they don’t go back to their original.

However, it is still polite to let them know you edited their work.

On the other hand, if the post has numerous and/or more serious issues, it is not ok to edit it without the author’s consent.

Remember that the guest blogger’s name will be with that piece so they have the right to know it is in their words – and you also enter into legal issues for what is called moral rights.

I think there are three ways you can get an edited post:

  1. Return it to the author with an explanation of what is wrong and ask if they are happy for you to edit it – offering to get their approval before publishing of course
  2. Edit it and return it to the author for approval before publishing it – make sure you introduce the subject nicely as some people will be offended at you doing this
  3. Ask them to edit it (and ideally explain why it needs editing so they have an idea of what to change)

Some blogs have a policy stating that they can edit the post before it goes live. Even with such a policy, I would not advise doing heavy edits to someone’s work without giving them the power to accept/reject those changes.

If you submit a guest post, how would you like the host blogger to deal with your work if it contained errors?

Tags: , ,
Posted in blogging, business info | 15 Comments »

Blog post linking

April 5th, 2012

In a recent blog post, Anna Cairo stated that many links to other blogs can theoretically make your blog successful – rather than just the blog itself.

Working together through linksSo how does linking to other blogs help your blog?

  1. you provide additional information for your readers which they will appreciate – especially if you link to someone who gives a different perspective or technical input to your blog
  2. you can support your opinions and knowledge with other posts to build your credibility
  3. search engines give you credit for outgoing links when assessing your blog’s ranking so linking to others, especially other good blogs and posts, is good for your SEO
  4. the people you link to will probably appreciate your links. Many of them will leave a comment in your blog or return the favour by linking to your blog
  5. others’ blog posts can inspire ideas for your own post so why not link back to the post that inspired you? Either as a courtesy or as a means of introducing the issue you are posting about (i.e. it saves you writing out a detailed background for your post)
  6. your blog is more interesting if it has variety and links off to relevant materials, whether on your site or elsewhere – and people are more likely to share interesting posts and blogs than boring ones!

So when is the last time you linked to another blog within one of your blog posts?

Tags: , ,
Posted in blogging, marketing | 14 Comments »

Are templates cheating?

April 3rd, 2012

Sometimes people talk about templates as if they are cheating, inferior and inappropriate as a business tool.

A blank page can be hard to fill

I don’t agree – there are times a template is not the right answer but they can be very useful in business.

Using a template doesn’t mean everything is exactly the same  - adjustments are made to suit the purpose.

Templates for letters, emails, style guides, procedures, web pages and other business materials can help your business in three key ways.

  1. Consistency
    If every letter sent from your business has the same format, it looks professional, builds your brand and shows attention to detail
  2. Time saving
    Using a template saves a lot of time. An email or webpage template can reduce the time needed for formatting, setting meta data and remembering the necessary details (phone, ABN, disclaimer, etc), and so on.
  3. Getting started
    A template can provide a starting point and can be much easier to work from than a blank page – this saves mental energy and time. If you don’t know where to start with preparing a style for your business, a corporate style guide template can get you started and inspire you to ask the right questions

I think templates are suitable for many things (e.g. procedures and standard information) although they can be misused and abused.

What templates do you use (or have you used) in your business? What advantages do you get from them?

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Business Communications, writing | 11 Comments »

Console foreign dignitaries…

April 2nd, 2012

Another pair of words that could lead to embarrassment if used in the wrong way…

consul: [noun] a State agent in a foreign place, usually to represent the state in that foreign place
 I contacted the Australian Consul about voting when I was in Europe last year.

console: [verb] comfort and make someone feel better; [noun] control panel or switchboard of electrical equipment; [noun] cabinet or frame supporting equipment such as a TV or stereo
Family and friends gathered around the widow in an attempt to console her.
The sound technician pored over the console to find the error and restore sound. 

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Monday Meanings | 4 Comments »

Useful policies are short

March 30th, 2012

If you take the time to prepare a policy or procedure,then you may as well make it accessible to people, right?

Online access and policiesI just read a blog post discussing how the average internet user could spend 76 business days a year reading privacy policies that affect them. 76 days!

