Seven Ways Of Avoiding Summer Brain Drain At Work

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And so it is. Summer in the city.

People are trying to convince you that it’s really hot outside, and you can kind of deduce that while admiring bald, sweaty heads and legs in shorts as people stroll on the street right next to your glass-walled office. Half of your team are on holiday, conquering Facebook with pictures of beaches and sunsets by the sea, while the other half are in the process of packing and expanding their collection of bikinis and swimsuits.

To cut a long story short, it’s not that easy to focus on work during these summer days. That’s why we’re bringing you seven supreme ways of boosting your productivity when the heat is on. Not tested on animals, only on office humans. [Read more…]

Three Things a Blogger Can Learn From Christopher Lee

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The death of veteran actor (among others) Christopher Lee has been the talk of the town in the last 12 hours or so. The legend has touched so many lives that his passing has not gone unnoticed – quite the opposite in fact.

But what has that got to do with us writers and bloggers? Sure, we could cover the news, but that’s just adding to the echo chamber. Worse, it’s bandwagoning. Everyone knows he’s gone, and we’re all feeling bad about it.

Everyone is paying tribute to Sir Christopher Lee. While we’re not making light of all the coverage – that’s practically all I’ve been reading in the past hours or so – I think there’s another angle here that bloggers can learn from. [Read more…]

Controlling What You Can’t Control: Your Reputation Online

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It used to be that you could draw a firm line between who you were and who you appeared to be to others. The internet changed all that. While it’s still possible to keep some things to yourself, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to appear to be anything but what you are. Social media, hacking, and miraculous leaps from simple web searches make us very accessible to others. If you live a “public” life on the internet, one in which you enjoy a certain amount of attention from others, you can be sure that people know a lot about you, or at least think they know a lot about you. [Read more…]

Grammarly Review: Write Your Way to More Polished Blog Posts

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Last time, I shared three easy ways to improve your writing. They’re really simple: read, write without thinking of SEO, etc. and get feedback.

Today, I want to raise the oft-talked about topic of bloggers being good writers yet again. Practice makes perfect, and the more you write, the better you get at it.

writing quotes

Make writing well a habit, and you’ll improve daily. [Read more…]

Call for Minimalism: How the New Wave of Blogging Platforms Gives More by Going Less

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WordPress has become synonymous with blogging.

Over the years, this blogging platform has provided people the opportunity to create their own little online space where they can write whatever’s on their minds. This activity has spread onto others like wildfire, as hundreds and thousands of users have registered for a WordPress account to do the same.

Seeing how effective blogging is, businesses tried their hands at it, producing blog posts catered to their target audience with the purpose of gaining leads and customers.

Along the way, however, WordPress just stopped becoming a blog. In fact, it started to become even more than just a blog, if not better. [Read more…]

How Bloggers Can Help During Times of Tragedy

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On April 25, tragedy struck Nepal as a 7.8-magnitude earthquake destroyed residences and buildings (including the UNESCO Word Heritage sites) in Kathmandu and took the lives of around 5,000 civilians (and counting). The earthquake is the most devastating natural calamity that hit Nepal since the Nepal-Bihar earthquake in 1934.

Relief efforts from all over the world are underway but frustration is boiling in some parts of Nepal who have yet to receive the assistance they badly need.

If you wish to help your Nepali brothers and sisters, below are links to online media outlets pointing to trustworthy organizations collecting donation or the victims of the earthquake:

Before sending out your donation, read this post at NPR first to understand how your donation is received and processed by these organizations.

While these are the steps that you can take in order to lend a helping hand to those in need, the question now remain: what I can do to help as a blogger?

If you are an authoritative blogger with a sizable readership and clout to influence your audience, you can use these to make an effort and increase the assistance to the victims of the earthquakes. Here’s what you can do:

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What Does It Really Mean to Blog?

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Students internet computer addiction sitting bench

Andrew Sullivan, blogging pioneer and Blogger-in-Chief at The Daily Dish, retired from blogging in the ‘near future’.

One of blogging’s most unique voices, Sullivan has been sharing his conservative political views since 2000.

He has written newsworthy posts throughout his 15 years as a blogger. He admitted to being wrong about the Iraq war and shared his thoughts about marriage equality, live-blogging about the Green Revolution for a month in 2009, and wrote a lot about Barack Obama.

He also formed a bond with his readers that he was able to share the politics of his own life – getting married to his husband, getting his green card, and getting his heart broken when Dusty passed away.

It is this kind of relationship forged with readers that makes Sullivan a legend in his own right.

A lot of people may not be familiar with Sullivan, but people who matter in his field do. Ta-Nehisi Coates, Noah Smith, and other luminaries in the political blogging world have acknowledged and paid respects to Sullivan’s departure.

As a guy who has never heard of Sullivan prior to writing this interview, I do not want to undersell his accomplishments of inspiring a wave of socially and politically conscious bloggers and entertaining the intellectual readers. That said, I would like to refer you to this wonderful piece by Tyler Cowen who provides a succinct but effective retrospective of Sullivan’s blogging career.

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Flipping the Coin – How do your Customers See your “Little Mistakes”

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A little while ago I read this great post by Ken Mueller which got me thinking, “Where have I never been with my posts before?”

I was quite surprised to find that the answer was “The customer’s mind-set.” I have written posts in the past about providing great customer service and nurturing post-purchase, but never actually about how a business could be seen through the eyes of a customer. Most importantly though, how customers view the “little mistakes” that you decided to let slide or deal with later.

Here are ten little mistakes that I see quite often when browsing the web, and how they could be making your customers view your business in the wrong light!

Little mistake #1 – Not blogging or updating your social networks

screenshot of blog not being updated

It’s very easy to neglect things like your blog and social networks. What with more urgent work tasks, familial and social commitments and unexpected requests dominating many of our lives, the simplest solution is to try and alleviate the pressure by “just blogging tomorrow.” That tomorrow then becomes the day after, and the day after that and the day after that, as you can see from the lonely looking lambs in the example above (almost as lonely looking as the stagnant blog itself)!

It’s a vicious circle, and one that can leave both existing and potential customers seeing you as just as neglectful in other areas of your business as in your content. It can also come across as you simply not having anything interesting to say, so how could you have anything interesting to offer your customer too? [Read more…]

Why Marketing Your Blog is Crucial to Its Success

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Because blogging has become more mainstream, it’s not enough anymore for businesses to simply have a blog, publish some posts, and call it a day. Blogging has become its own unique cog in the overall branding and marketing machine, forcing companies and blog owners to additionally market their blog if they want to make it successful.

Marketing your blog and promoting the great content that you are focused on writing can help not only generate more blog traffic, but also get more referrals clicks to other pages of your website, especially if you are regularly linking to them within your blog posts (where appropriate). [Read more…]

Sorry, journalists – you can’t rely on tech companies for your next big payday

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Sorry, journalists — you can’t rely on tech companies for your next big payday (via Pando Daily)

By Hamish McKenzie On October 7, 2013Bad news, journalists. Tech companies likely aren’t going to save you from your low-paying, high-drudgery jobs at newspapers, magazines, TV channels, radio stations, or blogs. If you’re looking for the easy way…

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