LJ Sedgwick, Author at LJ Sedgwick

October 12, 2016 by LJ Sedgwick 4 Comments

Are you making these 5 mistakes with your email marketing?

Email marketing is the buzz phrase of 2016. You can’t move three feet in virtual space without being accosted.

“Do you have an email list yet?” “Why don’t you have an email list?” “Ohmigod you NEED an email list?”

So you set up an email list. And you even get subscribers. Amazing!

But what do you actually do with it? Well, you try not to make these 5 mistakes – and if you do, here’s how to fix them!

Everyone tells you to start an email list, but it's easy to start making these 5 mistakes with your email marketing. Here's how to fix them! — Are you making these 5 mistakes with your email marketing?

1) You don’t send any content.

You’ve followed all the advice and sent up a list. You’ve even got an opt-in form on your blog.

Mercy of mercies, people even sign up! But then you don’t send any content.

Maybe you’re scared people will unsubscribe. Or that you might annoy them. Maybe you just don’t know what to say.

Here’s the thing. People opted in. So they are interested. And if they’re not, and they do unsubscribe, then that’s okay too. It’s sort of the point!

Fix: Plan your content in advance, and come up with a schedule.

You’ll be able to tell from your analytics (or social shares) which of your posts are the most popular. Can you expand this content to send something exclusive to your email list that they can’t get elsewhere?

Or maybe your blog is focused on evergreen content. Send your email list content that’s more time-sensitive.

2) You do send content, but it’s too sales-y.

I see this a lot from authors, in particular. They’ve been told they need an email list, and they need to sell their books…but that’s all they do. I don’t want to go months at a time without hearing from you, only to get an email every week for a month telling me about your new release.

You’re not Top Shop, so send me stuff other than promotions, yeah?

I only send content once a month to the mailing list for my fiction efforts. I send a mixture of;

updates on cool places I’ve been that month (which I get comments on so I know it’s appreciated)
folklore titbits that I don’t put on my blog or on Twitter
book recommendations
free short stories

My readers get a whole host of content that’s not about selling. They might only get a ‘sales’ email once every five months!

Fix: Find other things to talk about other than your product or service.

What can you teach your subscribers to do? Or can you entertain them? Remember, most people’s inboxes are groaning under the weight of sales pitches. Something light or amusing can be just as welcome as a fabulous discount!

3) You only send your blog posts, rather than exclusive content.

I know, I know, this is the easy option. You’re not sure what to send, so you just email your post instead.

(Unless you’re a geek like me and you sort of use email like a weird form of RSS)

Now, I can totally see the logical behind doing this. After all, email marketing is all well and good, but your content isn’t searchable. You might send out absolute diamonds every week but no one can stumble across it by accident. It’s not shareable.

Blogs are. So putting your content on your blog, which is shareable, and sending it to your email list seems like a good idea. You get the best of both worlds, right?

Well sort of. If I can read it on your blog, why am I going to sign up to get it in my inbox?

Fix: Give your post some content within your email.

Sending posts can be a totally valid way of finding content to send. But if you’re going to do it, make sure you add some backstory as to why you wrote the post, what the main takeaways are, etc. Humanise it! Tell me a story. Make it impossible for me to not click the link to your post!

4) You don’t reply to the emails you do get.

This one is a huge problem. Say you send an email and in it, you ask your readers a question.

And they respond. What do you do? Do you;

ignore their response. After all, you’re far too busy to reply
send a five word reply that shows you at least saw their response, but you didn’t care enough to craft a decent answer?

I’ve had both – and from authors with smaller lists and fewer Twitter followers than me. Hell, if I can reply to every email I get, then you certainly can!

Fix: Reply to your emails!

You might not get to them immediately, or even on the same day. You might have way more people replying than I do, but some kind of response, even a few days later, is definitely appreciated. I’ve become firm fans of a few marketers and copywriters because they take the time to reply.

Remember these readers are your customers, your clients, your readers, or even your fans. You want to forge a genuine connection with them, and you won’t do that by ignoring them.

5) You don’t get permission to send emails in the first place.

This is a HUGE no-no. I’m sure you’ve suddenly had a raft of emails appear in your inbox and you know you didn’t subscribe for any of them. What gives?

