This is a guest post by Joe Pawlikowski. If you would like to submit a guest article, please check out our guest post guidelines.

The revelation hit me during a perfectly normal part of my routine. Like many other work-from-home bloggers, I spend a couple hours in Starbucks each week. It provides a few stimuli that simply aren’t available at home, such as the potential to actually interact with other human beings. It also takes the edge off regular bouts of cabin fever. At the very least, it’s a therapeutic ritual.

The routine continued as normal, from ordering coffee to staking out a chair, to pulling out my laptop and working on something light. That particular day I’d brought my iPad as well, so I could read something on one of its numerous reading apps.

Something struck me as I saw the iPad sitting there in my bag.

Why wasn’t I using that to blog?

It suddenly made sense to me. For my circumstances, a tablet can make far more sense than a laptop in many, many situations. Right then and there I packed away my laptop and pulled out the iPad. Work was a bit awkward at first, but I eventually grew accustomed to it. Now I’ll never go back.

A tablet’s advantages

1. Portability.

Most people who own laptops do so because they’re portable. Yet a tablet is quite a deal more portable. Every major tablet on the market is smaller than an average tablet. It’s also many times thinner, and doesn’t require a hinge. It’s just a thin slate, which makes for easy transport.

2. Energy efficiency.

One big problem with laptop batteries is that they die within hours of use. Because they contain fewer components, tablets last much longer. Even with heavy use they’ll last at least twice as long as a laptop, and often will last longer.

3. Touchscreen interface.

It might seem awkward and out of place at first, but a touchscreen provides a more intuitive interface than a mouse and keyboard. Given enough time and anyone can master the user interface of the iPad or an Android tablet.

Blogging on a tablet

If we can’t do our work on a tablet, then it’s pretty useless as a business device, right? Thankfully, tablet app stores are packed to the gills with useful apps. My previous guest post on non-blogging blogging apps applies here. All of these apps are available on tablets as well.

In terms of blogging itself, it’s fairly simple. WordPress and other blogging platforms have tablet apps, but they’re not even necessary. Tablets come with full-powered browsers, so you can write and post as you do normally. This is great for WordPress blogs. The WordPress app only allows a few functions, but with a tablet browser you can access all features of the WordPress dashboard.

Common objections

Tablets are unfamiliar, while our laptops we’ve used for years. As humans we’re averse to change, so it’s easy to understand why some people would resist the idea of using a tablet to blog. Here are a few common objections, with responses from a seasoned tablet blogger.

1. No physical keyboard.

Admittedly, this took a while to sink in. We’re all accustomed to physical keyboards, which provide tactile responses to our keystrokes. Tablets use a virtual, on-screen keyboard. Yet it’s easy enough to grow used to this type of input. Otherwise, there are a number of small Bluetooth keyboards that can connect to any tablet.

2. Incompatible software.

This is a legitimate objection, and there’s no real answer to it. Desktop and laptop PCs work, because the same software works on both. That’s not true with tablets, which run on different operating systems. It’s true that a tablet will require a different set of software. The good news is that most tablet software is reasonably cheap. In many instances it’s free.

3. Not powerful enough.

While a tablet doesn’t stack up, megahertz for megahertz, with laptops, they don’t need to. Tablet software consumes fewer resources, and tablet operating systems are designed to maintain peak performance. Even when running multiple apps simultaneously, tablets run just as fast, if not faster, than laptops.

4. No USB drive.

Again, this is a legitimate objection. I’ve had to grow used to dragging files into iTunes if I want them on my iPad. Emailing them to yourself is another option. But no, that USB stick you’ve used for years won’t get any use with a tablet.

It’s not for everyone, but for many bloggers a tablet can be a great friend. It can do almost anything a laptop can do, and oftentimes a tablet can do it better. Take it from someone who walks the walk. My laptop battery is currently dead, because I haven’t used it since that fateful day at Starbucks when I started blogging from my iPad.

Joe Pawlikowski is the editor of BBGeeks, a site that helps BlackBerry users get the most out of their devices. He most enjoys the battery energy efficiency of a tablet, because his laptop battery is always dead.

Image: arztsamui / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My workday opened with a two-hour meeting at the offices of one of my clients. On the way home, I swung by Costco to pick up some essentials (we have teenage sons, so milk, bread, and bananas are always in short supply).

