The “What Not to Wear” Guide to Breakthrough Blogging (1)
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Brian Clark (44)
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What in the world does the cheeky cable fashion show What Not to Wear have to do with effective blogging? Have I finally pushed this analogy thing too far? Nope… this one is easy. But you’re going to have to read the rest to see for yourself. OK, let’s proceed. But just to make sure we’re all on the same page, let’s start with a quick summary of what What Not to Wear is all ...
Is Your Blog Ginger or Mary Ann? (7)
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Sonia Simone (30)
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4 days, 14 hours
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It’s a debate as old as the hills. Who’s hotter, Ginger or Mary Ann? It’s pretty clear that the Gilligan’s Island creators thought Ginger had it hands down. A redheaded Marilyn Monroe knockoff in sequined gowns and high-heels, Ginger Grant was what used to be called a “starlet,” whose sole reason for existence was her sex appeal. Mary Ann Summers, on the other hand, was the girl next door. A Kansas cutie in pigtails and ...
12 Tips for “Psychological Selling” (15)
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Dean Rieck (18)
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5 days, 18 hours
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Many copywriting and marketing gurus teach simplistic ideas about psychology. They insist that people can be fully understood and manipulated with a checklist of motivators or pyramid of needs. What nonsense! I can’t even figure out why the guy at the pet store puts 75 cat food cans in one bag and a tiny box of treats in another so that I lurch to my car leaning to one side. How can I possibly summarize ...
Do You Want to Make Serious Money as a Freelance Copywriter? (1)
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Brian Clark (44)
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6 days, 22 hours
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Well, you seriously can. Some true copywriting pros and I are putting on an amazing event for freelance copywriters called Copywriting Success Summit 2008. And no… you don’t have to fly anywhere or get a hotel room… it’s an online event for copywriters who want to grow their business to the next level, or for those looking to get in the business and succeed. This is the first-ever online summit dedicated to helping copywriters win ...
What Fight Club Can Teach You About Innovative Content (2)
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Brian Clark (44)
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Besides being innovative content itself, the Chuck Palahniuk novel and David Fincher film Fight Club contain several lessons about creativity and getting remarkable things done. In fact, I found at least 8 rules you can use to create more innovative content (or more innovative anything). Of course, these types of tips are better suited for my new project, Lateral Action. So, head over there for Tyler Durden’s 8 Rules of Innovation. This post is the ...
How Good Are Your Critical Thinking Skills? | Copyblogger (7)
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James Chartrand (35)
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1 week, 1 day
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If you can’t think critically, you can’t think creatively. And if you can’t think creatively, you can’t produce compelling content and copy. To think creatively, we need to step outside the framework of what we see or hear. We have to observe, ask questions and analyze so that we can open up new thoughts and ideas on old matters or commonly-accepted arguments. Just what is critical thinking? It generally means analyzing statements and determining their ...
How to Increase Your Blog Subscription Rate by 254% | Copyblogger (3)
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Willy Franzen (4)
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1 week, 4 days
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There’s an action that almost every blogger wants his or her users to take. Most of these bloggers use a single word to convince readers to take this action. They use this word because other bloggers use it. Do you know what that word is? Subscribe. A week and a half ago I had a sudden realization. Subscriptions generally cost money. Think about that for a second. It’s jarring, especially if you’ve spent the past ...
How to Stop Being Afraid to Sell (9)
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Sonia Simone (30)
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1 week, 5 days
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There’s a well-loved myth out there in the content net world. The story goes that you just have to do something reasonably remarkable, distribute passionate content about it on the Web, and you’ll automatically be assigned your designated 1000 True Fans who will support you in style for the rest of your life. You don’t have to do anything scary. Like sell, for example. Now if that works for you, that’s terrific. So does it? ...
Copyblogger | Seven Tricks for Magical Copy (8)
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James Chartrand (35)
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1 week, 6 days
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Magicians are skilled manipulators of perception. They can make people think something is moving when it isn’t or see things that aren’t there. Diverting attention this way and that, they can hide cards and rabbits or make objects appear from thing air. Sales copy is a little like that, depending on who writes it. Diverting attention with a little smoke and mirrors often draws readers inwards towards a sale. It’s persuasive copy, written to get ...
Are You a Spineless Blogger? (10)
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Jonathan Morrow (20)
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2 weeks
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Have you ever sat for what seemed like hours, writing and rewriting, trying to communicate an idea, but you just feel… lost? You write a paragraph, only to decide that’s not what you really want to say. So then you rewrite it to something you’re reasonably happy with, but then you can’t figure out what comes next. You sit there thinking about it for awhile, becoming increasingly frustrated with yourself. Finally, you just walk away, ...
Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2008 (8)
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Brian Clark (44)
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2 weeks, 1 day
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I’m please to say that Copyblogger has been chosen as the top blog for writers for the third year in a row. Thanks to Michael Stelzner for the honor once again. Here are all the winners with Michael’s commentary. You should really be reading all of these excellent blogs. Copyblogger: As the undefeated champ, this blog has held the number-one spot for three straight years! The baby of Brian Clark, this blog keeps winning because ...
How to Grow a Blog Post in 7 Easy Steps | Copyblogger (19)
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Sonia Simone (30)
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2 weeks, 6 days
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My friend Tom thinks I should create a how-to product on “writing for the paralyzed and confused.” He’s a very creative and articulate guy, but writing kills him. Knocking out two pages can take him hours. And when he’s done, he second-guesses himself for a couple more hours about whether it’s any good. Since I don’t have a spare month right now to create a complete information product for you, here’s a blog post to ...
Are You a Writer? | Copyblogger (10)
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Sean Platt (4)
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3 weeks
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I’m a writer. I spent over three decades unaware of this essential truth, but I’m ready to atone for my ignorance. For some reason, it never mattered that I’d been reading at least a book a week since my eyes could string the syllables together. I could never be a writer. Writing, I believed, was a spectator sport for me. I imagined the process as long, tedious, and certainly not something I was capable of. ...
How to Hit a Copywriting Home Run With Perceptual Contrast | Copyblogger (8)
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Brian Clark (44)
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3 weeks, 1 day
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Have you ever watched a baseball player on deck to bat next? You’ll notice that batters often place a weighted ring around the bat while doing warm-up swings. Why? When the player steps up to the plate, the bat feels relatively lighter. This helps the batter swing faster when a hot fastball comes blazing down the middle. It doesn’t matter that the bat isn’t really lighter. From a psychological standpoint (which is where world-class athletes ...
When to be Redundant, Repetitive, and Say the Same Thing Twice (8)
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Sonia Simone (30)
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3 weeks, 4 days
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Remember your fifth grade “What I did on my summer vacation” paper, where you used the words “pool,” “baseball” and “bike” 100 times apiece? And your English teacher dutifully marked your paper up with her red pen. Redundant. Don’t repeat yourself. Choose a new word. Bloggers sometimes get so fearful about repeating ourselves that our message can get completely lost. The truth is, after fifth grade is over, there are times when you want to ...
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Foghornboy said:
Permission to repeat with context.
Everybody Loves Marla (1)
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Brian Clark (44)
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3 weeks, 4 days
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The final character to get to know in the Lateral Action universe is Marla. Compared with Lou and Jack, she’s like Yoda. Next week we’ll start publishing a lot of foundational text content that will help you make sense of where we’re coming from. The characters are the stars of an ongoing story that will develop alongside the tips, tricks, instruction and opinion that drive Lateral Action. But let’s get back to Marla: Marla is ...
What Jergens Hand Soap Can Teach You About Crafting Compelling Copy (2)
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James Chartrand (35)
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3 weeks, 5 days
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Want to be a better writer? Read. That’s a given. The more you read and comprehend what others have written, the more you can discern the good from the bad or various techniques that packed a punch. But what should you read? Should you read textbooks and manuals for some how-to tips? Should you read fiction and creative works to pick up better storytelling tricks? Should you read more poetry to learn timbre and pentameter? ...
Here’s How Affiliate Marketing Works (8)
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Rae Hoffman (0)
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3 weeks, 6 days
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A while back you might have read Brian’s Effective Copywriting Tactics for Affiliate Marketing, which offered some great advice. But something tells me you might have wondered how to apply that advice to real-life affiliate marketing. I’m going to show you exactly how I implemented those 5 tips with the Thesis theme affiliate program. And this isn’t theory–I used these five steps to earn a four-figure commission check in just ten days. 1. Endorsements “Effective ...
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Todd Albertson said:
If you don't know what Affiliate Marketing is, this is a good explanation!
How To Avoid Overdoing the Curiosity-Factor In Your Headline | Copyblogger (12)
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Sean D'Souza (0)
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4 weeks
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If you’re going to write a headline, you want the headline to attract. And one of the many elements of attraction is ‘curiosity.’ The more curious your headline, the more you have a chance of the reader stopping long enough to get interested. But hey, in the desire to write a really curious headline, we inevitably risk overdoing the headline. So let’s analyze a headline for an example: Why Adjectives Are The Key To Locking ...
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Foghornboy said:
Great stuff for tweeters and bloggers. Now, if Sean can write one for emails we would elect him this November...
How to Write an Article in 20 Minutes (52)
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Jim Estill (0)
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1 month
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Believe it or not, it only takes me 20 minutes to write a 400-500 word article. This article (which I wrote in 20 minutes) explains some of the tricks I use to accomplish this. Blogging gives me a daily deadline, and I don’t really want to spend more than 20 minutes each day on blogging. Many of my blog entries are actually less than 500 words so take me less time. Taking up blogging got ...
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Jesse Seymour said:
Just an awesome article on quickly writing blog content
