{!date dayname+0}, {!date long+0} Dear {!firstname_fix} It's been a busy week, with various meetings, lunches and planning sessions for new ventures. As you probably know I am one of The Social Media Guys and we spent the first part of the week working on our "tour event". Catch us on 9th November in Reading..! It was an interesting planning session because we used so many bits of technology during a meeting - video, audio, photography, computers and pen and paper. Everything we did during the planning meeting was captured in a variety of formats. It means we have plenty of material to work with for future products, promotional items and so on - all from a single planning meeting. Indeed, we video recorded the video recording, which means we can produce a video on "the making of"...! But it did make us think; how many times do we go to meetings and merely take a few notes. If we recorded all our meetings in several different formats, we would have plenty of material which could be used in a multitude of ways from promotions to products.
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED: How long should a blog post be? Chris from Maidenhead contacted me this week and asked "how long should a blog post be?" He wanted to know if there was any set word count people should work to, or was there any research on the subject pointing people in the right direction as to how much to write. The truth of the matter is simple, yet confusing at the same time..! There is indeed research on the length of blog posts, attention paid and reading time. But all of the research is conflicting - and based on a false assumption. You will find that many of the studies show that 400 words is a "recommended" length of an online article. This is wrong. The reason the 400 word notion came into play was that this is the average amount of text you can fit on a single screen at the average resolution without having to scroll. It is linked to the notion of "below the fold". In broadsheet newspapers, which get folded in half, you need to keep all the key material that attracts readers "above the fold" simply because the bottom half cannot be seen. Much web material is produced by designers who used to work in print. They are imbued with the desire to keep things "above the fold" and see the bottom of the screen, prior to scrolling, as "below the fold". However, there's a problem with this concept - user behaviour. Studies consistently show that people scroll quickly and frequently view material at the bottom of the page (below the fold) before going back up to the top. In other words, most people see material "below the fold" online within seconds of arriving on a page. Having an article that is longer than 400 words and therefore goes "below the fold" is not an issue. Similarly, the notion of the 400 word blog post length is based on some studies which show that readership tails off after this length. But these studies are also based on a false assumption. The research assumes that all of the articles are of the same quality. Here's the truth. The length of the blog post is irrelevant. What matters is how interesting and relevant it is to your audience. I have read some books in one sitting from start to finish over several hours. So have you probably. Those books, 50,000 words or more, grabbed us. Like me you too have probably read 10 word Tweets which are boring. Length is not important; maintaining reader interest is. So forget about writing to a particular length of blog post. Instead, write quality material that keeps your readers interested. That means sometimes you might only need to write 50 words and on other occasions you might need to produce 5,000. There is no such thing as a blog post that is too long. But there is such a thing as a blog post that is too boring...! Remember, you can always ask your question and get it answered in this newsletter by going to: http://www.grahamjones.co.uk/questions
WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK: Children say the most brilliant things This week I was invited to be a judge in an inter-schools public speaking competition in Hammersmith and Fulham. In my role as President of the Professional Speaking Association I was asked to present the prizes and be one of the judging panel, along with BBC News presenter Kasia Madera, Sean Kennedy, the consultant for the BBC TV Programme "The Speaker", Chris Billington the runner-up in the UK Public Speaking Championships and Amanda Spielman, the Research and Development Director for the ARK Schools group. There were 16 children aged from 15 to 17 in the competition and they spoke for three minutes on any subject they wanted. We heard about being a geek, to having ginger hair, to the legalisation of brothels, the Palestinian crisis and the problems with parents...! The standard was just superb. Some of the most passionate speeches I have heard for ages. Clearly some stars in the making - and quite a few who could earn their living as professional speakers. But one quote stood out to make you think. A 16-year-old boy said simply: "When you have your nose pressed to the grindstone whether you end up being worn down or polished depends on what you are made of." It was a brilliant way of saying that we all work hard, but the impact of that hard work depends upon your attitude. A powerful message, expertly told. Teenagers get a bad press. They do not deserve it. If you ever get the chance to hear them speaking in public - take it. On last night's showing they provide a clarity and a fearless focus which many adults spectacularly fail to do. If you want to check out what else I've been doing for the past week, you can always look at: http://www.grahamjones.co.uk/week
THIS WEEK'S "MUST BUY": Keywords and more from Market Samurai  Whatever you do online - website, blog, even Twitter - keywords are fundamental. Until the search engines can peer into your thoughts, finding stuff online depends upon keywords. And that's why as a business you need to be sure you are using the right keywords. There are several tools, including a free keywords analysis tool from Google. Also WordTracker is an excellent keyword analysis tool, which I use regularly. However, my keyword tool of 1st Choice is MarketSamurai. The reason is that it is so much more than a keyword research tool. It finds your keywords, it checks out the competition and it even helps you work out the price of bids you need to make on Google AdWords. But it also finds all the YouTube videos that include your keywords, articles that contain your keywords and a host of other content you can then automatically load up onto your website. In other words, not only does it help you choose the right keywords, it helps you publish content relating to those keywords. To find out more about Market Samurai visit: http://GJurl.com/samurai
Reminder...don't forget.... The Social Media Guys are me, Nigel Morgan, who runs Morgan PR and Ant Hodges from ToInfinity, the online marketing agency. Tickets for our seminar tour are now on sale for just £47. AND you get bonus extras of personal consultancy for your company and entry into our "members only" Social Media Lounge. So, sign up now for the Social Media Guys LIVE! You can buy your ticket at http://GJurl.com/smgtour So, that's it for this week - see you in seven days...! Kind Regards
Graham Jones Web: grahamjones.co.uk Tel: +44 118 336 9710 If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter than you can delete your name from the mailing list by clicking this link: {!remove_web} Affiliate Links: Some of the links in this newsletter are affiliate links providing me with a small commission when you purchase the item. However, I only use affiliate links for products which I personally value. |
