by Elle Ray | Oct 16, 2018 | Writing
How to Write from Your Heart to Touch Readers
The heart knows more than you may give it credit for. You’ve often heard expressions like “the heart knows what it wants” and “the heart wants what it wants.” These sentiments usually are spoken when referring to romantic affairs of the heart, not about how to write.
But if you consider the strength of your convictions as valuable when it comes to your love life, why in the world can’t you trust that same heartfelt intuition to serve you just as well as when you create? Intuition is one of the greatest powers human have. When you learn how to tap into that well of knowledge, you’ll realize that you can learn how to write like a pro.
Stop Thinking
Thinking certainly has its place in polite society. You may have a reason to ponder the miracles of the universe, how the human body works and why some people are mean. And it’s been proven that negative thinking often plays itself out in the grand scheme, leading to less-than-desirable consequences. Positive thinking, on the other hand, often delivers in favorable results.
But neither positive nor negative thinking helps you learn how to write. If you buy into the negative notion that you’ll never be able to write, you won’t. Conversely, if you put positive vibes toward the truth that you too can write and write well, it may not lead you to inspiration. So when it comes to writing, it’s time to take off the thinking cap and just listen.
Intuit It
Dictionary.com defines intuition as: “the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.” Since intuition sits below the threshold of your consciousness, thinking may only get in the way of understanding what you already know. And writing is one of those communication methods that’s ingrained into your subconscious from the time you learn the alphabet.
Consider how you read when thinking about how to write. Just as you don’t need to spell out each word and access some inner dictionary as you read this page, you don’t need to analyze each word, thought, idea and concept as it leaves your fingertips. Whether you use a keyboard, a pen or a speech-recognition program, the process of writing can move just as smoothly as the subconscious process you use to read!
Let It Flow
After talking to countless intelligent people who say they would rather dig a ditch in the middle of summer rather than write a 500-word blog post, we are convinced that thinking can only get in your way when it comes to writing. So how exactly does it work? Follow these simple steps and you too will be able to knock out 500 words with ease:
- Sit still and clear your mind of everything except the idea of what you want to write. You can’t even begin the process of how to write until you first allow your intuition to provide you with a title, idea or concept. Brainstorming is a great technique to nudge this along.
- Place your hands in the home position on your keyboard. If you don’t use a keyboard, open your notebook and take up your pen.
- Have a conversation with the paper. It’s your listener right now. It has no judgement. It’s only there to serve you as you allow your inner knowing to spill out onto it.
How to Write Now
By kicking out all the barriers to your writing project — including your intrusive judgements — the words flow. At Ray Access, we often hire smart, intellectually stimulated writers. And we can always tell when they’re thinking too much. It makes their writing disjointed or convoluted. When they get out of the way and have an intimate conversation about what they’ve learned though their research, the words flow over the page.
And when the words flow smoothly during the writing process, those same words flow smoothly into the reader’s brain. Write the first words that come out of your fingers; there’s a good chance that it’s the right word more often than not. And when it’s not, you’ll discover any flaws in word usage or intent during the edit. Remember:
“Editors think, writers intuit.”
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Sep 15, 2018 | Small Business Advice
What You Can Do When Your Business Slows
Every industry has them, and every small business owner experiences them. Slumps hit whenever business is slow; it seems to occur every year. Slumps may be cyclical for you — whether due to the holiday season or the summer season. Or you may never know when or why business crawls for a week or two. You may be one of the lucky ones and only get hit with a slump at infrequent times, like once a year or so.
Whether you know in advance or just reach a little waiting period between projects, you need to have a plan for what to do when business is slow. Waiting until it happens and then scrambling to keep employees busy or worrying about the bills is not fruitful — nor is it the best way to run a successful enterprise.
As Ben Franklin was fond of saying: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
Forecast: Stormy and Calm
Like weather forecasters, humans and their algorithms and predictors can only go so far. They provide accurate predictions only so often. So while you may know that September is hurricane season since you live in a coastal community, you recognize the value of having an emergency evacuation plan in hand. But you still need to know how to react when the big one hits in August or October!
