I seriously believe that more than ever, sponsorship opportunity representatives need to inventory best practices in sponsorship connection in order to do more than stay afloat for another year involving economic recovery.  I know it has been a rocky year for many, and while I’m sure there’s some things you’re really happy about, it’s likely that your wheels are already spinning in anticipation for a fresh year of new strategies.  The truth is, marketing decision makers are still big fans of innovative methods of getting in front of their target market.  They are still thinking outside the box, and of all the marketing medium, sponsorship is one of the only investments that hasn’t seen a staggering decrease.

While dollars going out has declined as a whole, sponsorship has not died.  It’s still a powerful method for a brand to get in front of their target audience and make a splash; it’s just that much more competitive in light of shrinking budgets.   I’ll say it again, now more than ever is the time for sponsorship opportunity representatives to inventory best practices and stay ahead of the competition.  I’m a big fan of actionable check lists of to do’s, and so today I’d like to share what we have come up with as our top 10 key tips to finding a sponsor.  My hope is that it helps to equip you for an even more successful 2010 in sponsorship.

1. Write a relevant initial proposal – This is not the final customized piece (which comes after you have already established interest).  The initial proposal communicates the most relevant information up front; which quickly established whether a partnership is realistic.  It’s no longer about whether the marketing director likes basketball (for example); it’s whether the investment is going to impact his bottom line.
2. Offer tiered packages / benefits – When you communicate the benefits of partnering to a sponsor, a quick way to kill interest is not to offer options, or worse, no insight at all as to what you’re asking price might be. Your tiers should also be cascading – make it worth a sponsors while to offer more support in exchange for a more extensive package of benefits.  A la carte sponsorships make it tougher to offer bigger sponsors a distinguishing value for their investment – and we know from research that exclusivity is tremendously valuable to a sponsor.  Don’t let less valuable sponsors cherry pick your offering until there’s no way to land a more valuable partner.
3. Cast a vision – Clearly as one who represents a sponsorship opportunity you have a passion for what you are doing, paint that picture for why it’s a big deal – tell your story. But be careful to pair feelings with thinking. Pair qualitative with quantitative reasoning.  Connect the dots for why your opportunity and your turnkey efforts are a perfect match for the goals of your sponsor (this does take knowing what they’re after as well).
4. Quantify your value in as many ways as possible – While there are some benefits you can’t assign a number to, such as popularity or the loyalty of your customer base; there are many things that you can, such as: target audience information, media and broadcast exposure, and category exclusivity you could offer.  The economy has made consumers more aware of corporate spending and required accountability with decision makers. Make it clear and easy to defend as to why they should partner with you.
5. Pursue those who have reason to be interested in you – This means you will need to do your homework and be sure to know something about what that company is doing and where they are going.
6. Build a strong network – If two equally beneficial opportunities are presented to a sponsor, they are going to pick the one that they have existing ties with. Connect with as many people as possible – a great time to start this is with current sponsors!
7. Consider using an agency or connecting resource – Agencies generally speaking get paid when you see results, so they are working harder than ever right now. Best of all, SponsorPark allows sponsors to use our outsourcing tool for free – present yourself where sponsors are looking!
8. Give yourself plenty of time – Sponsorship can take 6-9 months to connect with the most appropriate person for a small to medium sized opportunity – longer for larger opportunities; negotiate a partnership, and sign a contract. The larger the sponsorship deal the longer it can take to close. This is also why it’s a good idea to pursue more than one sponsor at a time. Work smarter not harder!
9. Don’t sell yourself short – Even in a world where you might have to add perks you wouldn’t normally add to sell the sponsorship, or consider additional assets to bundle for more package options, make sure your pricing aligns with the value you’re offering a sponsor.  When the economy bounces back, you don’t want to be stuck in a rut because you undersold your sponsorship previously.
10. Ask your sponsor what they want out of the Partnership – Once interest has been established and an initial meeting set, ask your sponsor what they want. At this point you have done enough research to know the basics about what they might consider a goal of the partnership, but stay on top of the ever-changing corporate world. Who knows, they might come up with even better ideas than you initially considered.  Remember that this is a mutually beneficial relationship – and if you want a sponsor to turn into a long term partner, you need to make sure their needs are being met as well.