Some new marketers think they can add emails from people they’ve been in touch with to their lists. No. Previous content is not permission.

Same as you can’t scrape emails from blog comments, or forums. And you certainly should never buy a mailing list.

Put simply, if someone didn’t manually put their name and email address into a form, and click a confirm button, then they didn’t give you permission.

What’s even worse is if you send emails with RE: in the subject line, as if you’ve already spoken to them before. Just no!

Fix: Make sure you get permission!

This is so simple. Just make sure you only add people to your list that come via recognised opt-in forms. All the providers I’ve encountered will even provide you with forms you can embed on your blog. Simple!

Email marketing can be quite daunting, but once you get started, it can become fun. I love emailing my fiction list, and I love getting replies! It’s totally worth doing. Just make sure you do it properly!

Have you made any of these mistakes with your email marketing? Let me know in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it with your friends or colleagues!

October 5, 2016 by LJ Sedgwick Leave a Comment

Can writing in 8 minute bursts boost your productivity?

A writer hunches over a laptop. She’s got a whole morning ahead of her, but she just can’t seem to get started. Maybe she’ll check her email first. After all, she’s got plenty of time…hasn’t she?

Across town, another writer pings from task to task. Making up lunchboxes for her children. Calling the garage to see if her car is ready. Trying to manage the steady flow of chores to be done. How will she ever fit her writing time in?

If you recognise yourself in these sketch, then you’ll know how easy it is for time to run away with you. Or how difficult it is to carve out time for your writing.

Luckily, there’s an answer.

Can writing in bursts of just 8 minutes at a time really boost your productivity? Or does it prove too much of an interruption to your workflow? Click here to find out. — Get that stopwatch out.

I recently bought a copy of Monica Leonelle’s The 8-Minute Writing Habit: Create a Consistent Writing Habit That Works With Your Busy Lifestyle. In it, Leonelle lists a range of strategies you can use to boost your productivity. I won’t recount them all here because the book is well worth a read.

But I will discuss the first strategy, that of the 8-minute burst.

Write for less time more often

Very few people can sit down at a keyboard and work solidly for three or four hours at a time.

After all, unless you’re being paid to write, you probably don’t have time for that.

But chances are that you do have random pockets of time scattered throughout your day.

Writing for just 8 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot, but it soon mounts up. If you wrote for 8 minutes at a time at 4 intervals throughout the day then you’d have built up 32 minutes of writing.

It’s easier to snatch time in bursts than it is to block out larger time periods.

Plus, knowing you only have 8 minutes to write forces you to actually get something done. If you have half an hour, you’ll probably spend 20 minutes on Facebook.

8 minutes a day for 8 days

Leonelle recommends that you try building just 8 minutes of writing into your day for 8 days.

If you want to do more than one burst per day that’s fine, but you need to do at least one. I gave it a go to see how I’d get on!

Day 1: Two 8 minute bursts, a total of 925 words.

Day 2: One 8 minute slot, 383 words.

Day 3: 448 words.

Day 4: 484 words.

Day 5: 256 words but my Bluetooth keyboard stopped working so I had to use the onscreen keyboard which is a lot slower to type on!

Day 6: 376 words. While my momentum may have slowed slightly, the urge to keep going after my 8 minutes was up was certainly strong.

Day 7: 514 words.

Day 8: 524 words!

In total, that’s 3,910 words in just 8 days – or 1 hour and 12 minutes, to be exact. I can live with an average of 434 words per burst.

Is it worth trying to write in bursts?

In a short word, yes.

I doubt I’d have found the time to sit down and write for an hour. I don’t think I could have churned out almost 4000 words in one go if I had.

You might not necessarily write for eight minutes but just making the commitment to will see a massive boost in your productivity.

Does it only work for fiction?

Not at all. The bursts method also works for blog posts, social media, or any other project that requires writing.

Some people believe you won’t get a lot done in 8 minutes. You don’t get the opportunity to enter the ‘flow’ state where time runs away with you. Total immersion in your project won’t happen in 8 minutes.

But if you need to fit writing in around other things, working towards 8 minute bursts helps you carve out time in more manageable chunks.