Wall Street may give you a clue as to when you can expect an economic slump for which you can prepare, but financial wizards can’t tell when business is slow in your neighborhood with certainty that’s as clear. You may rely on experienced brokers and the latest technology to give you forecasts based on historical data and market research, but when business is slow for no apparent reason, all that investment may seem like redundancies and wasted resources.
J.R.R. Tolkien seemed to have his finger on the pulse of American business when he said: “It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”
It’s Not If, But When
Even the brightest financial prognosticators encourage business owners to keep a little back — to include a contingency plan for when business is slow through no apparent economic, cultural, political or earth-shaking disaster. And while the best mindset for successfully running a business is one that’s positive and optimistic, it never hurts to give way to the realistic left-brain side of your mind and prepare for a time when business is slow.
Use that time wisely, shore up your energy and keep up the optimistic forecasts even when business is slow by following a few creative and common-sense tips, such as:
- Turn to your clients and use the time when business is slow to recognize them with a little extra attention or a limited special deal.
- Know and become proficient in every aspect of your business so that you can fill in when business is slow. When business is booming, you may not have the bandwidth to pay outside contractors for every little job in your company.
- Keep a training program or two in storage. When business is slow and you don’t want to resort to layoffs, put your staff through these training processes when everyone has time, not when they’re busy filling orders.
- Diversify your services. Create new offerings that serve to fill the gap the next time you get in a slump. Time is now available to get together with your partner or leadership team to brainstorm in a creative session.
- Lay out your marketing strategy for a complete review. Check the analytics on your social media campaigns, look at the number of views your blogs are getting and see how long visitors are staying on your website. Then decide what and how to change.
- Ditch the analytics when business is slow and go with some new, outrageous marketing ploy you’ve always wanted to try. Just like the weatherman and his Doppler radar, marketing analytics aren’t always right!
- Revisit your staffing needs. Meet with key HR staff or look at the performances of your employees to see how you can better use them. Or contemplate which ones may be best left off your payroll for good because they weren’t really doing all that well anyway.
- Dust off your going-to-a-meeting outfit and do some networking if you’ve let that part of your marketing go in lieu of business demands. Find some new networking opportunities and get out and shake hands, pass out business cards and get to know your neighbors.
Plant the Seeds Today
Risk management is not a dirty word, nor is it negative. In fact, forethought is always a positive, proactive frame upon which to base your actions from week to week, especially when you’re the boss. When business is slow, it’s exactly the right time to work harder.
Alternatively, if you’re really a flexible Frankie, you may want to use the time to go fishing or take that trip you’ve been putting off for a while. With 24/7 connectivity, no one even has to know you’re not in the office when business clamors once again for your immediate attention.
When it comes to business planning, Ray Access follows the advice from one of our financial heroes, Warren Buffet: “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Sep 4, 2018 | Agency Advice
How Often Should You Update Your Website?
For some business owners, one shining moment of inspired insight leads to decades of discovery and innovation. Henry Ford is a good example. He figured out a way to make cars quickly while maintaining a certain quality. His inspiration for the assembly line continues to influence manufacturing today, although modern-day assembly lines rely more on robots than people, making the costs of goods even more affordable.
When you came upon the grand ideas that launched your company, you too most likely relied on less efficient means initially to produce your service or product. So like the introduction of robotics to the assembly line, there comes a time when you need to elevate your approach and update your website to make your company more efficient and profitable.
Age-Old Questions
Entrepreneurs like you or agencies like yours tend to be industry leaders. But you can’t be an expert in all things. If you’re a web designer, you may leave hosting for someone else. If you’re an SEO consultant, you may want to contract out the content you need. The same is true of your website.
Even if you’re the head of an agency that offers website development, you may not schedule time to work on your own site. So you may wonder if you should update it when you think of it or when industry experts recommend. It’s an investment to update your website, but one that can provide a good return if you time it right and do it properly.
Some decisions are best left to professionals who get big bucks for keeping up with the trends. Unless that’s your role, you need to focus on running your business. Call on an expert to let you know when it’s time to make a change and update your website.
