By now, you’ve probably heard a lot about millennials and how they are so different from previous generations. Sadly, most of what you’ve heard hasn’t been good. You might have heard that millennials are lazy, entitled, obsessed with technology and way too sensitive. “Millennial” has practically become a dirty word in certain circles, but the truth is that the people who were born between 1982 and 2004 aren’t as difficult to figure out as you think.

If you’re still of the opinion that you will never understand millennials and how they think, here are ten things to keep in mind as you interact with the millennial generation at work and elsewhere.

1. Millennials Want to Know They’re Making an Impact in the Workplace

There was a time when workers were simply expected to do what they were told at their jobs without asking questions. Millennials don’t often think that way in the workplace. They often want to know why they’re performing a specific task and why it’s important that they do. Some older managers might find this annoying or disrespectful, but it’s not intended to be. Millennials want to know that they are making a difference in their jobs, and that what they are doing is making an impact. This helps keep them engaged, so make it clear that they are an important part of your workplace as you train them.

2. Millennials Focus on Education

Most millennials grew up being told that they had to have a college degree if they are to be successful. This means that many of them went to college before entering the workforce, but it also means that they will likely continue their education. A millennial will be far less likely than baby boomers to get a job at a young age and stay where they are for years. They will want to keep learning and furthering their careers and educations. While they hopefully won’t job-hop, don’t be surprised to see millennials move on to bigger and better things after working in the same place for a couple of years.

3. Millennials Will Be Less Likely to be Married

Because millennials place such much emphasis on education and career achievement, they will be far less likely to be married at a young age. Marriage might be an eventual goal, but don’t expect to see too many people getting married right out of high school as in previous generations.

4. Millennials are Socially Conscious

Millennials are more connected to the rest of the world than previous generations thanks to a near-constant connection to the Internet that can be accessed on computers and smartphones. As a result, they are more concerned with what is going on with people outside of their socioeconomic circle. This is a good thing that should be celebrated, not derided as some kind of over-sensitivity.

5. Millennials Spend Money Differently from Baby Boomers

Millennials tend not to chase traditional status symbols such as luxury cars or big houses. In fact, many choose to forego buying cars at all, choosing instead to rely on public transportation. They are also more likely to spend money on items they value while spending less on essential items. They tend to shop less and buy only what they need, and they value experiences more than tangible belongings.

6. Millennials Don’t Talk on the Phone

Okay, most millennials won’t actually avoid talking on the phone, but they are more likely to communicate in other ways such as texting or through email.

7. Millennials are Very Active on Social Media

Most millennials are very active on social media, sometimes to a fault. They like instant and nearly unlimited access to information, and they use social media and the Internet in general for research and comparison shopping.

8. Millennials Travel for Different Reasons

While baby boomers consider travel to be a vacation from their daily lives, millennials travel to explore the world and sometimes to further their careers. Their trips are more spontaneous, but at the same time they use them as a chance to study other cultures and open themselves to new professional networks.

9. Millennials Value Nutrition and Exercise

Millennials actually have healthier habits than people of previous generations. They are more likely to grow their own food, they consume fewer calories per day, and they are physically active. They often avoid traditional gym memberships and instead choose to get their exercise through personal activities such as bicycling and walking.

10. Millennials Use Smartphones to Connect with the World

Yes, some young people are on their smartphones entirely too often, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t closed off from the rest of the world. Smartphones and similar devices are used to connect with the rest of the world. There is a limit to how often they should be used, but they aren’t inherently bad things.

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Your physical body dies, but Facebook is forever. What you post on your social media platforms is available here long after you’ve moved on to the Great Internet in the Sky.

Most of what you contribute to your accounts is probably harmless. But in some cases it can cause estate problems for family. Here is a look at the impact of your posts and how you and your family can handle them.

From Identity Theft to Lawsuits

Identity theft and financial lost are the biggest dangers of leaving social media accounts open after a person dies or becomes incapable of handling their own affairs. Criminals can hack your shopping accounts, bank accounts and personal data.

They can harvest financial information and personal data from your profiles and posts. There is a real danger that assets will end up as unclaimed funds, creating headaches for executors.

