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Tag: tennis

  • 5 Tips For Writing A Better White Paper

    Whether you’re seasoned at creating white papers, or getting started on your first one, it doesn’t hurt to step back and think about some of the basics of what you need to do to make a white paper work. With that, here are some basic tips that should not be overlooked.

    1. Make it informative rather than promotional.

    A paper about creating great white papers from KnowledgeStorm and The Content Factor says, “All good communication has an objective. The primary mistake people make when writing white papers is to use the paper to talk about their product or solution. Instead, a white paper must be educational, not promotional in tone.”

    As a reader who takes in the occasional white paper, I’d have to whole-heartedly agree. If the reader isn’t learning anything, there’s not a lot of value to be gained. Save the promotion for your ads and your website.

    2. Take Your Time

    You may feel like you need to rush to get your white paper out, but if you do, the work is likely to suffer. It doesn’t help that white papers can be very time-consuming to construct, but in the end, if you put more into it, you’re most likely going to get more out of it.

    John McTigue of Kuno Creative says, “Whitepapers are usually in-depth reports on a specific topic, like a research paper intended for publication on the Web. Typically at least 10 pages in length with illustrations, charts and references, the average whitepaper is not designed for casual browsing and usually requires several readings to glean the full extent of its information. Readers expect a high degree of expertise backed by solid research that is fully documented by references. It can take weeks or even months to write and polish a good whitepaper.”

    3. Don’t skimp on the intro

    Having a good introduction is critical to getting any piece of writing read, but I’d hate to see you pour all of that time (and let’s face it, money) into a white paper only to have people close it just because you couldn’t hook them in at the beginning.

    You’ve got to gain their interest at the start. Hopefully you’ve already done that to some extent with the subject and the title, but the words “white paper” don’t exactly conjure up thoughts of excitement. It’s your job to make readers excited, or at the very least, interested.

    “Be captivating,” says Contently. “You want to catch people right off the bat with your introduction. Pique their interest, and then tell them what they’re going to accomplish by reading your white paper. This means writing a summary of your white paper and including an organized list of topics.”

    4. Don’t make it too hard to read

    A white paper should be informative. That much is true. What better place to get technical than in a white paper? Well, the truth is, if you want people to read it and take it all in, you’re going to have to consider the audience’s level of expertise, not to mention their attention span. You can be informative and technical, but you need to make sure you’re writing in a style that doesn’t want to make the reader jump off a cliff.

    “A good white paper will be neither too simplistic nor too complex for its readers, and will be shorter or longer depending on who is reading it,” says WikiHow. “If you are writing a white paper for an engineer, for example, you should include lots of technical details and be lengthy in your descriptions; when you write a white paper for a CEO, be direct to avoid losing their attention.”

    5. Either know how to write or get somebody who does

    This one kind of goes along with number four, but it might be the most important one of all. White papers need to be written by writers. You don’t have to be Stephen King, but your paper needs to be comprehensible and error-free. Otherwise, your paper, and possibly even your business lose a great deal of credibility.

    The tricky part is finding someone who both understands the material and can write. This may require a number of meetings, but the value of having someone that can actually write pen the piece cannot be overstated.

    “A white paper is doomed to failure if the writer is not experienced at writing the concise, convincing prose that this unique document requires,” a paper from DecisionNewsMedia says. “Ideally, the writer of the white paper possesses strong writing skills, technical understanding, and marketing experience, as well as the ability to extract meaningful information from a variety of sources and translate it into coherent, compelling prose.

    These may not be all the tips you need to follow to put together a successful paper, but if you follow them, you should be headed in the right direction at the very least.

  • Althea Gibson Honored With Google Doodle On Birthday

    Althea Gibson is the subject of a new Google Doodle currently gracing the search engine’s homepage in the U.S. The tennis legend was born on this day in 1927.

    Gibson was the first black athlete to play international tennis, and became the first to win a Grand Slam title (the French Open). She also won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals the following year. She won both again the year after that. She was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the AP, and won 11 Grand Slam tournaments.

    Google’s doodle is an appropriately animated one, depicting Gibson moving from side to side in the heat of a match:

    Gibson passed away eleven years ago at the age of 76 after complications from bladder and respiratory infections. She had already survived a heart attack.

    Image via Google.com

  • Victoria Azarenka’s Injured Foot Will Keep Her Out Of 2014 French Open

    Belarusian professional tennis player, Victoria Azarenka, will be missing the action at the 2014 French Open due to a foot injury.

    Her foot injury, which she has been nursing since March, has already forced her to pull out of several tennis tournaments held in Rome, Madrid, Miami, and Doha.

    The announcement of the withdrawal from the French Open came on Azarenka’s Twitter account where she wrote, “Hi Guys – Unfortunately I will not be able to compete in Roland Garros this year. Working hard on my recovery & getting back on the court.”