Trend-Setting Web Developers
A website that looks old and outdated reveals a lot about your business — very much like what the state of your living room says about you when you’re trying to sell your house. If it’s dirty and cluttered, for example, buyers may assume you don’t take care of anything else in your home either. By the same token, if your website is old, potential clients may believe your product or service is out-of-date too.
If you haven’t taken the time to update your website in the last five years, stop now — because it’s long past due. Other clues that signal a need to update your site include:
- Old technology. You don’t have to know back-end coding or web development to recognize outmoded protocols. If your pages are loading from a PDF or are relying on Flash, you need to throw out your fax machine and update your website already.
- Confusing navigation. If visitors have difficulty finding what they’re looking for on your site, you’re losing sales. Frustrated visitors will leave for a site that’s easier to get the answers they seek with just a click.
- Not SEO-optimized. Take advantage of search engine optimization strategies at every turn to keep your site updated and to help potential customers find you in their searches. Make sure your keywords are in your page titles and file names.
- Slow loading times. Consider loading speed when updating your site. Visitors won’t wait more than three seconds for your page to load, especially when your competition is just a click away.
- Not mobile-friendly. Every website today needs to display well on every device, from the largest computer screen to the smallest mobile phone. A site that doesn’t easily convert to mobile devices will chase away more then 50 percent of your potential customers.
- Sloppy and unprofessional content. Your content can’t have errors. And your site needs to provide the right prices, correct store hours and the correct email and phone numbers. Your About page should represent the real you, as your company is today.
- Old photos. Use recent photos and graphics of your team and your business location, if it’s important to you. Understand that flashy photos don’t sell what you do — they’re merely vehicles to guide visitors to your content. It’s your content that carries your message and calls to action.
- No manageability. When you ask your web developer to update your website, make sure you can tweak it much as you desire. With today’s technology, don’t let a developer hold your site hostage; it’s just not necessary anymore.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Aug 21, 2018 | Editing
Get Your Message Right Before You Send It Out
It’s true that the eye often sees what it wants to see, despite evidence to the contrary. Voters read into campaign promises that they’ll end up with a better society if they elect one politician over another. Lonely singles see the perfect mate in a loose collection of bad habits with a pretty face. And writers see a Pulitzer Prize in every word they put on paper.
As it turns out more often than not, none of the above scenarios turn out very well. In fact, when you don’t rely on a second pair of eyes — or detailed scrutiny and background checks — the results can be disastrous.
Who You Gonna Call?
Let’s avoid further pontifications about love and politics. Like religion, they’re topics ripe for meddling or preaching instead of instructing. Rather, we’ll stick to our first-hand knowledge about the importance of editing for clear communication. That’s where our experience lies, after all.
In the past, we’ve written about how to become an editor (see parts one, two and three) and what goes into the secret sauce of editing. But when it comes to the importance of editing for getting your true intentions across to your readers, certain aspects of the art and science cannot be overstated.
You Said What?
In face-to-face communications, how you say something plays a bigger role in messaging than what words you actually use. For example, imagine someone approaching you:
- Shouting in anger: “How long is that going to take?”
- Softly, with a smile: “How long is that going to take?”
While the verbiage is exactly the same, both encounters end up portraying very different meanings. So too can the tone of your writing convey completely different messages. In writing, however, when you don’t have the luxury of bringing your other senses into the conversation, the differences are often more subtle. Consider these variations and how they strike you:
- “Getting a facelift is a big expense.”
- “Getting a facelift is a big investment.”
- “Getting a facelift taps your resources to change your life.”
Each sentence is saying basically the same thing — that it costs a lot of money to get a facelift. But each has a different style. And while you may think this kind of language is just a marketing ploy that you learn in advertising school, think again. You’ve likely seen how punctuation can change a simple call to action: “Let’s eat, Grandma!” or “Let’s eat Grandma!” Make this mistake once and you’ll come to appreciate the importance of editing.
When Edits Matter Most
Maybe you don’t worry about the importance of editing. Perhaps you may believe that your audience understands your intentions. You share your message — on your website, in your blog posts, through employee and customer newsletters, in emails and letters.
