The Article Writer

Okay, I admit it. Until recently, I hadn’t used pull quotes all that much with my online material. When I produced hard copy newsletters for 10 years from the early 90s to the early 00s, I increasingly employed this method of grabbing the attention of readers. It worked then and I expect it to work now. And why is that? Well, longer articles can be a bear to read, especially when read online. With pull quotes in place you can stimulate the interest of your readership to keep on reading on, something that is essential to the success of every website.

I promise I won’t go crazy with the pull quotes. Okay, maybe I’ll go a little overboard from time to time!

Usually when I am actively writing, my office is silent except for the clatter of fingers dancing across the keys of my Dell laptop. You see, if I have the radio on I’ll actually listen to what is being said, particularly when I’m tuned into talk radio. Talk about distracting!

Lately, I have discovered a radio station — thanks to my wife, Ruthie — called K-Love that airs across the USA. Using local radio stations and translators to get their message out, K-Love is a Christian music station that plays contemporary tunes and shares a positive spin on the news. Best of all, this station is commercial free and the songs flow freely nearly nonstop throughout the day. In the a.m., a husband-wife dj team is on, but they’re warm and friendly, not obnoxious and certainly not potty mouthed!

No, I don’t have the station blaring while I work, but it does make for some nice background music while I work on articles, dissect web content, and answer emails. Are you in need of a lift? Then visit K-Love to find what this station is all about.

One of the advantages of blogging with WordPress — besides being able to back up everything to your hard drive or email account — are the many themes designed for it. Unlike Blogger, which has a limited number of themes, WordPress has a huge repository of themes from which to choose. No, I am not talking about the standard six or so that come with each download, instead I am talking about the many extensions associated with WordPress: there are literally hundreds of them.

I use “Ocean I” on this site and just recently downloaded a new one for Corporate F/A Dispatch titled, “Misty Look” which has a late autumn theme to it. The best thing about WordPress themes? With just one click you can switch themes and — voila! — a whole new look to your site. No, I am not changing the theme to this blog anytime soon: I like it and it fits me to a “t”.