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John Lemke

RIAA lobbyist becomes federal judge, rules on file-sharing cases - 0 views

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    according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Between 2004-2009, Howell was the only listed lobbyist at the firm; the RIAA was her exclusive lobbying client for most of that time. A lobbyist disclosure form describes her as working on "legislation concerning copyright laws as applied to digital music"-which she would be well-placed to do, having previously helped to write such laws.
John Lemke

Calif. woman to show off newly transplanted hand - 0 views

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    This March 5, 2011 image provided by UCLA Health System shows Dr. Kodi Azari, left, and members of his surgical team performing a hand transplant at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. The transplant was performed on a 26-year-old mother from Northern California who lost her right hand in a traffic accident nearly five years ago. UCLA is only the fourth center in the nation to offer this procedure and the 13th hand transplant surgery performed in the United States
John Lemke

TV Everywhere users watch more TV overall - 0 views

  • According to research published by Viacom TV Everywhere users show an increase in overall TV viewing, as well as greater customer loyalty towards pay TV providers that offer TV Everywhere services.
  • Online surveys were conducted with more than 1,300 Viacom viewers ages 13-49 and more than 600 kids ages 2-12. Participants included both users of TV Everywhere and non-users.
  • The majority of users agree: TV Everywhere is additive to the TV viewing experience. Since they began using TV Everywhere apps and sites, 64% report watching more TV overall. This finding is even stronger among Millennials, with 72% watching more TV.
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  • While 19% of users say they have no problems with their TVE experiences, the top issues tend to be tech-related, including loading/buffering (24%) and crashing/freezing (23%). Content-related issues are far less common.
John Lemke

Growing Your Blog One Reader At a Time - 0 views

  • Building your blog’s foundation requires some significant work if you want it to stand the test of time.
  • I’m talking about real people who engage with you in regards to your blog on a regular basis
  • the more you post the faster your blog will grow.
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  • a great headline
John Lemke

Arrive To vs. Arrive At - 0 views

  • To is a preposition of movement. One travels to a restaurant, but arrives at a restaurant.
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    I agree with the author, this misuse of the preposition seems to be gaining ground.
John Lemke

Plain Language: Improving Communications from the Federal Government to the Public - 0 views

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    A good resource for making you writing understandable.
John Lemke

20 Rules for Writing So Crystal Clear Even Your Dumbest Relative Will Understand - 0 views

  • Spreading an idea means getting it from your brain into someone else’s. It means putting together the essential facts, the logical arguments and your insightful conclusions together in exactly the right way to recreate your brilliant idea in the mind of your reader.
  • Try to describe your audience with this simple formula: X who Y. For example: “Bloggers who want to get more traffic”.
  • If you can’t explain what your post is about in one simple, short sentence, it’s probably too complex or unfocused.
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  • Make sure a clear connection exists between the opening of your post and the headline.
  • If a sentence, phrase or word is particularly important or significant, use bold or italics to add stress. But don’t overdo it.
  • Always be consistent with your terminology.
  • If a point is worth making, it’s worth making twice. Or even three times.
  • Only tell them what they need to know to follow your argument. Share the minimum you need to convey the desired message.
  • Clear examples help readers understand difficult concepts.
  • Concrete language describes something detectable by the senses. Something you can see, feel, hear, smell or taste. Abstract concepts are much harder to imagine.
  • When you provide specific detail in your writing, there’s less room for ambiguity. Your reader is far more likely to end up with the same idea in their head as you have in yours.
  • Clarity does not tolerate “might,” “may” or “possibly.” If you can’t say something with certainty, perhaps you shouldn’t be writing about it at all.
  • if you’re in the business of spreading ideas, you must make friends with bullets.
  • Bullets are a valuable tool, but you should never drop your reader into a list without first setting the scene.
  • make sure each point is recognizably related to the others.
  • If you were giving your reader a list of steps, you’d present them in the order they needed doing, right? Obviously. But if the items in your list aren’t steps, they often still have a natural order – even if you didn’t have one in mind when you wrote them.
  • always supply everything the reader needs to fully understand your points within the post itself.
  • You think you’re being generous but truthfully you’re being greedy. Greedy with your reader’s time, their attention, and their patience.
  • include a clear call-to-action. Tell your reader what you want them to do.
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    20 tips on writing with clarity.
John Lemke