But you may not realize how many people lose trust in you — and unsubscribe, delete or even block — when you miss an important mark. Sometimes, mistakes seem minor: an inappropriate exclamation point, a misspelled name or even the wrong verb. Sometimes, mistakes or missteps in tone and style can be so unremarkable that readers don’t even recognize why they’re turned off. But they are.
Accept the Importance of Editing
To reach your business’s audience, you need to accept that a second pair of eyes — preferably professionally-trained eyes like those of Ray Access editors — can help you shape your message so that it’s understood. Editing is more than proofreading. The words you choose matter. And editing makes sure you use the most effective words. Ray Access edits at half price.
Say what you mean and mean what you say. But let your editor check it out before you hit Send, before you click Publish and before you go to press. You’ll be so glad you did. Just like the politician who has to backtrack and the lover who doesn’t show up for the wedding, forgiveness sometimes comes too late. You have to live with the fallout. You’ve not only lost a sale, you’ve actively turned people against you.
What’s the importance of editing? You may as well ask what’s the importance of communication. Why have a website, write blog posts or send newsletters and emails when you aren’t sure you’re getting your message right? Get it right the first time — because that’s often the only chance you get.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Aug 7, 2018 | Small Business Advice
5 Steps to Take When Your Enthusiasm Wanes
If you’re like many small business owners, you were full of enthusiasm and spirited motivation when you first started your business. If you weren’t, it never would have taken off, much less soared into the stratosphere — or however high you’ve managed to push it so far.
The more clients you added, the more stable your company became, the more excited you got about your initial investment of time and money. Small business owners are nothing if not dreamers and inspiring leaders. Everyone either envies your success … or wants to join your team.
Risk vs. Reward
Small business owners share a number of characteristics. Among the most common traits, they:
- Love the thrill of risk-taking
- Are always full of new ideas
- Possess a strong need for challenges
- Get a kick from beating the odds
- Are fiercely independent
- Bore easily and need stimulation
Depending on how you look at it, these common traits can be positive or negative. Risk-taking gives you a big shot of adrenaline, for example, which can be addicting. You may end up seeking out those risks, which can lead to rash decisions. But if small business owners were afraid of the unknown, no new businesses would ever get started!
You may value your independence, but often that impedes your desire to ask for help. So, while new ideas and innovations are prized qualities because they lead to discovery and foster growth, these same qualities can cause you to make hasty, imprudent decisions. And so a virtue becomes a vice that hurts your business.
Keeping Yourself in Check
An effective tenet for all small business owners is to get in the habit of keeping a watchful eye on your emotions and your thinking. In other words, objectively watch your own inner workings as closely as you watch your bank statement and your employees.
“Physician, heal thyself” is not a mantra designed strictly for doctors. In fact, it aids anyone, no matter what you do for a living. When you pay attention to your thinking, you shape your future. As the great philosopher Anonymous once said:
Watch your thoughts for they become your words.
Watch your words for they become your actions.
Watch your actions for they become your habits.
Watch your habits for they become your character.
All your actions first begin in your mind. Think it and make it so. Small business owners are acutely aware of this mental phenomenon — you know that your business, your inventions or your innovations first came from a tiny seed planted in your subconscious. Knowing this, it should be easier to accept that the end of your business — whether it’s your imminent demise or your successful transition — also comes first from your thoughts.
The Choices Are Yours
So what are small business owners to do when the thrill is gone? To whom do you turn when your latest new ideas are threatening to blow off the top of your head if you don’t act on them? Where do you go when you just need another challenge or you’re bored?
Like the many small business owners who’ve found themselves in this situation in the past, one of your choices is to scrap the whole enchilada and start over. But that option typically leads to regrets rather than continued success. Consider these five more effective approaches to scratching your itch:
- Start a hobby. After years of devoting all your time and energy to your business, look to other enjoyable pursuits to challenge yourself and provide unpaid suitable risks. For example, you can try whitewater rafting, learning to fly a plane or taking up yoga.
