Jim Connolly Marketing

Blogging: The tools I use

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blog tips, blogging, content marketing

People often ask me about the hardware and software I use for blogging. So, here’s a list of what I’m using right now, all of which I highly recommend.

Blogging software

WordPress is the most comprehensive and best supported blogging software out there. A recent study found that 19% of all Internet traffic comes from WordPress. It’s easy to see why. I find it easy to use, reliable and flexible.

Email software

More people read this blog by email, than read it online. To deliver those emails to my subscribers, I use Mailchimp. Mailchimp has 2 things that I value. Firstly, the service is exceptionally reliable. I switched to Mailchimp in 2012 and have had only 2 issues with the service. Secondly, Mailchimp is very good at making sure my emails get delivered. Email service providers trust Mailchimp, because Mailchimp is not very friendly to spammers.

Unlike everything else on this list, I recommend Mailchimp with 2 caveats. Whilst the service is extremely reliable, I have found their customer service, on the odd occasion I’ve needed it, to be extremely poor. It may have improved, as it’s years since I needed help from them. Also, their software is not very intuitive, both for designing email templates and accessing data from your subscriber lists.

However, once you have set Mailchimp up, it “just works”. I’ve sent millions of emails via Mailchimp, without an issue. Because of the exceptionally reliable service I get from Mailchimp, I have included it in the list.

Blogging hardware

There are 2 devices I use:

For remote blogging [blogging on the road, from a coffeeshop etc.], I use a Surface Pro 3. I take lots of handwritten notes and it lets me write them directly onto the screen. Then, when it’s time to write a blog post, I use split-screen; so I can see my handwritten notes as I type into WordPress. My MacBook Pros and MacBook Air lack a touch screen for handwritten notes. If I use them, I need to bring a notebook and pen with me too.

[See update below] Most of my blogging is done from my office or my studio. All of this work is done using a MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. Their keyboards are better than the Surface Pro keyboard. The MacBook screens are larger too. Also, the OSX operating system is more mature and reliable than Windows 10, which remains a work-in-progress. These beautifully designed devices offer a professional grade writing experience. I write on them all day every day and can’t praise them highly enough.

Hosting

I use and recommend 20i.com for web hosting and email.

NB: None of the links in this post [or in my blog] are affiliate links.

Note taking software

I take notes every day, not only for blogging but for capturing ideas in general. I’ve tried lots of software over the years and the following 2 programs are the best I’ve found by far. They are OneNote and Evernote.

Both are a little tricky to get used to, but between them they do everything I need. I find that OneNote works best if you like to write with a stylus onto the screen. Evernote works best if you type your notes. Both Evernote and OneNote work on all leading mobile and desktop operating systems.

Note taking hardware

I like to walk regularly and like many people, that’s also when I get many of my best ideas. I know some people who write their notes down whilst walking, but I prefer to record mine. I previously used dedicated, digital voice recorders. Today, I use my iPhone and its built-in voice recorder. The sound quality is extremely good and as I always carry my phone with me, it means I always have a voice recorder with me.

Old school note taking hardware

As some of you will know, I also enjoy taking notes with a fountain pen. I have quite a few fountain pens, with my current daily pen being the Lamy 2000. There’s something enjoyable about the tactile experience of writing with ink on paper. At the end of a fountain pen note taking session, I use my iPhone to scan the notes directly into Evernote, using the iOS app. It works extremely well and allows me to access all my notes, all the time.

I hope you find this list useful.

Update: Blogging hardware

Since writing this, 2 things have happened, which have changed my blogging hardware recommendations. Firstly, I was asked to try and use an iPad for on-the-go blogging. Secondly, I had a chance to use the Surface pro 4 Type Cover.

Here’s the update.

I was challenged by a reader as to why I didn’t use my iPad for blogging on-the-go. I think it’s because I mainly treat my iPad as a consumption device. Anyhow, Alison asked me to try it. Just prior to that, my friend Shahid had me wondering the same thing. Shahid pointed me to a post by Federico Viticci. Federico is a well known podcaster and Apple blogger. He not only uses an iPad for his blogging. He does almost everything, other than video production, with his iPad. You can read Federico’s experiences, here.

