My personal favorite is The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber, as evidenced by tip #8. Fabulous for entrepreneurs of both genders, this book lays out the entrepreneurial myth—the notion that we can set up shop and do what we’re doing now, working less and earning more—and blows that bad boy out of the water.

Going that route doesn’t build a business; it creates a demanding, thankless and poor-paying job that will suck you dry and leave your empty husk as a warning to other would-be entrepreneurs. If any of this sounds distressingly familiar, click on over to Amazon and pick up this paperback treasure for only $12.

Other recommended titles include Built to Last, Mommy Millionaire and (you gotta love this title) If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails.

What’s your favorite book on business strategy and why? Answers from (and for!) both genders are welcome.

My novel is shaping up slowly. At the time of this writing, I’m not quite 1,600 words in. But the process has made me think about writing, both as career and avocation, in a different light. Specifically, it’s got me thinking about blogging.

So far, three painful writing stints over the last four days have reminded me of the following lessons that apply equally to blogging, one of my personal marketing goals for the months ahead:

• You have to write to become a better writer. You can only read so many books on technique or examples of excellent blog posts. At the end of the day, the only way to become a better blogger is to put fingers to keyboard and do it.
• You’ll write a lot of garbage. Just because you’ve written 20 blog posts doesn’t mean that they’re all fit for public consumption. The same goes for novels. (In fact, I’d sooner throw myself in front of a bus than think that anyone might actually read my previous NaNoWriMo manuscripts.) At the same time, your posts don’t have to be perfect, either. Part of the blogging process is watching your blog evolve as you start to discover your personal voice and style.
• You have to listen. In noveling, you listen to the still, small voices of your characters as they claw their way into existence. With blogging, you listen to everything from the ponytailed barista at Starbucks to those three loyal readers who routinely revisit and even comment on your blog. If you view writing as your personal soapbox, prepare to be ignored.
• You have to persevere. If you’re serious about writing, whether it’s a novel or a blog, you have to overcome resistance. Writing is hard work. It’s like going to the gym. Regular workouts (or writing sessions) will make you stronger or improve your conditioning, but you have to keep up the effort. And something more fun will try to tempt you away from that next workout. Don’t give in.

I still have 25 days and more than 48,000 words to go with the novel—and hopefully quite a bit more with this blog. I’m sure many more lessons await in the weeks ahead.

What’s your best blogging advice? Or noveling advice? I’ll need all the help I can get to cross the 50,000 word mark.

1. Keep it simple. Tell readers what they want to know. Be as concise as possible with short, powerful sentences. Remove extra words. Does it all need to be super-short? No. But remember that long sentences can be harder to follow. Use them sparingly.
2. Use friendly formatting. Make it easy for prospects to find what they’re looking for. Use bullets, headlines and subheads. Break up the text into clear, organized segments. This will allow readers to scan and skip over things they already know.
3. Ask questions. Not 20, but one or two. Questions can help you connect, and help your readers figure out what they need.
4. Be real, be personal, and be unique. It’s ok to be conversational and friendly. In most cases, writing doesn’t have to be formal to be effective. You don’t have to sound like a robot. The more real and honest you sound, the more your readers will relate to you.
5. Know your audience. You can’t relate to every reader. You have a specific market, right? Know them, and talk to them in a language they understand.
6. Use appropriate lingo. Does your audience “get” your specialized, expert lingo, or do they understand a different language? If you’re selling lawnmowers to landscapers, they will be more “tuned in” to your lingo than a general consumer (who might appreciate simpler language).
7. Testimonials. You can praise your own merits, but when someone else says it, the impact is so much greater. Use snippets where they’re relevant.
8. Show your benefits, not your features. What benefits will your readers get if they choose you? What’s in it for them? Tell them. It’s easy to get caught up in the part that excites you, but remember, it’s the benefits that make their legs wobbly.
9. Go with the flow. Pay attention to the natural sequence in which people want to acquire information. Organize your content accordingly.
10. Make it easy to get in touch. Use a “call to action,” overdo your contact info, and offer a free consultation. If they know you’re accessible and eager to talk to them—taking the next step will be natural.

Have you discovered ways to really connect with your reader? Have any of these tips worked for you? If so, please share your experience.

