Petey's
Pipeline E-zine
Issue #9
October 9, 2003
Contents
Business
First Editorial Friday
Surprise!
Guest Writer, Not Ghostwriter
Ginger Geracitano How to Write Articles
that Create Credibility
Random Ramblings and Miscellaneous Musings
Modern-day Gold Rush
Write Thinking Dumbing
Down in a High-tech World
Preview of coming distractions The
fortuneteller's predictions
Business
First (Editorial)
Friday
Surprise!
by Phil Hanson
Despite
having submitted the Perfect Text Web site to the Google search
engine early this year, it wasn't until June that Google would
admit that Perfect Text (the Web site) even existed. Alta Vista
and Lycos didn't have any problems, but Google was a no-show.
By
the time August rolled around, results for various search terms
showed marked improvement. "Perfect Text" ranked #1
on Google (as would be expected for a specific Web site search),
"Phil Hanson" came up #13 and #14 and a focused keyword
search placed Perfect Text on page 5.
Soon
after, I took down the article archives page (and all the articles
associated with it) while I made some changes. With the exception
of "Perfect Text," all my previous search results
disappeared without a trace.
Last
Wednesday, I again uploaded the archive page, and all of the
articles, to my domain. Friday, when I did my weekly keyword
search, Google gave me a big surprise. A Google search for my
main keyword phrase and four primary keywords turned up the
following results: #1 Perfect Text, #2 Perfect Text, #8 (via
a link partner's link) Perfect Text. Not bad, for an amateur,
eh?
My
point, however, is not to gloat or to brag, but to show you
that if I can do it, anyone can do it. All it takes is patience,
persistence, hard work and lots and lots of focused, relevant
content.
Google!
Sometimes, you just gotta love it.
• • •
In the latest issue of The
Naked Truth Newsletter, Mark Ungvarsky tells us about the
IBM/Factiva
joint venture using IBM's "WebFountain" aggregator.
It's a search engine designed to analyze the meaning of on-line
text. Maybe my article Rationale
for Success—and Survival isn't as far-fetched as
some people think.
• • •
Ginger
Geracitano returns with another
article for Guest Writer, Not Ghostwriter! This time,
it's about how to write articles that create credibility. We
like Ginger's articles. So much, in fact, that we're going to
ask her if she'll let us store some of them in the Perfect Text
Article Archives.
• • •
Write Thinking takes more potshots at
the pretenders. Don't miss it!
Copyright
© 2003 by Phil Hanson
Guest
Writer, Not Ghostwriter
Web
site designer, marketing coach, writer and publisher Ginger
Geracitano delivers another well-conceived article—this
one aimed at helping you write well-conceived articles. Ginger
brings you help, not hype, so pay attention.
How
to Write Articles That Create Credibility
by Ginger Geracitano
There
are many articles floating around the 'Net that tell you that
writing articles is the best way to create credibility for yourself
and become an expert in the eyes of your readers. I plan to
bring this one step further by helping you to ensure that the
articles you write actually achieve this goal!
You
see, as an e-zine publisher and professional training coordinator
responsible for providing helpful training tutorials to a membership
of over 104,000 members, I've been receiving a lot of articles
that tell you what to do without telling you why.
I
think, perhaps, these particular authors have taken the entire
"become the expert" a little too literally. It's great
to reveal 'secrets' and share methods of success, but when you
simply tell your readers to do something I'm afraid you come
off as pompous, rather than as an expert.
Wouldn't
you prefer to be the person that relays the type of information
that finally makes that "light bulb" over your reader's
head turn on when they learn something new?
Consider
this: are you telling your readers why they should do
what you're telling them to do, or are you simply laying out
rules?
Why
should we do what you tell us to do?
More
importantly, how do we do what you're telling us to do?
To
avoid sounding like a dictator, and to actually provide the
help that your readers need, use this checklist before considering
your article ready for print:
1)
Have you created trust with the reader by providing the background
that makes you credible? Have you shared your own experiences,
and communicated your reasons for believing that your methods
work?
2)
Have you provided examples of the things you're telling them
to do, or examples of what you're telling them works?