- Take on a second job. Once your business is running smoothly, you may be able to step back, an inch at a time, until your daily input is no longer as vital as it once was. Follow your bliss to another income-producing gig, such as writing a book, teaching or creating a new app.
- Sell the business. Getting your company ready for a sale takes time. Talk to a business broker for tips about how to prepare, explore markets and find the highest bidder. The whole process of selling your business will be enough of a rush to keep your adrenaline up for a while longer.
- Expand your current line. Promote some of your best workers to management while you pursue other avenues of products or services you might offer. It may feel like you’re starting a brand new business, but without all the stress that small business owners take on to feed the need for something new and exciting.
- Find new markets. In the same vein as the above tip, work within the existing structure that you worked so hard to create. Take a trip overseas to look for new clients. Open an office in another city. Franchise your idea and spawn a new generation of entrepreneurs.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Jul 24, 2018 | Content Provider
What You Need to Know When Website Writing
Most people understand the distinctions between a novel and a biography. They know how a newspaper article and a love letter differ. They can tell a business memo from a shopping list. But few can offer up a definition that explains the difference between a blog and a web page.
While you may not be able to tell the difference between a blog and a web page, you instinctively know it when you see it, even if you can’t put your finger on what makes each stand out. Don’t feel bad; some professional content writers have a difficult time explaining the difference between a blog and a web page. But the difference has broad implications.
What’s on Your Website?
Almost every business has a website today. And most forward-thinking companies have a blog on their sites. But every website also has other pages, where the business introduces itself, explains its products or services and states its case.
All websites are evergreen, meaning they have no expiration date. They need to be just as relevant in two years as they are today. As a result, the content of most business websites is static. It doesn’t change often because once it’s up, it’s working. Why change anything?
Why a Blog?
Blogs are different. An active blog gets a new article every week — or at the minimum, every month. Blog posts always include a date so readers can reference them appropriately. They’re presented in the context of a specific time.
Blogs are perfect for time-sensitive material, which is another difference between a blog and a web page. For instance, your blog can announce:
- Trending styles or shifts in attitude
- Industry updates
- Relevant insights and information that jive with the news
- Annual, seasonal or dated events
Consider Search Engines
Search engine optimization (SEO) drives online traffic to your website. Search engines, like the behemoth Google, reward website pages with long-form content — 800 to 1,000 words minimum. Web pages should be authoritative, sharing information about your business and industry. Don’t get too creative when writing a web page.
Blog posts can be as short as 350 words, but often fall in the 500-word range. That’s one more difference between a blog and a web page. Blogs also can provide long-form content (like this one) when the topic calls for it, but they’re generally easy to read. While they’re meant to be informative, they may be entertaining. Another difference between a blog and a web page is that blogs need a great lead-in to draw readers.
Blogs Attract; Web Pages Inform
People search the internet for two reasons (other than to be entertained):
- To find information
- To buy something
If you’ve answered your visitors’ questions clearly, succinctly and completely, they’ll want to know who you are and what you do. That impulse leads them to your website pages. They may not be ready to buy anything right away, but they will remember you. When they’re ready to purchase what you sell, they’ll be back.
Differences in Tone and Style
Blog posts are articles about a single topic. They may have links to other pages on your site and other authoritative websites. Website pages, on the other hand, contain many calls to action. They’re written more like a news article with the important information at the top. They’re geared to inform and inspire contact. To learn the difference between a blog and a web page, consider:
- Blogs don’t send a marketing vibe. Blogs are:
- Good reads
- Interesting
- Useful
- Regular additions to your website content
- Great to post on your social channels
- Provocative, creating discussion
- Platforms to offer your knowledge and passion
- Website pages are:
- More formal
- To the point
- Transactional
- Descriptive
- Explanatory
- Informative
Blogs Are Uniquely Yours; Websites Cover Everything
When you know the difference between a blog and web page, you have a clear and definitive path to follow when you sit down to write. Your opening sentence in a blog post may be challenging or questioning, whereas the first line of a web page needs to answer the title.
