During a conference in London, The Evangelical Alliance drew up guidelines for Christian bloggers, which, fittingly, they call the Ten Commandments for Bloggers:

1. You shall not put your blog before your integrity
2. You shall not make an idol of your blog
3. You shall not misuse your screen name by using your anonymity to sin
4. Remember the Sabbath day by taking one day off a week from your blog
5. Honour your fellow-bloggers above yourselves and do not give undue significance to their mistakes
6. You shall not murder someone else’s honour, reputation or feelings
7. You shall not use the web to commit or permit adultery in your mind
8. You shall not steal another person’s content
9. You shall not give false testimony against your fellow-blogger
10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s blog ranking. Be content with your own content

Source:
“Bloggers Given New Ten Commandments by Church Leaders,” The Telegraph, By Alastair Jamieson

Tags: 10 Commandments for Blogging, Blogging, Christian bloggers, Evangelical Alliance

The owner of a car lot narrated the following radio ad:

“…These cars are heavily incentivized…”

Incentivized?

I’ve heard of “offering incentives”-but incentivized?  I had to check it out. Sure enough, it’s in the dictionary, and it means “to give incentives to.” Another form of the verb is incentivizing (what a mouthful!).

I stand corrected. Incentivized really is a word. But is it the appropriate word to use when advertising cars-or anything, for that matter? It’s a hundred dollar word. For those of you who speak English as a second language, “hundred dollar word” is when someone uses a big, impressive-sounding word when a small one will do.

What could the car salesman have said instead of, “These cars are heavily incentivized”?

How about:

• Buy this car today, and you’ll get a $2,000 rebate.
• Our cars are priced to sell.
• No one is buying our cars during this recession, and we’re panicking. To keep from going out of business, we’re offering you the best discount ever.

OK, that last one probably wouldn’t work, even though it’s closest to the truth.

Which brings up another hundred dollar phrase:  economic downturn

Sounds so soft, palatable, and hopeful, doesn’t it? We all know it’s a recession, so just call it what it is!

Here’s another one that drives me crazy: leverage

Whenever I attend business meetings, people talk about leveraging this and that. The word started out as a noun that means “power or ability to influence people, events, decisions,” or “to get a high return off one’s investment.”  Now converted into a verb, it’s  batted around in the marketing world like a beach ball. People must think “leveraging” makes them sound important and educated.

Yes, I understand it’s easier to say, “Let’s leverage our investment” instead  of, “Let’s shoot for a high return on our investment.”

But it would comfort me to hear people speaking like human beings and not robots.

Here are more hundred dollar words I found online:

• Irrefutably: Michael Phelps is irrefutably the world record holder in several swimming events.
• I concur: I concur with your hypothesis, Sherlock.
• Wherewithal and doggedly: The detective had the wherewithal to doggedly pursue the kidnapper.
• Precipitate and hereby: Your actions hereby precipitate a lawsuit.

Your turn! What hundred dollar words grate like fingers on a chalkboard? How many can you cram into one sentence?

Tags: HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, hundred dollar words, legalese, Putrid Prose

Lessons learned at the ACFW writing conference I went to last week:

1. Don’t stay up till 4am when you have to get up at 6am the next morning in preparation to wedge yourself into the middle seat on a long flight home.

2. I get massive energy being around other people insane enough to write novels.

3. Karen Ball (my editor) could be a stand-up comedian if she chose to.

4. John Olson (one of my critique partners) is a stellar teacher on how to write fiction.

5. Writing conferences are about contacts, not contracts.

Had a tremendous time at the conference. Saw many old friends, made some new ones. Was reminded once again, if you’re serious about the craft of writing, go to a conference. Fiction, non-fiction, magazines … whatever you’re writing, the investment of going to a writers conference will be a rocket ship for your career.

But get some sleep before you go.

Tags: contracts at writing conferences, Writing conference lessons

“If there’s anything at all we can do to make your flight more enjoyable, please let us know.” I was flying back from the ACFW conference in Minneapolis last Sunday when those words came over the plane’s intercom. Maybe it’s because I’d had only two hours sleep the night before and felt irritable, but the cynical thought popped into my mind, “What a lie.”

Really? You want to make my flight more comfortable? Wonderful! First off bump me up to first class. Then let me hang out in the cockpit for awhile and watch the pilot fly the plane. I’ve always wanted to do that.

“We sure appreciate you flying with Delta, it was our pleasure to serve you, and from all of us on the flight crew, we hope to see you again very, very soon.” Hmmm, I’m struggling to believe the pilots and flight attendants are pining away, waiting for me to book another trip.

Does anyone believe these platitudes? Of course not. So we shut them out. The message is insipid, and we know it’s false. (It’s not just Delta. Every other airline—other than Southwest—pumps out the same kind of drivel.)

As a marketing guy I shake my head. Here you have 100-200 people CAPTIVE on your plane that you can give an honest message to, one that will brand you into their minds, and the airlines don’t take advantage of it.