That is based on the average policy having 2,514 words. Which is a lot of words for a policy that basically needs to say ‘we will only give your information to Fred under these circumstances’.

And it is an average. Some places have very short privacy policies (for example, if you subscribe to my newsletter you will see a 34 word policy!) so that must mean other places have extremely long policies.

So next time you write or update a policy, keep it as short as possible by

  1. using simple words as much as possible so it is easy to understand
  2. avoiding legalese so it makes sense to everyone and doesn’t look intimidating
  3. think about your reader – what do they want to know and expect to see?
  4. use an active voice as it is generally shorter than a passive version of the same sentence
  5. use bullet points and sub-headings to organise the policy – this is easier to read, often means less repetition is necessary and sentences don’t need to be so complex.

Legally, you may be covered by providing a policy even if people don’t bother reading it (how often do you read the policies you agree to online?) but I wouldn’t be comfortable with including unexpected details that could hurt people later. That is, the legal issue is not always the moral one so I prefer policies people are more likely to read.

As a business owner, do you just want to protect yourself or do you want people to properly understand your policies?

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Business Communications | 8 Comments »

Dealing with poor guest blog posts

March 28th, 2012

Have you got some low quality guest posts for your blog? Hopefully you understand that quality content less often is better than frequent content that is not always very good.

Last week, I described some aspects of low quality blog posts so they are easier to spot even if you have little confidence in judging people’s writing abilities.

But what if you have accepted some poor guest blog posts or have a regular guest blogger who is providing low quality posts for you to use?

Your options as the blog host

The most important thing to remember is that it is your blog so only you can set the standard and make the rules.

  1. Reject the post
    If there is nothing good about the post, you don’t have much choice but to reject it. That could mean sending it back to the author with a ‘no thanks’ message or just deleting it from your blog or emails. It’s up to you if you give reasons or reject them from future consideration – having clear policies* can help you make and enforce such decisions.
  2. Request an amendment
    If the post has potential (for example, it has some great ideas but is poorly written or doesn’t explain ideas very well) it may be worth asking the author to change the post and resubmit it. If you request this, you will get better results if you make your expectations very clear.
  3. Edit the post
    Again, if the post has potential you could make some changes to the post yourself. This is simpler than asking for an amendment in that your standards will be met but there are other complications* – remember the guest blogger’s name is on the post. I believe this is perfectly acceptable if you are just correcting a typo or two but needs care for larger changes.
  4. Accept the post
    You obviously have this choice but it can damage your blog’s reputation so why risk it? If you feel you have to post it because of an agreement, make sure it is clear in your blog that it is a guest post (not the host owner or regular contributor) and adjust that agreement as soon as possible. If you have an ongoing or desirable relationship with the blogger this may seem tempting but it isn’t really doing him or her many favours either. Better for you both to let them know their posts are not at a suitable standard so they can learn from their mistakes.

How have you dealt with low quality guest posts you have received? What reactions did you receive?

 

* I’ll cover editing others’ posts and setting up your policies over the next few weeks.

Tags: , ,
Posted in blogging, Business Communications | 14 Comments »

What increased super rates mean

March 26th, 2012

Helping build retirement savingsLast week, the Australian Government passed legislation that means the superannuation guarantee (SG) rates will gradually increase from 1 July 2013.

For employees, it’s clear – they will get more super in their account which should help them in retirement. I do support the idea of people retiring with more money and having less dependence on age pensions and the like.

But who will pay the extra 3% SG?

In simplest terms, employers will pay more super into their eligible employees’ super accounts. The Government will give tax concessions to that extra money which is what the mining tax is supposed to go towards.

There has been a lot of complaint in the last week from employers and employer groups about the need to find this extra 3% per employee – many had apparently thought the Government was somehow going to fund the increase.

Maybe the extra will come instead of pay increases for employees. But workers unions don’t agree with that concept and think the small percentage can be absorbed by businesses.

I don’t know the final answer and am not taking any political stand point on this either.

Small business people

For the self-employed, I don’t think we’re going to win from this deal.