3)
Have you explained your methods in everyday language, leaving
out the technical jargon?
4)
Have you tested each statement of instruction against the "how
to" rule? (Explained below)
Remembering
that when we are writing articles to communicate helpful and
useful information, we have to make sure that what we write
actually does help!
The
best advice I ever received regarding article writing was from
another publisher that I respect. I had sent a new article to
her, and asked for feedback. She told me that my article was
good, but that it could be great if only I shared useful
resources that backed up what I was saying!
You
know what? She was absolutely right! When we write articles,
just like anything else we do in marketing, we must identify
our audience and write to them, specifically. One of my favorite
tests of relevancy is to have non-marketing friends read an
article. I then ask them if they think I've provided useful
"how to" material.
Using
the checklist above is a good start toward evaluating the usefulness
of your articles. The last bit of advice I have is something
I call the "how to" rule.
To
test your article with the "how to" rule, simply look
at each statement of instruction you make within your article.
Statements of instruction usually require your reader to do
something:
"Use
Powerful Headlines"
"Create Credibility"
"Build Trust"
"Establish A Need"
Once
you've identified your statements of instruction, simply identify
whether or not you've provided examples, or "how to"
details. If you haven't, I advise you to re-work that section
of your article in such a way as to explain your meaning to
your readers.
Using
the examples above:
"Use
Powerful Headlines"
(Provide examples of powerful headlines, and why they
are powerful.)
"Create
Credibility"
(Explain at least one way to create credibility, and why
it's important to do so.)
"Build
Trust"
(Give examples of trust building, and how to implement
them.)
"Establish
A Need"
(Share the reasons, and how to do it!)
Explaining
the "why" behind your instructions and methods is
often the difference between an article that leaves your readers
with questions, and one that actually provides them with the
help they were hoping for when they started reading!
Establish
credibility with your reader by becoming the person that finally
explains the why and how of a situation. Be remembered
for helping to "turn on the light bulb"!
Copyright
© 2002–2003 by Ginger Geracitano
Used by permission.
Random
Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings
In
part one of this series, we examined how shakeouts took their
toll on smokestack economy businesses, citing examples from
the trucking industry to prove our point. In part two, we showed
you how, and why, the same causes are affecting on-line businesses
in the same way. Part three began an analysis of how saturation
and competition are affecting 'Netrepreneurs in the on-line
marketplace. Part four, in the form of a parable, demonstrated
how competition and saturation affect businesses and markets.
Our fifth, and final, article in this series shows you that
history does, indeed, repeat itself. Oh, yes! Today's Internet
winners and losers are using the same philosophies and strategies
the forty-niners used.
Modern-day
Gold Rush
by Phil Hanson
When
James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848, the
gold rush was on. Hardy prospectors flocked to California in
droves (some 50,000 by 1849), hoping to make a fortune. History
shows that some of them did, indeed, make fortunes digging and
panning for gold. It also shows that many more did not. So much,
then, for the "something-for-nothing" crowd.
At
the same time, another breed of entrepreneurs operated not far
away. These were the provisioners—the people who kept the
miners supplied with much of their food, tools and equipment
and, of course, whiskey and entertainment—who became rich
because they recognized a need and fulfilled it. The gold flowed
out of the ground, through the miners' fingers and into the
pockets of the merchant class. Most people who offered essential
goods and services became wealthy while most people who came
for the "easy" money did not.
A
modern-day gold rush!
Today,
technology is redefining the economy and changing the way people,
and companies, do business. This phenomenon is not confined
within national borders but is taking place on a global scale.
As
a new economic era unfolds, the rules that governed the old
one must be rewritten; businesses, governments and the many
social institutions that are so essential to an orderly, productive
society must be revamped if they are to be effective in the
emerging information-based economy.
Employment
opportunities (available jobs) are not keeping pace with population
growth. At a time when population numbers are increasing, the
number of jobs (relative to the total population) is decreasing.
This does not bode well for a healthy, vibrant economy.
As
more people are excluded from participation in the economy (unemployed
people tend to conserve, to make do with what they have, to
do without or to buy used goods rather than new), more businesses
will feel the pinch of lagging sales. They, too, will initiate
rounds of layoffs as they attempt to prop up their sagging bottom
lines. Of course, the results will be more of the same.