Have you tried the 8 minutes a day for 8 days challenge? Let me know how you got on in the comments!

September 26, 2016 by LJ Sedgwick 2 Comments

5 easy ways to get the most out of Instagram

Last month, Instagram introduced its Stories function, clearly as a competitor to Snapchat’s Stories features. On Saturday, CBS News announced it would be using Instagram Stories in its coverage of the Presidential debates.

While ABC will stream the debates on Facebook Live, CBS want to keep an editorial feel to their coverage. It will feature original Stories by the anchors and reporters, as well as “curated Stories from political experts and voters across the US” (engadget).

But in order to share Stories, people need to be following you in the first place. If you want to get the most out of Instagram, then you need to remember it’s social. If you just show up and want likes, then you’ll probably be disappointed. No one likes attention seekers who give nothing back.

If you want to use Instagram in your marketing, you might be wondering how to get the most out of the platform. Here are 5 simple things you can do! — So easy!

So here are my 5 easy ways to get the most out of Instagram!

1) Use hashtags

Hashtags function like search terms within the app. Post your artwork? Try adding hashtags like #art, #artaday, #sketch, or use the materials you’ve used, like #fineliner. Consider taking part in challenges, such as Inktober. Just make sure you check out what other people are doing.

Tag the brands you use. Use hashtags for the places where you are. All of them allow other people to find your work by browsing all work tagged with that particular phrase.

2) Follow people

This goes without saying. You might be using Instagram to show off your own stuff, but you should also be interested in what other people are doing!

Consider it research, or consider it ‘being interested’. You’ll probably find that you end up with more followers if you follow more people.

3) Be reciprocal

If someone follows you, check out their feed. Is it cool? Follow them back. Did someone like one of your photos? Check theirs out and like one back. Blogging also used to work like this a few years back, but it’s more prevalent on social platforms now.

If you’re trying to promote your art or design work, starting conversations and posting comments is a great way to get people to remember your name, as well as your style.

4) Post good, consistent content

This goes without saying. If you put crap in, you’ll get crap out, so make sure you share stuff people might actually want to see.

My Instagram supports my fiction writing, so I share photos primarily of places I go, books I’m reading or interesting things I’m doing. After all, they all support my writing. Remember, your brand is how people describe you when you’re not in the room, so post images that people ‘expect’ to see, or associate with you.

5) Be human

Remember that you’re human, not a marketing machine. Social media users are more savvy than a lot of marketers give them credit for, and if all you ever do is post images connected with your brand or product, people will get bored. They want to see cool things you’ve seen, interesting places, funny messages – remind them there’s a person sharing the images, and not Data from Star Trek.

So now you’ve got all of those things in play, you’ll pick up more followers, and you can start using Instagram Stories too!

Over to you! Do you use Instagram? What makes you follow someone?

September 21, 2016 by LJ Sedgwick 2 Comments

How will the new changes affect your use of Twitter?

You’ve probably heard about the new changes to Twitter in the last couple of days. And my, they’re big ones.

After all, Twitter users have been restricted to 140 characters per tweet since 2006.

True, there have been attempts to make changes – last year, direct messages were allowed up to 10,000 characters.

And tools like TwitLonger, Tall Tweets and Longer Tweets all promised to extend your tweets past 140 characters.

But in a tweet posted on Monday, Twitter announced that photos, videos, GIFs, polls and quotes would no longer eat up any of your 140 characters.

If that wasn’t enough, Twitter also want to test changes to the @reply system, meaning @names won’t count either. As they say on their blog, “Characters are for conversations, not usernames”.

So what do the changes actually mean for you?

Now that media added to tweets no longer counts towards character limit, how will the changes to Twitter affect how you use the platform? — Changes are coming.

Twitter actually want you to have conversations with people.

Why else would they discount usernames from character lengths?

It’s not a bad move on their part. When I first started using Twitter in December 2008, it was like a global online watercooler. People dropped in to have chats. I’ve met some amazing people using Twitter, and thanks to hashtag conversations, I expect to keep doing so.

But.

A lot of marketers have jumped onto Twitter to sell their wares. Fine, promote your content all you want (I know I do) but remember to talk to other users too. There are humans on the other side of those @usernames. Get to know them.