If a lawsuit is in progress when you die, social media posts can give your opponents evidence to bolster their case. If a relative decides to contest your will, the social posts can provide them with insights to help them further their claim.

It’s not just your internet accounts that leave a big data footprint. Your computer, laptop, tablet and smartphone also contain personal information. With the Internet of Things, all your mobile devices can be linked and share data.

Take Steps Now

Do you want others to have access to your emails, photos, data and documents after you’re gone? Probably not. The time to handle future problems is now.

List the accounts, usernames and passwords for your online presence in your estate documents and power of attorney. These can include:

• Social media accounts
• Shopping accounts
• Bank and financial institution accounts
• Tax and government accounts
• Video, photo and music accounts
• Email accounts

In your will and estate papers, specifically give your executors permission to access your accounts. This will avoid problems with privacy laws.

Find out how to remove data from your electronics. Leave all the necessary instructions in your estate papers.

And if you are a family member, don’t be sentimental and feel you are memorializing your loved one by keeping their accounts active. Close accounts to avoid identity theft.

Please contact Blast Creative for all of your Reputation Management needs!

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Let’s talk about writing fiction, namely where a story starts and ends.  Where does a story start, and how does that start lead to the inevitable ending?  But we’re not looking at form, per se, but at an author’s vision.  Where do ideas come from?  John Irving claims that he starts writing once he knows what the last sentence of the work will be, and then he crafts the story backwards, finding his beginning and then pushing forward.  He claims that that last line has never changed in all of his years as a writer.  Other writers of fiction like George Saunders want to be surprised by their work.  Saunders writes, trying to keep himself in suspense of his own story, allowing himself to be surprised at the different turns the story takes, allowing the story to evolve for him naturally, completely uncontrolled.

So knowing that two great writers of fiction go about the process of crafting a story in a completely different way, where does that leave the rest of us?  Do we choose one method over the other and stick to it?  Hopefully what the answer will be is that as a writer you will experiment with method, until you find something that works best for you.  Not everyone works the same, and to be fair, not everyone even knows what their system would be; they just sit at a desk and it happens.  In my opinion that’s the best kind of writer, the one who doesn’t give in to the mysteriousness of other writers, and just sits down to write.

A story begins where you choose for it to, and a story ends at a point where you choose for it to as well.  That’s the benefit of being a writer: you get to make each and every creative decision, you get to walk on water while at the same time worry that you’re sinking your ship.  It’s a process.  A story begins and ends with you.  How you craft a story of fiction, know that the work wouldn’t exist without you.  It can’t exist without your vision, and most importantly without the actions of your fingers on your keyboard to guide your vision to completion.

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Draft and Revise.  Writing is an art of precision.  A writer has the ability to shape the world in their writing, to give his or her world shape and dimension.  In a broad scale, think one sentence holds up the one before it, and, also the one that follows it.

On a smaller scale consider that every word in the sentence is responsible for holding up the entire sentence.  One weak word can denigrate the entire thing.

For most writers—suspecting them all, of course, but leaving some room for anomaly—perfection didn’t happen in a single draft.  To realize something to its conclusion takes time.  Weaknesses in the work need to be made strong, the irrelevant should be omitted, or made relevant.

A Writer Learns

A writer learns of his or her weaknesses and drafts the work again.  Of course this could end up in a continuous loop of drafting—some novelists have claimed that they will write one hundred thousand words before they find a stories beginning (this is a lot of work, considering the average novel’s length is only ninety thousand words).  But, considering the microcosm of the word to the sentence, writing is a process.

Mark Twain once said, “The difference in the right word and the almost right word is really a large matter. ‘tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”  The way to draft is up to you, it’s up to your writing process, and how you work.

Writing’s an individual practice.  However, if you are unsure of how to draft your writing, consider this process as a start.  First, write your initial draft with regard for little perfection.  Find your story.  Even if what you are writing is a school paper, when you write it out, you might find that the most interesting parts, are areas to which you gave little importance.

Once you have found your story, find the shape of it.  Finally, clean it up, polish it, give each word a reason to shine.  If you are frustrated by the time in which it’s taken you to write something, remember that every minute put into perfecting a piece of writing, should only make the writing better, or at least hopefully better.