As I meandered through the pots and pans aisle on the way to “bagel row,” I signed on a new client (imagine me on my cell phone, parked in front of the acrylic “glassware,” madly scribbling notes onto my pocket memo pad).

When I arrived back at my home office, I noted four “must-do” things to accomplish before my day ended:

1. Synthesize notes from morning client meeting and send to the project team.
2. Prepare and send contract and invoice to new client.
3. Finalize curriculum for social media workshop I’m teaching in two days.
4. Accompany my son to a meeting at his school.

I had just finished answering the day’s e-mails and was diving into my notes when a loud rap sounded on my front door. A cute, overly-cheerful young woman greeted me. (My distracted brain struggled to process this anomaly in a millisecond – Jehovah’s Witness? Nope. College-aged window washer? Nope.

She flashed a brilliant smile and asked, “Do you have a dirty carpet in your home that needs cleaning? We’ll dry-foam shampoo an entire room in your home right now, for free.”

This caught my attention. Because teenage boys in the home = dirt on the carpet. Lots of dirt.

“Do you have carpeted stairs? We’ll shampoo your stairs,” she offered.

I eased back from the front door and gazed at my carpeted staircase. Dirty.

Then I thought about our downstairs “man cave.” The video game/TV room. Extremely dirty.

“You said you’ll shampoo any room? Like, say, a largish family room?”

“Yes,” she replied, with a big, almost-genuine smile.

“Will I have to sit through an hour-long sales pitch for a Kirby, because I don’t have time for that today.”

“Oh no,” she promised. “No sales pitch at all.”

That was my first mistake. Everything I had ever learned from attending numerous time-share presentations flew out of my brain and all I could think about was that grimy carpet in my basement. The carpet that would be magically transformed into a better version of itself – for free – and I wouldn’t have to shampoo it.

“You’re on,” I said.

Soon, a three-person team of Kirby-ites hurricaned through my home, lugging in what appeared to be a truckload of boxes. Holy cow! All this, just to shampoo our man cave carpet?

For the next three hours (count ‘em – THREE HOURS), my husband, our older son, and I watched, dazed, as the Kirby-ites vacuumed, pre-treated, re-vacuumed, and shampooed two square feet of our basement carpet (they did not shampoo the entire room, as promised). They did suck the dust out of our laptops and clean the ancient floor mats from our son’s car. They even vacuumed our sons’ sheets and mattresses, and showed us evidence of dust mites and other disgusting things that make their home in our beds. Eeeewww!

During the midst of this marathon demo, my husband and I tag-teamed. He picked our younger son up from wrestling practice and grabbed us fast-food burgers for dinner. I took our son to his meeting at school. When we returned home, the Kirby-ites were still there, vacuuming everything in sight.

My husband pulled me aside. “I told them we’re not going to buy a Kirby,” but they won’t leave,” he hissed.

When the three Kirby-ites (demo guy, trainee, and hard-sell manager) finally packed up and left at 8:10 p.m., our 15-year-old son surveyed our freshly shampooed square of carpet and commented, “Well, it looks clean. But not $3,000 cleaner than it was before.”

That’s right, folks. They were asking nearly $3,000 for a “50^th anniversary edition” Kirby with all the bells and whistles. Gulp.

The next morning, when I had finally recovered enough brain cells to think straight, I pondered the lessons I learned during this direct sales demonstration. Other than having a small area of clean carpet and dust mite-free mattresses, there had to be some meaningful takeaway lessons from my three hours with the Kirby-ites, right? 

Of course there are! Nine of them, in fact. You may wish to apply these lessons when selling your own products or services:

1.  Show up, in person

When I receive e-mail sales pitches, I read the Subject line and then hit the delete key.

When a telemarketer phones, I interrupt with a firm, “No thanks,” and hang up.

But when an energetic “girl next door” type knocks on my door and offers to clean a room of my house for free, it’s really, really hard to say “no.”

Takeaway: When you’re pitching your services or products, do so in person whenever possible. Face-to-face contact sells.

2.  Know your target market.

When Kirby-girl knocked on my door, she told me that their team was canvassing my middle-class neighborhood. “We’re shampooing Mary’s carpet across the street first, then we’re doing Frank’s down the block, and we need to do two more homes while we’re in your neighborhood today,” Kirby-girl informed me.

