You know how many business owners wanted to punch me in the face because I told them nobody cares about their business? Fortunately, none have followed through on that impulse. But a few made me flinch. Whether it’s your website, blog, brochure, newsletter, Facebook page, press release or newspaper ad, nobody reads your content because they’re simply enamored with your business. These are the questions your content should be answering instead.

Sending out a press release is cheap and relatively easy. That’s one reason why everyone does it. Professionals who are more serious about distributing press releases know that a good one will be picked up by media outlets, shared via social media and boost your search ranking. But the ultimate goal is to generate actual coverage of the news you’re sharing. That’s the “press” in “press release.” Here’s how to make your press releases newsworthy.

I ignore at least 10 blogs for every blog that I read and enjoy. I ignore them for a lot of reasons, from the way they look to the way they sound. Unfortunately, your blog could be one of those that just isn’t doing it for me. Here are seven reasons why I give up on a blog. Are you making any of these mistakes?

I sometimes refer to the sidebar as the sausage of a website or blog because that’s where people feel the need to stuff every widget and plugin on the face of the earth. But it’s the sidebar content that’s helpful to visitors that will be helpful to you in the long run in the form of trust and loyalty. Here are some ideas for using a sidebar effectively – and some things you should consider getting rid of.

Whether you have a warehouse of inventory or a few items in an Etsy shop, your product descriptions can have a big impact on whether customers buy or just shrug and browse another site. Even if you’re selling a digital product, you still need a good description. But what makes one description “good” and another “meh”? Here are a couple of tips for keeping yours in the “good” column and increasing the odds that someone will click the buy button.

Someone once asked me: how do users read on the web? My answer? They don’t. Internet users scan. They pick out individual words and sentences. Check out these statistics from a recent study: 79% of participants always scanned a new webpage. Only 16% actually read word-by-word. Here is how you can make your content more readable and keep those wandering eyes from leaving your page.

Every day, businesses and organizations incorporate humor into their marketing content. Many do it effectively and reap the rewards. Many more fail and waste money. Here are a few tips that can help you do it right.

This year we decided to do things differently on our blog, and that meant using an editorial calendar instead of simply waiting for inspiration to hit. If you’re also into the whole “inspiration” thing, here are a couple of reasons to start being a little more left-brained. Since you’re already a subscriber and reader, you can access the calendar right now by shooting me an email and letting me know. I’ll send you the link and password!