S and T — I think

I had one of those weeks.  Every day in the agenda covered with places to be and people to meet.  The true test of my writing mettle — and I failed, miserably.

IN THE FAILURE, WHAT I LEARNED

I DID learn some stuff, no doubt about it.  On Wednesday I went to a Workshop called “Best Blogging Tips for Editors” at the Stanley Milner Library in downtown Edmonton.  It was put on by the Alberta Magazine Editor’s Association, and facilitated by Hilary Henegar, the editor of Granville Online.  This woman has won many awards for her work, so I was really happy to sit and listen to her (even though I’m not a magazine editor!)

The stuff that jumped out?  Digital is about relationships. Developing online relationships.  And it’s about karma.  Instead of thinking about “how to find customers” she said we must empower people to find us. She said we shouldn’t think of the other guys as competition. There are strength in numbers, and it is working out how to work together to help each other. Quite a different way to think about that.

She said that an editorial mandate must be set for the blog.  With this in place, it is easy to know what to say yes to — and when to say no!

Oh, the other thing that really hit me?  How a blog entry should look!  I’m doing it all wrong. (What a surprise!)  Lots of photos, short, concise paragraphs, and it must be linky.  Newsy and linky.  Heh.  I like that!

The reason for this?  Readers skim — making a decision while they do so whether they will take any more time on your blog.  You want to entice them to do that. To keep them clicking into the website, even though everybody knows that being online is a huge time suck. She called it convincing them to go “down the rabbit hole.”

Of course, this was focussed for online magazine editors, but there was much there for us, too.  Because we all want that, right? We want people to come back, again and again, just to find out what’s going on in our lives and careers.  Right?

Here’s some magazines she suggested checking out.  You might be able to get some ideas for your own blog from the way magazines set theirs up.  The cool thing is, we can take bits and pieces, and make it work to our benefit.  And I like that, a lot!

BC Business Magazine

Uppercase Magazine

New Yorker

New York Magazine

Yes Magazine

WHAT ELSE I LEARNED

I learned that going out for lunch with Mom means a whole day now.  (All right, it WAS her birthday!)  I learned that being on a board sometimes means saying “I’m sorry.”  Yep, story there. Nope, not going to tell it!  And I learned that glasses are not created equally. (Thank goodness!)

But what I really learned was that I have to pace myself, or I will not get my writing done.  And that — that is a sin.

Have a good Friday.