As an experiment, I’m curtailing my Facebook usage this year. I won’t be deleting my account, as I still need it for business. But I find that every time I check Facebook, I’m less happy than when I started. There’s now a raft of research that corroborates this feeling. However, if I cut back, will that be even worse? Let’s find out.
Blog
Writing a Book: Considerations and Strategies for First-Timers
As writers across the country are taking part in NaNoWriMo, do you wonder if you could do it too? You know, write that book you’ve always been thinking about? It’s a huge undertaking, not to be taken lightly. But it can be incredibly rewarding too. In my experience helping hundreds of writers become authors, here are the considerations for if and how to start writing that book of yours.
One Year Later
Writing is a comfort to me. It’s the way I work out an idea, think things out. But even so, what more can I add to the national conversation? There is a chorus of voices, more developed and more informed than mine. Here’s a reflection on what we can (and sometimes can’t) do to make a difference in our communities.
The Four Pillars of a Good, Solid Content Strategy
Do you really need to blog for business? Or be on social media? While every business is different, there are four essential elements in building your online presence. Here’s a simple, integrated action plan for the “Four Pillars” of any good content strategy.
Content Marketing for Creatives – Free Master Class
As a part of the CreateBiz launch (and the 100th episode of my podcast!), we are conducting two live “Master Class” sessions this week. Please join us and let us show you how to build and connect with an audience around your creative work.
I Am Tired of Seeing Creatives Fail
It’s a shame when you see great art go unnoticed. I got sick of seeing creatives fail, so I wanted to do something about it. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how and why I created a comprehensive online course to help writers, musicians, and visual artists.
Marketing Automation: A Case Example
Marketing automation sounds robotic and impersonal. In fact, it can be a more welcoming and personal way to nurture a lead into a customer, by focusing on THEIR specific needs and interests. You have a much better chance at making a connection, while lightening your workload as well.
Student Projects, Spring 2017
In my course at Emerson College, students learn first hand about content strategy by actively applying it to a “live project” of their choice. Here’s a look at each of their projects.
Hope Is Not a Marketing Plan
There are no shortcuts in building a business. That’s why those insidious “instant success” stories are dangerous to real, working businesses. Here is one of those stories – and my reaction to it.
Taking a Stand Against Deceptive Marketing Tactics
Ad-driven media is still the dominant paradigm, undermining the Web’s promise and potential. When you incentivize clicks as the only metric that matters, what do you expect? Cheap tactics for cheap clicks. Ev Williams, founder of Twitter, is taking a stand. Can he “save the Web,” or is it too late?