So, inspired by Alison’s challenge and what Federico managed to achieve, I decided to try and write this week’s posts using an iPad Air 2 and an Apple wireless keyboard. I had 2 posts to write for this blog and 2 articles for my creative thinking website. In honesty, my expectations were low, however it worked.

Until Alison told me, I was unaware that the iPad Air 2 was able to do full, split screen. This was a key reason I used the Surface Pro 3 for blogging. I find split screen is really useful, for example, when writing a post and researching an answer using a web browser. Whilst split screen is a recent addition to iPads, the number of apps it works on is growing. Importantly for me, it includes almost everything I use for blogging.

I also discovered that the Apple wireless keyboard works perfectly with the iPad. This was the keyboard I used all day every day. It’s my favourite keyboard. I have a little arthritis in my hands and yet, with this keyboard I can write all day without any pain. Most other keyboards, including those on my MacBooks, quickly get uncomfortable. So, I am now able to use my ideal keyboard and an iPad, to create a very productive, lightweight way to blog on-the-go.

Steven Woodgate from Microsoft kindly sent me a Surface Pro 4 Type Cover and it’s a huge improvement on their previous effort, including the track pad.

After writing this post, I tested the Surface Pro 4 Type Cover keyboard thoroughly for a whole day’s worth of heavy writing. To my delight, I found it to be more comfortable to write on than my Mac keyboards and on a par with the superb wireless Apple keyboard. It’s brought a whole new lease of life to my Surface Pro 3.

As I mentioned in the original post, I like to handwrite notes onto the screen. Whilst handwriting onto an iPad Air 2 screen is possible, it’s not as elegant as using a Surface. So for note-taking sessions, I leave the iPad at home and take the Surface.

Battery life is a big issue when working on-the-go. The iPad’s superb battery life means it’s great if I need to be away from external power for a whole day. The Surface Pro 3 lasts around 5 hours, unless I crank the brightness down. That’s often enough, when it isn’t, the iPad steps in.

In closing, I am now using my iPad Air 2 and Surface Pro for blogging on-the-go and using a MacBook Pro / Air and Surface Pro  when in the studio or my home office. Microsoft’s Surface Book could be a better 2-in-1 alternative. I used one for a couple of hours last week and the screen and keyboard are exceptional. However, with a price tag of £1800 for a good specification Surface Book, it feels a little risky [to me] for a piece of 1.0 hardware. If I get a Surface Book or a Pro 4, I will review it for you.

Blogging: Here’s why your readers are already your clients

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blog tips, blogging, content marketing

Thank you for being a client. Yes you!

Think about it: A client is someone you provide a service to. I regularly provide you with ideas to help you grow your business. And you pay me. You pay me with your attention. [That’s why they call it paying attention.]

So, I’m the service provider and you’re the client.

More importantly

How might your attitude to writing your newsletter or blog improve, if you saw every reader as a client? [Remembering that a subset of your reader-clients will become fee paying clients].

And how might that client-focused approach improve your results? Well, the only way to find out for certain… is to do it.

Recommended reading: 25 Reasons to write a business blog.

Totally unoriginal. Wholly unremarkable

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professional development, CPD

You can optimize anything. If you want to.

  • You can automate your blog posts, newsletters, tweets and Facebook updates, so they are published at the optimal time.
  • You can use the optimal number of words or characters too, if you’re really keen.
  • You can use calculated keyword loading, to optimize your website content for SEO.
  • You can use click-bait titles for your blog posts and social network updates, to optimize traffic.

And in doing so, you’ll be like every other clone working the same tricks. You’ll be sheepwalking into anonymity. Totally unoriginal. Wholly unremarkable.

There’s an alternative approach, which some of us find extremely effective.

Rather than optimize everything, we turn up regularly and try to be useful.

The thing about turning up regularly and being useful

The idea is too simple for the content marketing gurus to sell a course on it. It requires way too much long-term thinking, for the growth hacker crowd to embrace it. And it takes a lot more courage, than many business owners feel comfortable with.