    The last time the 24-year-old was on the court was in March at Indian Wells, wherein she lost the game to Lauren Davis due to her injury on the left foot. It was evident that she was not on top of her game. Before the Indian Wells match, Azarenka competed in two other tournaments. At the Australian Open, she lost to her rival Agnieszka Radwanska, and at the Brisbane International, she lost to Serena Williams.

    Victoria Azarenka vs. Serena Williams at Brisbane International

    Azarenka is seen as a competitive tennis player on the court. Her withdrawal from the French Open and other important tournaments says how serious her injury is.

    Although the French Open is not Azarenka’s strongest suit, she has displayed immense improvement as seen when she advanced to the semifinals at the 2013 French Open. This year, however, her chance to improve may be stalled, due to her injury.

    The decision to pull out of a big competition may be difficult for the tennis player, but it is sure to benefit her in the long run. The French Open is slated to start on May 25 in Paris.

    If she takes time to recuperate and focus on getting her foot better, she might be able to get back to playing in time for the U.S. Open, which is scheduled to start in August.

    Image via YouTube

  • Google Launches Add-Ons For Docs And Sheets

    Google announced the launch of add-ons for Google Docs and Sheets. These are third-party apps that add features to the programs.

    You’ll find an “add-ons” menu at the top of your screen when you have a document or spreadsheet open. From there you can browse available add-ons by going to “get add-ons”. There is also an option to manage the ones you’ve already got. Once you install one, it will be available across all documents and spreadsheets (only in the new Google Sheets).

    So far, available add-ons include: EasyBib (for automatic bibliography); Workflows (automated approvals); Avery Label Merge (address labels and name badges); Table of Contents; HelloSign (secure electronic signatures); Thesaurus; Track Changes (review and approve changes made to documents); Messenger (discuss and see changes to documents); Lucidchart (diagrams); Supermetrics (business reporting system for analytics, social media, and online marketing); Kaizena Shortcut (makes Kaizena compatible with teacher workflow automation tools); HelloFax (send and receive faxes online); Translate (use Google Translate to translate text in documents); VexTab Music Notation (add music notation, drum notation and guitar tab to documents); Gliffy (diagrams); SeamlessDocs (complete and esign documents); Charts; Ultradox Template Editor (generate, send and print personalized documents); PandaDoc (add legally binding electronic signature to Google Docs); MindMeister (turn bullet point lists into mind maps); Social Drop (connect docs to social media, keep track of retweets/favorites); Twitter Curator (find and collect tweets inside docs); Uberconference (create conference calls with all document viewers); WebSequenceDiagrams; DocumentMerge (produces multiple docs from single template); Abbreviation list (define and automatically generate table of abbreviations); Template Gallery; Merge by MailChip (send email directly from doc); iRise Requirements (load visualizations into docs); Consistency Checker (check consistency of formal docs); ProWritingAid (check for consistency, plagiarism, acronyms, cliches, redundancies, grammar mistakes, etc.); Highlighting Tools; Easy Header and Footer; and Maps for Docs.

    Take a look at what some of these can do:

    Google says there are “lots more” of these on the way.

    Image via Google

  • Here’s How You Get A Job In Writing Video Games

    Not everybody is cut out to be a programmer, game designer, artist or audio engineer. It’s the unfortunate truth that keeps a lot of people out of the games industry despite wanting to be involved in some way or the other. While it’s certainly not as glamorous as being a game designer, one avenue available to aspiring game makers is to be a video game writer.

    In a new video from PlayStation UK, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag’s lead writer Darby McDevitt shares some tips on how to write video games for a living. It should be obvious, but his first suggestion is to find a love for writing. If you don’t love writing, you’re not going to love writing video games. Once you find that love, start writing for all kinds of mediums – film, novels, games and poetry.

    The other tip that may not be as apparent is the fact that games writers rarely start off as such. You’re going to need experience in other aspects of game making, especially game design. McDevitt notes that a major problem in the industry today is that there are writers who have no design experience and designers who have no writing experience.

    In short, take whatever job you can get in the games industry. It’s rare for anybody in games to only have one skill set anymore. You’re going to have to wear multiple hats to be successful in the games industry.

    Image via sonyplaystation/YouTube

  • Amazon Wants To Help You Write The Next Great Film With Storybuilder

    Earlier this year, Amazon launched a new tool called Storyteller that aimed to help aspiring screenwriters turn their scripts into storyboards. Now the retailer is launching a new tool to help those who need a little extra help during the concept phase.

    Amazon announced today that its launching a new writers tool today called Storybuilder. It takes the concept of writing stories through placing notecards on a cork board and brings it into the digital world. With this new tool, writers will be able to create digital notecards complete with text and images. From there, they can arrange them as they see fit to help them write screenplays.

