Published & Profitable friends and members are invited to a free Power of Peresonas teleseminar Tuesday, July 7, where you can learn the basics of creating reader and website visitor personas. Personas are planning tools that help authors plan, write, promote, and profit from their books.

Personas help authors and others on their team–like webmasters and graphic designers–”get inside their readers’ head” in order to make better-informed copywriting and design decisions.

What are personas?

Personas are short fictional stories describing the attitudes, characteristics, goals, information needs, and motivations  of different groups of readers. They help authors identify the attitudes, characteristics, goals, information needs, and motivations  of different groups of readers and website visitors.

Often, personas are just 1 page long.

Each persona is introduced with a first name and a stock photograph used to bring each reader category of to life.

In most cases, 3 to 5 personas is enough for a project; rarely are more than 7 required.

Personas and the power of story

The story in a persona is told in a few brief paragraphs and short bulleted lists that describe who the individual is, where they work, what their family situation is like, and–most important–what their problems are and the goals they want to accomplish.

Personas originated in the field of information architecture and web usability, but they can help authors at every step of writing and marketing their book:

• Planning. Authors can use personas to plan their book’s title and organize their book’s table of contents.
• Writing. Personas can help authors select the right language for chapter titles, headings, and subheads.
• Promoting. Creating personas will help authors focus their website on their information and navigation that will help readers and prospects locate the information they desire when visiting the website.
• Profiting. Personas will help authors correctly target the needs of their prospective buyers of their products and services.

How to attend Tuesday’s free teleseminar

Bring your questions about personas to Roger C. Parker’s free Published & Profitable Power of Personas teleseminar call on <!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:150%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>

Tuesday July 7, 2009 at 11:00 AM EST.

To attend, call 218-486-1616 and enter PIN: 513391#.

It’s important to remember that in today’s competitive environment, even the best-written and most helpful newsletters face a lot of competition. Your prospects have a limited amount of time to devote to read expert newsletters. Offering your newsletter subscribers an occasional bonus or “personal touch,” can go a long ways towards cementing client and prospect loyalty.

In Jill’s case, she’s showing her appreciation to her newsletter subscribers by offering a free, information-packed one-hour teleseminar on publicity.

Why I recommend Jill Lublin’s free publicity teleseminar

During the past few years, I’ve interviewed Jill on several occasions, and she’s never failed to provide a new perspective, plus several valuable hands-on ideas for getting noticed.

You’ll learn practical publicity strategies that will get you more credibility and visibility in the marketplace without spending a fortune.

How you can attend

Jill Lublin’s publicity teleseminar takes place Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 12:00 P.M. PST

To attend this free 1-hour teleseminar, or to subscribe to Jill’s great newsletter simply e-mail Jill’s office.

But, wait, there’s more!

To have genuine relationship-building value, the bonuses also have to be tangible and visible. They have to become tools that can have the recipient do something, to research new topics, for example, or to help them make a genuine improvement in their marketing by introducing new skills.

A few days ago, I emphasized how impressed I was by Stephanie Diamond’s 4-week No-Nonsense Web Marketing workshop that starts next week. (Original post here, visit Stephanie’s details here.)

Examples of bonuses that make a difference

When I prepared my original post, I didn’t emphasize the bonuses that attendees receive.

The bonuses are not just recycle PDF’s, as they often are. Instead, workshop attendees receive bonuses that will help them profit from the information that they gain each week.

1. 1-minute video. Stephanie will help attendees create a 1-minute video for their website. Online video is one of the most powerful marketing tools available, but many don’t know how to take advantage of its power. With Stephanie’s help, attendees will now be able to display a video on their website.
2. Research software. Content forms the core of Tribes and successful long-term relationships. Workshop attendees will receive a software program that will help them locate ideas and information for creating content relative to their market’s information needs.
3. Time-management software. Time management is a crucial, but often neglected, marketing tool. Attendees will gain valuable tools not only to create better online content, they’ll gain the tool they need to find the time to create better content!

Conclusion and questions

These valuable, but relatively unheralded, bonuses raise 2 important points:

• Are you offering the right bonuses? There’s more to bonuses as long-term relationship builders than recycled PDFs. Each time you offer a bonus, you have to ask yourself if the bonus you’re offering will really make a difference to your prospects. Exactly how will your bonus help them? More important, how visible will your bonuses be to the recipient: how how often will they use it in coming months? Will the bonus hide, unread, somewhere on a hard drive, or will the bonus be a tool used every day?
• Do you regularly attend workshops and hands-on events by established leaders? Are you putting off fixing persistent problems, like inefficient web marketing, until you have the time or money? (If you don’t fix persistent problems now, how will they ever get cured?)

Perhaps we should all take fresh looks at available opportunities, like Stephanie Diamond’s 4-week No Nonsense Web Workshops.

Persistent problems have to be addressed by obtaining qualified assistance. The sooner action is taken, the sooner the problems will go away.