When she mentioned that Mary and Frank were in the process of getting their carpets shampooed, it subconsciously elevated my own trust level in the Kirby-ites.

The Kirby-ites are aware of the demographics of neighborhoods they target. They know whether the homes are owned or rented. They know the value of our homes and can make fairly accurate guesstimates as to our annual income. As such, they can predict that at least one of the homeowners on my block would fork out $3,000 for a vacuum cleaner.

Takeaway: Do your homework. Before you pitch your services or products, do extensive market research into who your ideal customer is.

3.  Connect with your customer.

Kirby demo guy asked us about our interests, hobbies, and activities. In return, he told us stories about his kids, hobbies, and activities. He did so as a natural part of the conversation, which helped us view him as a real person and elevated our trust in him.

Takeaway: Your customers are not statistics, but real people. Get to know them as individuals, and find ways to show them you care about them.

4.  Give away something valuable.

When the Kirby-ites knocked on my door, they promised they’d shampoo a room of my house. Since my carpet was in need of a shampoo, their incentive was of high value to me.

Takeaway: Think about a “loss leader” – a product or service you can give away without breaking the bank – something that will benefit your ideal customer in a tangible way.

5.  Keep your promises.

Unfortunately, the Kirby-ites did not fulfill their promise to shampoo our entire room; instead, they dinked around in the room’s entryway (granted, the entry was the dirtiest spot on the carpet) for three full hours. As a result, part of the carpet in our man cave looks great, and the rest looks… not so great.

Takeaway: People remember negative experiences 20 times more than they do positive ones, and they’re more likely to share negative experiences with others. Fulfill promises you make to potential customers, and you’ll likely earn their long-term loyalty.

6.  Let your product or service do the talking.

The Kirby demo guy asked us to get out our own vacuum cleaner. He poured a mountain of baking soda on our carpet and showed us how ineffective our vacuum is at, well – vacuuming.

He then vacuumed the same area with the Kirby, so we could see how effectively it slurped up every iota of dirt, dust, and hair. He made his point without uttering a word; he simply showed us swatches of black fabric he’d attached to the Kirby, loaded with gunk from our carpet.

He displayed at least 20 fabric swatches loaded with dirt from our carpet in conspicuous locations all over our family room floor. He then looked pointedly at said fabric swatches. And waited for us to get nervous and blurt out, “We must immediately stop paying our son’s college tuition and buy a Kirby instead!”

Takeaway: If you have a great product or service, and you truly believe in it, you won’t have to convince people to buy it. Let the quality of your product or the value of your service speak for itself.

7.  Make the sale.

Partway through the demonstration, Kirby guy handed us a laminated sheet that listed the prices and features for three Kirby systems.

He hauled our old vacuum cleaner outside and left it there, a psychological trick intended to make it easier for us to trade in that “piece of junk” for a spanking new Kirby.

Near the end of the demo, he broke out “the black binder” and walked us through the endless wondrous benefits of owning a Kirby.

At the end of the presentation, he called in the reinforcements – the slick manager guy whose job is to play “bad cop.” Manager guy asked us directly (several times) if we would buy the system. When we said “no,” he didn’t give up right away, but followed up with, “What if I could make you a dynamite deal?”

Takeaway: Many of us spend hours polishing our pitches. But when it comes time for the call-to-action, we get squeamish. Get over it. Don’t be afraid to ask, “Will you buy this? Will you buy it right now?”

8.  “No” means “no.”

When prospects do say no – or when they say “maybe, but not right now,” it’s ok to ask for clarification. But when they get that hostile glint in their eyes and start edging closer to the kitchen knife block, it’s time to pack up and leave.

The Kirby-ites packed their boxes as slowly as possible, deliberately cleaning, scrubbing, and polishing each component. They gently wrapped each tool in plastic bags and reverently placed each item into boxes.

Their goal was to show us how valuable this machine is, and what great care one must take of it. Their ever-so-slow packing procedure gave us plenty of time to ponder whether we’d made the correct decision in saying “no.”

They intentionally made us feel uncomfortable, hoping we’d get impatient and say, “What the heck. I’ll buy this thing, just to get you guys out of here faster!”

The “refuse-to-take-no-for-an-answer” that direct sales people use has always irritated me. I am polite to sales people because I respect the fact that they’re doing their job. But once I make a buying decision, I rarely change my mind.