    “Technology is already transforming how filmed entertainment is produced and distributed, and many of the tools writers use to craft stories could become more accessible with a technology update—paper notecards are a perfect example,” said Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios. “With Amazon Storybuilder, we are translating a writer’s physical index cards and corkboard into the digital world and giving them access to their ideas anywhere they are—if an idea pops up writers can edit their digital corkboard instantly on any mobile device. We can’t wait to hear what creators think of Amazon Storybuilder.”

    In even better news, Amazon says Storybuilder is free and that it claims no ownership on projects created using the tool. Of course, Amazon probably wouldn’t complain if you gave them exclusive streaming rights to your new film or TV series if it ends up being a hit.

    If you want to find out more about Storybuilder, you can join the beta here.

    Image via Amazon

  • Modern Seinfeld Twitter Parody Lands Writer Job on New Fox Sitcom

    Who says being funny on Twitter won’t get you anywhere.

    Comedian and writer Jack Moore has just landed a job writing on a new Fox sitcom, and he did so based partially on the strength of his Twitter side-project, Modern Seinfeld.

    If you don’t follow @SeinfeldToday on Twitter, you’re doing something wrong. It’s one of the most delightful parody accounts out there. The account, which was launched back in December of 2012, tweets out possible Seinfeld plotlines – if the show was in production today.

    Here are some gems:

    See? Good stuff. The account has over 620,000 followers.

    According to THR, Moore has been hired to write for Us & Them, a new sitcom set to air on Fox this fall.

    The premise of the show involves a couple who have been dating online for a few months. When they finally decide to meet in person, their respective families attempt to interfere with the relationship. The show is based on a British series called Gavin & Stacey, and stars Jason Ritter and Alexis Bledel.

    “I was basically pitching storylines, which is a huge part of being on a writing staff. Here’s 400 [of them] that illustrated a skill set,” Moore told THR in referencing how his Twitter alter-ego helped him land the job.

  • Twitter to Hold Its Own Fiction Festival, a “Virtual Storytelling Celebration”

    Twitter has changed a lot of things when it comes to how the world receives information. It’s most definitely turned journalism on its head by making everyone an amateur reporter, and it’s also affected the way people communicate in real life – 140 characters is a hard constraint to shake off.

    But fiction? Could Twitter become a place for great storytelling?

    Twitter thinks so. And to prove that, they have just announced the Twitter Fiction Festival. That contest will kick off on November 28th and run for five days.

    “Tell us how you are going to explore content formats that already exist on Twitter — short story in Tweets, a Twitter chat, live-tweeting — or, even better, how you’ll create a new one. How will you work with our real-time global platform, where anyone can contribute to your story at any moment? The proposal must fit into the time window of our five day festival— but that means that a project could run for the length of the festival, or just for an hour,” says Twitter in a blog post.

    Twitter obviously has a pretty expansive view of what constitutes “fiction” as far this contest goes. Some people have already experimented with Twitter as a fiction medium. Take for instance author Jennifer Egan, who tweeted her story “Black Box” 140 characters at a time back in May.

    Or what about The Guardian’s #140novel challenge, which saw authors take a stab at a 140-character story.

    It’s not just flash fiction that Twitter’s after. They even point to @MayorEmanuel, a parody account, as an example of Twitter fiction.

    If you want to participate and you think you have a good idea, you can submit it here. Twitter will announce the participants of the festival on November 19th.

  • The Most Important Rule In Press for Your Business

    One of the most mishandled, misunderstood and mis-constructed tools in the hands of businesses today is the press release. Business owners have a dizzying variety of opinions about how a release should be written, what the release should do and how it should be received.

    For a long time, the general thought was that newspapers were constantly going begging for material to fill space in their columns. All you had to do was give them a whiff of your brilliant business offer and some editor would send a reporter and photographer running to get the scoop on you, driving customers to your door.

    Every form of media has its own procedures, challenges and quirks. (For the purposes of this article, we will talk about local newspapers as a classic medium. These rules apply, with only minor variations, to websites and blogs, magazines, television and radio, etc.) Every writer or editor has to weigh what comes across her desk to determine how it will fit in the context of the material her outlet usually publishes. But, more than anything else, these people are busy. If you want them to take a little time out of their day to give you free publicity – and that’s exactly what you are asking for – you have to make them want to.

    One website we saw published a list of ten tips for press release writing. Some were handy; some were a bit fuzzy. But first let’s skip to the bottom of their list, to item number ten.

    “Make it as easy as possible for media representatives to do their jobs.”

    Friends, I am here to tell you that this is absolutely wrong. The fact that this item ended up at the bottom of the list is laughable. This is Item Number One. It should be the first thing you think about and your North Star throughout the entire process. Make it your desktop wallpaper. If you hope to do any regular release writing at all, print this on a banner and hang it in your office.

