Welcome back from the weekend!
And welcome back to the Round-up, in general. After Hurricane Irene, Labor Day, and a few guest posts by Associate Content Strategist Corey Eridon (who graciously filled in for me after some personal matters), it has been awhile since I’ve been able to dispense link-filled merriment. So without much further preparation, let’s jump right in.
I’ll be honest upfront: I didn’t even read this link before I decided to include it. Mostly because I like any headline that has a comeback I used as a sassy second grader. It’s about word count for blogs, though, and mostly now I’m angry because the last sentence spells “field” as “feild.” Plus, I’m not sure I agree. Sure, write for your audience, but that seems like such a generic cop out, no? And his analytics are based on word count of his own blogs, not including any reader response at all. No no, sorry this is 1,547 words; it’s what my readers beg for. As much me as possible, I can feel it.
Look, we can all vomit things on a page just because we speak English and can put words together into sentences. But focus? That’s a hallmark of a thoughtful writer. Something to say and the means to say it carefully and artfully. ProBlogger tells you that the first thing you need to develop a PageRank 5 blog is serious content focus. And, additionally, unless that focus is a sustainable passion—i.e. not just trying to catch the trends—you’d all be reading my blog about trading oily and fuzzy stickers from 1996.
Fuel My Writing also has things to say about focus.
Meanwhile, A List Apart wants you to marry your clients. (Yes! A thousand times yes!) Its advice: Stay sexy and engaged. Don’t wear your old bathrobe to the dinner table.
Since content marketing is much about thinking like publishers would, I think it’s interesting to take a look at news in the publishing world. And once doing so, frankly, I’m a little jealous of new, sassy, second-grade bookworms right now. Scholastic and Ruckus are joining to keep up with the changing media trends and subsequently blowing little minds. (Can this new generation of minds be blown?) When I was a sticker-collecting little kid, I had to straight-up read my Goosebumps and Babysitters Club books. If I was lucky, I had Disney books with little press-and-read buttons on the side that I could push when the picture of the Beast came up and the book would make a “Rawr” noise and I would move on, and really that was about it.
By the way, this post was 437 words.
How about you guys? Thoughts on trendy blogging, new media engagements (or engagements to clients), word count, or focus? Have your own relevant links to share? Please leave a note in the comment section!