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How do you measure accomplishment at the end of a day of writing?  Is it pages, words, or time?  Ask yourself that question because it is different for all writers.  The prolific writers, the ones we turn to for advice, even for something as small as a quote, have mostly all spoken about accomplishment.  While Hemingway was in Montana he wrote most mornings, and spent his afternoons fishing for trout or hunting.  Other authors start and don’t finish until they’ve hit some predetermined goal—Steven King’s five pages every day, or the gold standard one thousand words, or Karen Russell’s goal of maximizing quality time spent engaged within her story (she’s not a word robot).     

Why do we listen, then?  Do we plan to copy Hemingway’s write-only-in-the-morning style?  Will adhering to Steven King’s prolific writing style make us as celebrated an author as the man himself?  No.  At least for the most part I believe no.  We listen to them, because being in the room at the desk alone can feel daunting.  For the most part, writing is not a team activity.  It’s just us.  There’s no one to whom the writer can compare himself against but himself.  It’s an activity that entirely self-motivated—unless of course you have a deadline or a job which requires you to write—and the reason we look to other authors for advice is that these are the people who discovered something about themselves.  They all discovered who they are as writers. 

Start easy, start a journal.  Don’t simply walk away when things get difficult—if the right word is not coming, or if you’re simply stuck staring at the screen—keep writing.  You’ll be amazed at the ideas you will find yourself capable at times of the greatest stress.  Those ideas might not flesh themselves out with perfect articulation, but they might be there.  Keep writing and determine the things that work best for you.  Consider the amount of time you need to stay focused every day, or even every other day.  Understanding what will keep you focused, keep you at that desk for those ours or those pages or that word count will, eventually pay off.    

If you need a content writer or a copywriter, please contact Blast Creative today.

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There is a famous saying that goes like this “you only have one chance to make a good first impression.” Nothing could be truer when it comes to writing headlines for your blogs, articles, eBooks or any other online content.  Without magnetic headlines, you may not be able to grab the attention of your reader and motivate him/her to continue reading past your headline.

Statistics show us that an average of eight out of ten people searching for information online will first read the headline, and out of these ten only two will be persuaded enough to read the rest of your content. These statistics, clearly answer the question “what is in a headline?” the answer being “power.” So, if you are an online content marketer or a copywriter, developing magnetic headlines is a valuable skill you should possess if you want to create clicktivism.  Below are some tips on how you can write magnetic headlines:

Start with the Headline
While the headline might seem like the most challenging part of writing (at times it is), you should always try to start your writing with the headline first. That is because the headline is the promise you will give to readers, so it must clearly communicate what you intend to deliver to the reader. Of course, before creating the headline you need to have a clear understanding of your subject matter. Once you have identified your subject matter or what the content of your writing will be, go ahead and create a headline. If you write the headline last, you will be looking for the promise within your content, instead of first making the promise and delivering it through your content.

Newsy headlines, grab attention
Newsy headlines are the type that makes announcements such as discovery, new product release, finding, invention and more.  You can use these headlines to introduce new services or products in the market and to make press releases. People are usually captivated by the concept “new” and are, therefore, more likely to read on to discover “what’s new.” Examples of newsy headlines are those that begin with words such as “announcing”, “introducing”, and “at last.”

“How To” headlines are magnetic
One of the most used headlines is “how to”, simply because this is a magnetic headline that is sure to grab and retain the attention of the reader. These types of headings answer the question, “what is in it for me,” which most readers will ask themselves before reading any content. So, if your content answers the question “how to,” consider creating a “how to” headline such as ‘How to Write Magnetic Headlines.”

The benefit headline will get your content read
A benefit headline is like a carrot dangled in front of a rabbit. The reader will immediately identify “what’s in it for them” from your headline. This kind of headline excites the curiosity of readers, and they will want to read on or click the headline for more details. So, when creating a magnetic headline identify a compelling benefit from your content, and serve it up in your article topic. For instance, “Get Your Online Business Noticed Today, With This Amazing SEO Tool.”

When it comes to writing content especially for online marketing, your headline is your lifeline; because a magnetic headline is what will determine whether your content will become a hit or miss.