    Make the Writer’s Job Easy

    Every other tip you read, every brilliant turn of a phrase you concoct, every grand promoting scheme you hatch will be for naught if you make a writer work too hard to get that story done.

    Writers and editors have a whirlwind of material around them at the click of a mouse. The trouble is, sometimes much of it is unusable. They develop a quick sense for sniffing out relevant material in a press release, knowing what would be useful and what is chaff. The more useful material you give them, the more of it they will likely use, unchanged. You want that.

    Your unspoken goal should be to make a writer want to copy and paste your entire article as-is right into the publication, dust off her hands and smile as she moves along to the next order of business for the day. A good writer will not usually do that – though there is no such thing as “plagiarizing” a press release – because most releases don’t sound like real writing. And therein lies your first big clue. If you succeed in getting a story written as a result of your press release, you should score yourself based on how much of your original material and wording made it into the final article without sounding stilted and unnatural.

    Notice that this is not the same thing as writing material that you wish the writer would say. We’ll talk about that more below. It is writing material that they would be happy to call their own. In order to achieve this Holy Grail of press release writing, there are certain things you can do, things you can avoid, and best practices for how you treat the writer from a distance. It is increasingly unlikely that you will develop a personal relationship with a writer nowadays, but you can certainly make them want to bookmark your site for regular perusal for material. That is a relationship. If you can do that, you score.

    Newsworthiness

    One of the first tips that traditional press release writing primers will give you is to make sure your information is “newsworthy”. Let’s be honest here. Your grand opening is not the same kind of news as a house fire, auto accident, election coverage or even celebrity “news”. But local papers will commonly run business and entertainment stories. If your kind of “news” usually runs there, go for it.

    Just remember, make the writer’s job easy. Give them a story that they can run without having to worry about defending that choice to a reader or editor. Put a twist on it, a connection to something national, a human interest angle or other unique twist. Don’t appear to be “selling”. If selling is all you have to offer, do the right thing and call the ad department and pay for space like everyone else. But if you have something that will inform, amuse, titillate or enlighten readers, go ahead and let a writer know.

    Grammer and speling.

    It should go without saying that grammar, spelling and overall flow of the release must be impeccable. Unfortunately it can’t go without saying. Understand this: if a writer sees even one typo in your material, it will make her nervous. She will feel that she must fine-tooth-comb the whole thing just to be sure you won’t embarrass her.

    Of course, writers always proofread everything before publishing. But part of making the writer’s job easy to to put her at ease. Don’t give her the added difficulty of cleaning up your copy. That will quickly become a factor in deciding whether to just skip your material, if not this time, then the next. The kiss of death.

    Cautionary Tales

    Here is a real press release, believe it or not. I apologize in advance that you have to see this. I’ve put obvious errors in bold.

    Elite Pressure Washing and Painting is a full service residential and commercial property maintenance firm that is based out of The Woodlands, TX. Known for quality work, Elite Pressure Washing and Painting offers businesses and industries throughout The Woodlands, TX area the highest quality services.Through out the period of time both your interior and exterior windows need to be cleaned. We at Elite Pressure Washing & Painting, Inc offer Interior window cleaning services and exterior window cleaning services. As the Woodlands, TX premier window cleaning contractor, Elite Pressure Washing and Painting specializes in the interior window cleaning and exterior window cleaning trade. Elite Pressure Washing and Painting offers contract and maintenance services to fine residential homes and commercial properties in The Woodlands, TX. The professional staff of Elite Pressure Washing and Painting uses only the finest cleaning solutions available in todays market. We use all bio degradable eco frinedly cleaning detergants; this ensures that customers get the best quality work while being eco frinedly at competitive prices from the entire Elite Pressure Washing and Painting team. At Elite Pressure Washing and Painting, we stand behind our window cleaning services 100%. All interior window cleaning and exterior window cleaning jobs are supervised throughout the duration of the job and cleaned up upon leaving each working day.

    Elite Pressure Washing and Painting has the window cleaning solution for any size commercial project in The Woodlands, TX, from a single story building to a large commercial complex or a high rise. window cleaning services on commercial buildings must serve two purposes: protect the glass from weathering and decay; and look great. Elite Pressure Washing and Painting specializes in the art of interior window cleaning services and exterior window cleaning services. We use silicone protective coatings that are extremely resistant to the elements and make routine window cleaning maintenance done easily, yet still provide a sharp look. Elite Pressure Washing and Painting has served the interior window cleaning and exterior window cleaning needs of numerous commercial customers in The Woodlands, Tx. We specialize in cleaning and applying various types of protective coatings, from interior perimeter windows, exterior perimeter windows, partitions, skylights and vestibles. You’ll find Elite Pressure Washing and Painting is a great contributing eco friendly window cleaning company when you need to create an environment that feels as good as it looks.

