By Daniel Woolfolk, Encinitas Patch
El Camino Creek fourth-grader Travis Selinka, 10, was recently treated for brain cancer with seven weeks of radiation therapy in Houston and lost his hair.
About a dozen of his classmates shaved their heads Thursday at All American Barber Shop so that he wouldn’t be the only one with a bald head at school.
Read more:
Everything in this article is true and the most important takeaways are to not be a pest to publishers and to never attempt a sales pitch in a blog post.
A video where I see if dogs like carrots got picked up by CBS 8 in San Diego. It had previously been picked up nationally by AOL.
It’s a follow-up to a video of a veterinarian showing how and why to feed vegetables to dogs.
As an online editor, I’ve pitched my company’s free blogging platform to hundreds of business owners at networking events and can often tell right away whose post will be shared by our readers and whose post will be ignored.
And if you’ve been to a few business networking events, you too can tell a good blogger from a bad one and it all comes down to this: Who do you want to talk to?
Do you want to talk to the classic salesman who will approach each person the same way with the same elevator pitch or do you want to spend time with the skilled conversationalist who listens and builds a conversation just for you while showing you that she’s a confident expert in her field?
If you’re like me, you want to interact with the conversationalist and Internet readers are no different.
Just like you and I avoid the “elevator pitch guy,” readers avoid blog posts that are just one big sale pitch.
I’ve seen blog posts that read something like this:
“Come to Johnson’s Furniture where we have the best selection at the best prices.”
That’s not a blog post. That’s an ad that should be placed where people have to see it.
Writing such a post is a waste of energy because, while a few eyeballs might graze it, nobody will share it.
A pitchy writer has killed the viral aspect of the post before it was even published.
So when you’re at your keyboard, ready to blog, make sure you’re not in the elevator pitch mindset, make sure you’re writing the same way you’d speak if you were having a successful chat at a casual business event.
Try these tips:
I’ll have plenty of more posts on how to find your blogging voice and create leads by writing. If you have any questions, email me at woolfolkmedia@gmail.com
Just Say No to Vertical Videos
We’ve all done it—held our phones vertically as we shoot video. It’s the most familiar and comfortable way to hold the phone, but unfortunately it makes for bad video.
Our eyes are next to each other and not on top of each other, so naturally we see a horizontal world.
Too bad the iPhone doesn’t take a cue from the Flip Cam and allow for horizontal video even when the phone is held vertically.
I’ve seen too many otherwise-usable video ruined by this.
So if you still feel the urge to shoot videos vertically, watch this fun YouTube video that will sway you to the bright horizontal side.
JP and his staff at Surfin Fire do this every year and he’s got a special touch with the kids. Here’s last year’s story.
These dogs were fun to work with. Most of them at least tried the carrot and a few enjoyed the new treat.
Cardiff 101: Carpentier Parkway Damaged in Collision, Donations Needed for Repairs
Daniel Woolfolk, Encinitas Patch, May 14, 2013
Read the story on Patch: http://encinitas.patch.com/groups/editors-picks/p/cardiff-101-carpentier-parkway-damaged-in-collision-donations-needed-for-repairs
Daniel Woolfolk
I’m an online editor and video journalist based in Northern San Diego County who is available to help your business produce quality blog and video content that potential customers will find, enjoy and share.
I provide consulting and production in the following areas to help you succeed with content marketing :
As a Patch.com editor for AOL, I work in the forefront of online publishing.
I’m a 2010 graduate of Columbia University, where I was a Pulitzer-Moore fellow. I have contributed often to the Associated Press as a reporter for the Watertown (NY) Daily Times. Prior to that, I was an intern at Lens, the photojournalism blog of The New York Times.
My work has appeared on such publications as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, These days you'll often see my work on The Huffington Post and AOL.com as well as San Diego-area publications and television stations.
In 2012, I won three Excellence in Journalism awards from the San Diego Press Club for military reporting.
Contact me:
