You’ve got your ducks in a row, developed a new dazzling product and conduct a screaming product launch that is well received. Now how do I reach my audience and more important what must I do to hold onto my reader’s attention long enough to get my message across. 

Rich Schefren of Strategic Profits  shares some interesting thoughts and presents some suggestions to increase your engagements.

In today’s ever-hectic world, getting your prospect’s attention is harder than ever.

But it gets worse – because once you get attention, your job has just started.

Well-known copywriter and blogger John Carlton says:

“The most common blunder rookie copywriters make is to assume the reader will ‘hang in there’… Your reader will not hang in there. At the very moment you bore him, confuse him, or ask him to ‘bear with you’…he’s out of there.”

Does this sound familiar? Has it happened to you?: Doesn’t your own experience confirm it?

The truth is, readers don’t bail on your blog post, email, or newsletter and then come back to it again later. Just check your website’s bounce rate.  Nope. Once you lose them – chances are they’re gone for good.

Now don’t get bent out of shape about this just yet.  Because here’s something for you that’ll instantly make it easier for you to hold on to your readers attention. And today it’s my gift to you.

Have you ever heard of the Bucket Brigade?

You’ve been reading it, all through this blog post.

Phrases like: “But it gets worse”, “You see”, “Think about it:”, “The truth is”, “However”, “First” and “Frankly” are phrases that are referred to as the “Bucket Brigade”.  They are phrases and words that keep the reader moving forward, providing a constant momentum.  When done right, they make your writing seem more conversational. Even better they’ll turn your writing into a greased slide, making it almost impossible to stop reading until the end.

John Carlton said one of the easiest ways to come up with them is to “use the old journalism trick of ‘who, what, where, when, why and how’. For example: ‘Who else uses this secret?’ ‘What does this mean for you?’ ‘Why would I share such a valuable tactic with a stranger?’ ‘Where did I find this information?’ ‘How would you like to see it for yourself?’ “

Rich Schefren of Strategic Profits has put together a list of phrases that will help hold your readers’ attention. 

You can grab your copy of the 

Phrases That Keep Attention swipe file right here.

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

Fearless Visibility- How to Get Out There No Matter What. http://ow.ly/8jD09

The Qualities of a Powerful Word-of-Mouth Marketing Strategy. http://ow.ly/8iiRb

5 Tools to Battle Social Media Content Overload. http://ow.ly/8jyWw

5 Twitter resolutions that will help you tweet smarter. http://ow.ly/8icvJ

25 Eye-Popping Internet Marketing Statistics for 2012. http://ow.ly/8jb8Z

3 Offline Secrets to Get Clients Right Now! http://ow.ly/8iiLN

6 Ways to Spice Up Bland Email Marketing Campaigns.  http://ow.ly/8i19u

How Google+ Is Changing the Web, Even Though No One Wants It To. http://ow.ly/8hY2X

Why Google Has the Hammer To Make Businesses Use Google Plus. http://ow.ly/8f30Y

10 Amazing Blogs About Blogging to Start Reading NOW. http://ow.ly/8fJ6X

I have become a huge fan of WordPress Blog websites. I have one myself.

Jason Saeler of Saeler Enterprises had been trying to convince me for the longest time to convert. Well, I converted and he has made a beleiver out of me. So much so, that I am now creating and hosting wordpress websites as well.

Here are 2 that I have recently finished:

American Standards Renewable Fuels Corp. and SandyRees.com

What are the Benefits of Using WordPress for Websites?

WordPress is an open source content management system which is easy to use and offers many user friendly features. It provides you the most innovative and contemporary publishing platform. The biggest plus point of WordPress is that it focuses on all web principles and usability. No doubt, WordPress has become a popular choice for website development. Discussed below are top 10 benefits of WordPress development.

1.Affordable: One of the biggest benefits of WordPress design is that it is very cost effective. The themes are available at a very affordable price. Compared to other content management systems, it is very cost effective.

2.Better SEO rankings: WordPress helps to optimise your search engine results. It ensures that your website lands on the first page of Google results, which increases the possibility of getting more visitors. The more visitors you get, greater are the chances of getting maximum profit.

3.User friendly: Another benefit of using WordPress is that it provides WordPress designers with convenient and simple applications. This not only makes the designers feel comfortable using it but also makes it user friendly for the users. You do not require any technical skills to use it. If you can send an e-mail or use Microsoft Word, you can very well use WordPress easily.

4.Quick installation: It is very easy to install WordPress. All you need to do is to just click on the WordPress link to install WordPress on your website. The software will ask you some basic general information, then WordPress will be installed successfully.

5.Enhanced functionality: WordPress allows you to set a specific functionality you want your blog to perform. There are various WordPress Plug-ins that will help you do things you would like to do. There are nearly 8,000 WordPress Plug-ins on the WordPress.org website and thousands more that are not in the WordPress database.

6.Various add ons: It also provides you with various add on features that are available as plug-ins and widgets. Most of the designs and themes are either free or readily available as premium themes. You can even change them as per your own specific requirements.