For instance, let’s say you’re an herbalist. The first paragraph of your weekly blog post may start out like this: “You’ve tried everything to rid yourself of that nasty headache, only to have it return an hour later. You don’t have to suffer in silence or keep taking harmful medications; consider instead the many herbs that have been used for centuries to cure headaches.”
You wouldn’t start a web page like that. Your home page might start with: “Herbs provide a natural source of spices for your dinner table and remedies for your medicine cabinet.” Subsequent pages can go into detail about specific herbs, natural treatments and your background as an herbalist. Each page offers a link to a contact page for more information.
Capitalize on the Difference Between a Blog and a Web Page
Blog posts focus on one topic, trend or title. Website pages feature your company, services and products. Don’t confuse the two. Learn more by reading previous Ray Access blog posts about:
Also, get website content tips and ideas for making your web pages pop. Most of all, keep in mind the difference between a blog and a web page to get the best results. You need both to reap benefits from your online marketing campaigns!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Jul 9, 2018 | Writing
What You Should Include When You Write a Bio
In business and journalism lingo, a bio is short for biography. One of the reasons it’s short is because it’s not a book, nor is it a resume or a lengthy history. At the same time, when you write a bio, there are a number of different iterations you may consider.
After all, your life has many twists, turns and triumphs, and not all are appropriate for every venue or reader. The parts to share in your bio depend on the audience for whom you’re writing it. The length depends on your purpose. The form it takes depends on who/what/where/why/when/how factors:
- Who you expect to read your words
- What your bio accompanies (e.g., a book, report or presentation)
- Where you plan on publishing your bio
- Why you need a bio
- When it needs to be ready
- How detailed it needs to be
Write a Bio for Your Website
Today, a website is a common platform to place your bio. A bio on a website typically goes under a link entitled Meet Our Team or About Us (see ours). You may even include your bio on your homepage if it seems appropriate. This strategy not only identifies you to your visitors, it also provides extra copy to make the page search-engine friendly by creating long-form content.
When you write a bio for your website, the length and style should be driven by:
- The tone you take on the rest of your site
- The industry that you’re representing
- Your target market or audience
For example, if you’re a physician, you don’t want to write a bio with information about how you play with your cat on weekends, although it may be prudent to include information about your fitness activities. On the other hand, if you’re a local plumber, your customers may want to know that you’re pet-friendly, but they won’t care so much if you’re in shape or not.
The length of a bio on your website shouldn’t be longer than 500 words, or you risk losing the interest — and respect — of your readers. Don’t bore them with irrelevant details. Shoot for a balance of education, experience, interests and passions. Remember that consumers and companies do business with people and firms that they like, so make yourself likeable.
Write a Bio to Find Work
Another common place where you may need to write a bio for is on your social media platforms, particularly on LinkedIn. Your LinkedIn bio is known as your profile (see ours), but its purpose is the same. It’s still a bio, a shorted version of your biography or life story, just geared to business and business experience.
And it can reflect a little more personality than your resume normally does. Job-hunting requires taking advantage of every possible avenue to show off your skills, attitude, background and goals. As on your resume, you can’t lie, but you can make yourself look as positive as possible. Have you enjoyed some success? Tout it! Accomplished something special? Brag on it!
You can use the bio that you create for your social media in a cover letter that gets attached to your resume when applying for a job. If it’s well done, it speaks to your strengths, which is what an employer wants to see. Add a salutation, a signature and few more salient lines, and it’s good to go!
Write a Bio for a Press Release
Probably the shortest form of self-promotion and introduction goes into a press release. Press releases, which Ray Access writes, never should be longer than one page. And that includes everything! You want to hit the highlights so that media types can get just enough information to whet their appetites. You want them to be hungry for more.
Remember your audience when sending out a press release. News organizations, magazine writers, funders and successful bloggers take mere seconds to read a press release, so yours needs to be just that — a condensed version of your Best Of. At a minimum, it may contain only your title, contact information and one anecdote or feature.
Write a Bio for Other Reasons
Maybe you need a bio to tag onto an application for a board seat. Perhaps your alumni organization wants one for the next reunion magazine. Whatever the reason, writing about yourself is one of the most difficult tasks imaginable for some people. Writing bios never should be so overwhelming that the process shuts you down.
