Copyblogger
 | 47 Ways Copyblogger Can Help You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions |
2009 promises to be a year of profound change. Millions of people around the world are having a tough time, but periods of dramatic upheaval are also the best time to start or grow a business. Extraordinary times create extraordinary opportunities. Now we can’t help you lose 20 pounds or learn to play the violin. But if you want to increase your income, spend more time with your family, finally launch your online business, monetize your blog, or just get in better touch with your inner entrepreneur, here are some of the best Copyblogger posts of 2008 to help you do exactly that.
DiversifyTry something new this year. Get outside your comfort zone. Move beyond what you’ve always done. This is the best possible time to create something remarkable and new. If you’ve built a great content net, learn the fine art of harpooning. If harpooning is the only life you know, learn to weave a compelling content net. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this post.
Be generousGenerosity is the secret key to success–and that’s more true than it’s ever been. Most people are retreating into a scarcity mindset. When you cultivate generosity, you’ll stand out among the crowd and put yourself in a position of power, confidence and profitability. Create a free report with some of your most valuable content, and give it away–either for free or in exchange for permission to send an email autoresponder. Write more guest posts. Tweet pointers to ten times as many posts from other blogs as you do your own. Think about what you can give away. Your generosity will come back to you in multiples. Give it all you’ve gotGenerosity goes hand in hand with audacity. Make a commitment to put everything you’ve got into your content. Don’t hide or hold back. Whether your content is free or paid, throw yourself into it. Holding your “good stuff” in reserve, whether it’s for a paid product or a bigger audience, is the key to writer’s block and poverty. When you give your very best, you’ll attract more and better ideas (and more and better customers). Give it all away. Don’t worry, the well will refill.
Take care of your communityMoney isn’t half as hard to earn as trust. Make sure everything you do supports your community, whether they’re on your blog, a forum, or an email list. Always remember that the money isn’t really “in the list.” It’s in the relationship with that list. When you nurture your relationship with your readers first, everything else gets much easier. You won’t be looking for ways to “monetize their eyeballs,” but for offers you can make that will help solve their problems. Different mindset, much better results.
Become a student of human natureYou can spend the rest of your life trying to figure out what makes people do the things they do. Not only is it endlessly interesting, it can make you lots of money. If you haven’t picked up Cialdini’s Influence
Get systematic about content creationIf you only write when you feel like it, you’re going to sputter out pretty soon. Instead of frustrating yourself and your readers, develop a simple, user-friendly writing system. The more you write, the more ideas will come. Keep writing.
Boost your conversionOnline newbies tend to chase traffic as the holy grail. But the real pros will tell you that it’s conversion you should be working on–in other words, how much of that traffic you can convert to loyal, happy customers. Small improvements in conversion can yield tremendous benefits to your bank account. Here are some of the year’s best posts on how to convert strangers into raving fans:
Read deeply, not just widelyReading makes you smarter. Reading deeply makes you a lot smarter. Think about the most important books (or blogs, or websites) in your own field of expertise. Now pencil some time in your 2009 calendar to truly make their ideas part of your own intellectual DNA. Quit going it aloneStrike up friendships with bloggers and content producers inside your niche, or out of it. By expanding your relationships, you’ll find new readers and expand your content community–and your own thinking. Trying to do it all yourself makes business ten times harder than it has to be. And great partnerships aren’t just more profitable, they’re more fun.