What if they said this instead? “Thanks for choosing to fly with us. We know the seats are too close together to be comfortable, and if you’re stuck in the middle, well, it’s a pain in the backside to fly that way. But this lets us keep our fares competitive, lower than our competition 95% of the time. So if we can get you an extra pillow or blanket to make it a little easier to get through the flight, let us know.”

The point? In your marketing materials, don’t lie to people. Look at your ad copy. Would you accept it as true if you were on the other side of the message? Or would you say, “Yeah, right.”

If it’s the latter, talk to your marketing department and tell them to get real. People have a deep fondness for truth in advertising.

They might even believe you.

Tags: Marketing, marketing airlines, marketing lessons

I hate reading series books because they leave you hanging, and you have to wait at least a year for the next installment in the series. By then, you’ve forgotten what happened in the first book. The whole thing is one big, vicious circle intended to frustrate readers and generate big bucks for publishing houses.

But when Jim highly recommended Karen Hancock’s 4-book Legends of the Guardian-King fantasy series, I took the bait (but only after visiting the library to make sure all four books were available for checkout).

My husband, who is a huge fantasy/sci-fi fan, read them first and gave them a hearty stamp of approval. Then I dove in, and spent several sleepless nights devouring the suspense-filled books. It was one of my first forays into Christian fantasy fiction (which some fantasy-fearful publishers disguise by calling it “speculative fiction,” “allegorical fiction,” or “inspirational fiction”).

Let’s just call it what it is: fantasy fiction with all the trimmings, written from a Christian theological worldview. The Christian “God” and “Jesus” are never mentioned, but one of the gods worshipped is modeled after the God Christians are familiar with.

I thoroughly enjoyed the series, especially since I was able to read the books one after another. The action-packed storyline contained way more violence than most Christian books (lots of sword fights and superheroish escape scenes—the staple of all fantasy fiction), and even a few juicy love scenes that caused my eyebrows to raise (whoa…this is Christian fiction?).  Karen Hancock does a superb job with character development and her characters are truly—er—inspirational. Maybe that’s why they call it inspirational fiction.

So if you’re looking for an author to binge on and want to give Christian fantasy a try, pick up the Legends of the Guardian-King series. (And no, Karen did not pay me to write this; I’ve never met her…although I would like to; she’s a terrific writer!)

Books in the series:

1. Light Of Eidon
2. Shadow Within
3. Shadow Over Kiriath (Legends of the Guardian-King)
4. Return of the Guardian-King (Legends of the Guardian-King)

More author binges:

• Learn to write fiction through author binging

Tags: author binging, authors, fantasy fiction, fiction, Karen Hancock, Legends of the Guardian-King, novelists, Writing

Seen inside a public toilet stall:

• Toilet out of order. Please use floor below.

In an office break room:

• After tea break staff should empty the teapot and stand upside down on the draining board.

Tags: HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, Putrid Prose, Writing

In the previous post, we showed you a technique for brainstorming spin-offs from one tightly-focused topic. Studies show that original content in blog posts keeps readers coming back for more. Here are two handy ways to generate ideas:

1.  Set up Google Alerts or Yahoo Alerts for your topic area.

It’s so simple. For Google Alerts, enter your search term, your e-mail address, and how often you want to receive updates (as-it-happens, daily, or weekly). Then specify the places you want Google to monitor: News, Blogs, Web, Video, Groups, or Comprehensive.

Want to track where your name is appearing in cyberspace? Of course you do! When you input your name as the search term, put quotation marks around your name, like this: “Laura Christianson.”

Keep in mind that a search term for a multi-faced word such as “adoption” will turn up all sorts of irrelevant articles about the topic. My “adoption” updates include links to articles about people adoption, pet adoption, highway adoption, technology adoption - anything and everything with the word “adoption” in it. But it only takes a sec to sift through the headlines and pick out a couple of intriguing articles. I gather tons of great research and inspiration for fresh articles through Google Alerts.

2.  Use an RSS feed reader.

Quickly scan the latest industry news by subscribing to blog/Website feeds and viewing updates via a feed reader. Most browsers come with a built-in feed reader. Or use a Web-based one such as Google Reader, or download one such as Feedreader3.

Feed readers, unlike Google Alerts, allow you to finely tune which sites you subscribe to, increasing your chances of finding pertinent information. I recommend doing both. You never know where the next gem will turn up!

How to organize your research

Create a system for organizing the articles you collect:

• Categorize articles by topic and track them on a spreadsheet or in a word processing program. If you get most of your articles off the Internet, you can copy and paste the entire article directly into your word processing program.
• Print or clip articles and stuff them in color-coded file folders. Invest in a file cabinet or a file folder holder so you can keep all your research close at hand.
• If you’re a binder person, get a heavy-duty 3-hole punch, a 2-inch binder, and some index tabs. Separate articles by topic.

What’s the best way you’ve found to collect and store your research?

