Comments for Liz Craig, Writer

Comment on Personal Branding: Make Meaning, Not Money by Barb

Barb — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:05:29 +0000

Liz..finding your blog was a total surprise but a welcoming one! I just started an online class “Business Marketing Writing”, did some surfing on the subject and after some clicks..found this great blog! I currently reside in NC and am getting my own house ready to put on the market in the hopeful anticipation that hubby will land that position in KC and we can move back home where we belong!
I’m working on getting my Virtual Personal Assistant business launched and recently started a blog (just for fun) and all your posts here really resonate with me. Just wanted to let you know that your bookmarked and have a devotee! Thanks for your words of wisdom!!

Comment on Building a Personal Brand? by liz

liz — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:19:08 +0000

Hi, Suzanne –

Thanks for your comment. Your comment, “We tell people what we want them to know…” reminds me that we can hide behind e-mail and text messages, but in person, our faces and body language reveal things we might be trying to hide. Yes, much more comfortable hiding behind words without subtext.

Best,
Liz

Comment on Photo of mine makes national magazine cover! by liz

liz — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 00:05:36 +0000

Hey, Carson –

I’ll have to look on the AU site. I haven’t been able to upload the JPG (or a PDF) of the cover Rob sent me. Thanks for letting me know.
Have a blast this 4th — and a safe one!

Comment on Photo of mine makes national magazine cover! by Carson Brackney

Carson Brackney — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 18:04:49 +0000

Just read the article. The cover is up on the AU site. Congrats on the photo… And congrats to David Jenkins for doing the right thing, even if it did cost him his job.

Comment on Blogging for Fun and Profit by liz

liz — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:20:59 +0000

Hi, Mike –

If they’re still stuck on keywords, they’re behind the curve. Yes, keywords matter somewhat. But as you know, the geniuses at Google change their parameters about every three minutes (actually, more like once a month). For better Google rankings, using keywords and tags doesn’t hurt, but it doesn’t help much, either. Gone are the days of keyword-packed, content-free blogs. What matters today is relevant, useful, frequently changing content.

As to budget, I recently offered a price for a package of blogs that came in above an Indian outfit and below a freelancer who refused to be tied to any due dates (?). I did a test blog for the potential client and discovered that the price I’d offered was probably too low for the amount of time it took to write the blog. It amounted to $33.33 per blog. Actually, that’s pretty high in the blog world. But profitability depends on ability to write quickly and relevantly and usefully. Yes, they do want cheap blogging. And if they can’t get it from you, they know they can have Indian people write their blog posts for peanuts. So why am I even trying to compete in this field? Because unlike an Indian writer, my *first* language is English. That makes a big difference. Indians learn Brit English, and they aren’t familiar with common expressions, so their writing sounds stilted, as if written by a computer program. Heck, maybe they are.

How to ensure payment? Some say get a retainer in advance. You can also get your new client to sign a contract. But I think the best clue is your gut feeling about the person you’re working for. I’ve only had to fire one client, and it happened recently, in the early stages, before I had put in a lot of time on the project. Listen to your intuition. Walt Bodine once told me that if he had it to do all over again, he’d listen to his gut more.

Good luck, Mike.

Comment on Blogging for Fun and Profit by Mike "Og" Ogden

Mike "Og" Ogden — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:20:11 +0000

That’s great Liz about the blogging. At Plattform lately, I’m being asked to blog a lot and it’s turning more into SEO with “be sure and use these keywords.” Do you get a decent budget? My fear is they want cheap blogging. They’re out of town. How do you ensure payment?

Comment on Blogging for Fun and Profit by Lori

Lori — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:05:28 +0000

Go get ‘em, Liz! Congratulations!

Comment on Squarespace, a cool Web/blog platform by Jon

Jon — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 02:42:36 +0000

I’m using Squarespace to develop my website and I must say, I really like it! First and foremost, the support is terrific. When I have a question or issue, I send in a support ticket and in the 5 support tickets I have sent in within the past few weeks, the wait for a response from Squarespace averaged about 10 minutes. In terms of using Squarespace, it certainly fits my needs. I’m not heavily immersed in HTML knowledge but I know a little bit and that seems to be enough to get a basic website up and running. Granted, you could get a site together without any HTML knowledge using Squarespace but knowing a little bit of HTML does help. There are designers who use Squarespace to design some really great looking blogs and websites. One in particular I can think of is Melody Watson and on her blog she has examples of some of the sites and blogs she’s designed. I believe here blog is MelodyWatson.com. Anyway, you can check out my site at: VegasCodes.com and see what I put together in just a few short weeks. Hope this helps and again, for me Squarespace works great! Peace…

Comment on Blogging: Who Needs It? by liz

liz — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:40:58 +0000

Thanks for your comment, David. See you soon at some networking event or other. Hope all is well with you.

Comment on Blogging: Who Needs It? by David Soxman

David Soxman — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:53:49 +0000

Liz,
As you say, writing is not as easy as it may seem. You’ve said very well what many business owners still do not understand. Your content is a reflection of your brand and as such can be helpful or hurtful. Thanks for your great thoughts.