Don’t just exist. LiveThis is the year you’re going to make it happen. The year you’re going to quit letting fear and narrow thinking hold you back. You don’t know how much time you’ve got left. Start making the most of this day, this moment. You really can do it, you just have to start. And above all, for 2009, keep the official Copyblogger mantra in mind: About the Author: Sonia Simone is Senior Editor of Copyblogger and the founder of Remarkable Communication.  | |
| How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business |
Can Twitter actually help my business or is it a complete waste of my valuable time? This was the very question I asked myself only a few months back. Perhaps you’ve pondered the same? When people I respect started singing the praises of Twitter, I decided to give it a go. At first I just didn’t get it. However, after a short while I was shocked at the level of access to high profile individuals I was able to achieve. This article reveals how bestselling authors and business professionals use Twitter to grow their businesses and reveals ideas you can employ to achieve Twitter success. In fact, I used Twitter (and LinkedIn) to source much of what you see here! First, What is Twitter Again?“Twitter is instant messaging made available to the public,” stated talk show host and author Hugh Hewitt. I think that’s a fair starting point. I’ve heard others call Twitter a micro-blogging platform. Here’s what you need to know. According to the State of the Twittersphere report, each day 5 to 10 thousand new people join Twitter. Current estimates of total users top out around 5 million. That’s a lot of opportunity. Twitter allows you to post updates (called Tweets) as often as you want (and limited to 140 characters). When you follow other people on Twitter, you see their tweets. When they follow you, they see your tweets. It’s a constant stream of communication. The good news is you can turn it on or off as often as you like. Twitter also keeps a public record of all updates, which can be mined with Twitter Search. Why High-Profile People Use TwitterTwitter is not just a fad. When very high profile folks begin evangelizing Twitter, it’s worth closer examination. Here’s what some of those gurus told me: Duct Tape Marketing founder John Jantsch identified three big advantages of Twitter, “(1) I get great insight when I ask questions, (2) let’s face it, I get traffic and (3) people on Twitter spread my thoughts to new places.” Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com said, “We’ve found that Twitter has been a great way for us to connect on a more personal level with our employees and customers. We use it to help build our brand, not drive direct sales. It’d be like asking how does providing a telephone number for customer service translate into new business when they are mostly non-sales-related calls. In the long term, Twitter helps drive repeat customers and word of mouth, but we’re not looking to it as a way of driving immediate sales.” Bestselling author David Meerman Scott said, “I have personally connected with hundreds of people I otherwise wouldn’t have, and I booked an interview on NPR and a big daily newspaper using Twitter.” Copyblogger’s own Brian Clark said, “Twitter Search is an amazing way to see what people are saying about your products or services. For example, I’ll do searches for Thesis Theme and people will be asking questions about our WordPress Theme. I’ll use the reply function to answer the question, which has led to direct sales. Plus, my answer creates awareness of Thesis for others that follow me. It’s a form of constructive promotion.” Be sure to check out this Business Week article that surveyed 18 CEOs and how they’re using Twitter to help their businesses. Practical Ways Twitter Can Help Your BusinessThis is where it gets interesting. A lot of people are doing some very innovate things with Twitter. Here’s some of their stories. The Twitter Plan Cindy King, an international sales specialist, saw a huge boost in business inquires by implementing a strategic Twitter plan. “Following the right people on Twitter was key. There are some people very gifted at building relationships on Twitter. As I followed these online community builders, I realized that some of them are also excellent direct response copywriters. They get their Twitter followers to take action,” said King. “Light bulbs went off, and I spent a weekend putting together a tweet marketing plan and entered in 6 weeks worth of tweets, 5 a day, using TweetLater. I used a mindmap, created categories, varied times on tweets and used BUDurls so I could track results and improve my tweet plan the next time around. That was a month ago,” explained King. When King finds a spare minute between projects, she logs into Twitter and watches what folks are talking about. When she Tweets, about 90 percent of the time she presents useful information and resources to her followers. The remaining tweets are surveys and questions. Following this strategy, King saw an 800 percent increase in inquiries about her business after she setup her Twitter campaign. Getting In Front of High Profile People B2B copywriter Terri Rylander took a much different approach. At first she was very skeptical of Twitter. “I looked at it but couldn’t figure out why people would continually send out messages about the size of a text message, unless they were a teenager. Twitter was for sending updates they said. I don’t have