Lace up those tennis shoes and get ready to hit the ground running in this New Year, we’ll be running too!

This post was written by Emily Taylor, Director of Business Development at Sponsorpark.com

We are excited to announce that Lei Wang, the first Chinese-American woman to tackle the challenge of climbing all 7 summits and 2 poles, is now working with Fluide Media in developing her online brand. She is currently one mountain away from finishing the 7 Summits in 2010. Her final climb will be Mount Everest in March 2010.

Her challenge is exciting and inspiring to us. It’s amazing to work with clients who strive to push their limits and inspire others. She is definitely a great role model for women who want to make a positive difference in their lives.

Our initial focus revolves around developing Lei Wang’s online brand and promoting it in front of potential sponsors.Fluide will help redesign Lei’s website, including developing content and execute on Lei’s online marketing plan including social media. The result will be to create fan awareness, sponsor visibility and a fan community.

As the social media craze expands, the ability for athletes to air their thoughts can be a two-edged sword

by Saira Husain

It’s official: Larry Johnson makes Terrell Owens look like Mister Rogers.

Larry Johnson commentary

I’m sure you’ve all heard about the recent Larry Johnson fiasco by now, but if not, check out these pages:

http://www.everyjoe.com/emqb/larry-johnson-blasts-head-coach-on-twitter/

http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2009/10/chiefs_larry_johnson.php

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=capress-fbn_chiefs_johnson-272928924&prov=capress&type=lgns

It’s a shame that many of the stories involving athletes and Twitter only come to light when something negative happens. Everyone seems to ignore the athletes who DO understand social media. Athletes like Shaquille O’Neal, who have truly mastered the art of promoting their brand through sites like Twitter. It’s also a shame that some teams and leagues have tried to prevent athletes from tweeting because all of this.

Prevention is not the answer. Education is.

Twitter has given athletes the opportunity to connect with fans. Check out how active Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard, Terrence Williams and Candace Parker have been. They all love answering fan questions and being able to communicate with fans without traditional media barriers. On Twitter, Shaq had made posts telling fans where he was located and if they were one of the first people to find him that he would give away free tickets to his game. How cool is that?!?! (And I looked, the people that found him ACTUALLY got tickets from Shaq).

Being active on social media platforms also makes players more attractive to endorsement partners and opens up opportunities for direct monetization online. As well, the blogs and mainstream media are also more apt to cover someone that has an engaging Twitter account. I truly believe that Terrence Williams wouldn’t be as popular as he currently is with the NBA bloggers if he didn’t have a social media platform to showcase his unique, outgoing personality.

In today’s world, one wrong action online or offline can severely damage an athlete’s brand and earnings. Athletes need media training on how to use the Internet to protect and enhance their brand, connect with fans and take advantage of new monetization opportunities.

How many more stories like this are we going to see before we start giving athletes access to better training?

Pro athletes must now be as careful as a political candidate or a company CEO. Say the wrong thing, and your reputation or approval rating will drop quicker than a Brad Lidge sinker (when he’s Lights Out).

Media training should become a necessity with periodic workshops throughout the season and offseason.

In the meantime, they should teach athletes these basic PR rules:

• Always talk in good times and bad (Mitch Williams himself will tell you this);
• Never say “no comment;”
• Don’t lie;
• Never say something you do not want to see in print;
• Remember to speak in 10-second sound bites, which means simply to keep in mind a long answer (or the preceding question) may be left on the cutting-room floor.

After receiving a degree in Business from the Schulich School of Business specializing in Marketing and Human Resources, Saira Husain is currently attending Humber College’s postgraduate PR program. She is an aspiring Sports PR professional and has made it her mission to promote sports from a woman’s perspective. Check out her great blog at http://sairahusain.wordpress.com/

Content marketing has come a long way from where it was a few years ago. With the changes of Search Engine Optimization and Web 2.0, online tactics have evolved to keep up. At this point, content marketing has become the foundation of any online marketing strategy – which allows any business to compete effectively.Fitness Clubs and Spas can use the same strategies in getting new gym members and spa customers.

