It started slipping away during a busy few weeks leading up to a week’s vacation. Then, between my writing business, and school, and networking/volunteer activities, and family, the blogging momentum just slipped away.

The last time this happened, my friend Louise Desmarais of Mud Creative called it “falling off the blogging wagon.” Eventually, I managed to climb back on.

To prepare for that climb this time, what did I do? Of course I didn’t just blog. I did what any procrastinator worth her salt would do: I read about blogging. A Google search for “lost my blogging mojo” pulled up about 30,900 results so I see that it’s a common problem!

I already had a few ideas of my own on how to get out of a blogging slump, and collected some other ideas from Google to come up with these tips:

1. Go for something quick, short thoughts on whatever is topical, just to break the ice and get you started again.
2. Figure out a pattern of blogging, where you run a certain type of post on a certain day (from Simone at GreatFun4Kidsblog.com).
3. Ask readers, friends and family for ideas (from Corinne at Frock & Roll).
4. Refocus on what you love (also from Simone) or go back to why you started the blog in the first place (also from Corinne).
5. Go for something easy, like a roundup of links you found that appealed to you.
6. Use mind mapping to come up with structure and direction for topics (from Joanne Newberry).
7. Stop reading blogs by “people who have thousands of dollars behind them,” instead reading ones from the heart (an unnamed blogger at Central Coast Seachange).
8. Schedule “write a blog post” into your day (from my friend Donna Papacosta of Trafalgar Communications).
9. Write a guest post for a fellow blogger (from Louise).
10. Write about something that bugs you or that’s top of your mind, even if it is unrelated to the things you usually blog about.

I know that this, too, shall pass, and it’s just a question of climbing back on the wagon. See you there. And if you have any suggestions, please share!

Image: Simon Howden and FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Despite company guidelines that encourage lively and clear writing, the pieces I edited were full of reader turn-offs:

• The passive voice:  “The session was facilitated” or “responses were received.”
• Unnecessarily big words: “Facilitate” a session vs. “lead” a session; “utilize” vs. “use”; “precipitation” vs. “rain and snow.”
• Unnecessary extra words: “In order to” and “as a result of.”
• Buried leads: Taking too long to get to the point by including a lot of details about location, time or who was involved, for instance, instead of giving some idea of what was important about the article and why the reader should care.

In fairness, I think some of the articles were submitted by people who weren’t in communications. All the more reason it made sense to hire a professional to tweak the articles before publication.

Photo credit: Daryll Jann Bumanlag via Flickr and Creative Commons.

But the funny thing is that people don’t really want to get cosy with you on Facebook. Sure, they’ll temporarily “like” you to enter a contest or gain access to something you’re holding back, but that doesn’t mean they want to see frequent updates from you.

Via Ragan, I found four infographics that summarize the results of a paper called, “How Millennials Are Interacting With Organizations on Facebook.” It reveals that although 86 per cent of the Millennials surveyed visit Facebook every day, 69 per cent rarely or never visit fan pages. You can temporarily buy a “like” with discounts, products samples or contest entries, but prepare to say goodbye if you’re just trying to sell something. And if you aren’t trying to sell something, what are you doing?

I’ll admit to giving away a few “likes” myself, but these days, when clicking on some kind of offer takes me to a Facebook page and an invite to “like” it, I make a hasty exit. I’m starting to find that being on Facebook is like being on Twitter. Noisy. Crowded. Harder to see my friends. Sure, I can go to my list of specific friends or family to see what they’re up to, but it’s getting more difficult. A quick look at the stream of updates is just as likely to have a link to articles and blog posts or brand updates.

Marketers, I’m not sure what the answer is. I’m sure you’re trying to work it out, too. But for now, you’re driving me away from Facebook rather than pulling me towards your brand.

Oh, dear. Bad news for someone who loves red jackets for networking and presenting; according to researchers:

“Red makes you sexy, dumb, attractive and repellant.”

Well, wait a minute. I could live with attractive, and maybe just a little sexy. And I’m not sure how you can truly be attractive and repellant at the same time. Or is that like being compelled to look at an accident or a  horror movie scene even though you don’t want to look?

The Eloquent Woman recognizes that many of us wear a red “power” jacket for public speaking — something that has been my not-so-secret weapon, thus the Red Jacket Diaries. However, she advises against it, especially for appearances on camera. Instead, she suggests a “less vibrant color close to your face” along with a dark jacket.

Fortunately, on-camera appearances aren’t an issue for me. But what about you? If you appear on camera, is a red accent enough of a power boost for you?