You can always call on Ray Access to write a bio for all the various places you may need one, even if the need arises for something unique. We have the advantage of having former journalists on staff. Journalists are adept at honing down to the truth.
If you hire a writer for your bio, she may need to interview you to really get a feel for your personality — especially if you need a bio that expresses your true self. If that’s too much of a bother, you can complete a short questionnaire, which is good enough if you just need a bio to match the others in your firm.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Jun 26, 2018 | Small Business Advice
Put Some Life in Your Work/Life Balance
Sometimes, a word, phrase or concept can get so overused and worn-out that you cringe when you hear it, even when it’s pretty cool and even more useful. Consider, for example:
- Have a good day
- Fake news
- Mind/body connection
- Haters
- It’s all good
Useful words and phrases shouldn’t make you want to gag, but after a while, even the best turn of the English language can send you into a tither. And like the positive aspects of the mind/body connection that are saving so many people from fake news about haters and healthcare, the work/life balance teeters in that same realm: “I’ve heard it too often; if I hear it one more time, I’m gonna slap you.”
But Please…
Trends aside, it can be a daunting task to balance work, play, family, friends, culture, alone time, spirituality and physical fitness, especially for entrepreneurs. Thanks to technology and the advancements they bring, now you can work 24/7/365 if you choose. And you may end up doing just that if you can’t find that elusive work/life balance that you don’t want to hear about anymore!
Having said that, no matter how trendy and overused the phrase has become, you can never get too many work/life balance tips. Your sanity depends on it. Your health depends on it. Your relationships really depend on it. In fact, there is no “life” in the work/life balance equation if you can’t tune out sometimes and let work issues go straight to voicemail.
Side Effects and Risks Take Hold
Usually, you only see a subhead called side effects if you’re reading a medical blog. Not finding an acceptable work/life balance, however, may lead to a medical issue if you don’t do it. Since the U.S. ranks 30th out of 38 countries surveyed by Family Living Today that asked who thinks they have a healthy work/life balance, it’s appropriate to list the side effects that can happen when that sensitive balance is tipped too far in one direction. Too much work leads to:
- Poor morale
- Lack of motivation
- Fatigue
- Heart disease
- Stress
- Depression
Socially, an awkward balance leads to:
- Not being able to focus on anything but work
- Time spent with others is ruined by emails and texts
- Important events missed
- Losing touch with friends
- Anxiety
But, you may counter, if you don’t give your business sufficient time and attention, you won’t have a business to worry about. And that leads to missed bill payments, low self-esteem, feelings of failure, poverty and maybe even homelessness.
Show Me How It’s Done, Toto
Finding that elusive balance is the key to success both for your business and in your personal relationships. When you get enough sleep, eat right and exercise on a regular basis, your body is happy and supports your endeavors. And while some weeks, the pendulum simply must swing to long working days just to meet important deadlines, for the most part, it behooves you to build a work life based on balance.
How that looks varies from one person to the next. And when you’re the boss, you may have to put in extra hours each week. But instead of having to choose between making yourself sick and not being able to meet payroll, consider implementing a few balancing rods that shouldn’t be too difficult to manage. These tips allow you to still make the money you need and run a successful (and healthy) business:
- Plan blocks of time off for strictly vacation and relaxation.
- Insist on phone-free periods throughout the day, such as dinner time, for example.
- Kick time-wasters to the curb or at least limit their intrusion. Maybe say goodbye to Facebook?
- Include exercise time in your schedule at least three days a week. Make it as important as a big client meeting.
- Ask your family to help you with the everyday chores you typically do.
- Hire out those things that nobody wants to do.
- Make social commitments so that you don’t blow them off in favor of working.
- Stick to your calendar as faithfully as possible while still building in some flexibility.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Jun 11, 2018 | Blog Writing
Use Brain Power to Come Up with Blog Topics
One of the laments that we at Ray Access hear constantly from small business owners, website developers and marketing pros is that they have trouble coming up with unique blog topics every week. Some even tell us that they draw a blank for new blog topics they churn out only once a month!