1. You must be committed. Marketing your business is not a scatter-shot, haphazard effort. It must be well-developed, well-planned, and you must stick to it. According to Jay Conrad Levinson in Guerilla Marketing, “mediocre marketing with commitment works better than brilliant marketing without commitment.”
2. You must be consistent. Maintain a consistent, regular, recognizable presence before the eyes of your prospects. Consistent message, graphic format, promotion schedule, and media. This consistency breeds familiarity, confidence, and sales.
3. Your marketing program is an investment. Just like stocks, you have to put money in to get a return, and the return does not happen overnight. Do not make your marketing a nearsighted decision. Do not expect your sales to double because you put a marketing plan in place. See #1 above.
4. Have patience that your plan will work. This ties in with commitment and consistency.  Marketing plans can be improved, but you can expect some results if you simply follow through.
5. Use diverse strategies to send your message. The more types of strategies you incorporate in your marketing campaign, the better. No single strategy works well alone.
6. Follow up. Plain and simple. Continue to contact your prospects. Make your company, product, or service indispensable to the way they operate. Follow-up is Sales 101, but you might be surprised how many businesses fail to do it.
7. The most profit is made after that first sale. By some estimates, selling to a new customer costs six times as much as selling to a returning customer, so it makes sense to never forget existing customers.
8. Track the success of your marketing campaign. Find what is working and what is not, and track both for a reasonable period. Make sure you have measurable data.
9. Focus on getting customers to let you in, rather than shoving your message down their throats. The most effective campaigns focus on getting the customer to opt in, so that you can then send your sales messages to a more receptive audience.
10. Constantly strive to improve your marketing plan. Once you have a plan in place, don’t sit back; improve the plan at every opportunity. You can be sure that is what your competitor is doing.

To make your best impression in each medium, target your approach. Why? Because your readers’ patience, processing, and ability to absorb are different for print and online content. Reading a book is different from flipping through a stack of magazines looking at headlines. In the same way, print and online copy are different.

The key to writing online copy that’s as powerful as print copy lies in knowing the difference. Follow these tips to ensure your online copy really works for the Web:

• Be easy on the eye. Large chunks of text are hard to read and look intimidating. Split it up, and use bullets and headings to help readers find what they’re looking for. Keeping it easy on the eye will keep them on your site.

• Link. One of the most beautiful things about the Web is that everything doesn’t have to be on the same page. Link to background or explanatory information. It makes less text, yet the extra info is available if visitors want it.

• Less is more. People read screens slower and less carefully than print materials. In-depth thoughts and sentences are even harder to understand online. Use shorter words and shorter sentences. Ask yourself: How can I make this point in fewer words?

• Dive in. Put the important information at the top. Say what you’re trying to say, right up front. The top of each page should get your point across in one snappy sentence.

• Be credible. It’s easier said than done. In a world full of empty promises, credibility can be harder to acquire online. Link to your sources, and be careful of being bossy or making empty promises. Make sure your site is professional, accurate and honest at all times.

• Keep it current. A brochure might become outdated, but a website should stay current. Keeping your information up to date shows your audience that you’re serious. If not, it’s just a click away to find someone who is.

• Consider keywords. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the art of making your website more “findable” for the search engines. One component of good SEO is the use of relevant, keyword rich content throughout your website. Know the keywords your prospects are searching for, and incorporate them politely into your content.

How do you think print and web copy should differ? What are your favorite tips for making an impact online as compared to print?

Here are a few tips for what to avoid.

1. Don’t be too formal or too informal. Sales letters need to appeal directly to the reader. So imagine who your ideal target audience is, imagine how they act, how they speak, what level of language they typically use in their own communications. Then duplicate that level of language. If you’re writing to Fortune 500 CEOs, for example, don’t use slang, clichés, or contractions; be more formal. If you’re writing direct to the average consumer, that audience will likely respond better to informal, conversational copy. It boils down to this: Know Thy Audience.
2. Don’t forget the passion. Your job in a sales letter is to convey why your prospects should be excited enough to buy your product. To do that, you have to be excited about your product. You have to convey that buying your product or service is the single smartest thing they could do, and you do that by being passionate about it. Not drooling, or bouncing around like a superball, but earnest, insightful, and enthusiastic.
3. Don’t forget to appeal to multiple emotions. Not everyone buys thing based on the same emotion. The two most common emotions exploited by direct marketing copywriters are fear and greed—fear that something will happen if they don’t buy, and greed for something great that will happen if they do buy. There plenty of others, however, and if your letter appeals to those, you have a better chance of catching and holding your prospect’s attention until they reach the final sales pitch. Examples include: curiosity, loneliness, insecurity, anger, pride, confidence, just to name a few.
4. Don’t forget to use headlines and subheadings. They are a powerful way to get your prospect’s attention. They create white space and make your letter easier to read, and they shift gears from section to section. They can stir curiosity, make promises, introduce compelling ideas, challenge the prospect, etc. Your headline should never use standard or conversational language. This is your chance to shout. Don’t whimper.
5. Never attempt to trick or mislead your prospect. Such tactics are ridiculously easy to spot and leave a sour taste in the mouth of anyone who’s had her time wasted this way. If you make promises, either in headlines or body copy, you have to follow through with those promises, even if it’s only the promise of more information. Violate this at your peril; it is the quickest way to lose the trust that you’re trying so hard to build.

What direct-marketing missteps have we missed? We’d love to hear them.

Grammar Rules for the Information Superhighway

• It’s okay to develop a dual personality when it comes to grammar. Just save the texting grammar and spelling for messaging friends and family.
• If you work in advertising or marketing, incorporate texting lingo in Facebook or Twitter ad campaigns geared to tweens or teens.
• Maintain formal grammar strategies in business. Many generations and cultures within the business environment do not speak the language of the texting age and may be offended or confused if you resort to such informalities.
• Ensure that business correspondence—emails, proposals and presentations, letters, etc.—incorporates pitch-perfect grammar and spelling, complete sentences, capitalization, and a vocabulary that conveys industry knowledge or business acumen. Even if a client replies in techspeak, stick to your grammar guns.