There are certain specific tips that you can use to ensure a good creative content marketing strategy for your gym or spa.

1. Define your target market

Just as in traditional marketing, you need to define who your members are.   The kind of content that you create for consumption should also be designed specifically for them and their needs. This is something that will require a fair amount of research to understand your customers pains, their information needs and goals. Take advantage of various online tools out there that will help you identify your customers. Do an analysis of keywords to understand your customers more. Dig deep into your competitors sites.

If you have done your research well, you may uncover hidden opportunities and niches that you can target through your online content.By defining who your client is and their wants, they can easily be targeted with the right content that calls to them.

2. Don’t propagate features, create solutions

There is no point in creating content that details all the features of your gym or spa. You are not likely to increase gym membership in this manner. Neither are spa customers likely to flock to your center after you have told them the kind of massage rooms that you have and the services that you offer. Once you have identified your customer, understand their needs in detail and offer solutions that can help them achieve what they are looking for.

For example, you may choose to increase your gym membership by targeting those who are looking to meet new people by creating more social classes.

In order to market those classes and attract more members, you can:

• give a brief description of various classes, mentioning their fitness benefits – but more importantly their popularity
• you can provide online videos of members taking part in the classes and having fun.
• You can put video testimonials.

3. Define your objective

Even after you have defined your potential clientele and the solution that you want to offer them, make sure that your content marketing strategy has an objective. Do you want to ensure that your clients respect your gym as a trusted name in the industry or do you want them to think of your fitness center as one that has the solution to any obesity problem? Make sure that you conduct a short survey to assess the image of your center at regular intervals to understand the effectiveness and receive feedback.

4. Update the content

Updating content frequently not only keeps you on top of mind, it will also place you top of search engines. With the amount of information that is uploaded on to the Internet each day, it is essential that you post articles, podcasts, blogs and other pieces of information everyday to remain active. Write original ideas or provide well-researched information. Don’t regurgitate the same-old information out there. Above-all, keep the content relevant and contextual.

From trust to action – Do not forget that the content marketing strategy that you have developed has a goal of increasing gym membership and spa customers at the end of the day. Ensure that your online content is designed and presented in such a manner that the customer finds it easy to register and make the appointment when ready.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many people who are obese or unfit and yet do not make the effort to join a fitness center to help themselves? And this is true for people who can afford to join a fitness center and benefit from the various amenities that the facility has to offer.

It is six times more expensive to initiate a new member into a fitness club than to retain one. While you have a fair amount of time to convince existing members of the benefits of the facility and prove by demonstration that your fitness center is the best, a new sale really needs to be clinched within minutes. There are some innovative ways in which you can try and spread the message of fitness through your fitness center.

Use existing clientele – One of the best ways in which you can spread the word around is to use existing clientele to get add on members. You could offer a couple or family scheme so as to make the offer attractive and alluring. Another way in which you can tap existing members for references is to offer a month’s free extension to the existing members if they refer someone.

Retention is important – Since it does take more to acquire a new client than to retain one, existing members need to be looked after. Do not take your members for granted once they have converted to an annual package. Do not consider that annual members are hostages. Bad service and inadequate customer care is likely to lose you a member that will be difficult to replace. In addition to that the bad word of mouth may actually make it more difficult for you to add on new members.

Direct Marketing – When you choose to opt for direct marketing methods, make sure that you have mailers that are efficient. While you may hire a professional photographer for images and a copywriter for the description of the services offered, you will also need to make sure that the direct marketing has a specific offer to sell. Unless the objective of your direct marketing campaign is only to create awareness, you do need to make an offer that the reader cannot refuse.

You may need to lure the first time visitor into your fitness center by allowing a session on the cardio machines free of charge or creating a package specifically for those who receive the direct mail. When consumers walk in with a direct mail voucher, you will also be able to monitor the effectiveness of the campaign. Make sure that you have a deadline associated with the offer so that you can expect to get a large number of sign-ins in a short period of time.