Coming up with new blog topics week after week, trying never to repeat a topic, is a challenge for sure. Even though you may be able to get away with a different angle on a single topic, it still takes a certain amount of creativity, open-mindedness and yes — imagination.
Fact and Fiction
Some people equate imagination with fiction — things that are just made up and not necessarily true. And while you certainly can imagine fantasy and great story lines that never happened, you also can apply a vivid imagination to the truth, reality and your readers’ — and clients’ — interests.
In an article titled Nonfiction: Access to Information, Insight and Imagination, collaborating scholars write:
Nonfiction surrounds each of us daily. Such a profound notion suggests that nonfiction should be quite accessible… Such an assumption becomes reality…”
The thrust of the article — as published in The Dragon Lode and reprinted by Springhill College — basically covers how writers of fiction and nonfiction are more alike than not. They argue that the genres really aren’t all that separate. Each type of writing relies on a clear and open mind willing to receive ideas from that same place where the imagination rests.
Tap into Your Best Thinking
Now we’re not talking about making things up and trying to pass them off as fact. Actually, what we’re suggesting is exactly the opposite. Applying your imagination — whether you’re coming up with blog topics, creating a documentary, writing a company newsletter or covering breaking news — allows you to see beyond your own prejudices and ideas of right and wrong.
Being open-minded rightfully relies on the imagination to think beyond your upbringings, your assumptions and even sometimes the very foundation of your faith. For example, as a former newspaper woman, Linda was sent on a mission trip to a third-world country with a group of evangelical medical missionaries. Even while the members of the group proceeded to try to convert her to their religious beliefs, she had to write about their bravery and compassion.
It’s only because she learned how to leave her fears and prejudices behind whenever she covered a story that she was able to produce an award-winning special section. She could see past the facades these religious zealots wore outwardly to see the real humanity and oneness they shared with the “unbelievers” in their care. Linda came away a better person, a better writer and a respected journalist — all without converting.
Too Many Blog Topics
When you apply the principles embodied by information, insight and imagination to the act of coming up with blog topics every week, year in and year out, you may feel like you’re heeding a higher calling. But you never know who you might reach, what you might learn and how you might teach.
So, let us provide a few tips for opening your mind and tapping into the endless well of imagination you were born with. Use these tips when you sit down to create your own list of upcoming blog topics:
- Brainstorming. It’s said that the average person has about 60,000 different thoughts every day. When you storm your brain, alone or preferably with one or more other colleagues, you shake some of those thoughts loose and throw them down on paper. Even if you only use one percent of those random ideas, that can lead to 600 potential blog topics!
- Jotting it down. Keep a pad of paper nearby at all times. Most of the ideas we get pass through so quickly, they don’t have time to stick. Whether you use actual pen and paper or tap the words into a note-taking app on your phone, commit your ideas to hard copy when they catch your attention.
- Meditating. The practice of stopping all thoughts is the exact opposite of brainstorming and gives your mind a break, leaving it open to funnel in some surprising new revelations you may not even know you knew. Many meditators believe that their God/Higher Power/Source speaks to them during this quiet time. If your spiritual guide truly cares about you, she’ll pump you full of great blog topics exactly when you need them! All you have to do is get out of the way.
- Getting out of your chair. Exercise can shake loose a few of the cobwebs stuck inside your head. When you pose a question to yourself and then stop thinking about it while you push your body to move and sweat, all kinds of imaginings can take root and grow. The healthy shot of blood to your brain doesn’t hurt either.
- Caring and sharing. Out with friends who play no part in your industry? Mixing it up with fellow dancers before your Zumba class? Sitting around the dinner table with family? Toss the imagination ball around the room and see what happens. People love to explore new notions and tap into their own creativity out loud — even if it’s only to give you some new blog topics.
- Reading the news. Every day, you should get at least one blog topic from the news. The way your business and/or industry intersects with current trends and interacts with something in the news is one of the best ways to find blog topics. And it’s one way that web developers and SEO professionals get blog topics that are already trending online.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
