editorassistance Newsletter

Editor Assistance

April 8 2011 Editor Assistance Newsletter


Greetings and Salutations!

Jill, our Launch and Editor Help manager, will be going on sabbatical for about two months to get a well deserved renewal. I have the email accounts forwarding to me and I'm working my way through the outstanding launch reviews right now. If you are in launch or are a fully fledged editor and have any questions or comments in the coming weeks, feel free to email me directly with them! I'll handle them all as quickly as I can.


CREDIBLE VOICE

Fascinating research was just released in Learning, Media and Technology. It found that the way readers build a sense of credibility about a writer has to do not just with the facts - but also with the reader's connection with the author.

They did tests with information that was all scholarly, all personal, or a mix. They found that readers felt the all-scholarly-all-the-time feeds were LESS credible than someone who revealed some personal information along the way. In essence they trusted the source more if they could connect with them as a person.

That's a main aim of what we're helping to promote here at BellaOnline. We're not faceless zombies churning out content :) We are real people who have experience in our topics, who love our areas, and who present information with that personal touch. When we say meditating is challenging but well worth the effort, it's because we've gone through that trial-and-error process ourselves. When we say organizing the desk is a chore but here's how to make it better, it's because we've tried it ourselves. Our readers hear that authentic voice. They connect with us as people. They trust in us, and that keeps them coming back for more.

It's definitely a fine line to balance. We don't want to be a blog. We don't want to run long rants about our own lives. We want the content to be primarily about helping the visitor learn and grow so they know how to make changes in their *own* life. But on the other hand, we don't want to be dry recital of facts. Visitors could just go to Wikipedia if all they wanted was a bland list of step a then step b then step c or factoid 1 2 3.

We provide the best of both worlds. We show the reader that we've been there and that we are speaking from experience. Then we explain how THEY can make progress with whatever challenge they are facing - learning to boil an egg, learning to quilt a comforter, learning how to cope with a stepdaughter's rage. We are credible and we make differences in peoples' lives every day.


FACEBOOK FEED

Just a reminder that all editors are welcome to post news of their latest BellaOnline articles on our BellaOnline Facebook feed!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BellaOnline/323931250391

This is a great way to help promote your articles and get more readers for them. Any BellaOnline article can be promoted here!

Have a great weekend!


Lisa Shea, owner
BellaOnline.com

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