Communicate – Consumers who have not used fitness centers before may feel intimidated by the environment. Providing some assurance and voluntary information can go a long way in making them feel comfortable. Do not be conservative with your words and mention all that you can pack into a few minutes. Talk about the facilities, amenities, package deals, offers, trainers, nutritionist and how you can help them achieve their personal goals. Make sure that you do not bore your customer, though.

While clinching the new customer is an art that sometimes needs clever and suave sales people, these are some of the rules that really matter. It is also important to deliver on the promises that you have made to retain the customer that was so difficult to acquire in the first place.

Healthcare professionals need to understand and appreciate the manner in which they can use social media to their advantage.Some of the best practices that have been tried and tested by the pioneers of social media in the healthcare industry are mentioned below to help you get started.

Social media is not for broadcasting – Some healthcare professionals feel that using social media in the conventional sense shall result in a loss of control on the information that is put out there on the Internet. They ensured control by using social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook without allowing open ended comments. A move like this actually converted social media into more of a broadcast media and defeated the entire purpose of using the platform. You can only harness the power of social media by ensuring that you interact with the patients and consumers on these platforms and aim at achieving your tactical and strategic goals. Participating in a conversation, putting forth your point of view is what can ensure truest and long term brand building.

Understand HIPAA regulations – Most of the regulations that have been put forth on HIPAA relate to protecting the privacy of the patients. It does not put a ban on sharing case details as long as the patient has not been identified. In case a specific case does require you to put details of the patient on to any of these social media platforms, you need to make sure that the patient understands that the information then becomes widespread and can become known to all.

Integrate social media tactics with overall strategy – As is the case with other industries, it is important that the healthcare industry does not use social media in isolation. Social media is only a tool that you can use to communicate and bond with your customers. What you communicate, the tone and the manner is dependent on the overall strategy that you have for your healthcare facility or brand. This involves creating a digital format of your latest ad and placing it in YouTube or converting the regular monthly show on radio into a podcast that you share on Facebook or Twitter. Mayo clinic discovered that when their podcast listeners increased from a few to 76,000 in the matter of a month.

Monitoring is important – With 200 million users on Facebook and 10 million on Twitter being absent from these sites can actually mean losing an opportunity. However creating a presence in any of these sites and then leaving them unmonitored can actually cause more harm than good. Consumers or patients who do not get a response are likely to feel frustrated and cheated.

Allow for some flexibility – A social media campaign cannot be something that you plan completely. The dynamic nature of the platform ensures that there will be some discussions that will be initiated and discussed by patients too. Twitter is a platform that is more suited to communication. Facebook on the other hand allows for better interaction and empathy.

Use innovative ways of using the platform – The dynamic nature of social media platforms allows for a fair amount of creativity in the field. The Mayo Clinic uses Facebook as a platform where doctors speak about specific illnesses and how they can be managed. Health blogs for each illness that the specialist is interested in are also created. The most recent initiative is the creation of what they call ‘secret groups’ to connect patients with similar problems so that they can share experiences. Realmentalhealth.com uses social media platforms to create online forums and online chat sessions with various people who bipolar disorders. This is akin to online group therapy.

Use it as feedback – While some healthcare professionals are worried about the lack of control, those that are confident about their services ensure that they use any kind of negative feedback as a monitoring method. Anyone can make some mistakes and if you can address these issues in a timely manner, it is likely to have a positive impact on the brand reputation. The fact is that whether you allow it on your corporate Facebook page or not, disgruntled customers are likely to share it with the ones they want to on the Internet and this time it is likely to happen without your knowledge.

As a platform where doctors speak about specific illnesses and how they can be managed. Health blogs for each illness that the specialist is interested in are also created. The most recent initiative is the creation of what they call ‘secret groups’ to connect patients with similar problems so that they can share experiences. uses social media platforms to create online forums and online chat sessions with various people who bipolar disorders. This is akin to online group therapy.