Jack Hart’s A Writer’s Coach: The Complete Guide to Writing Strategies that Work

I’ve since ordered copies for each of my sons, plus several friends. I’ve also encouraged the local independent bookstore to stock it.

Jack Hart’s A Writing Coach one of the few writing books that actually lives up to its promise…while keeping the reader happily engaged and entertained.

The Writing Process

A lot of the power of Jack Hart’s A Writer’s Coach is that it emphasizes “process” over indulgences that emphasize “creativity” and “inspiration” as a substitute for sitting down and writing.

As Jack wrote:  “Nothing generates ideas like getting your hands on the keyboard.”

Or, as Don Murray, Published & Profitable Editorial Board Emeritus, used to comment during lunch at the local Olive Garden, “The first rule of writing is to apply behind to chair.”*

6 Steps to Success

Rather than starting with “inspired writing,” Jack Hart recommends a 6 step writing process:

1. Idea. Jack frequently emphasizes the difference between topic and idea.  The best writing originates with an idea, or premise, that that author “tests” during the writing process.
2. Information gathering. As new information appears, the writer is constantly testing the validity of the idea.
3. Focus. As new information appears, the author’s task is to ascertain its relevancy to the premise and to the readers.
4. Organizing. The author must then organize the information in order of importance and sequence. (This is where I encourage authors to put mind mapping to work.)
5. Drafting. The author starts writing only after organizing the raw material, or components, of the piece.
6. Polishing. Jack refers to this as the “final tweaking and polishing” which can’t occur, of course, until the author has completed the first draft.

A different approach to writing

The 6-step writing process that Jack Hart’s describes in A Writing Coach is at odds with the way most first-time authors try to write. It also explains why so many people find writing hard and stressful.

Many new authors start by writing too soon, and make things worse by trying to write too perfectly!

Jack’s approach describes a far less stressful approach, one that acknowledges that even the best writing can profit from editing and proof-reading, but…editing for perfection can be postponed until after a purposeful first draft has been created.

As always, I’ll begin the call with a brief presentation, then open the call to everyone.

This month, I’ll begin by discussing some of the pros and cons of  “short books” that can help you get your book to market faster.

Then, we’ll all profit from the “wisdom of the crowd” as we share concerns and ideas.

Published & Profitable’s June end-of-month call takes place Tuesday, June 30, at 3:00 PM EST.

To attend, call 218-486-1616 and enter PIN 513391#

Background

For 30 years, Susan Weinschenk has been applying the principles of psychology to the design of technological interfaces. She relates user interface design for computers, software, websites, and medical equipment to the newest neuroscientific research into decision-making, persuasion, and emotion.

3 brains are better than 1

Central to Neuro Web Design’s premise is the existence of 3 separate human brains, a result of thousands of years of evolution. Each “brain” has its own characteristics and  reacts differently when visiting a website (or doing anything else, for that matter):

• Old brain. The “old brain” developed first. It is concerned with survival. It’s goal is to decide what’s safe and what’s unsafe.
• Mid brain. The mid brain is where emotions are processed, it responds impulsively.
• New brain. This is where processing, or reasoning, takes place.

The old brain and mid brain operate outside of our conscious awareness. We’re only aware of what’s going on in our new brain.

Although we like to think of ourselves as “rational,” the new brain’s rational or “aware” contributions often come too late, after the old brain or mid brain have already caused us to act.

Implications of psychological research for web design

As you’ll see when you visit the Neuro Web Design website and click on the “Sneak Preview” button, we don’t always respond rationally–even though we think we do. We’re influenced by appearance, by what others are doing, by our previous commitments, and by obligation–by what we think we should do.

It all sounds very complicated, but Neuro Web Design’s concisely-stated research and implications, and the way they are related to our everyday tasks, make sense. The result is a book that can have tremendous impact on any author or business owner’s website. Neuro Web Design is a book that will force you to take a fresh look at your website, looking beyond the obvious.

What kind of website has Susan created for herself and her book?

As Susan Weinschenk describes, “fleeing,” or refusing to commit, is  one of the ways individuals react when faced with too many choices. Give a shopper 3 choices, and they’re likely to make a decision and buy one. Give them 27 choices, however, and they’re likely to not make a choice. The desire of their “older” brains for safety and security might override their new brain’s desire to acquire a product or service.

As you can see when you visit the home page, shown at left, Susan has taken pains to create an open, non-threatening, website.

The home page focuses visitor attention on a few key options, including immediate engagement with the book’s contents.

It’s a friendly, non-intimidating, home page that doesn’t overwhelm. In addition, the restrained use of color projects an upscale, professional image.

Susan Weinschenk’s Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click?, like many New Riders Press books, offers a thoughtful, illustrated, and readable experience that goes a step beyond the conventional. It lives up to New Riders’ mission of “Voices that Matter.”

If you want a better website, buy two copies: one for yourself, one for your webmaster!