    If your home exterior is looking depleted? A good window cleaning job is one way to sharpen up the image of your house from the inside and out. Elite Pressure Washing and Painting’s streak free window cleaning services will leave your windows looking refreshed. Our Window cleaning customers in The Woodlands, TX normally have their windows cleaned two or three times a year. When comparing our professional window cleaning services to those of other window cleaners, our commercial window cleaning services are often considered to be superior by our clients. Where other window cleaning companies in The Woodlands, TX fail to get it done, we at Elite Pressure Washing and Painting rise to the occasion to meet you window cleaning requirements. Give us a call today in order to get a free residential window cleaning and commercial window cleaning estimate where we will provide our window cleaning prices.

    I wish I could say that a slew of writers had printed this thing out for dart practice. But what really happened was much sadder than that: they stopped reading by the third sentence and round-filed it, hit delete. And, why not? There’s nothing here but an ad with misspelled words, grammar that has to be fixed, repetitive claims of superiority.

    Where’s the news, even a little bit of it? Are some people replacing windows because of pollutants etching the glass? That happens. Tell how that happens. Are you doing the windows on a local charity office for free? Tell about that. Did you just do your ten thousandth window? Shoot, that would be something. As it is, they are saying: “Hey, we do windows in The Woodlands, TX, and we’re better than anybody else.” And they took 536 words to say it!

    Here’s another to chuckle along with. This is from 2010. Hold your nose.

    Highly Touted Social News Site to Officially Launch on August 23rd

    AllTopics.com, which has been touted as the next big social site by industry experts, has officially announced a launch date of August 23rd. AllTopics.com promises to deliver the very best articles, videos and images on any topic that you can think of, making it an industry leader in the online social news world.

    With so many news’ [sic] sites currently in the market, you wouldn’t think there would be a need or even room for another one to come along. While the market may be saturated, there are still needs to be filled, and one site is promising to close that gap forever.

    AllTopics.com has been planning for months on how to build the perfect news website, and their finished product is expected to take the online world by storm. Backed by a large advertising budget and a large staff of highly trained researchers, they are promising to deliver the very best stories, videos and images from all over the Internet on all of the topics that you can think of.

    While that may not seem like a big deal, most sites do not even attempt to cover this many categories. Even the most popular of news sites only cover a small portion of the news, and they never bring you the very best of every single subject. It takes a large, dedicated team in order to pull something off like this. That is where AllTopics.com claims they can close the gap and create the best social news website around.

    AllTopics.com is a hybrid of a news site and a social bookmarking site, meaning that users can submit their own stories, videos and images in addition to the ones added by the staff of AllTopics.com. This will help to insure [sic] the highest quality of news and information in one place, as the staff will be able to see exactly what interests the people and find information that will be of value to them.

    So, will the industry experts be right in predicting that AllTopics.com is the next big thing, or will it be the next big flop? Only time will tell I guess, so go decide for yourself and check out AllTopics when they officially launch.

    This is a classic example of writing a press release full of things one wishes a writer would say. It is insulting to a writer. Putting grandiose words in someone’s mouth is not the same thing as giving him material he is happy to claim as his own.

    There are different variations on rules for press release writing for each media form (radio, television, newspaper, blog, etc.). You can find tons of tips for each online. But remember, above all else, don’t make the writer have to jump through hoops to get your story. It shouldn’t take a research grant and a team of proofreaders to find out what you are up to or if it is even worth talking about. Make it easy on the writer.

  • Infographic Helps You Avoid Looking Stupid Online

    Infographic Helps You Avoid Looking Stupid Online

    Recently, we talked about three things that could make you look like an idiot online. One of those things was committing egregious grammar errors, especially if you have a business or are expected to present in a professional manner. We went over a handful of the most common juvenile mistakes online, but lo and behold, we’ve hit the mother lode.

    The fine folks at Copyblogger have cranked out this handy infographic so you can review more common mistakes. Have a look over jewels like these:

    Literally – Do you say “I am literally burning up” when you are not on fire? “Literally” is not used to add weight to something. It means, “No, really. I’m burning!”

    I’m going to interject another here that is not even found on this infographic.

    Exponentially – This is so overused and misused that you probably think it doesn’t matter anymore. Only in cases of low numbers do most figures ever hit right on this. And, even if the writer/speaker accidentally gets it right, it shouldn’t be used unless they know why it’s right. You commonly hear that a company has “grown exponentially”. Or, “The cost of gasoline has risen exponentially.” If gas was $3 a gallon, the first “exponential” growth of that price would be to square it, thus $9 a gallon. Not likely, unless we’re talking Brazil. The next step would be $27 a gallon, then $81 a gallon.

    Words mean things. Words like “exponentially” and “literally” only make you look smarter to people who don’t know better. Aim higher. Here’s help.

