11 Tools That Can Make You a Better Writer
My father has been building things since before I was born. In his 20s, he was a furniture maker, first independently, and later for the famous Kittinger Furniture Company in Buffalo, NY (where my sisters and I were born.) His career has taken him from craftsman to plant manager to company president to owner of his own furniture company. But he is, at heart, a builder. And that means that every home he’s had since I was a kid included a workshop chock full of tools. Wood-handled chisels. Drills and nail guns. Jars full of screws, nuts, bolts, and other methods of joinery that I couldn’t identify. Gallons of wood…
Features & Benefits: The BFFs of Great Sales Copy
There was a time in my life where I spent 0% of my days researching skincare. Alas, I am not as young as I used to be. So now, I spend a significantly larger amount of my free time looking up serums and toners, moisturizers and creams, in an effort to stave off the irrevocable vestiges of time marching across my face. The other day, during one of my research seshes, I came across this product description: Are your eyes glazing over yet? Do you have any idea what this product is supposed to do for you other than the vague “target multiple signs of aging at once?” Because I sure don’t. …
Blog with Purpose (Because Otherwise, You’re Just Journaling)
Pouring yourself a cup of tea (or bourbon) and quietly writing your thoughts in a journal is a great way to clear your mind. I write a few longhand pages most mornings for this very purpose, sans bourbon of course. But if that’s how you approach your business blog, you’re probably not having the kind of success you’d like. Blogging is part of a larger marketing strategy, which means we have to be strategic about how we approach it. You can have fun with it! But it needs to have a clear purpose if it’s going to help you achieve your goals. Whether your blog is for an event venue, a…
Restaurant WordPress Plugins Made Simple
When I started my company website about two years ago, my only significant website experience was with Squarespace. So when I tried to dive into WordPress, there was quite the learning curve. I spent a ton of time scouring the internet, trying to figure out how to make my site behave. I’m still not a site building expert by any stretch. But I have picked up some knowledge over the past couple years from running my own WordPress site and blog. Since most restaurant and venue operators are also not site development experts, I’m sharing what I’ve learned about restaurant plugins and how you can use them to add extra functions to your…
Is a Button Bonanza Sabotaging Your Website?
Very recently, one of my lovely blogging and email marketing clients asked me to do an audit of the copy on her business homepage and product page. I was happy to help, so I hopped over to her website to see what I could see. As the page loaded, the clickable elements began to appear…and appear…and appear. This website, while very attractive, had no less than six clickable elements “above the fold” — aka before you start scrolling down the page. And that’s not even counting the navigation menu. Holy overwhelm, I thought. I know this brand. I know their product. And even I didn’t know where to look. There…
The Hotel Blog: Do You Need One?
When you’re planning a trip to somewhere new, what’s the first thing you do? You probably head to the ol’ internet to do a little research. What is there to do in the area? Any big events coming up? Great outdoor spaces? Must-visit restaurants? The answers to these queries will often appear as blog posts from those in-the-know. Well-written blogs connect searchers to small businesses all over the internet — including hotels. With some time and attention focused on written content, your blog posts could get you more site traffic and — if it’s done right — more bookings. Why does my hotel need a blog? It may not! Not every single hotel is a great…
57+ Creative Topics for Your Wedding Venue Blog
Coming up with content ideas is one of the toughest part of blogging, no matter the industry. Fortunately for wedding venue managers, there is a wealth of ideas to write about weddings! From bridal style to centerpiece ideas to etiquette to the newest trends, you have a vast range of topics to write about. I’ve pulled together nearly 60 topic ideas that you can refer to any time you’re stuck and need a bite from the blogging muse. Real Weddings You have a steady stream of content ideas flowing through your venue every weekend during wedding season. I’m talking about the real weddings that you’ve already booked. These are your calling card. They’re…
The Magic of Transition Words for Better Writing
Today, we’re going to unlearn one of the silly rules that was forced upon us in high school English class, and instead do something that makes sense. We’re going to add informal transition words to our writing. Now, the powers-that-be never banned transition words on their own. But there were certain words that we were absolutely forbidden to use at the beginning of a sentence, like “and” or “but.” I am here to give you carte blanche to throw that rule out the window and go bananas with transitions. Why use transition words? Transition words display the logical relationship between two thoughts. They help the reader follow your ideas from…
The Easy Guide to Search Intent
Just yesterday, a client asked me to write a blog post around a certain keyword. For the sake of example, let’s say it was wedding caterer Austin*. The client currently appears on page three of Google search results for that keyword, and they want to get up to page one. Now, this company is a Central Texas wedding caterer, and they have a strong website. So a well-optimized piece of content that focuses on that keyword should be able to get to page one. But when I got started, I ran into a snag regarding that keyword’s search intent. And it was a good reminder that not every keyword is…
Restaurant Website Content Ideas to Boost Your Search Engine Ranking
In a perfect world, when your customers search for “Best Thai food in town”, your wonderful Thai restaurant would pop up as the first Google result. But you and I live in the real world. And we know that’s probably not going to happen. That’s because of sites like Yelp, Foursquare, and TripAdvisor. These sites are so huge, so regularly updated, and get so many visitors that your little Thai restaurant can’t compete with them in SEO (search engine optimization). So when people search for “best Thai food in town”, they’re going to get a bunch of results like this: The top results are all review sites. But you…