Meet Stephanie Diamond

When Stephanie Diamond joined AOL in 1994, they had less than a million members. When she left her position as Marketing Director to start her own online marketing firm in 2002, they had 36 million members!

The years in between provided her with an opportunity to study what worked in online marketing. She studied what made website visitors take the site owner’s desired action, and what caused them to click to another site.

Stephanie has distilled her studies of what works and what doesn’t work in online marketing into a 4-week No Nonsense Web Workshops e-course that begins July 5.

Our shared philosophy

I’m very familiar with Stephanie Diamond and her work. I’ve interviewed her, analyzed her e-book, and I encouraged her to write her first trade book, Web Marketing for Small Businesses: 7 Steps to Explosive Business Growth.

Stephanie and I are fellow travelers in terms of an enthusiasm for mind mapping and a pragmatic approach to sharing the details that contribute to everyday accomplishment.

On several occasions, I’ve called on her for advice and counsel.

To learn more…

I encourage you to pay serious attention to Stephanie Diamond’s No Nonse Web Workshop e-course based program of personal coaching beginning July 5. It will undoubtedly be a valuable learning experience for the 25 lucky individuals who participate.

Mindjet has announced a new image library add-in that offers users over 300 additional icons to improve the communicating power of mind maps created using MindManager 7 or MindManager 8. These new images can add depth, visual appeal, and meaning to your MindManager maps, setting them apart from the ordinary.

New categories

The 300 new icons are organized and sorted into 5 categories:

• Buttons, including new audio-visual options
• Electronics, i.e., battery-power status indicators, computer peripherals, etc.
• Objects, from calendars to magic wands
• People, i.e., identification cards, roles, abstract images, etc.
• Symbols, such as customer satisfaction, hacker alerts, certification, etc.

Easy access

For quick and easy access, the new, downloadable, images are stored within the pre-existing MindManager Library tab. This reduces the need to conduct image searches outside the MindManager application.  With more visual assets at your fingertips, you’ll save time and maintain focus by keeping your workflow process inside MindManager.

Speed

Users can download the library from Mindjet.com and have access to hundreds of new visual assets within minutes.

The MindManager image library add-in for MindManager 8 and MindManager 7 is available immediately for purchase and electronic download at the Mindjet online store for $29.

If you’re new to mind mapping…

Note: if you’re not yet familiar with mind mapping, download a free MindManager 8.0 30-day trial. You can also view and download mind maps of books like Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and Jonathan Field’s Career Renegade in Published & Profitable’s Sample Contents.

Angela Connor is the author of 18 Rules for Community Engagement: A Guide for Building Relationships and Connecting With Customers Online, a new book that tells you exactly what to do–and what not to do–when building your community and engaging with community members.

Our call takes place Wednesday, July 1st, at 7:00 PM EST.

Meet Angela Connor

Listen as Angela shares specific, proven, strategies and techniques she used to build and maintain her community.

Recently, she grew a community from zero members to 11,000 members in only 18 months–an incredible achievement in the online community arena.

A multimedia journalist with 15 years of experience in broadcast, print and online media, Angela Connor has written numerous policies for managing user-generated content and heads a company-wide social media task force.

To learn more and download a free sample chapter from her book, visit Angela’s Web site and check out  her Online Community Strategist blog.

To attend this call

Join us Wednesday, July 1st, at 7:00 PM EST, as Angela Connor shares her tips and strategies about creating and using online communities to market your book, your business, and your brand.

To attend this important call, contact Roger C. Parker or visit the Guerrilla Marketing Association.

Authors and business owners looking for tips to improve their productivity and ability to write well under pressure will find hundreds of  helpful examples, ideas, insights, and tips.

Jack Hart was writing coach at the Portland Oregonian. His ideas about writing are both practical and inspirational. His ideas originated in his efforts to help generations of reporters and editors produce great writing under never-ending deadlines.

The following examples emphasize his process-oriented approach to writing.

Secrets and tips for writing well

1. The secret to writing well is in the process, not the finished product.
2. Content problems are almost always process problems.
3. Analyzing and improving process, making it less painful and more efficient, is the surest route to writing improvement.
4. Most accomplished writers follow an efficient roadmap that leads them through projects without a lot of angst.
5. Poor organization will make it devilishly difficult to craft a decent draft.
6. Nothing generates ideas like getting your hands on the keyboard.
7. Writing generates ideas by encouraging the kind of sequential, cause and effect thinking, that leads your mind into new territory.
8. The idea is the foundation for all that follows, and without a clear vision of your objective, you can’t plan your information gathering or organize your material.
9. If the writing is hard for the writer, it’s also likely to be hard for the reader.
10. Failure to organize produces a long list of consequences: missed deadlines, excessively long manuscripts, formalistic writing, slow and unproductive writers.

Jack Hart’s A Writing Coach: An Editor’s Guide to Words that Work is available as an inexpensive paperback, as well as an Amazon Kindle format.

Either way, I highly recommend it and endorse its emphasis on process and habit.