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Almost every writer has been faced with the mind blowing process of “how to create high-quality content, quicker.”  This is especially true for new writers and those that work in the content marketing field where the demand for new and fresh content is constant.  New fresh content is important in social media marketing as it engages the target audience, hence the need to develop this content in a fast manner.

The reality is, coming up with high quality, persuasive content will take some time; however, it does not have to take “all your time” as there are useful tactics you can apply to increase your writing productivity.  Here you will find kickass tactics that you can practice daily to improve your writing speed:

1) What do you believe?
Writing starts from the “inside”; how you feel about a given topic will greatly influence whether you are motivated to write about it or not.  For example, if you have been assigned a writing task about IT, and you find such topics too “technical” and lets face it down right boring, then you will probably write this article at a snail’s pace, and it might not even be high quality. It may just be flat out lousy!  Your subconscious mind has great influence on your writing speed and the quality of article you will deliver, so believe that you can write any given topic brilliantly and you will.

2) Begin with your writing goal
Even before picking a pen or launching MS word or note, you should have a clear goal of what you want your target audience to take away from your article. Your article needs to be killer. Ask yourself, what is the ultimate goal that you are trying to achieve from this piece of writing?  What information or action do you want your readers to absorb?  What do you want your target audience to walk away with from your article?

Once you have a clear goal of what you want your writing to achieve, you can start writing with this in mind.  By beginning with your intended purpose in mind, you will save time and won’t be horrified at the amount of time you are spending on writing.

3) Keep your article short and sweet
There is a common phrase used in the marketing industry, abbreviated as “KISS” (Keep It Simple, Stupid). This concept should also be applied in writing. High-quality content means “high quality”, and not necessarily long. Most writers have the tendency to be “wordy”, but simple, short and sweet content can be quite engaging and even informative. I recommend 450 to 700 words.

This essential concept applies mostly when you are writing online content where the majority of people searching for information usually want it served up in a simple and easy format that is inspiring and persuasive. Remember that most of the online users will want the information they are looking for to be served up quickly.

4) Have an ideas diary
Generating ideas for articles is one of the most time-consuming parts of creating high-quality content. Most experienced writers will tell you that if you have an idea or concept that you want to cover in your piece of writing, words will often come easily and therefore, you will write quickly. 

One of the ways you can generate great ideas quickly is by keeping an ideas diary, that way if an interesting idea snaps into your brain at any time or place, you can record it on your smartphone or simply write it down in your diary.  You can also write ideas you get from reading blogs, newspapers or by simply watching TV, to use later in your writing.

5) Keep a topic list
Coming up with topics for your content can also be quite a challenge and time-consuming task. Come up with a potential topic list before you begin to write, to help you write faster. Ask friends and family to give you a list of questions that they have about what you do and use those for your topics. Simple, but BRILLIANT!

6) Plan
If you want to write high-quality content fast, you really need to plan your writing. When you plan which sub-headings or topic you want to cover, you will limit the time you are likely to spend rearranging paragraphs that are out of place (due to failure to plan).

7) Write First, Edit later
Writing as your edit can waste a lot of time. So, put all your ideas down first, before you start editing to save on time.

8) Set a deadline
Set a deadline of what you want to achieve within a particular time frame.  When you have a time limit, you will work harder and faster to complete your tasks within this set time.

Writing high-quality content quickly is important in today’s fast society; especially in the social media marketing field where there is constant demand for high quality and inspiring content. Use the above tips to create high quality, inspiring content as quickly as possible.

If you are looking for a copywriter, please contact Blast Creative today!

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All websites need fresh content in order to stay relevant in the search engines. Here is a writing sample for the web that we did for a published author. You can hire a copywriter to do your writing for you or write about what you are most passionate about. You know your business, sit down, pick a subject and write what you know.

Fiction Story Point of Views

Every fiction story is told through point of view. The three types of point of view available to writers—first, second, and third—all have advantages and disadvantages. An author may even change point of view in subsequent story drafts to determine the best tone of voice that fits her work. Let’s examine the three different types and why and how an author would use them in her story.

First person point of view—the I point of view—gives the narrator of the story a voice. The narrator could also be a we, our, me, my, mine, us; but, for observation, let’s just consider the I, for now anyway. The I is a natural point of view for most writers, because it allows the author a natural authority to write as the character. The author’s only responsible for giving voice to one character. That character will shape the story, and other events/characters are made understood to the reader through the voice of the narrator, or during sequences of dialogue. This does provide a limited perspective, however.