time for updates, and besides, who would care?” said Rylander. She later came across a peer in her industry that was using Twitter and suggested Rylander follow her on Twitter. “That’s when I discovered Twitter as a business tool. I’ve been in my particular niche for over 10 years and know who the players are (though they don’t know me). When I checked who she was following on Twitter, there they all were! It read like a “Who’s Who” list.” Rylander joined Twitter and began following and interacting with the people she respected. “Other than a cold call on the phone or e-mail, I would never have the chance to get my name in front of vendors, industry analysts, and industry experts. I’ve had a number of Twitter conversations that have also led to personal conversations.” To stay top of mind with experts, she offers interesting links, responds to tweets, and posts her thoughts for conversation at least a few times a day. Getting Traffic and Leads Pam O’Neil, VP of Marketing at BreakingPoint said, “Twitter has all but replaced our PR agency as a large percentage of our followers are press and analysts. A writer for ZDNet wrote about us and linked to us based on something we tweeted and that resulted in a huge spike in web traffic and at least one deal with a major service provider.” Mike Damphousse of Green Leads said, “Twitter is new to us. That said, in a few short weeks we’ve had definite increase in all sorts of traffic. Out of the normal inbound leads, the number has increased 15% and two of the inbounds are now active pipeline opportunities. We’ve found one extremely valuable partner relationship. We are also building PR relationships, although finding the contacts is a bit of a chore.” Are you beginning to see the potential here? A Few Tools to Help Your Twitter ExperienceTwitter has a whole world of available support applications you can employ to gain the most of the service for your business. Here’s a few of my favorites: TwitterFox: This Firefox web browser plugin allows you to view Tweets within your web browser (in a popup menu). This is very handy and eliminates the need to constantly go to Twitter.com. TweetLater: This powerful service allows you to schedule tweets (much like you would schedule emails). Another very powerful feature is the ability to receive email digests of keyword activity in the Tweetosphere. This allows you to join a conversation or track topics and trends. Ping.fm: If you have accounts with many services, such as LinkedIn and Facebook, this amazing site allows you to post updates across ALL of your social media sites in one single step. Twitter for Facebook: If you are on Facebook, this application forwards your Twitter updates directly to Facebook as status updates. And just in case you get addicted to Twitter, here’s some advice from one of the leading authorities on Twitter. Chris Brogan says, “Most people who see Twitter the first time either flat-out ‘get it,’ or they say, ‘why bother?’ Here’s what people miss. They believe one should read every single update that rolls across your screen of choice. Don’t. Just let it roll past like a stream.” So what are you waiting for? Go check out Twitter and report back here with your experience. Has Twitter already helped your business? If so, tell us your story. About the Author: Michael Stelzner is the bestselling author of Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged. You can follow Michael here on Twitter or check out his latest project here. | |
| Bathtubs, Lightning Bolts, and The Myth of Writer’s Block |
Let me tell you two stories. For the first, we go back to Syracuse, Sicily, in the third century B.C. Archimedes, a Greek mathematician, physicist, and inventor, was called before the throne to solve a difficult problem. The king had ordered a pure gold crown from the local goldsmith. But when the crown arrived, the king suspected the goldsmith of keeping some of the gold and replacing it with silver. The king asked Archimedes to help him prove it. Later, while thinking about the problem, Archimedes went to a bathhouse, undressed, and stepped into a full bathtub, causing some of the water to spill over the side. Suddenly, Archimedes had the answer: he would take the crown and a weight in pure gold equal to the crown and dip each into water. If the overflow was different, the crown wasn’t pure gold and the goldsmith was nabbed. Archimedes jumped out of the tub and ran through the streets stark naked screaming, “Eureka! Eureka!” meaning “I have found it! I have found it!” The second story takes place in the United States a few decades ago. A chemist, J. E. Teeple, was also working on a difficult problem. While thinking about the problem, he stepped into a bathtub, bathed, stepped out of the bathtub, dried himself off with a towel, shaved, then stepped back into the bath, bathed a second time, stepped out, and discovered that his towel was wet. Although quite clean, he still had no clue how to solve the problem he struggled with. So he simply found another towel, dried, dressed, and got back to work. The Myth of Creative Lightning (and Writer’s Block)Because of the Archimedes “Eureka” story and other tales of scientists, thinkers, artists, and writers, we’ve learned to think that creativity is a mysterious, disorganized “AH-HA” experience, where half-crazed geniuses strap steel rods to their skulls waiting for lightening to roar down from the heavens and sizzle into their heads as fully-formed ideas. This kind