Irrespective of what some healthcare professionals feel, social media is here to stay for the healthcare industry as well. Physicians are already using the Internet to access information about pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devices. Manhattan Research reported this percentage to be 88%. Forrester research indicates that social networking is likely to be the largest opportunity to engage consumers, access available information on medical news, read medical journals and also share videos and cases. The opportunities of benefitting from the power of social media go beyond marketing to consumers and reaches information sharing too.

One thing about Canadian athletes who are trying to be professional – they are a tough lot. They know how to make do with very little resources to train and compete at an international level. Especially, our Olympic athletes.

However, Canadian athletes, be it in Olympic sports or action sports, are the bottom of the barrel in terms of receiving coporate sponsorships. It’s a sad fact that many Canadian athletes do not have the same sponsorship support as the US athletes do. Of course, the government chips in, however the focus are on sports that have a higher potential of “medaling”.

But where does that leave the others?

It’s up to corporate sponsors to step up to the plate, as Clare Hughes mentions, our top athletes in Canada are “cheap labour” with the amount of support they can get for the return. Our professional and even amateur athletes are in a unique position to offer added value to their sponsors at low or no cost in ways that can produce positive results to a brand image.

Of course, Canadian athletes need to be problem solvers and use a marketing mindset in how they can offer their sponsors solutions to their marketing problems.  In working closely with athletes, companies will definitely see a strong return for their marketing dollars – notably in brand recognition and recall. According to a slew of experts, large corporations typically generate three or more dollars in new sales for every dollar spent sponsoring sporting events.

Hughes puts it eloquently – “…When you look at the millions and billions of dollars put into advertising budgets, the bang for your buck you can get for an athlete, especially right now with so much exposure in Canada, I think it’s very little money for what you get in return..”

I agree entirely with her.  With the economy coming out of a downturn, our athletes in Canada are in the unique position to provide great value for sponsors. With the high visibility that Canada is getting from the Olympics, corporate sponsors are missing out on a great opportunity to capitalize on brand recognition – before and after the Olympics.

Here are some key facts:

• Canada’s top athletes for 2010 are funded mostly via taxpayers dollars. They receive about $18,000 a year from Sport Canada.
• Own The Podium, a $120-million, five-year business plan designed to help Canada win more medals than any other country in 2010, doles out money to sports federations based on their medal potential in 2010.
• Of that $120 million, $55 million comes from the federal government.
• The OTP money covers athletes’ costs in their sport – travel, training camps, equipment and medical care – but not their mortgages, car payments or utilitybills.

I’m going to end this with a quote from Hughes – “Thirty thousand dollars. I’ve seen that number thrown around for athletes. For a corporation, when you look at a $30,000 sponsorship, that’s not a huge amount of money when you look at the potential return a sponsor can get in terms of exposure and internal motivation within the company.”

So, I challenge all Canadian companies to step up and support our Olympians. Athletes are not looking for handouts, they are willing to work hard for the money. And in return, your ROI will be tremendous!

Alok Chowdhury

But be aware of them. Do your research and find out what keywords are important and see if they are competitive. Keyword density changes with the type of keywords if the keyword is highly competitive, the writer should focus on not more than one word per page. .

Highly competitive keywords will be very hard to rank at all. A brand name like Tilley is very competitive however writing an article for women’s outdoor clothing in association with Tilley brand can be a better idea as it’s not competitive phrase.

The ideal range for low competitive keywords should be no more than two or three keywords per page. When it comes to moderately competitive keywords, these keywords should be placed on the homepage and are anchor text linking back internally.

Anchor Text and Linking
What you should really be looking at is anchor text and internal linking. Remember, each page has their own keyword density, these keywords can be emphasized more by providing a hidden  hyperlink to another page, usually to an internal page.

Search engines love these. Especially if the anchor text keyword is related to the search term

To Summarize…
Writing for the web doesn’t have to be complicated; keep it simple and easier to use, and make sure the content is relevant and fresh!