Takeaway: When you’re selling your product or service, be aware of the body language of the person you’re selling to. Respect their “no” or their “maybe later,” and follow up with the prospect in a few days, after they’ve had a chance to cool off and think about their decision.

9.  Zip your fly.

Kirby demo guy was dressed appropriately for the job. He had on jeans, sturdy (but attractive) work shoes, and a dress shirt and tie. He was professional, well-spoken, and friendly (but not overly friendly). Only one problem. His fly was unzipped, and his tighty whities were on display in all their cottony glory.

Takeaway: Before doing a presentation, sales pitch, or any activity that involves meeting a prospect in person, check and double-check every aspect of your grooming and attire in front of a full length mirror. First impressions do count.

Your take?

I’ve never been a huge fan of direct sales, but I know many people who are. Have you participated in a direct sales presentation (either as the seller or buyer)? What did you learn from your experience?

• How should you develop — and deliver your brand message?
• How can you prove to your boss that social media is, indeed, a wise investment?
• How do you plan an effective social media strategy– without overdoing it?

The following four articles provide excellent ideas. Click the headline to access the full article.

No one ever bought anything in an elevator

The true meaning of “elevator pitch.” [Seth Godin]

How to Tell Your Business Story in 60 Seconds or Less

This short article provides an excellent method for quickly framing your “elevator pitch” or “brand message.” [Entrepreneur, by Carmine Gallo]

Dear Executive…

A brief letter to a corporate executive that addresses, “What’s the ROI” of social media marketing? [Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer]

The Dangers of Half-Assing Your Social Media Efforts

This article examines the pitfalls of doing TOO MUCH when planning your social media strategy. [Mitch O'Conner, DreamGrow]

Image: twobee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This is a guest post by Jessica Sanders. If you would like to submit a guest article, please check out our guest post guidelines.

Keeping up with your business blog can be time consuming. Between brainstorming thought-provoking post ideas and getting the time to put it all on paper, it takes a good amount of effort to be sure you’ve pleased your readers and customers.

Yet, once that is done, your job is not finished. Creating a great blog post is fantastic, but once it’s finished there are a few more boxes to check off.

• Link It

The goal of writing a blog is to reach your customers. Once you complete your post you should immediately get it out to all of your other sources. If you have a Facebook account, update your status. Tweet it, get it on LinkedIn, and perhaps get it out on your customer mailing list.

• Interact

If your blog has frequent visitors, you want to thank them for reading your post. You can also address questions or concerns here. Building community around your blog is a strategic way to keep people coming back.

• Pose a Question

Instead of waiting for readers to find courage to comment, pose a thought-provoking question to start the conversation. This invites answers, potentially motivating those who normally stay mum to speak up. This is positive way to get feedback from valuable members.

• Re-Purpose the Content

If you have a team dedicated to the blogging process, or extra time on your hands, consider reinventing your content in a different format. Some readers may not have time to keep up with your blog at work, but can listen to it while they sit in traffic. Not only will this please your readers, but opens your posts up to a wider audience.

• Syndicate with Other Sites

Consider working with niche blog-collection sites such as AllTop, that gather together posts. Various larger business blogs also do this. By getting your blog on other sites, you can reach an audience much larger than your immediate contact circle.

Creating a great blog post means nothing if it doesn’t reach the people you are writing for. Post-blogging steps are part of the process and will earn you a larger, more interactive, readership. When it comes down to it, that is the ultimate goal, right?

Jessica Sanders is an avid small business writer touching on topics ranging from social media to merchant services. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including telemarketing for b2b lead generation resource, Resource Nation.

What day of the week do Facebook updates get shared most often?

What’s the most shareable word? …The least sharable word?

This Facebook infographic gives you a quick overview of some handy Facebook Q&A:

Infographic courtesy of datadial.

Facebook has begun rolling out its Timeline feature to all users. A message at the top of your personal profile’s Home tab will inform you that your profile is being switched to Timeline. You will have seven days to review and edit your past posts, photos, videos, etc. before anyone else can see your Timeline.

If you want to see how your timeline appears to other people, click the gear menu at the top of your timeline, and select “View As.” You can choose to see how your timeline appears to a specific friend or the public.

You can publish your timeline at any time during the 7-day review period. If you wait, your timeline will go live automatically after seven days, replacing your profile (your stories and photos will still be there, they’ll just be formatted differently).