I am self-employed so my super account only grows if I choose to make it so (or if I treat myself as an employee with a regular wage) – there is no compulsory super for me which means a change from 9% to 12% doesn’t have to affect my super savings.

As a small business I don’t have huge profits that would make it easy to increase employee salary packages by 3% (or the 0.5% steps).

My options would be to

  • reduce pay increases to cover the SG (so their pay over the following 7 years may not increase much regardless of CPI)
  • somehow reduce hours for existing staff (and that wouldn’t be fun for anyone really)
  • pay the extra out of my profits (meaning my take home pay is decreased)
  • increase prices enough to cover the super increases (of course, if clients don’t like that option my business suffers)

I do feel for small businesses with a number of employees as this could cause a lot of stress.

But I do agree with increasing savings for retirement. So is this a necessary pain for a few years for the greater good?

If you have a small business, what are your thoughts on the increased SG?

Tags: , ,
Posted in business info | 5 Comments »

Finding hares in your bathroom

March 26th, 2012

I admit the only times I have seen today’s words used incorrectly is in bathrooms or children’s writing, but is a bathroom notice less important than any other business communication?

Putting up a notice in your public bathroom as part of a policy of keeping them clean and pleasant for all users is fine and can communicate more than the words on the paper. However, a very different message can be conveyed with signs like:

Please keep your hares out of the basins

and graffiti replies such as

Then provide some rabbit hutches for us

But hairs are ok in the basins?

So for the sake of all of us using public bathrooms with hair issues, here are today’s definitions.

Beautifully styled hairhair [noun]: a long protein fibre produced by animals (mostly by mammals) from follicles in the skin. Humans consider head hair as part of our appearance whilst hair is important for warmth and survival in many other animals. SIMilar strands (such as on plant roots) are also called hairs.
Jenny brushes her hair every morning before leaving her room.

Hare with brown hairhare [noun]: a mammal belonging to the genus Lepus, similar to rabbits
The hare is related to the rabbit but do not have burrows for its young and is generally larger.

My tips for remembering which is which – hares are like rabbits while hair is in the air.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Monday Meanings | 7 Comments »

Replying to blog comments

March 23rd, 2012

Speech bubbles are part of conversationBlogging is part of social media and is about communication. The only way it can become a conversation, however, is to encourage comments about the posts in the blog.

Comments are sometimes just as acknowledgement that you are reading the post but often people leave comments that enhance what was written in the post – the conversation and comments can sometimes teach  and entertain as much as the post itself.

So here are some basic guidelines to replying to comments:

  1.  in your own blog, a key to encouraging more comments is to reply to every comment you get. It can be a short ‘hello’ or thank you’ but it shows you appreciate comments and the people behind them
  2. always be respectful and polite in comments – you don’t have to agree every time but respect the fact that others have a different opinion to you
  3. before replying to a post, read through the existing comments – apart from the fact you may learn something, this gives you the opportunity to discuss the issues with others and to not just repeat a comment made by someone else.
    If here are a LOT of existing comments that you don’t read, acknowledge that to show you have noted that and may be repeating what someone else has said.
  4. When replying to another commenter, make it clear that is who you are talking to – threaded comments make this easy but otherwise use the person’s name
  5. it isn’t always possible, but try to make your comment interesting and useful – give a personal example or opinion about the topic, answer a question asked in the post or give some additional, relevant information. This expands the conversation, builds your credibility and makes it less likely your comment will be considered spam
  6. if you  write guest blog posts, treat it like your own blog – aim to reply to every person who comments on your post. You have written the post as the expert so need to be available to answer questions; blogs are about people and community so it comes across as arrogant to not reply to people discussing your ideas. From a business perspective, doing guest posts is about building relationships and expertise, so not answering comments is loosing an opportunity.
  7. never make a comment an ad for your own business/services/products. It just annoys people and makes it likely your comment will be deleted as spam. Give tips and advice, mention you have expertise and link to your site but remember that  this is someone’s blog, not your personal ad directory, and that people don’t read blogs and comments for ads.

From comments you’ve seen and blogs you admire, are there any other guidelines to add to my list?

Tags: , ,
Posted in blogging, marketing, social media | 22 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »