Let’s face it. Social media pressure can be formidable when you have your own business. I’ve helped others set up their own SM entities, while struggling to stay excited about my own. Why is that? Because knowing that you should do something–exercise, keep your desk clean, write  ‘thank you’ cards promptly–doesn’t mean the inspiration will materialize like that.

So why blog? Well, if you’re a writer, it’s another exercise to flex your fingers and your brain, experiment with voice and approach. And in any business, a regularly updated blog can increase your search engine visibility, your credibility and your up-to-dateness (now it’s a word). But the fact is that if you are not into what you’re writing, or, similarly, the way you’re exercising, it will be really hard to keep it up. So here’s my recommendation. Stop hyperventilating to the frantic voices of high volume. Write what you care about it and make it good. In most cases consider what your clients and colleagues would like to read. But in others, write what you think needs to be said. Maybe it’s a position that doesn’t match the prevailing wisdom of what others who blog and tweet in your industrosphere are saying. So what? If you believe it and it’s true for you, it’s worth sharing. You’ll discover there are others out there experiencing the same thing.

What do you think?

If I wasn’t afraid of melting something, I’d light candles in front of my laptop to honor the recent birth of the Yahoo Style Guide’s site and book. To give a sense of how profound this effort is, consider that there hasn’t been such a resource in the history of the web. Wired had a slim, book version that held for a few years, but then there was its recant of the capped “I” in Internet and of the capital “W” for web. It’s own site doesn’t comply, so the debate continues. I happen to agree that the web and the internet have now moved into common usage, so we don’t need to revere them with a capital letter, but it’s a hard habit to break. For years I argued that “Web” was short for World Wide Web, a proper noun, and so the “W” must be capped, and the Yahoo Style Guide still sees it that way.  Some days I almost agree.

Do you care? If you edit web copy you sure do. I patched together a style guide for Turner Network Television during my time there, and there were many burning issues to standardize. Do you have to ® Oscar after every usage or just the first? Did the network want franchise titles to be bolded (looks better) or italicized (correct)? And again, the etnerally unsolvable question of Website, Web site, web site or website?  Is there a comma before the last item in a series? I say a defiant “no”, as does AP, but Yahoo has ruled in favor of the serial comma. That’s okay, they’ve brought together great advice on writing for the web, social media platforms and smart phones. Styleguide.yahoo.com is a wealth of all kinds of useful information on digital writing, from SEO to basic HTML coding. Get links to online resources every writer and editor needs, a handy word list of frequently contentious items (like 3D) and editing 101 tips. You can even “Ask an Editor” and get your burning copy questions answered online.

The Yahoo Style Guide is not just remarkably useful, its existence is a plain relief. It’s good to know that someone  has seen the need for a resource to end the chaos of digital copy and worked hard to fill it. Thank you to all those behind the style guide–a beacon of order in a sea of rogue grammar and haphazard writing practices. There is hope at last!

What’s your favorite grammar gripe, digital or otherwise?

We could all stand to increase the power of our writing, right? You learned in early writing classes to avoid the passive voice, for instance. But while we’re at it, why not increase the interest of your writing? Whether you’re drafting a blog post or a magazine piece, here are some ideas to keep in mind, inspired by a look through Writer’s Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing:

1) Make the information useful. No one has much time for casual reading these days, so write pieces on subjects that people need to know more about. The rise of “news you can use” as a best-loved format of web and popular magazines is because we’re all looking for applicable information.

2) Make it usable. Anytime you cut something out to put on the refrigerator for quick reference, you know how handy that little box of tips, dates or contact detail embedded in an article is. Boxes get attention! The kind of content that would go into a box makes great tweets or fan page status updates.

3) Go short. Yes, I’ve already said it―not much reading time out there. So take your pearls of wisdom and cut them by a third before you even send to your editor. It’s painful, but satisfying too.

4) Connect with readers. Ask them questions to get responses and make sure they have your contact information.

5) Is it news? Even history is news. Say you’re writing a travel piece. Odds are good that your readers aren’t going to know about the long ago festival, battle or celebrity sighting that happened in a particular location. Maybe there’s even a contemporary link. In every story, there is a kernel of “I didn’t know that!” Find it. If you’re intrigued, your readers will be too.

6) Is it new? We all want to discover a way of doing things we didn’t know about before. Find a unique angle to your useful subject.

7) Subheads. No one has enough―Nevermind. Make your writing quick and easy to read by guiding your reader through it. She will not only know better what to skip, but those who read all the way through will be comforted by knowing what comes next.

What’s the secret weapon that makes your writing zing?

Today, more than at any time in history, building credibility for yourself and your business means sharing your knowledge. Sharing is the backbone of social media, and the beauty of it is that while you are generously providing help and information to others, you are also building your own authority and getting your name and talents in front of an increasing number of people. What’s the best way to do it? By using all the tools at your disposal. Here are some of the most useful.

Blogging

The simplest and most effective first step in building your online presence as an authority is blogging. There are various schools of thought on the frequency required, but in my mind, unless you’re writing exclusively about tech, you can safely get away with weekly, biweekly or even monthly posts. Make your goal reasonable and attainable so that blogging doesn’t become a chore. It’s better to put up quality content with less frequency  than to force yourself into a schedule that delivers subpar pieces. The posts don’t need to be long, just useful. Remember, you are buiding a presence here; that doesn’t mean you have to be a daily destination.

Facebook Fan Page

A fan page is another outlet for your blog, allows you to easily create polls and discussion topics to show off what you know, and gives you another online destination–one that can be made key-word rich and increase your searchability.

Twitter

Twitter is a great way to send off short bursts of expertise to show what you know. Retweeting is a shortcut way to link to someone else’s knowledge or breaking news and underscore your own interests. Twitter is a great way to push to your own content on your blog, site and fan page.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn offers a lot of easy ways to be an expert. You can post messages, just like on Twitter, pushing back to your blog or site or just sharing an idea or piece of information. You can answer questions from people in your business area and also get positive attention by asking good questions. There is one on LinkedIn now that asks “Are referrals the best way to win new business?” We could all chime in on that one. The person who asked the question drew a lot of answers to his question and a lot of new eyes to his web site, since he attached his url and a call to action to read his newsletter there. You can access the question/answer part of LinkedIn via the “more” tab in the top navigation.

Social Bookmarking Sites

Commenting on others’ blog posts (and including your url in your signature) is another good way to show off what you know. So spend some time on social bookmarking sites like Digg, Stumbleupon, Reddit, Delicious and Sphinn.  Every time you leave your name in a comment, it’s also  another opportunity to get picked up by a search engine. Stumbleupon is especially useful. You can submit your site and get it considered for rotation. When Stumbleupon users click to see  sites  in your category and yours comes up, you can get in front of thousands of eyes who might not otherwise find you.

Google and Yahoo Buzz

Both of these venues give you additional visibility, but Google Buzz has better reach. You can redirect tweets, blog posts, comments and your picks from Google Reader as well, so you can create a significant trail behind you while reading and watching videos, which you would normally do anyway.

Don’t be overwhelmed!

It is easy to read a list of all the ways there are to share what you know and feel hopeless about using it all. Experiment with the possibilities here and see what you like. When you find some that you naturally return to again and again, focus on those.  In addition to your own blog,  top picks should include three of the blockbusters of social media–Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Now draft a general media plan that lists, say, the top four, five or six locations you’d like to interact with over time and your frequency there. Have fun and be patient. Building authority doesn’t happen overnight, so take it easy and enjoy the process!