Thanks to my IABC/Toronto colleague Louise Armstrong, who shares my appreciation for a good power jacket, for pointing me to The Eloquent Woman.

Find Pantone colours here.

The infrastructure issue impacting the service has been well identified and we are now closing in on a final resolution.

Let’s pick it apart:

Infrastructure issue: Well, points to Paper.li for apparently, sort of, taking ownership of the issue by identifying it as (presumably their own) “infrastructure.” Still, they could be more up front.

Impacting. Please, say “affecting,” the way you would if you were speaking to another human being. Teeth are impacted. People are affected.

Well identified. Ditch the “well.” Either you have identified the problem or you haven’t. And “has been” is the signal that this is a passive sentence. Who identified the problem? Take credit for it by saying “we” or “our technicians” have identified the problem.

Closing in on. I feel like they are a pack of hyenas, circling a victim! How about just, “We’re working on it”?

Final resolution. Redundant; a resolution by its nature is final. And what does that mean to me, the reader? Is there a time lag between “closing in on” the “resolution” and when I can access the service again? Assure me that you are working on it.

No apology. I would have expected that in the first line.

Here’s my suggested rewrite:

We’re sorry you can’t access the page you were looking for. We’re working on the problem and hope to fix it soon.

How would you rewrite it?

Coping with changes in the freelance landscape requires both focus and business vision, the foundation of a business plan, agreed speakers Paul Lima, author and freelance writer, and Cathy Ledden, RGD, of Ledden Design. Yet a show of hands revealed that embarrassingly few of those at the meeting have a business plan, which is one of the secrets to being a successful independent.

Having focus and vision allows you to quickly sum up your value when meeting a prospective new client, Paul said. What you say should cover who you are, what you do, when and where you do it, and why. (If you can’t say what you do, how can you tell anyone?) It’s one way to Always Be Marketing (ABM). “If I did nothing but marketing, it would be annoying. But if I take five minutes to say what I do, that’s okay,” he explained.

Paul described “five arrows in the marketing quiver,” none of which we should shoot without a business vision:

1. Generate repeat business. Talk to existing clients after you’ve finished a project and they have paid. Follow up in three months to see if they need anything else; follow up again two more times. Ask if they know anyone else who might need your services. Ask for a testimonial.
2. Network with friends, relatives, associates. They may not be the people who are going to hire you, but they can probably refer you to someone who can.
3. Cold calling and email. Focus on what you do, targeting the people who make sense. Send five to 10 emails a week, and over the course of a year, you will likely pick up at least two or three clients. “It doesn’t take a lot of work but dedication,” Paul said.
4. Website. This is the foundation of your business. Optimize it for Google searches based on your vision. Use it as the hub and drive traffic to it through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Paul said 60 to 70 per cent of his new business comes through his website.
5. Advertising and promotion. Make sure you have a website before you run an ad anywhere. Run a small ad in trade magazines that target your sector, or write articles. Paul has written about the importance of training as a way of promoting his training business.

Paul added that if you want to produce a book, you can; he used Lightning Source. It can be profitable, and you can use books to help build your brand.  He said Kindle sales of his book, How to Write a Non-Fiction Book in 60 Days, beat print sales within months. Keywords in the title are important to harness search engine power.

Some of Cathy’s tips:

• Focus helps you take on clients who are right for you and turn away the ones who take you away from your core strengths.
• Form teams to bid on work, hiring like-minded people who are better than you.
• Stay in touch with people after a project ends; use the phone.
• Use some of the free technology that’s available, such as Dropbox to share files and Skype to videoconference.
• Buy technology where it makes sense (such as Lynda.com, an online learning system that helps your skills stay fresh) and time with experts (such as MarketingMentor.com).
• Raise your profile by entering awards, volunteering, talking about your work (“tell vs. sell”).  Cathy confessed to not really liking the spotlight, but said, “Feel the fear — but do it anyway.”

See more quick tips in tweets summarized by PIC chair Donna Papacosta.

Were you there? What advice stood out most for you?

Image: Jeroen van Oostrom and FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

My first reaction was dismay. No matter what the format, print or electronic, twice a year is just too little to engage employees.

It’s possible employees were getting all the information they needed online or in person. If that was the case, you could certainly reduce the frequency. And in that case, you might as well just go with once and make it an employee annual report. But it didn’t sound like that was the situation, especially when it appeared employee engagement was an issue.

Like many areas of communications, the answer to newsletter frequency appears to be the not-so-helpful “it depends.”

• You want your publication to be seen often enough that it’s familiar, maybe even expected or anticipated, but not so often that it’s annoying.
• You want the content to be timely enough to be useful, but not so infrequent that it’s out of date.
• You want it to complement the information available elsewhere (online in the case of print), providing the background and perspective, rather than rehashing the once fast-breaking news that has become old news.