Getting Grammar Back on Track

Some debate whether texting is ruining the state of grammar amongst the young texting generations. Considering that the Internet provides a wealth of information about anything and everything, it’s hardly likely that grammar will become a lost art.

When you need help crossing “t’s” and dotting “i’s,” keep these suggestions in mind:

• Search engines will return pages of websites that list grammar rules and business writing techniques.
• Writing coaches and consultants help ensure you focus on professional and formal writing techniques.
• Copywriting and marketing specialty firms (hint, hint) make it their business to help you communicate clearly, effectively and, of course, correctly.

How do you approach grammar when it comes to your emails and writing? Do you keep it formal or do you find yourself using the new electronic lingo?

Cooperation/Teambuilding. Women are more likely than men to seek help. (What percentage of men read instruction manuals or ask for directions?) Creating support networks allows women to learn from one another’s successes and failures. Just as I’ve seen a number of women who work with coaches or who join networks like Ladies Who Launch, I’ve seen several male entrepreneurs who refuse to seek help because they already have all the answers. (Of course, both genders have their exceptions.)

Click here to read the entire post.

Some of the best online marketing does much more than simply putting a product or service in front of a customer’s face. The best techniques are often about establishment of brand/authority/credibility, coupled with a ubiquitous friendly presence that builds trust and offers a potential customer plenty of opportunity to come to you.

Social Networking – MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, and LinkedIn are just a few of the social networking sites that can spread your message with minimal cost. Posting content, company news, tips, etc., on these sites gives you instant exposure to everyone in your network. Contextual advertising on MySpace, for example, can reap huge benefits if you can build traffic to your organization’s page.

Podcasting – The iPod created a new paradigm for the way people use audio and video, and podcasts are a great way to put your message right alongside your audience’s favorite tunes. Create a helpful, entertaining, informative podcast, either audio or video or a mix of both, and release it into the podosphere through the variety of distribution channels. Target your podcast to your ideal audience, and then use it to promote your product or service.

Google Adwords – Having become the single biggest source of advertising on the Web, Google Adwords can bring targeted sales leads to your door for pennies each. One of the keys to using Adwords is putting the right keywords in your headlines, so that they appeal only to your target audience. We pick out the things we read by headlines. But don’t overdo the language. Google’s research proves that the most successful ads don’t use language that’s over the top. Keep ads simple, compelling, and direct.

Twitter – This message service broadcasts messages of 140 characters or less, about the max length of a news headline. The most powerful aspect of Twitter is that it can send and receive messages from mobile phones, PCs, websites, and desktop software, all distributed in real time. Twitter can fill the smallest cracks in your prospects’ time and put your name directly before them, as often as you like. Since Twitter is an opt-in service, you have to be interesting to them and have something valuable to offer. And because it’s opt-in, the quickest way to drive them away is to spam them. Twitter has been likened to “ambient intimacy,” asking the question, “What are you doing now?” So build up some “followers” and tell them.

Are you using any or all of these to promote your business? If yes, what results have you seen? If not, you should consider it, because your competitors most certainly are.

About 30 percent of the time, a comma is optional. Whether you choose to use one after an introductory phrase, for instance, is a matter of style.

On June 20 I wrote my first blog entry.
On June 20, I wrote my first blog entry.

But 70 percent of the time, you really do need to know when and where to use this punctuation device.

Maybe you recall your sixth-grade English teacher telling you to put a comma before the last item in a series of three of more. OK, so you don’t remember. The point is, she was teaching you about the serial comma, as in:

Would you like coffee, tea, or water?

The serial comma is a holdover from prescriptive (traditional) punctuation. Within the past several years, this classic device has been shelved in favor of a more open style for mainstream communication.

Would you like coffee, tea or a latte?

But whether you’re a traditionalist or a non-serial-comma user, correct punctuation still counts for something. Compare the following:

Welcome Jim.
Welcome, Jim.

Due to the absence of the comma, the first example is actually a command imploring readers to make Jim feel welcome. With its correct use of the comma, the second example is an eloquent invitation for Jim to feel welcome.

Still think punctuation is just for language sissies? Consider these two seemingly identical sentences:

A woman without her man is nothing.
A woman – without her, man is nothing.

With the insertion of both a dash and a comma, the first sentiment has been transformed. What was once a glib affirmation of feminine dependence is now a feminist rallying cry. And it’s all thanks to some well-placed punctuation.

We live in an age of instant gratification, where anyone with a Twitter account can dash off a pithy 140-characters-or-fewer update. But it’s the passionate, attentive wordsmith who will continue to advance clear communication. So learn to use the almighty comma, among other tools of punctuation. Either that, or find yourself a good editor.