by Margot Carmichael Lester | Nov 15, 2019 | Blogs & Blogging, Writing/How to Write
One of my favorite things is teaching others to write more persuasively to advocate for the things they care most about. This weekend, I'm taking my show on the road to the North Carolina AIDS Action Network's annual conference, Building Power Across the Spectrum, in...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Aug 20, 2019 | Blogs & Blogging, Content & Content Operations
Humans are curious by nature. Content marketers can capitalize on this by producing articles, videos and infographics that show how things are made or done. Behind-the-scenes content is an opportunity to invite the audience in for a tour of your operation, meet some...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Jun 11, 2019 | Blogs & Blogging, Writing/How to Write
"What's one simple thing I can do to write better fast?" I get this question a lot and my answer is always the same: Cut. Ann Handley says everybody writes. I say everybody overwrites. In fact, Poynter's Chip Scanlon estimates that we all overwrite by 15-20%. Yes, all...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Mar 26, 2019 | Blogs & Blogging
As consumers of content, we know the value of a great image -- whether that's a photo, illustration or data graphic. Maybe it stems from our days in the cave, when all we had was pictures, but even all this time later, we still like pictures with our words. We noticed...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Dec 10, 2018 | Blogs & Blogging, Content & Content Operations, Writing/How to Write
I like words. A lot. I even still have my very first Thesaurus. So a recent blog post by a PR firm on alternatives to the word "good" caught my eye. The purpose, judging by the subtitle, was to motivate us to use more precise language. And it did offer a bunch of...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Dec 11, 2017 | Blogs & Blogging, Marketing, Advertising & Promotion
This landed in my mailbox this morning. It's a textbook example of how not to look for links back to your site. What's good about it? She spelled my name right. What's missing? So, so much! But here are the big things: Any information about what her company does and...