Because
mechanization, robotization and automation have eliminated many
jobs and companies faced with declining profits have eliminated
many more, increasing numbers of people are turning to the Internet
to seek out, or eke out, a living. What we are witnessing today
amounts to a modern-day gold rush.
While
there are, at present, numerous opportunities available to people
wanting to start on-line businesses, the window of opportunity
may be about to slam shut. The market is saturated with people
who want to teach people how to teach people to teach people
how to do business on the Internet. The real power of the Internet
is being ignored in the frenzy to obtain instant wealth.
The
gold rush venue may have changed, but the principles involved
have not. What was true more than 150 years ago is also true
today. If you provide practical tools, helpful resources, valuable
information or quality products or services—anything that
people can use to improve their lives or their businesses—customers
will beat a path to your virtual door.
There
are still those who succumb to the lure and temptation of easy
riches and a vast majority of them will rendezvous with bitter
disappointment. Their on-line businesses are only temporary;
soon, they will join the many thousands of others that have
already been shaken out of the Web.
It
is honest, ethical, conscientious and enterprising business
people who have learned the value of integrity and hard work
that will tell the real Internet success stories. All the others
are merely the unwitting victims of the Internet business shakeout.
Copyright
© 2003 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
================================================================
If you have ideas, opinions or commentary
of your own regarding this subject, why not share them with
Petey's Pipeline readers?
Submit
your thoughtful, thought-provoking comments in body of e-mail
addressed to editor@perfecttext.com.
Don't forget to include your signature file or resource box.
================================================================
Write
Thinking
Dumbing
Down in a High-tech World
by
Phil Hanson
Web
writers are—for the most part—an incompetent lot.
People who can't write publish newsletters in which they tell
other people who can't write that writing skill is unimportant.
In the next sentence they complain that no one likes to read
on-line, anyway.
Well,
duh! They've taken a hip-shot and nailed the truth square between
the running lights. The problem is they're dealing with self-fulfilling
prophecy and don't even know it.
Do
you think, maybe, it could be that people don't like to read
on-line because they find so little that's worth reading? Web
page text that's corrupted by flawed information, misspelled
words, misused or misplaced punctuation, and grammatical, structural
and formatting errors doesn't exactly inspire confidence or
credibility. No wonder, then, that Web surfers hurry to click
away to the next site.
When
I'm faced with bad writing on-line, I won't waste my time with
it. I move along to the next site with nary a backward glance,
or a second thought. However, when I encounter good writing
that delivers a worthwhile message, I cheerfully dedicate as
much time as it takes to read it. I suspect that's true for
many people.
Just
as publishing for traditional print media underwent an evolutionary
process in which publishers adopted uniform typographical standards
and style conventions, so, too, will publishing for the Internet.
Never forget that the standard for writing has always tended
toward excellence, and that those who didn't make the cut fell
by the wayside.
No
writers, editors or publishers in any medium have ever had more
powerful writing tools at their disposal than those of us who
write, edit or publish for on-line consumption. As writers,
editors and publishers, it's our responsibility to use those
tools efficiently, effectively and wisely.
Thanks
to technology, writing has never been simpler. But, if the quality
of writing one typically encounters on the Internet is a reliable
indicator, neither have the people who write.
Copyright
© 2003 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
Preview
of Coming Distractions
Rats!
The ol' crystal ball really fizzled this time—a total blackout.
Guess we'll all have to wait 'til October 23 to see what shows
up in issue #10. In the meantime, we'll try to get our orb-shaped
oracle rebooted and back on-line in time to predict the contents
of issue #11.
Disclaimer
The
articles appearing in Petey's Pipeline E-zine are based on information
believed to be true at the time of publication.
Neither Perfecttext.com, Petey's Pipeline E-zine nor their publisher
assume any liability or responsibility as to the accuracy or
efficacy of any information, products or services that are submitted,
advertised or rendered by contributors to Petey's Pipeline E-zine.
While we make every effort to screen out scam artists and bogus
offers, you should still do your homework. Caveat emptor!
