We are calling our end of the work week posts “Fun Friday.” You will find our “World’s Worst Sentence” along with observations made during the week. Our intention concerning the “worst” sentence is not to be harsh, but to honor those who take the time to proofread and edit their content. If YOU have a better suggestion for how to edit the “worst,” share it here.
This “worst” sentence appeared in an e-book I downloaded from a website.
BEFORE
If you are more philanthropic, profit mat not be your main motivation and you may want to sell more products to help more people and where your fruition comes from enhancing lives, but for the purposes of this example I will simply focus on the how to make the maximum profit for your company and its shareholders.
AFTER
Profit may not be your main motivation when selling products, yet increasing profits for your company and its shareholders may be the best way to enhance the lives of those you care about.
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From Used Car Lot to Show Room
I attended two webinars this week. One was awful and the other sublime. I liken these experiences to walking in a used car lot vs. entering a show room. I didn’t know either of the speakers and learned something from both. But why did I feel sleazy during one and successful during the other?
The difference was tone, trust, and the call to action. It became apparent to me that one was selling while the other was sharing. The first relayed a sense of urgency and how easy it all was if I only follow his direction. He offered a free gift at the end. On the webinar window was a counter showing an impressive number of attendees. He described the sales cycle and how to up sell people during the purchasing process. He wanted us to become affiliates of something he was selling. Meanwhile, the counter kept dropping until near the end there were less than a third of the original attendees still listening. I think he needs to go back and do some marketing homework.
The sublime experience was during this year’s Blogging Success Summit, an annual event sponsored by BlogWorld & Social MediaExaminer.com. I had attended their events before and knew they only invite leaders in the field to speak. So Douglas Karr had been vetted by people I trust. He is also the author of Corporate Blogging for Dummies. His voice was friendly. He generously shared his contact information at the beginning. His content was current and engaging. What is the biggest factor influencing your site’s search engine rankings? Not keywords, not page titles, but incoming links. I tweeted a few of the good points he made. His call to action was for us to engage and ask questions. I did. Then shared the answer with a client. My esteem was heightened. Which book will I buy to learn more about corporate blogging? As a journalist, who will I interview for an article on corporate blogging?