7.Automatic upgrades: The automatic upgradation is automatically done without requiring any manual process.

8.Better Administration: WordPress can easily survive traffic spikes; it can easily balance the server load and ensures that the website runs smoothly.

9.No Backup required: WordPress keeps backup of your blog (but I would recommend it).

10.No Spams: Pre installed Akismet helps in blocking spam in the background.

To see a list of services that Serenity Virtual Assistants can do for you, please visit my wordpress website!

Having trouble with developing interesting blog content? Does it seem that you are seeing the same old “stuff” about your industry in all of the posts? Sometimes it can be a real challenge finding interesting subject matter. In his most  recent blog , Nick Stamoulis of Brick Marketing offers some topics you business blogging.

Here are a few of his tips:

Company News: It pretty much goes without saying that if you or your company has been mentioned in an article or at an event;  put it in your blog/. Don’t forget to post to your social media sites

Lists: Search engines seem to really like lists. Create some innovative lists that your readers can easily relate to.

Product Reviews: Pick some interesting and/or unique products and write a review about them. Hint: Maybe you can get some input from your social media connections.

Photos: If you’re bogged down grab some photos of friend and colleagues (maybe the FedEx guy) or something humorous or ironic.

How-To-Guides: Share some helpful tips that you have learned and share them. Everybody loves free information.

Industry Rants: Tasteful rants can be the source of many interesting rants. Be professional, but remember ” Hey it’s your blog”. If the subject is something that many others can relate to. you could be surprised with the responses and feedback.

How-To-Guides: Try writing a variety a different posts where you industry can learn and better their jobs or careers. Everyone loves free information.

These are just a few topics for Mike’s article. If you would like to read the entire article, you may find it at Blog Writing Topics to Use.

We are always here at Serenity VA Services to assist with your social media marketing projects and strategy.

Happy Blogging

When to know when blogging is paying off  for your business…that is the $64,000 question.

I recently had a chat with a client with  who stated she wanted to pull the plug on her blogs.

My first thought was WAIT! ARE YOU CRAZY?

No, in fact, she isn’t. She is quite sane. The problem is that, like most of us that are self-employed, it is a matter of time. Or, lack thereof.

We did have a phone conversation and we decided not to pull the plug and start re-posting to her blogs. The problem a lot of us have about blogging is that we feel it has to be a 1000 word article, at least.

My client and mentor, Joan Stewart recently conducted a teleseminar with Patsi Krakoff titled “Blogging for Business is Easier Than You Think”, Time-saving Tips for Smart Business Blogging.

This product is especially perfect for:

• Anyone who hasn’t started blogging yet and doesn’t know how to start
• Bloggers who want to learn how to save time and build in efficiencies
• Bloggers who are having trouble pulling traffic to their blogs
• Anyone who blogs and has trouble finding enough content…you’ll never be lacking for it after this!

So, if you’re thinking you don’t have time to blog or can’t find content. Look around you, it’s everywhere!

I currently manage and maintain several business pages for clients on Facebook.

Over the past couple of years they have seen an increase in sales and interest in their services as well.

When using this tool it is important to remember that Facebook is just that, a tool. It is one of many, but I have found it to be extraordinarily useful.

Here are just a few ways in which you can use your business page to promote:

1. Post items to your status updates that pertain to your area of expertise using keywords in the content.

2. Set up Google Alerts to find content to share with your fans. This can be from blogs and other websites.

3. Use the Events function to create events that you are hosting or promoting.

4. If you have a blog, import your blog into your “Notes” on your business page and you will have ready-made content every time you post a new entry to your blog.

5. If you know Facebook Markup Language (Facebook’s version of HTML) or know of someone that does, add your newsletter sign up box to your page. You can even add your products as well. See side bar at http://www.facebook.com/TheMusiciansGuidetoBrides

6. Create a music library of your music and share with your fans.

7. Post your videos to your page. If you are a musician, post your music videos. If you are an artist, post videos of the creation of your art.

8. Post photos and lots of them. They are a great way of showing you at your gigs, book signings or gallery openings.

There are many ways in which to use Facebook to promote. For more ideas on missed opportunities on Facebook, go to Serenity Virtual Assistant Services to receive your free tutorial on how to create a Facebook profile or purchase the CD  or transcript of “11 Ways to Avoid Missed Opportunities on Facebook”.

Every year, Joan Stewart, a.k.a., The Publicity Hound gives out a free ebook. It is from her newsletter “best of”.

This year, its ” The Best of The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week-2009“

What is so unique about this gift is that you can re-gift it as many times as you would like. Here are just a few of the ways in which you can either use the ebook

• The lazy way to create fun video–even if you don’t have a technical bone in your body
• How to create your own holiday, or your own day, week or month of the year
• 9 attention-grabbing phrases to use at your blog
• 5 great social media marketing ideas when the idea well is dry
• The Number 1 press release writing mistake that will doom you every time

This is the ebook the just keeps giving and giving.