I’ve been asking myself a few questions in the past few weeks that I thought you guys might be able to help with. I’ve been posting articles that I believe provide useful tools for small business owners out there or people looking to build an online reputation – however, I’m not sure if this is what you’re interested in.
What are you interested in? Would you like advice articles, business promotion tips, marketing news, writing advice, or something else? I’m very interested in receiving feedback around this and want to do everything I can to meet your interests, needs, and expectations.
I was just looking at my http://technorati.com report, to see who was linking in to the blog. (link provided in case you wanted to go and make us a favorite.) I noticed that a blog about economics called “The Boring Made Dull” (great name) had mentioned Advice Network, and our contest. They had caveats or maybe disclaimers. I quote:
However, this blog makes not claims about the contest, so if you send them your banking information, and do not receive a MacBook, but rather see your credit rating do a Titanic, don’t blame us.
Fair enough, they don’t know us from Adam. It does bring up an issue that a few people have emailed me about, so I will address it here for everyone. There is no fee to enter the Advice Network Writing Contest. Moreover, while we offer a free 4 month vendor listing for everyone who enters, a purchase of a vendor listing is not required. That is it, plain and simple. So, worry not, enter away. We look forward to hearing from you.
So, another day is underway at the Blog World Expo. The one topic that I want to share with you guys is the idea of finding your natural voice.
If you’re writing for your blog and find yourself consistently straining to get the words down – it is likely that you’re struggling with your style more than you are with the topic itself. Assuming it’s a blog that you’ve chosen to write for, you certainly know what you’re talking about. However, if you aren’t a practiced writer than you might not know how to best put the words on paper.
Here are a few tips:
1. Don’t Strain – If you’re straining to put the words on the paper, then you’re doing it all wrong. Write naturally, just let the worlds pour out onto the page – edit them later. To write naturally, it’s got to be just that – natural. You can worry about the overall presentation when you’ve got your points down.
2. Mind Map – If you are having a tough time just letting the words flow, then you should prepare the ideas of your article before you actually write it out. By mind-mapping, you’ll be able to gather your thoughts and build your structure before actually delivering.
3. Write – The more you write, the sooner you’ll find your own style. Don’t struggle to try and find your personal style, instead – write naturally and let you’re voice find you. Write, write, write, and then write some more.
Don’t pass up this incredible offer to double your chances to win our MacBook. Encourage a friend to sign up and write a short article about what they know best – if your friend gets lucky, you both get a MacBook. Go to the “tell a friend” page here.
Plus, you’ll both get a free listing for four months! Help people learn more about wedding etiquette or how to sell a house in a difficult market and generate valuable qualified leads in the process.
Become a vendor and write an article, and Advice Network will drive traffic to your site. We’ll send you names, email addresses and phone numbers of people who are ready to buy.
Act now so you and a friend can take advantage of our exclusive offer to enter our contest for a new MacBook laptop – a $1,099 value – and our fee waivers! Join ADVICE NETWORK today!
Regards,
Alex Schoenfeldt, Founder
ADVICE NETWORK – Real Advice for Real Life!
This week will be a bit of a change-of-pace week for the Advice Network blog. While we don’t normally discuss blogging a whole lot, I figure it is something that all of our readers are interested in – and something that I’ll have a lot to talk about. Why? Because I’ll be attending the Blog World Expo in Las Vegas!
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a photographer, real-estate agent, or anything else. If you’re interested in growing your business online, you’ll likely want to learn how to improve your blog. I’ll be hearing expert advice from many of the most influential new media specialists out there, such as:
- Richard Jalichandra – CEO, Technorati
- Marshall Kirkpatrick – Read/WriteWeb
- Rick Klau – Strategic Partner Development, Google
- Steven Van Yoder – Author of “Get Slightly Famous”
I’m looking forward to sharing a lot of useful information with you guys.
I’m spending a lot of time on the blogosphere these days, looking for bloggers who I think would be good contributers to Advice Network and letting them know about our writing contest. I can’t spend too long on each site, there are over 16,000 real estate blogs on technorati alone. I spend a minute reading a post or too, I look at their about page.
I was on Johnny Fuery’s “Really smart guy, or Smart guy? Really?” and I got caught. He writes about real estate investing, affiliate marketing, search engine optimization. Specifically, I got caught by his post about a real estate deal he is is considering, and inviting his readers to chime in on. I guess I got a vicarious thrill in my chance to spend or not spend $750,000 for a Bay Area duplex.
For those of you in the real estate business, I should point out that he has a “U comment I follow” policy on his blog, so if you comment on his blog, you get a link from a page rank 5 site, not bad.
“The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right.” -Hannah Whitall Smith
If there is any advice out there regarding advice giving, I consider it a valuable resource to consider in my day-to-day life. Advice, of course, is an extremely useful resource for people to consider. I don’t care to give it a whole lot, but prefer to receive good advice whenever possible. Will I always apply it, no. But it will always make me think.
The best advice that I ever received came from my Dad – it was something that he must have told me a thousand times. “The only major difference in succes between you and those around you is made because of the books you read and the people you meet.” Relationships are very important and I believe that the Advice Network is an incredible tool for anybody to establish themselves as an expert while forming relationships of many kinds: expert to expert, expert to client, friend to friend, and so on.
What is the best advice that you have ever received?
A lot of Advice Network readers and vendors are women running there own business. A great resource and a really good blog for you:
No Limits Ladies: Blogging About Financial Freedom Through Investing In Paper, Real Estate, and Building Businesses.
The thing that has always impressed me the most about No Limits Ladies is that it is a funny, fun to read blog as well as being informative.
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Submit a short article by November 26, 2007 and
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You will be eligible to win a new MacBook laptop – a $1,099 value!
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And, if you refer someone who wins, you win too!
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| Enter the Advice Network contest and we’ll give you a 4-month courtesy listing – a $130 value! |
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Here’s your chance to get the word out about your knowledge and experience! If you can answer questions like: “My parents just got divorced, where do I seat them for the ceremony?” and “How will you direct my marketing only to prospecting clients so I dont waste money reaching the wrong people?” or “What does a home stager do?” then you can get MORE visitors to your Web site, MORE leads and MORE sales!
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Writing articles on Advice Network is a sure way to make a name for your company and get warm prospects interested in your services.
You write articles about what you know best and Advice Network will send you traffic.
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Become a vendor and Advice Network will send you names, email addresses and phone numbers of people who are ready to buy. Advice Network is here to help you grow your business by providing valuable information to people who need it.
To be eligible to win the MacBook laptop, you must submit an advice article of your expertise by November 26th, 2007. Check out ADVICE NETWORK today! |
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People always have some great tips and stories to share with each other – which is why we’ve decided to start the Advice Network. But even before we’re launched, I’m going to go ahead and post some pretty incredible blog articles that are worth your while checking out:
Check them out and let me know what you think. Also, please feel free to post some of your favorite blog articles as responses to this post. It might give me some ideas for future blog topics – or perhaps a feature article based on what you’ve written or found.