You don’t have to stick to clickbait as much.

The golden rule of social media is the awesome headline. You want people to click, to find out what you’re all about. Ideally, you want to help people as easily as possible.

But the downside of clickbait headlines is they can be disappointing. If someone clicks on your title to read your blog post, and it doesn’t bear a lot of relation to the content of the post, they probably won’t come back. (There’s an excellent post about clickbait on State of Digital).

If, on the other hand, your title reflects the content (like this post is all about the changes to Twitter and how they’ll affect you….which is right there in the title) then you’re more likely to win that reader’s trust.

With the new changes to what’s included in the character limit, you can now spend the characters you’d otherwise use on an image or GIF to expand a little on the value of the title. Maybe add another hashtag to help a wider group of people.

You can give those polls and GIFs a bit more context.

At first, the character limit was a brilliant way to hone your ability to communicate a lot in as few letters as possible. You couldn’t ramble. Unless you wanted to split your message across a range of tweets, you had to be concise. Laser focused. On point.

But then someone realised you got better levels of engagement if you included graphics and images. GIFs became an awesome way to quickly make a point.

Those images and graphics took characters away, and the context became lost. Now you can go back to writing excellent, tight short-form content that is enhanced by an image, rather than being cut by the need for an image.

And if you want to add a poll (which is an excellent way to generate engagement), you can now explain a little more what it’s for in the tweet itself. People are more likely to click if they know what it is they’re voting for.

Time will tell if the changes will prove to be positive.

True, some will prefer the old way of working, and I think we might see an increase in marketers targeting several users at once when @usernames no longer count towards character limits. But being able to discuss what you’re posting, and add GIFs without losing characters, is certainly an interesting development.

If you’d like to connect on Twitter, come and follow me @lj_sedgwick.

September 14, 2016 by LJ Sedgwick Leave a Comment

9 Ways to make your own Creative Space

You might already be a creative, or you might just want to expand your creativity. Having your own creative space is an excellent way to explore your skills, abilities, and the inner depths of your mind. After all, it’s a combination of those things that will bring forth the creative ideas!

Here are nine things to try to expand your creative space.

By all means have a beautiful desk

Just remember it’s not the be all and end all of being a creative. Keeping it tidy will help, but don’t prioritise tidying over working.

Consider adding a plant

Certain varieties can actually absorb radiation from electrical devices like computer screens and TVs!

They also help to oxygenate the atmosphere, and they are a calming presence in a busy world. Make sure you choose one to suit your conditions – I have a sunny windowsill, so I have three miniature cacti enjoying the sunlight.

It’s nice to keep in touch

But put your phone away – and leave it alone. If you leave your phone on your desk, you’re more likely to be tempted to check it. So put it in a drawer or in your pocket, and check it whenever you’ve finished your task at hand.

Read, read, and read some more

One of the best ways to be creative is to become curious about the world around you. Get involved. Read books. Pick a topic that interests you and find out everything you can about it.

Have a space dedicated to ideas

It could be a whiteboard, a blackboard, or a good old-fashioned pinboard – just make sure you have somewhere to keep your ideas. It doesn’t have to be neat – it’s your space. If you get stuck on a project, go back to your ideas board. Maybe you’ve already found the solution – but just didn’t know it yet.

Storage is important too

It might not be sexy or glamourous but it’s important to have somewhere to store everything you don’t use every day.

If you store things electronically, remember to have a back up. Use a service like Dropbox or Google Drive.

It’s important to make space for down time

You’ll need time to rest and recharge. It might not seem productive but it’s during your time out that your subconscious has the space to get to work on all of the input you’ve given it while you’ve been watching videos, reading, or doing other research.

But you will need to get some work done eventually

There’s no getting away from it! Get down to whatever it is you need to do – and don’t put it off. If you’ve enjoyed the research, then chances are you’ll enjoy the work.

Be prepared for your first attempts to suck

But that’s okay. That’s what editing is for. And remember you can’t edit a blank page – so you’ll need to actually get the work done in the first place. Your creative space isn’t just your physical space – it’s your mindset too. So get your mind sharpened for the editing phase!