To answer the “how often” question more precisely, go back to your strategy and the reason for the publication. And notice I am talking here about any kind of publication, print or online. How often do you need to publish to serve your purpose?

• Once is fine for an annual report, but few purposes would be served by twice a year.
• Monthly is a nice regular way to keep employees informed and to encourage a connection to the company.
• Quarterly isn’t bad if you have lots of regular content online.
• Short, weekly or even daily updates might work, too, if your company is undergoing major upheaval.
• Update: Respected strategic communications expert Les Potter, ABC, says this: “Communicate frequently. A more frequent and cheaper production value publication is always better than a more expensive, less frequent publication. If you can afford it, you could have a frequent newspaper-style employee publication plus a quarterly magazine.”

And don’t worry that employees are drowning in information. Sure, their in-boxes are overflowing. But you know yourself that when you get something of value, you’ll read it no matter how much else is in your in-box. And that’s the other key — VALUE.

Please weigh in. What do you think is the best frequency?

Image: graur razvan ionut and FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Speaker Grace Attard, founder of the e-Spot and enSpire coaching, says it all comes down to time. Are we setting aside time to do the things that are important? Are there aspects of what we do that don’t bring us joy (and if so, why are we doing them?)? Are we honouring and paying attention to our values? She suggested asking ourselves how we measure our time, and if it is effective, in 11 areas:

1. Discipline (for example, using a checklist to stay on task, scheduling breaks)
2. Fun & Play (spending time with family, seeing friends, laughing)
3. Financial Relationship (a strategy to pay off debt, multiple sources of income)
4. Sales Process (how many new clients you need to meet your financial goals, how many people you must meet to gain new clients)
5. Operations (systems that support your life such as billing, maintenance, keeping on top of clutter)
6. Home Habits/Routines (starting work at a particular time, having breakfast every day)
7. Personal & Professional Growth (setting time aside to stay current, indulge your interests)
8. Health (nutrition, physical activity, stress management)
9. New Business Development (having a strategy, measuring what you do)
10. Team Relationships (how good are your relationships with friends, mentors, volunteers, family)
11. Values & Beliefs (are you taking on ‘should’ vs. ‘want to’ tasks, community involvement).

“Once you have awareness, you can put the strategies in place to change where you spend your time,” Grace advised. “The key is to be present in your own life. Set the boundaries that serve you.”

Do you have balance in your life? What makes the difference for you? For me, it’s working in a home office and not having a commute to be at a certain place at a certain time.

Image: Danilo Rizzuti and FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Jason wanted to convey the power of a blog and compared it to a newsletter.  I agree with him that blogs are accessible, cost less to produce than a print newsletter and are easy to update.  Where I disagree (and pointed out in a comment) is his unfair comparison to content that sounded like it came from the 1956 newsletter he used as illustration. Not many newsletters these days include “pictures of new hires, company softball team news” and “a list of birthdays”!

Today’s newsletter has much to offer, whether it’s in print or as an e-newsletter. Sent frequently enough, it can contain fresh news; less frequently, it should provide updates, analysis and perspective. A corporate newsletter can shine a spotlight on employee innovations and ingenuity, or provide the reasoning behind company decisions. Newsletters can and should explain how employees can support best practices or show how and why they’re providing solid customer service.

E-newsletters can do the same, with the added advantage of speed and links to other online content. Web usability expert Jakob Nielsen says few promotional efforts can claim the degree of “customer buy-in” enjoyed by e-newsletters. Readers he surveyed in 2010 appreciated that they were timely, informative and convenient. He encourages looking at newsletters as a long-term investment, saying that “they work their magic over time.”

Another newsletter fan is Michael Katz, who says a newsletter:

“…has the ability to position you as an expert, provides an opportunity to make an authentic connection and keeps you in front of prospects, referral sources and clients.”

As I told Jason, it’s not an either/or choice. I see a blog as a nice complement to an interesting, well-written newsletter. The blog can be all about current, fast-breaking news, while the newsletter provides a more in-depth explanation. But then, that’s my newsletter-loving bias showing.

Jason replied to my comment that:

“…like many corporate blogs, many corporate newsletters just plain suck. It is those I’m speaking to. Certainly a newsletter can be awesome. But those are rare birds.”

I’m not sure it’s all that rare, but I’ll agree that there’s work to be done in every form of communications to make sure the intended audience gets the message. That’s how to harness the power of these tools.

Illustration: jscreationzs and FreeDigitalPhotos.net.