Tags: feed readers, Feedreader3, Google Alerts, Google Reader, RSS, Yahoo Alerts

Earlier this week, I did some blog training with the CRAVEcompany staff. CRAVE is a Seattle-based business that nurtures “Innovative Connections” among women. They have a dual focus (and as such, will be launching two blogs):

• CRAVEparty promotes ways for busy women to relax, spend some girlfriend time, and pamper themselves.
• CRAVEbusiness provides expert advice and connections for entreprenesses (aka, female entrepreneurs).

One of their top questions was:

How do I create an entertaining, informative article that’s tightly focused on a single topic?

I showed the CRAVE team how to do this, using a topic I randomly selected from an extensive list we’d created for their blogs: Aromatherapy.

When I stated that they could easily write an entire post on the topic of aromatherapy, I noticed raised eyebrows. “I don’t know about that topic,” commented one person. “It doesn’t seem particularly interesting.”

So I asked them a question:

“Do you ‘use’ aromatherapy? Tell us about the typical way you incorporate aromatherapy into your daily life.”

One woman piped up, “I spray a nice-smelling air freshener over my cat’s litter box every day.”

Purrrfect!

She’d just hit on an unexpected, entertaining, practical use for aromatherapy.

“I love to burn scented candles,” chimed in another. That led to a discussion about the way candles create a peaceful ambiance in our homes.

“My massage therapist told me to dab essential oils behind my kneecaps,” said another woman.

“And I spray one squirt of ‘Euphoria Mix’ (lavender, ylang ylang, geranium, sweet orange, lemon, vanilla, peppermint) in my bedroom at night when I’m settling down to read a book,” I added.

Within 30 seconds, we had the makings of a blog post: “5 Everyday Uses for Aromatherapy.” Of course, at the end of that post, we’ll invite reader comments by asking, “How do you use aromatherapy in your daily life?”

In addition to our “top 5 list,” we brainstormed spinoffs:

• History of aromatherapy
• Definition of “essential oils”
• Health benefits of essential oils (physical application vs. inhaling vs. practical applications… such as insect repellant)
• Scents to use in certain situations
• How to use aromatherapy safely
• Best places in Seattle to buy aromatherapy products (you gotta work in that local angle)

The CRAVE team discovered that not only did they have enough material to write one article on aromatherapy, they had enough to write an entire series!

Since we’re on the subject of aromatherapy, please tell us: How do you use aromatherapy in your daily life? Can you think of additional spin-offs for this topic?

Do you know what makes an ad jingle effective?

1. It’s short.
2. Anyone can sing the melody.
3. It’s easy to remember.

The same three criteria apply to picking domain names.

1. Short - The longer your domain name, the harder it is for people to remember—and the greater chance for mistakes when typing. Our domain, www.heblogssheblogs.com works, not because it’s short, but because it plays off a common phrase in our society; two of the words are the same and the other two words are similar. He’s a blogger and she’s a blogger does not.

2. Anyone can say it in the most common vernacular. In other words, it’s easy to spell.  “Hike for Hope” works. www.hikeforhope.com “Hike 4 Hope” doesn’t. www.hike4hope.com (Both are real domains.) Uncommon spellings are trouble also. Love is fine. Luv isn’t.

3. It’s easy to remember. I can remember “Advanced Fiction Writing.” www.advancedfictionwriting.com (Editorial comment- excellent site for fiction writers.) It’s hard to remember www.ifyouwant2beagreatadvancedfictionwriter.com  Also, when people think Web addresses they think .COM. Not .NET, .USA, .ORG, etc. It’s similar to toll free numbers. Even though 888 and 866 have been around for years, people still dial 800, even with 866 or 888 staring them in the face. Same thing with domains. If at all possible get .COM.

Bottom line? Make sure your domain name keeps the hoops to a minimum. The more hoops you make people jump through to get to your site—or back to your site—the fewer hits you’ll get. A simple test is to tell friends the name of your new site, then ask them a few minutes later what the name of your site is.

If they remember, odds are the rest of the world will too.

Tags: Marketing, Picking domain names, Web sites

October 6, 2008, 7-9 p.m.

• NCWA, Seattle
• Jim and Laura teach workshops on branding/marketing and blogging

October 12, 2008, 2-4 p.m.

• CRAVEbusiness Coffee Chat, Pan Pacific Hotel, Seattle
• Laura teaches business blogging

Feb 26 – March 1, 2009

• Florida Christian Writers’ Conference
• Jim and Laura teach four workshops

Spring 2009

• Northwest Christian Writers’ Renewal Conference
• Jim and Laura teach workshops

Jim and Laura are now booking speaking engagements for the remainder of 2008 and 2009. We offer a variety of customized presentations, training events, and interactive, hands-on courses on marketing, blogging, and writing topics.

We are available to speak at:

• Corporate/work team training events
• Conferences for writers, marketers, and bloggers
• Business development conferences
• Trade shows
• Associations
• Churches
• Entrepreneurial networking events
• Volunteer service organizations

For more information, visit our Resources pages or contact our speakers’ agent, Katie Johnson, at fusionmarketingandconsulting.com.

Tags: Blogging, HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, Jim Rubart, Laura Christianson, Marketing, Seattle speakers, speaking engagements, Writing