    (image)

  • Narrative Science, The Robotic Content Farm, Is Looking At More Languages

    Have you read about Narrative Science? This is a company that is creating web articles using computers. We’ve referenced them on more than one occasion as a “robotic content farm”. It makes you wonder where we’re headed in terms of web content? Will our jobs become obsolete as the content machines rise or will that human element always be needed?

    Last week, we saw where Narrative Science has a project in which its machines are creating readable stories from tweets. It showed off an example about Newt Gingrich getting attention with “hot-button topics”. It wasn’t a mind-blowing piece of writing, but it was certainly passable for human, and even better than some content I’ve seen from some humans. I can only assume the technology will get better at what it does.

    Today, co-founder and CTO Kris Hammond took to his blog to discuss the obstacles of the Narrative Science approach to translation and creating content in different languages. Hammond wrote (assuming a robot isn’t ghostwriting for him):

    Multi-lingual generation of content from data has always been on Narrative Science’s road map and has informed the modularization of the core platform. It is only after all of the analysis of the facts, evaluation of their importance, and the composition of the representation that the system generates language. Within this model, generating in Spanish, Japanese, German, etc. is no different than generating in English.

    The system is not designed to translate, but to generate in multiple languages.

    In general, we are not ready to do this, mostly because of the composition of our client base, but doing so is a matter [of] pulling in native speakers who know how to write in non-English languages to configure the platform for the new language.

    So, what I take away from this is that while Narrative Science may not be ready to go multi-lingual just yet, it’s more than likely going to happen in the future. So the machines taking over writing won’t be limited to just English.

  • The One Thing You Absolutely Need To Know About Writing For The Web

    Titles are incredibly important when you’re writing for the web.

    Startup Stats CEO Nick O’Neill wrote an interesting blog post discussing the importance of titling articles on the Internet in which he looks at an example of a New York Times story, which Forbes also covered with a different title, only to see more shares and traffic than the original piece.

    The original title was: “How Companies Learn Your Secrets”

    The Forbes title was: “How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did”

    I don’t think the original was too bad, and apparently, it got a fair amount of traffic too, but the Forbes version is certainly more provocative.

    I’m sure the traditional media outlets who call blogging about stories that already exist stealing will view this as an example of a publication “stealing” the work of others, and in this case, the Forbes article did borrow pretty liberally from the original source, though it did credit and link to thee NYT (Again, this is Forbes. Not just some blog.). However, there is a different point being made here, showing where the original sources can drop the ball.

    I’ll say it again. Titles are incredibly important on the web. It depends on the goal you’re trying to reach with your writing, but titling can make all the difference.

    Are you trying to gain traffic from search engines? You better think about what people are searching for, or what they would be searching for to get to your article. Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool is actually really good at helping you determine this.

    Or maybe it’s the social traffic you’re after. You want people to share your content. There’s always the sensationalistic approach. The controversial titles. The titles that promise to give you a reason (or 10 reasons) why whatever this article is about will “absolutely change your life”. These things may seem cheesy sometimes, but people do gravitate towards these kinds of headlines, and share them.

    This line by O’Neill pretty much sums it up: “The reality is that in the world of newsfeeds and streams, titles matter more than ever before. The best content in the world will fall flat without a great title.”

    Consider all of the ways people are consuming content online these days. It’s not like when you just bought a newspaper and read the stories that were printed because they were the ones that were there. People are getting stories through Email, Twitter, Facebook, Flipboard, Google Reader, Google Google News, Google+, LinkedIn, Reddit, and many, many more social services, aggregators, etc.

    SEO is still a factor, but it’s not the only factor. In fact, social is a factor of that factor.

    The main thing to remember is that the right title can mean the difference between a little bit of traffic and your site getting slashdotted.

    Keywords matter, but they’re not the only thing that matter.

  • Joe Lansdale On The E-Book Revolution And The Future Of Books [Exclusive Q&A]

    Last week, we reported that author (and “Champion Mojo Storyteller”) Joe Lansdale was considering e-book as the exclusive format for his next “Hap and Leonard” book. He indicated as much in a Facebook update, but in a later update he said after talking with a publisher, there would be print editions after all.

    Since then, we conducted a Q&A with Lansdale about the e-reading trend, and what it means to authors.

    Lansdale says he’s never done anything directly to e-book in the past, though much of his back list has moved to e-book.

    He says he’s not sure of the advantages of going e-book only, but plans to try it and see.

    “I think that some people are reading only e-books, and if you want to be discovered by new readers, and stay in the game, e-books have to be a serious consideration,” Lansdale tells WebProNews. “I prefer hard copies, and hope everything of mine will eventually be contained that way, but I do want to experiment and see if there’s a different market out there.”

    “I’ve stayed in the game by not only trying to write as well as possible, but trying to keep up with the changes in the industry,” he continues. “The pulps aren’t coming back, and soon paperbacks will be gone, and they won’t, in any way that matters, come back either.”

