Anne-Marie emailed me to tell me about a discussion going on about copyright protection for photos and content. What is the legal position around using other peoples images? Are you OK if you provide attribution? Or is that only CC licensed? If you look in the comments you will see there is some excellent discussion, I am not sure I can add anything other than what I do. In preference and safety order Create a new photograph myself Get permission from the copyright holder and take a … [Read more...]

Over at copyblogger I wrote a piece where I advised if you want to be a good writer you need to write every day. In this post I am going to tell you it might be better to not post every day. Whaaaat? You see there is a key word there, did you miss it? I said "post". You do need to write every day, but only post to your main blog if you think it will provide a benefit. Don't post articles every day just to keep up with a schedule. Much has been written about posting schedules, and Darren … [Read more...]

Why is it that a sports fan will call a Star Trek fan a nerd for wearing full Klingon make-up but it is quite fine for them to paint their own face (and chest, and belly) in their team colours? Have you ever noticed the more Television channels you have access to, the more frustrating it can be to find something to watch? You know that guy at a party, the one that corners you between the avocado dip and potato tots while he drones on for hours about his prize collection of vintage Albanian … [Read more...]

If you ever get stuck for what to write about there is one place you can look that will provide post ideas that areUsefulOriginalValuableOn-topicI have just been doing some much-needed housekeeping on this blog. Part of this process requires me to go through my comments. Wow, there is some good stuff there.Your comments archive is a gold mine of post ideas!If you don't get many comments, you might want to read my old post "10 tips for attracting more comments".Tags: blogging, tips, ideas, … [Read more...]

Thanks to all the people who asked for a critique. I got over 30 requests, the offer is closed for the time being - I have more than enough to keep me busy during my two week vacation! Please no more requests until I announce another round.Here is how it is going to work.I am not going to criticise, mark, rank or score your blogs. There are so many to do and so little time (I will be on vacation after all) these will not be in the sort of depth that I would ordinarily do for clients. I will … [Read more...]

Pen portraits are a marketing technique for defining an audience. This is not just useful in marketing but any communication. We are not always writing to our friends and peers. Before writing anything, an article, an advert, an email, you need to know who you are writing for and cater to their specific needs. Pen portraits are one way to get a handle on your target audience by creating a fictitious character to enable you to speak directly to them. The more fleshed out and based on … [Read more...]