• Analyze your copy by looking at your choice of words. Do they connect with your readers and tell a story?
• White space is important. Use bullets and lists to allow for quick scanning. Use headings and sub headings to help break up the page.
• Keep your word count per article between 300-350 range. It allows for easy digestion of your content.
• Use emotion to sell. Write as if you’re talking to your reader face to face.
• Balance design with content. Test the site usability. Can the reader find what they want easily?
• Be Authentic! Show your true personality, warts and all. Quality is better than quantity when building relationships.

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Let’s take a look at a few sites to see some examples. We took the two top snowboarders in action sports – Gretchen Bleiler and Jeremy Jones.

Gretchen’s website is very well designed, flashy colours with all the cool effects that you see in various action sports oriented websites.

She has put enough content that keeps you coming back, however, let’s take a deeper look.

We know that the aim for any athlete’s website is to:

• Build a relationship with their fans
• Showcase their skills
• Showcase their sponsors

However, it must be done in a meaningful and believable way. And especially for action sports fans, street “cred” is important. If action sports fans feel that they are not being sold to, and that their sports hero is authentic, they become loyal.

People want authencity. Not PR spin. Gretchen’s content that is published is bland, corporate speak with no warmth in them. No stories, no way people can relate to her. They don’t tell much about her personality and you can see that she doesn’t put any effort into it.

The result?
People coming on to her site to check out her videos, maybe going briefly over her posts, take a peek at some photos and don’t come back. There have been some infrequent updates. You can see that there is a lack of interaction between herself and her fans – there are no comments at any of her posts, videos or photos.

Pretty much, her website has become a PR exercise than any attempt at connection. It seems like a fabricated exercise without any attempt at authencity.

Let’s take a look at Jeremy Jone’s site. Very simple. Not a lot of flashy colours or design. But how much do you want to bet that after reading two or three of Jeremy’s posts, you have a good understanding of who he is and what his thoughts are. You get the feeling that you’re reading the deep thoughts of Jeremy, who took the time to reveal his authentic side.

Look at his photos! Simply stunning! But what is most important is that he’s forging a connection with his fans… Take a look at how many comments his posts have generated compared to Gretchen’s. Read how personal the comments are, as fans feel a genuine connection with Jeremy.

Where is the interaction?
One of the benchmarks of a successful blog is the number of comments people put after a post. It shows people care, that they are reading and taking the time to intereact with you.

In Gretchen’s blog, there is almost a non-existent interaction. It’s more like an one way conversation..

Compare that to Jeremy’s blog, where almost after every post, there are 10-15 comments. You can see that his fans feel a personal connection with him and tell him that. They feel that they are seeing a real person and not someone who is a PR flack.

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• Is the content interesting?
• Does it grab you and address your needs?
• Does it have a rhythm to it?
• Do you use your action in the verbs?

The more variety that you have in your sentences and copy the better it is in grabbing the attention of your readers.

Don’t get all emotional on me…
When you think of Apple, what do you feel? If you’re diehard Mac fan, you probably swoon at their ads and can’t help drooling while you browse their website. Apple has done a great job in invoking emotion to their brand and their ads.

You must do the same thing. When you’re writing for your website – take a step back and see if your readers are responding to your words… Does it grab their attention/interest and create desire?

Or best yet, does it make them act? Use a style of writing that people will like when talked to.

Design: Less is More
Don’t overcrowd your pages, let the copy breathe. Include plenty of white space,  and keep content pages short—300-350 words. Complicated menus or loads of graphics make pages visually confusing and may lose you customers. Make pages easy to see and easy to use. Help your reader concentrate on the content by placing ads out of the way.

• Easy navigation – make the content easy to follow
  Take a look through your analytics program and see how long it takes your readers to find what they need on your site. How many clicks does it take – keep it between 3 -5. But what’s important is how intuitive is it for them to find what they want, not the number of clicks they take.
• Headlines and bullets make scanning a breeze
  Notice the way this article is laid out? Headlines tell you the general contents of each paragraph, which is helpful because more than 2/3 of your readers will actually be scanning the pages, not reading them. When you use headlines and bulleted lists, you provide information that’s quick to access and easy to read.
• Consistency in patterns
  Take a look at your pages, do they have a consistency in look and feel? Do your words have the same tone and style from page to page? Also take a look at your graphics, menus etc.. and see if there is any variancy between the pages. Any differences will throw your readers off and navigate away to other pages.