What is Timeline?

According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Timeline allows Facebook members to store and share videos, photos and posts from the most important moments of their lives, organized year by year.

A TechCrunch article by Sarah Perez states:

“…Timeline makes it far easier for you to travel back through your Facebook posts – posts which normally disappeared off your Wall and into oblivion. The posts from these previous months and years are now accessible through new navigational elements on the right-side of your screen that let you quickly travel back in time to the day you were born.”

Facebook has offered the feature on a voluntary basis since mid-December. But, if you’re like me (hoping that if you just ignored Timeline it would go away), you haven’t made the switch yet.

You can voluntarily switch now, and give yourself a few more days to get your Timeline in order. To get started, visit http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline, where you’ll find a helpful video tour.

Keep in mind that Facebook usually rolls out major redesigns to its personal profiles first and then implements them on Facebook (fan/business) pages. So be prepared for Timeline to appear on Pages in the not-too-distant future.

Four More Resources for Creating Your Timeline

1. The Facebook Blog – Tutorial that explains how to find and change Timeline’s major features.
2. TechCrunch – Reviews the changes and introduces the new tool, Activity Log, which allows you to review all your posts and activity, from today back to when you first started using Facebook. Fortunately, only you can see your activity log.
3.  How to Enhance Your Facebook Timeline with Apps -Whether you love to cook, eat, travel, run, or review movies, you can tell your story using timeline apps available from Foodspotting, Foodily, Ticketmaster, Pinterest, Rotten Tomatoes, Pose, Kobo, Gogobot, TripAdvisor, and others. From the Facebook blog.
4. Mobile Timeline Available on Android and m.facebook.com – From the Facebook blog.

Do You Have Timeline?

If you’ve already activated Timeline on your profile, and you’re willing to share a link to it, please do. We’d also love to hear pointers from those of you who have switched, to help make the transition quick and painless for the rest of us. Thanks!

You’ll find complete information about all five workshops in the “Social Media for Business” series on the Speaking page at BloggingBistro.com.

I’ll be teaching this series Winter and Spring quarters for Everett Community College Corporate & Continuing Education Center.

Here are details about the rescheduled Facebook workshop and a registration link:

Facebook Pages for Business

Thursday, February 9, 2012
6-9 PM
Everett Community College Corporate & Continuing Education Center East County Campus
Tye 303, Monroe, WA
Fee: $69

Use the world’s largest social networking site to promote your business. During this intermediate level hands-on class, you will create and customize your Facebook Business (Fan) Page and learn how to publish enticing updates that help you build your business. Participants must have a personal Facebook profile set up prior to enrolling in this class, and should have basic proficiency with Facebook.

To register for this course, click this link: http://www.campusce.net/everett/course/course.aspx?C=598&pc=14&mc=&sc=

Facebook. Twitter. Shoutlife. LinkedIn. Dopplr. Google+. Plaxo. Blogger. WordPress. Shelfari. Goodreads. Writer’s loops. Conference loops. Endless loops.

By the time I finish updating my status, writing my blogs, tweeting, pasting my bulletins, my newest pictures, my URLs and YouTube links, recruiting friends, recommending friends, sharing reads, rating reads, ranking reads, ranking friends, tagging friends, responding to posts, responding to friends, responding to blogs, ranting, reblogging, re-bulleting, re-accepting (plants, gifts, pinches, bits o’ karma, flowers, flare, tickles, candy, drinks, siege warfare by angry goats and lil green patches–what the heck is a lil green patch anyway??) it’s time to repost my status–and respond to those responding to my status who are reading their walls, shuffling friends, organizing bookshelves, recommending contacts and waging mob wars.

By then, the day is over. I have missed my hair appointment, my deadline and a conference call, needed to go to the bathroom three hours ago, blown off dinner, ticked off my friends (who live in town and did not check my wall to see why I never showed up), neglected my Significant Other, alienated my family, and defaulted on my mortgage.

I’m already grossly behind on an article and some reading, on projects for friends and the synopsis I owe my agent… and yet I cannot tear myself from Facebook because I might miss something important–say, another lil green patch–and then I will have gone from being behind with writing, reading and work, to being behind with the relational fiber of my life that is supposed to make the reading, the writing, the work all meaningful.