Second person point of view isn’t widely used. It’s a way for the author to speak directly to the reader. For an example of this, read Junot Diaz’s story “This is How You Lose Her.”

There’s two types of third person point of view: close or limited, and omniscient. Close or limited Perspective, when it’s used well, can bring the reader as close to the character as a first person perspective—sometimes it can take us even deeper into a character. Third person close is probably used by authors as much as first person perspective. Third person omniscient enables the writer to bounce around through different characters. Third person Omniscient, while it seems like a great choice (inhabiting the minds of each and every character leads to clarity, right?) it’s also a demanding and risky choice, because each character will need to have a definite voice so as not to confuse the reader.

Perspective is a creative choice. If you’re struggling, listen to the story, put it through a few drafts, and determine what perspective the story wants.

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Some people believe that search engine optimization is dying. Not only are Google’s algorithms changing almost too fast for SEO experts to keep up, but SEO itself may soon be replaced by social media as the main source of information online. This is of course a huge exaggeration. Social media is far from our main source of information online. People still use Google, and search engine rankings and hits are still important.

That doesn’t mean that social media should be ignored, though. Social media may not be a replacement for SEO, but it does have a huge effect on it. Google’s last algorithm update included Social Media Ranking. If your business isn’t active on Social Media, you could be doing damage to your listing on Google. Here are just a few ways Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter are affecting your SEO efforts.

Social Shares and Link Building

Link building has always been one of the cornerstones of SEO, and in most respects that hasn’t changed. Google still looks at the number of links on a site to determine if it is a quality source of information, but social media has changed the way these links are being shared. These days, links are being achieved through original and compelling content that is shared across social media. For example, if someone finds an interesting article, they will be likely to post it onto their Facebook wall or Twitter feed for all of their followers to see. Many of those followers will in turn post the article to their followers, and so on. Eventually, thousands of people will have seen that article, which translates to page views for the website or blog the in which the article originally appeared.

Links that are shared via Facebook, Google+, Twitter or even YouTube will rank higher according to Google’s search algorithm. Google will assume that this content is being shared for a good reason, and it will show up near the top of a typical search result.

Social Media and Credible Sources

If your content is shared on your social networks and you have several followers, Google is more likely to see you as a credible source. This will mean that your content will always rank higher and be seen not just by your followers, but by potentially thousands of others viewers who will help build your brand and increase your social media presence.

Branding

A large part of social media marketing is branding, which definitely has an effect on SEO as well. Having your brand merely mentioned on a site is often enough to get a boost from Google, even if it is only a mention and not actually a link. In many ways, this is closer to “old fashioned” advertising in that it gets your brand’s name out even if it doesn’t technically involve SEO link building.

The thing to remember when it comes to social media and the changing face of SEO is that content is king. Social media Marketing Billings MT is all about real people reading and sharing content, so SEO experts have their work cut out for them. It’s not about keyword stuffing and other questionable techniques anymore; content has to be genuinely engaging if it is to spread across any social network.

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If you have a Chiropractic website, beware, your site may not be getting indexed. As I sit here writing this article, I am at a loss for words. I stumbled upon a massive case of SEO sabotage and major plagiarism. I have never seen anything like this. Hundreds of Chiropractic websites developed by two companies, all with the exact same content and most with the same images.

Both companies promise that they will get these websites to page one of the search engines, but kind of hard to do when you’ve created hundreds of mirror sites. When duplicate content is found on numerous websites, the website loses ranking, traffic and the search engines find these website to be less relevant. Your website can even be removed from Google for deceptive practices.

The bottom line, if your website is made up of all republished content, then Google will not rank it. For these poor unsuspecting Chiropractors, these two companies are cannibalizing their traffic, instead of dominating their market, they are having issues ranking. In some cases the pages won’t rank at all and new content can take a long period of time to get crawled and re-indexed.

Duplicate content is not only website suicide for Chiropractic websites, but all websites. Don’t do it! If you need fresh, unique content for your website, please contact us today!

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