When we think of writer’s block, we picture a solitary figure alone in a cabin trying to pen a novel. But writing can often feel just as challenging for marketers trying to get through a blog post, an ebook or other types of content creation. The only real secret to clear, consistent writing is to practice daily, but it’s important not to underestimate the importance of having the right environment before your fingers even touch the keys.
Picture it: You, at your desk, writing the Next Great Blog Post. You’re on a roll. You’ve used every adverb you know, connected every prepositional phrase you can find, and you’ve barely reached the end of your first paragraph. The burden of a writer is so heavy, but so glorious. Except—chances are good that about 97 percent of what you’ve just written is crap. You might’ve managed to stick a thesis in there, but you’ve yet to get around to supporting it.
Writing is hard. Writing about technology is even harder. Do you err on the side of making the fabled Internet basement nerd happy by including ALL the specs? Or, do you ease off a bit and tailor the content for someone’s grandma who wandered onto your site somehow and is now itching to buy some cables, if she could just figure out why she needs them. It’s too easy to say “Write for both.” But, I’m going to do it anyway, and you’re going to understand why by the end of this post. If you don’t, it means you probably haven’t actually read it, which is fair. Skim along, also-fabled Internet skimmer.
Unless you've been living under a rock this past week, you've no doubt been inundated with numerous variations of the Harlem Shake video. Though it seems like every business, organization and team in the world has posted their own take on "Sh*t (Somethings) Say," "Call Me Maybe," "Dollar Shave Club" and "Gangnam Style," it's important to pause for a moment and consider whether doing so is actually a good idea. Great content is original, helpful and built to last. Memes and parodies rarely fall under any of those categories. Here are three reasons why you should think twice before making a meme or viral video parody.
Unless you've been living under a rock this past week, you've no doubt been inundated with numerous variations of the Harlem Shake video. Though it seems like every business, organization and team in the world has posted their own take on "Sh*t (Somethings) Say," "Call Me Maybe," "Dollar Shave Club" and "Gangnam Style," it's important to pause for a moment and consider whether doing so is actually a good idea. Great content is original, helpful and built to last. Memes and parodies rarely fall under any of those categories. Here are three reasons why you should think twice before making a meme or viral video parody.
Writing is hard. Writing about technology is even harder. Do you err on the side of making the fabled Internet basement nerd happy by including ALL the specs? Or, do you ease off a bit and tailor the content for someone’s grandma who wandered onto your site somehow and is now itching to buy some cables, if she could just figure out why she needs them. It’s too easy to say “Write for both.” But, I’m going to do it anyway, and you’re going to understand why by the end of this post. If you don’t, it means you probably haven’t actually read it, which is fair. Skim along, also-fabled Internet skimmer.
When we think of writer’s block, we picture a solitary figure alone in a cabin trying to pen a novel. But writing can often feel just as challenging for marketers trying to get through a blog post, an ebook or other types of content creation. The only real secret to clear, consistent writing is to practice daily, but it’s important not to underestimate the importance of having the right environment before your fingers even touch the keys.
Picture it: You, at your desk, writing the Next Great Blog Post. You’re on a roll. You’ve used every adverb you know, connected every prepositional phrase you can find, and you’ve barely reached the end of your first paragraph. The burden of a writer is so heavy, but so glorious. Except—chances are good that about 97 percent of what you’ve just written is crap. You might’ve managed to stick a thesis in there, but you’ve yet to get around to supporting it.
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