    “At least not the lower level paperbacks,” he adds. “I think the larger style paperback, like VINTAGE books uses will be around for awhile.”

    Given his lack of experience in going e-book only, he says he can’t speak to how well they help authors reach new audiences. “But it looks to me that they can be an aid, and for some writers, a career,” he says. “Some writers seem to speak to that medium more than others. I’m not sure why that is. It’s like some writers did well in hardback, not paper, or in limited editions, and some it was just the opposite. It’s like certain actors who can command great attention on TV, but get lost in film.”

    When asked if he reads e-books, Lansdale tells us he’s read three (he uses a Nook rather than a Kindle).

    “I don’t prefer it, but I’m sure I’ll read others in time,” he says of e-books. “My wife has read a few e-books. It seems nice for trips. I think the advantage to these kind of devices is to the casual reader who doesn’t keep books, or who doesn’t have room to store books.”

    “I think books are going to be around,” he says. “Too many people like them, and there will be new readers who like them as well. But its slice of the market will become smaller. In some ways, I think more people are reading because of e-books, and that’s a good thing. These are people who don’t go to bookstores, but love to look through listings on their computer and load up without having to leave their house.”

    People like to share good books with their friends. When asked about this thoughts on this in relation to the e-book format, he says, “The problem with sharing an e-book is that it may be too easy to copy. Where someone could loan a book around, this way they can really loan a book, cutting into a writer’s sales. This will change writing, how it’s done, and what writers get paid. Which for many isn’t that much to begin with. It has its negatives.”

    In a recent Facebook update, Lansdale said, “I think there will always be real books, but they are going to be a smaller, and probably more collector type of market. Some publishers are even considering moving that way more and more, so this could be good for small presses, as far as real books go.”

    When asked more about this, Lansdale tells WebProNews, “I just think the market will shrink, but it will become more valuable to small presses who will now have a market for those who want this kind of book, especially if the main houses limit their number of paper books.”

    “I also think it’s obvious that small presses don’t have to make the large amounts of money big publishers do to survive,” he continues. “I think in fact this situation will cause their markets to grow. What led to the e-book isn’t just technology, its greed. Book companies didn’t just want to make a profit anymore, they wanted to make vast fortunes. They wanted fewer writers and more best sellers. They turned books from common entertainment to luxury entertainment.”

    “The same has been done with movies and comics,” he says. “Too high a price for people to afford. This opened the door for cheaper books. I don’t think there has ever been enough readers to sustain the kinds of sales these companies needed, but what’s odd, is, as I said earlier, I think readership is growing because of accessibility. It’s like the paperback revolution which changed everything in the last century.”

    So how long will it be until e-book reading is more common than print book reading?

    “I have no idea how long it will be,” Lansdale admits. “Some of it is fad, and it will ebb and flow, and then it’ll find its balance. It is happening fast, though.”

    Meanwhile, Lansdale appears to be embracing the e-book market more than ever, offering his previous writings in the format, including all of the “Hap and Leonard” books, which he said in a Facebook update today are available from Vintage Books, a division of Random House.

    He also has several titles available in the Kindle Lending Library, which can be read for free by Amazon Prime members. One of them is The Nightrunners – my first experience with Lansdale’s writing, and the one that got me hooked on his work.

    Visit Joe’s site here.

  • Australian Open Breaks Time Record With Novak Djokovic Win, Twitter Ecstatic

    The Australian Open Final just ended, with a match won by Serbia’s Novak Djokovic. It was the longest in history. The match lasted 5 hours, 53 minutes.

    Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (5), 7-5. Nadal lost his third grand slam in a row.

    As you might imagine, the discussion is blowing up Twitter, with several trending topics related to the match, like #AusOpen, Rafa and Novak and Grand Slam.

    Here are some recent tweets:

    @JUDAYE
    Judy Nguyen    Don’t even need to watch the match LOL. I’ve got total commentating via twitter. #ausopen 27 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @diveshnarwani
    Divesh Narwani    Happen to miss the match, but the highlights and my time line suggest it was something awesome! #AusOpen 51 seconds ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® · powered by @socialditto

    @TQuick101
    Taylor Quick    Congrats to @DjokerNole and @RafaelNadal for the best final i’ve seen since the 2008 Wimbledon final. Thank you both so much. #AusOpen 40 seconds ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    @pratulpasari
    Pratul Pasari    U cud use any word to describ this match.. Bt wat it shal always remain.. Is.. ”historic..”.. #AusOpen 1 minute ago via Tweets60dm · powered by @socialditto

    @claudiacoelho10
    Claudia Coelho    So sad for #rafa he really played his heart out… #ausopen 46 seconds ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® · powered by @socialditto

    @MKayy__
    M Kayy    God, that was amazing! Major congrats to Djokovic, well deserved! Not sure how awake I’ll be tomorrow! #AusOpen 55 seconds ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @Mike_Sulli_9
    Mike Sullivan    I’d rather lose. That way Joh Griggs doesn’t have to interview me. #AusOpen 2 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    @mjd087
    Mitchell Dabb    Great match, almost as good as the women’s final. #AusOpen 2 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @R_Mpuru
    Mpuru Rasunyane    a damn good closing to the #ausopen !!!! #sorry..rafael who? 56 seconds ago via Mobile Web · powered by @socialditto

    Until now, the longest Australian final was 4:27 in 1988 (Mats Wilander over Pat Cash).