So, How DO You Promote a Blog Post, Anyway? - 0 views

  • Comment on their posts.
  • If you want to build a blog, the reality is that Twitter is one of the most important platforms for sharing, probably followed by Google+, at this point. If you’re in a home/food/how-to niche, Pinterest may be important to you as well. If Facebook seems like a place people talk about your topic a lot, it might be useful, too.
  • There are plenty of tools out there — among the most popular are AddtoAny, ShareThis, and Sharebar (which is what I’m currently using).
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  • Reverse-engineer your social-media success by noticing what sorts of posts get shared a lot in your niche, and writing something along those lines.
  • the key ingredient: Write a strong headline
  • Use hashtags
  • Use a scheduler
  • Don’t just keep retweeting your headline and link. Instead, vary what you say.
  • Be sure you share other things inbetween the repetitions of your new post. Do some scanning, find some interesting stuff, and lace it into your schedule as well, so you don’t start looking like an obnoxious salesman and continue to appear to be putting out useful, varied info.
John Lemke

How to Use Quora to Grow Your Blog - 0 views

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    I just signed up for this service today. It looks like a good source to find ideas to write/report on.
John Lemke

How To Write Well: 10 Essential Self-Editing Tips | Write to Done - 0 views

  • The easiest way to write well is to edit your writing. The best person to edit a manuscript, article or blog post is the author herself.
  • Leave your writing alone for a while
  • Pay attention to what jumps out at you as awkward.
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  • You’ll catch clunky sentences, missing and repetitive words, and misspellings.
  • Make a list of your most common offenders. Then search for those words and see if you can take them out without altering your intended meaning.
  • Take a look at each sentence and see how many words you can cut out.
  • Check to make sure you put commas before direct address in dialog.
  • The most mutilated verbs are lay, sink, drag, swim, and shine.
  • Flowery verbs such as quizzed, extrapolated, exclaimed, and interjected, stick out. Instead, use said and asked, with an occasional replied or answered.
  • When sentences begin with “it was” and “there were,” readers are left wondering exactly what “it” is. These words are vague. “It was hot today” can easily be replaced with “the sun baked his shoulders,” which paints a clearer picture. Think: strong nouns and verbs.
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    A good list of tips to help you with your re-writes.
John Lemke

The Smart Way to Use Other People's Audiences to Build Your Own - Copyblogger - 0 views

  • That’s the basic idea: Get in front of OPA, and then publish fantastic content so you can earn that audience’s respect and trust.
  • Interacting with others, sharing the content of others, and participating in communities are all great ways to generate attention and build an audience.
  • build an audience that is relevant to what you do
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  • If you get attribution links as a result of the guest post, then the site and page giving you the link will be closely matched to your site and the specific page receiving the link.
  • You are not a fit for every audience. Don’t worry about it. Pass on opportunities where you can’t bring the good stuff, and focus your energies in the places where you can.
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    As people often say regarding writing, "it is just as much about networking as it is working".  If you blog or write, these are some great ways to build your audience.
John Lemke

20 Copywriting Blind Spots All Web Writers Should Avoid » SEO Copywriting - 0 views

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    Some tips to not only make your copy more readable but also to help with SEO.
John Lemke

3 Times You Should STOP Writing - 0 views

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    While I personally feel that you should write daily, this article does give three good times to just "let go".
John Lemke

Writer Unboxed » Recovering the Joy In Writing - 0 views

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    Today I hear it called podfade and blogfade... it is burning out nonetheless...
John Lemke

3 Big Reasons Your Freelance Writing Dreams Go Nowhere - 0 views

  • When you have access to materials that could help you create a plan for launching your business, but you never use them, you’re not serious about this.
  • Sitting around beating yourself up about what you don’t know or haven’t taken action on yet is not going to help you take the plunge into the uncertain world of freelancing.
  • Your dreams are not puny.
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