Bouncing back and forth between the social, networking and professional sites I signed up for to catch up with friends, connect with readers and promote my work, it’s plausible that I might never have time to write another book–or if I do, it’ll be 360 pages of 140-character one-liners.

I don’t know half the people in my extended network, but they came highly recommended. And even though I may not actually know Marlene in Dekalb, I’m fascinated by how white her teeth are in her picture and the fact that her relationship status just changed from “In a relationship” to “Single.” I’m wondering if they broke up or she forgot to change it before her last boyfriend. And if I know any friends of friends willing to dish.

I’m fascinated by hub friends, who seem to know and be on everyone’s page, horrified at how many colleagues know schoolmates who have seen me do stupid things, appalled friends’ exes who never had the decency to settle down more than one degree away.

It gets a bit uncomfortable–I worry if raucous friends will offend the straight-laced among my network (or vice versa). I wonder whether I’ll say something dumb that will haunt me forever–or at least until it scrolls off the new bulletin list, pushed down by the newest rants, requests, ramblings or reciprocal idiocy of others.

The only way to know, of course, is to stay pasted to the screen. I find that trolling for feedback is an especially convenient time to spy on high school friends and frenemies, the real lives of people I only see in suits, my exes, my readers (it seems only fair), my colleagues, my neighbors.

And I am at peace with my virtual social life, holed up like a voyeuristic hermit, my picture neatly made up in the window as I sit stinky and unkempt at home in my sweats.

One of these days, God willing, I’ll start a new project. Crickets will chirp from the void that was my blog. The status line of my Facebook page will stare blankly at no one. Invites will turn kudzu on my homepage, and my Shelfari shelves will grow dust. Concerned friends will send notes like morose pings into the ether as I wrestle with metaphors and confront the empty page, wishing I could trade my Roget’s for the tiniest lil green patch or bit o’ karma.

***

Tosca just sent you a lil green patch.

[Accept] [Decline] [Ignore] [Wage Mob War Instead]

#caffiene

Tosca Lee is the author of Demon: A Memoir and Havah: The Story of Eve. She is also the co-author with Ted Dekker of the NYTimes bestseller Forbidden. The next book in that series will be out this summer.

A sought-after speaker and former Mrs. Nebraska, Tosca was a senior consultant for a global consulting firm until turning to writing full-time. She holds a degree in English and International Relations from Smith College and also studied at Oxford University. Please visit her web site at toscalee.com.

This post was originally published on the blog of my friend, Steve Laube. (Steve is a literary agent who represents Tosca Lee.) When I read Tosca’s article, I knew my readers would appreciate it, too. Tosca graciously granted permission to reprint her musings here at Blogging Bistro.

If you’d like to submit your own guest column, check out our guest post guidelines.

LinkedIn informed its users that they will no longer support the Tweets Application.

However, you WILL be able to connect your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, so that your tweets auto post on your LinkedIn profile.

To set up this feature, log in to your LinkedIn account.

In the upper righthand corner of your screen, where your profile name displays, click “Settings.”

Click “Manage Your Twitter Settings.”

If you haven’t already added a Twitter account, click “Add another Twitter account,” and authorize the app to access your Twitter account.

Click the radio button if you want to display your Twitter account link on your LinkedIn profile (highly recommended).

Finally, customize which of your tweets your want to display on your LinkedIn account:

• Only tweets that include the #in or #li hashtag
• All your tweets. (Your tweets will display in the righthand sidebar of your LinkedIn profile, and will look similar to the image, below)

Save changes.

Hope you’ll connect with me on LinkedIn:

Laura Christianson profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/laurachristianson

Blogging Bistro Company Page: http://www.linkedin.com/company/blogging-bistro-llc

52 Headline Hacks: A Cheat Sheet for Writing Blog Posts That Go Viral

This 55-page report is a crash course in blog headline writing – it details 52 different styles of headlines and gives examples of each. A must-read for every blogger. PDF of the report: https://s3.amazonaws.com/boostblogtraffic/Headline-Hacks-12-12-2011.pdf [Jon MorrowCopyBlogger]

How to Write a How-To Post: 7 Simple Steps

How-to posts are the most-read type of blog article. [Ali Luke, DailyBlogTips]

Your “How-To” Post Will Fail If You Don’t Use These Techniques

[Neil Patel, ProBlogger]

5 Tips for Beefing Up a Short Blog Post

[Linda Dessau, Build a Better Blog]

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net