  • Writing Funny Content To Help Your Blog Get More Shares

    It’s good to include humorous content once in awhile.

    This was the advice given by Jordan Cooper, who was speaking during the Blogging with Humor Workshop at the Blogworld Expo. WebProNews’ Chris Crum sat in on the session and was able to pull out some interesting nuggets of information that could help your site get more shares, which ultimately lead to more return visitors.

    Cooper, who teaches comedy classes at the Louisville Improv in Louisville Kentucky, stated “Everyone can be funny… you don’t have to be hilarious. Just fucking do it”. By this he means, you shouldn’t have to worry if anyone will be offended by you adding a little humor to your site. He goes on to say that probably 98% of people will retweet it and you’ll get new readers that you wouldn’t have necessarily seen your content. But, if you have to be “appropriate” the key is just be staying relevant to your audience, and it doesn’t have to be offensive.

    Cooper went on to say, “Don’t think you have to write vibrator jokes to get retweets.” If your’re writing jokes for PHP programmers you can’t be concerned if non-programmers get it, as long as your audience finds it funny.

    Practice is something that was stressed while discussing adding humor to your site, Cooper said, “Keep writing funny articles over and over and over again. You don’t have to publish all of them, but you’ll get better if you keep practicing it. Just keep thinking of all the ideas in your industry that you could do”.

    Below is a video where Jordan talks about his session, how to be humorous, and how you can apply that to your site:

    For 5 years, WebProNews has partnered with BlogWorld and New Media Expo, the world’s first and largest new media conference, in an effort to broadcast how new media can grow your business, brand, and audience. Stay tuned to WebProNews for much more exclusive coverage.

  • eHow Getting Serious About Quality

    eHow Getting Serious About Quality

    Demand Media is getting serious about increasing the quality of eHow content. This has become clear after talks we’ve had with the company, as well as various presentations and interviews they’ve given.

    They also launched a major redesign last month, that came with a feedback feature for users to let the company know whether or not any given article was useful. They’ve been making partnerships with celebrities who are generally considered authorities in their industries, as well as a partnership with Getty Images, to get quality images on content.

    A job opening from eHow Money, posted on PublishersMarketplace.com is further evidence that they’re doing more to attract quality authors. The gig pays $17-20 per article (up from $10-15) and has strict qualifications requiring a degree in business, finance, or law, and “extensive experience in business writing.”

    eHow Money is a channel of the eHow site, and includes sub-categories like “Saving & Spending,” “Real Estate,” “Career,” and “Your Business”. The “Your Business” category is broken down into “Starting a Business,” “Managing Employees,” and “Running a Business”. These categories are broken down even further, and so forth.

    We reported that Demand Media was looking for more business content writers last month, when they tweeted as much, and noted that any expansion in content here is significant, because there’s a good chance people looking to start a business or improve their existing business will be seeing articles from this section a lot, as they search Google for advice on various aspects of business life.

    Granted, that was before the most recent round of the Panda update, where eHow took a significant hint in Google search visibility, based on various data sets from different firms. Still, there are plenty of search queries where eHow is in fact still ranking very well. Currently, for example, for a Google search on “how to evaluate employee performance,” I’m seeing an eHow article rank at the very top.

    It’s good to know that Demand Media is requiring the above qualifications and paying a bit more, as this should (in theory) attract a higher caliber of writing.

    The Panda update didn’t do anything to help Demand’s stock, and the company can downplay the significance of Google traffic to its success all it wants, but losing a large amount of Google traffic isn’t good for any site, particularly one running Google AdSense.

    The more quality content users happen across on eHow, the less likely they’ll be to immediately seek a different search result (Google’s looking at this). Also the less likely they’ll be to block the domain from future searches (Google’s looking at this too). Users might even click the +1 button to send a signal to Google that the articles are in fact high quality, and worthy of top ranking. Maybe.

    Regardless of how eHow continues to perform in search, quality content is also the kind of content that people like to share with others in their social networks. Less dependence on Google for traffic is always a good thing too. Of course if the article is doing well (in terms of shares) on social networks, Google will likely see that and consider it in its rankings too.