of creativity does happen, though about as often as actual lightning strikes. When it does, it’s usually for simple problems for which there is a single right answer. Although dramatic, the image is misleading. In real life, there is seldom a single right solution to any problem. And for most creations of merit, the hard work leading to the creation generally goes unnoticed. The creative myth leads people to waste time waiting for lightning instead of working hard and relentlessly, like our chemist friend, J. E. Teeple. The creative myth will ultimately cause “writer’s block,” a “slump,” or “creative burnout.” Whatever the term, the result is the same: frustration, stress, missed deadlines, and poor quality work. A Practical Creative ProcessWe need to reorient our view of creativity. We need to think “problem solving” rather than “creation.” So, let me suggest a step-by-step, practical process that works for just about any situation, including those times when you need a good idea for a profitable product, a new blog, an advertisement, or any big writing project. 1. Define your problem.Decide exactly what you want to accomplish. Don’t just say it or think it. Write it down. If you can, sketch out your problem using doodles, graphs, or other visuals to make it easier to understand. Be specific. Without a specific problem, you will never arrive at a specific solution. 2. Gather information.Don’t be too selective, just scoop up everything in sight. Read, ask questions, explore, and let your curiosity roam free. You won’t use everything. But seemingly useless information can help you understand your task. The key here is to look at everything and focus on nothing. Get the big picture and leave the details for later. Do your research and start a detailed file on the problem. 3. Talk to people.Don’t go it alone. You need other points of view. Talk to fellow bloggers, customers, friends, clients, product managers, your hairdresser, the guy down the street, your mom. Stop people in the grocery store. Talk to colleagues, experts, librarians. Listen to everyone. Don’t look for justification of your ideas, just ask open-ended questions and let people have their say. 4. Add order to your information.The next step is to turn your mass of information into something you can deal with. Organize everything you’ve collected. Boil down what you have into the essential elements. Sort and categorize. Don’t toss anything. 5. Brainstorm lots of ideas.When you have everything in order, begin to brainstorm. See how you can use what you’ve collected. Don’t try to be practical. Don’t evaluate anything. Work as fast as you can. Write down everything. Try to generate as many ideas as possible, even if they seem silly or impractical. 6. Look for something to change.Take some of your ideas and look for changes you can make. Ask relentless questions. “What about making it bigger? What if it were smaller? What can I substitute? How else can this be arranged? What if this were reversed? What could I combine this with? Is there another way to do this?” 7. Find a ready solution.In addition to collecting raw data, look at similar creative efforts. Look at blogs and Web sites. Dive into your sample file. Thumb through magazines related to your subject. Ask yourself, “How have I done this before? How have others done it?” Do this after you’ve come up with some of your own ideas, otherwise you could stifle a better way of solving your problem. 8. Forget about your problem for a while.Tired? You should be. After a while, set everything aside and do something else. Take a walk. Golf. Nap. It’s hard to do when you’re fixated on finding a solution, yet it’s an important part of the process. The break will allow your brain to sift and organize subconsciously. You may get your best ideas when you least expect it – sitting in traffic, in your sleep, even in the bathtub! 9. Evaluate your ideas and keep only the best.When you’re fresh, go over the ideas you’ve generated. Now is the time to play critic. Give thumbs up or down to each idea. List the pros and cons. Be merciless. Weed out all but the best. If you don’t like anything, or think you can do better, go back to brainstorming for a while. For a time, you might alternate between creating and evaluating. 10. Dissect your ideas to find flaws.Go beyond mere evaluation. Attack your ideas. Use the scientific method of purposely poking holes in any idea to find weaknesses and inconsistencies. No idea is perfect, but if you find too many flaws, throw it out and move on. 11. Act on the best ideas.Eventually, and perhaps painfully, you will have to choose a single idea. This can often be the most difficult part of problem solving because you’re afraid you might miss the “big idea.” Your instincts will tell you to keep brainstorming, but listen to your head, not your gut. If you’ve given the creative process a chance, it’s time to act. In particular, you must avoid losing your objectivity by mulling over the problem too long. Sometimes, too much thinking will cloud your judgment. Creativity can be like a watercolor. Too many brush strokes will only produce a brown, ugly mess. Knowing when to stop creating and start acting is one of your most important skills. About the Author: Dean Rieck is a leading direct marketing copywriter. For more copywriting and selling tips, sign up for Dean’s FREE direct response newsletter or subscribe to the Direct Creative Blog. | |
yet, put it on your January reading list.