Yet somehow it works. And it works beautifully.

Are short blog posts a good idea?

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blog tips, blogging, content marketing

Olivia noticed that my previous blog post is just 54 words long. She said she really enjoyed it, but wanted to know if it’s a good idea to write such short posts.

Here’s my answer. I hope you find it useful.

54 word posts are a bad idea

If you write for SEO, 54 word posts are a bad idea.

If you want to defend every point you make, to try and appease the critics, 54 word posts are a bad idea.

If you are too lazy to condense your thoughts, so they don’t waste the reader’s time, 54 word posts are a bad idea.

54 word posts are perfectly fine

If you write for humans rather than search engines, then 54 word posts are perfectly fine.

If you are brave enough to write what you think, then 54 word posts are perfectly fine.

If you are prepared to embrace brevity and eliminate the fluff from your message, then 54 word posts are perfectly fine.

Choose

If you want to connect with people, then write for people. If you want to connect with Google, then write for Google.

If you think you’re doing both, you’re doing neither particularly well.

Be the author. Not the envelope

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professional development, pro dev, CPD

It’s hard to attract people’s attention, when you have nothing new to say. But that doesn’t stop business owners from trying.

Social networks are flooded with famous quotes, posted by people who have nothing to say for themselves. They lack either the creativity, the guts [or both], to tell us what they think. And in doing so, they rob themselves of their voice.

They are simply a carrier. A delivery mechanism. Much like an envelope.

What happens when you receive a letter? You throw the envelope in the waste paper basket. The message matters. The author matters. But the envelope has no lasting value. Even so, the massive majority of business owners choose to be the envelope.

Sharing a famous quote is simple. Think about it: whether a letter inspires you or pisses you off, you never blame the envelope. You blame the author of the message. The author is responsible.

So we each have a choice to make

We can be a voice or we can be an echo. We can be the author or we can be the envelope. We can be noticed or we can be invisible.

That’s not much of a choice. And if we want to be noticed, there’s no choice at all.

Important: If fear of criticism is holding you back, here’s how to overcome it!

3 Ways to turn testimonials into marketing gold dust

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marketing tips, marketing ideas, marketing advice

Your clients love you and you have some great testimonials. Today, I want to show you how to transform those testimonials into a massively valuable asset for your business.

I was prompted to write this, after I added some testimonials to a page that promotes my individual marketing sessions. In just 72 hours, using the 3 ideas I’m about to share with you, bookings surged by almost 50%.

Here’s what I did and how to make it work for you and your business.

The 3 Key factors

First of all, here’s the page I’m going to be referring to. If you take a look, you will see that I have used the testimonials in a very specific and highly effective way.

Here are the 3 key factors behind the success of those testimonials.

1. The testimonials are in the correct place

Many business owners have a dedicated testimonials page. This is extremely ineffective. Your prospective clients need to see testimonials in context! Testimonials need to be right there, as a part of the message they’re reading.

This makes your marketing message stronger, because an independent 3rd party is confirming how valuable your offering is, at the exact point where the prospective client is forming their opinion.

2. The testimonials stand out, rather than get in the way

Even when a business owner places them on the same page as their marketing message, they usually use the wrong format. Typically, the testimonials will be placed into the text of the marketing message.

The challenge with that approach is that it breaks up the flow of your message. It gets in the way. It weakens what you have to say.

If you take a look at what I did, you’ll see that the testimonials are delivered as images… clean, clear white text on a deep grey rectangle. These text images are placed to the right of the actual content, so they are there to be seen, yet without them breaking the flow of the message. This allows you to get the balance right, between making the testimonial highly visible, yet not putting it in the way of your marketing message.

3. The testimonials are short and relevant

Most testimonials you see business owners using are way, way too long. Using lengthy testimonials wrongly presupposes that your prospective client is going to wade through the fluff, to find the key, relevant reassurance she needs.

Lengthy, diluted testimonials lack the impact of a short, relevant statement. They are also too long to use within your marketing message. So, find the key point or points of the testimonial and discard the fluff.

Remember: You worked hard to earn your testimonials. Now it’s time to make your testimonials work for you.