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Long sentences and paragraphs scare people away, and anything that looks like it’s going to be a slog to read will turn readers off. No one has the time or inclination to want to read the whole thing.

And keep the sentences personal – get used to the word “you”. The web doesn’t go well with formal sentence structure. It’s an informal world, and if you want to build relationships with your readers, use the word you as much as possible.

Quality, Quality, Quality
What does quality mean? In the online world, quality means relevant and fresh.

Always keep the audience information needs in mind. Your reader wants to feel that they came out of your website learning something new or had a positive experience in their interactions.

Whether you’re selling soccer balls or vitamins, it’s important to keep the information clear and to the point. Articles should be concise and informal. The web doesn’t go well with formal writing but more of an informational tone.

Your customers are looking for answers to their questions—about their health, their activities and the products that will enhance their lives.

Lots of people have problems trying to find new things to write about on a regular basis. Especially for blog posts – which compose 85% of Fluide Media’s contracts.  Here are some tips that you can take for creating quality ideas and posts.

1. Find a new angle.. Like PR pros say – find a new angle to pitch. The same topic can be turned around so many different ways for different audiences. You can do the same.
2. You have a personality. Use it! Do not be afraid to show your true side! If you want to be the wild and crazy guy then put it down… Your readers will relate to you better, and know that there is a human being on the other side.
3. Tell a tale. When you write, it’s more interesting to tell a story with a point to it. Don’t just write a dry article, use analogies, draw from real life experiences, make fun of situations….
4. Stay fresh. Keep yourself updated on a regular basis. Hook yourself up to what’s going in the industry or category. Subscribe to RSS feeds and at least scan them on a daily basis.
5. Be opinionated. Got an opinion, don’t be afraid to say it. It’s a free country.. You should also say things as it is based on your knowledge and analysis, even if it could create controversy.

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To increase your readership, tailor your website to provide the most approachable content for your target audience. Remember, people reading online tend to be rushed and distracted, they are reading for information, not pleasure. Most often, they’re scanning for the information they want—not reading for literary purposes.

Writing with the online user in mind ensures that visitors will be more likely to spend more time at your site and to visit it often. Because people usually visit several times before making a purchase, your goal is to create a site that makes people want to return again and again.

Information architecture -Creating your content plan
Remember before you even set up the content, take a few steps back and start planning your goals, the site architecture and wireframe.You must ask yourself:

• What are your website goals
• What are your users goals and expectations
• What are your sites content areas?
• How are you going to drive users to those content areas?

Take your time to create a site map including a wireframe to determine how the user is going to access your content and how engaged they are going to be. Remember that web design and content go hand in hand here… Understand what will catch the eye of your user “top of fold”, and how you can help guide them towards the desired action.

Write for the web but do not write for the web
Writing for the web means being informal, showing your personality and providing relevant information. In short, it’s a conversation that builds relationships. You have a lot of tools to use to be able to do that.

But what you should not do is write as if you’re writing for the web..Don’t call attention to the “web” by putting phrases such as:

• Click here
• Follow this link

Don’t use any self referential terms and avoid words/phrases specific to web use. To double check out any overuse – print out the article, read it and ask yourself if it still makes sense on paper.

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The links are below:
http://www.seobook.com/google-caffeine

http://mashable.com/2009/08/10/google-caffeine/

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/08/google-caffeine-test-suggests-too-much-emphasis-on-real-time-indexing.html

http://www.clickz.com/3634694

http://www.seoaddicted.com/google/testing-google-search-caffeine-update/

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=111920

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You can also read the interview by Bill Brownstein of the Montreal Gazette.

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Fluide Media was represented at the 1st Annual Montreal Outrigger Race. 15 people showed up, all competing heavily for the case of beer offered as a prize. Under a hot August sun, everyone had a good time and no one was hurt. Hopefully, we’ll do this again before the summer is over!