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6 Steps That Get Big Shots to Answer Your Email

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You need to get the attention of a powerful internet marketer, A-list blogger, or busy CEO. Maybe you’ve got a brilliant idea for a joint venture that would make you both scads of money. Or maybe you just wrote a brilliant guest post that a certain top blogger’s audience will love. Whoever it is, you’re convinced you’ve got a win for this person. Unfortunately, the big shot you’re pitching won’t answer your emails. It’s not because she’s evil, honest. She’s just got a lot of other pitches in her mailbox, and there’s no way to give all of them her full attention. Your mission is to get yours to the top of her list. Here’s how. So how do you get prominent people to pay attention to you? Obviously, the most sure-fire way is to know the hotshot personally. If you didn’t happen to go to grade school with your famous person of choice, you can still make a connection. You can go a long way just by being consistently sincere and helpful to her and her friends. Social media tools come in handy here. That takes time, though. When you don’t have time, follow these six steps instead. 1. Open with compelling subject line Your reader likely gets hundreds of emails each day. Make yours stand out — not with all caps or lots of exclamation points, but by condensing the best points of your offer to create a sense of urgency . WEAK: An invitation for you STRONG: Paid speaking opportunity, no travel required (deadline approaching) 2. Introduce yourself in one sentence Your reader doesn’t care about you (yet). Don’t blather on and on about your accomplishments or your history. Introduce yourself in one sentence. Include a link to your site, so if your hotshot wants to know more, she can investigate. 3. Do your homework What sorts of offers has this person accepted in the past? What kinds of propositions is she interested in, and what sorts of incentives does she need to say yes? If you find that your big shot agreed to a $6000 fee for a three-day conference, offering $2000 for 90 minutes of her time on the phone makes for an irresistable offer . 4. Keep it short State your offer clearly in one paragraph. Not a long run-on paragraph either. Six sentences, tops. 5. Be bold, not precise Your goal for this email is to get this person interested . Too much detail at this point wastes your reader’s time and attention. (But do include the one or two details that will capture that attention.) You’ll get 51% of the registration fees from the people who click on your affiliate link, unless they click on someone else’s affiliate link after they click on yours, or unless they clear their cookies or buy from a different computer or switch browsers. Or unless the cookie volcano erupts. Way too complicated. Instead, stick with: You’ll get 51% of the profits from everyone you refer ($212 per sale). Keep it bold and simple . 6. Don’t squee all over your shoes. Acting like a rabid fan won’t win you any points; it will get your proposal taken a lot less seriously. Don’t go on and on about how you’ve read all this person’s books and that you stood in line for hours at a convention once to meet her and does she by any chance remember the woman with the mauve hair carrying a bunch of asparagus because that was you. Act like a peer with a good proposal, and you’ll find you’ll get replied to like one. It’s fine to mention that you like the person’s work. But too much gushing and your email is going to wind up with all the other fan mail — not in the “A” folder of messages that need a quick response. No one can guarantee you’ll capture that busy big shot’s attention. But follow these six steps and you’ll stack the odds in your favor. About the Author: Pace Smith is the co-leader of the Freak Revolution , a bunch of weirdos who do awesome stuff. Her latest project is the World-Changing Writing Workshop , featuring six famous writers who replied to her email.

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6 Steps That Get Big Shots to Answer Your Email

Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of April 19, 2010

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If you read Copyblogger and dream of striking out on your own, you need to know that independent business isn’t always good. Bad things do happen. For instance, I’m writing this in a bookstore cafe. Two tables down from me, there’s a guy with his headphones on belting out “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon. (You’re an old person in the blogosphere if you know who Carly Simon is. Hint: She’s kind of like the Jonas Brothers, except she’s female and not like them in any way whatsoever.) See, people think that being an entrepreneur means freedom and independence, but nobody stops to consider the perils of the Singing Cafe Guy. So be careful what you learn around these parts, or you could end up where I am. Now don your earplugs and take cover, because here’s what happened this week on Copyblogger: Monday: 4 Things an Ethical Internet Marketer Can Learn from Spammers In this post about things that non-spammers can learn from spammy tactics, Daniel Scocco missed at least one technique that successful spammers use to make sales: innuendo mixed with crime reports. I once got a spam email for some “adult services” that ended with this disturbing signoff: Mwah XOXO always :”‘~diana~’”:. Police: Man hunted in family slayings kills self I didn’t join up (despite promises that “i setup a private entry for you with my contact info for tonight”), but I did write about it on my blog. That has to count for something. Any post that has to start with a disclaimer is a good one in my book, and Daniel’s does. We’re not spammers… okay, fine. But if we can think like spammers just a little bit, we can probably improve our conversion even if we’re not selling Viagra. Mwah XOXO always :”‘~johnny~’”:. Read the full post here . Tuesday: The 8 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers So it wasn’t yet 11am on Tuesday when Stephen Covey called me all angry and yelling about Annabel Candy’s post title on Copyblogger, and how he wanted remuneration for use of his “X Habits of Highly Effective Ys” format. So I told him, “Stephen, I’m not in charge of Copyblogger. And plus, it’s fair use. And plus, how did you get my phone number?” That’s when the giant talking Lambchop puppet appeared and I realized I was dreaming, and then woke up in a bin of dead fish once again. Now that Covey is contained (oh yes – we’ve dealt with him), you definitely need to check out this post so that you can learn how to be Highly Effective. Annabel lists eight things that successful bloggers have in common… so that you can cut to the chase instead of getting lost in the minutia of what they do differently. Read the full post here . Wednesday: Copywriting 3.0: How to Bounce the Fat Kid off the See-Saw My job in writing this wrapup is to give you just enough of a tease about each post so that you’ll want to click through and read the whole thing. I can hint at interesting content, promise free tacos, or (my favorite) use “the WTF technique” — writing something that makes you say, “WTF? Better go check that out.” Well, I kind of don’t have to say anything on this one, because Erika Napoletano has written the ultimate “WTF” headline. It suffices to say that playground obesity and dismounting antics do, in fact, have a lot to do with copywriting. And it also suffices to say that Erika has five hot tips for how to unseat overweight children with linguistic jiu-jitsu. Let’s face it. With that headline, there’s no way you’re not going to read the full post . Thursday: Online Business Disaster: Where to Go When the Volcano Blows Leave it to Sonia Simone to find a way to reference both Jimmy Buffett and an Icelandic volcano (the one named when a cat ran across a keyboard) in a post about online business. But for real — where are you going to go when the metaphorical volcano in your business blows? What are you going to do when something really crappy happens, like a big client disappearing, a server crashing, or Journey reuniting for a comeback tour? Do you have contingencies? Do you have enough hairspray? Sonia has ideas for surviving eruptions in style. I need to implement some of them for myself, actually. Read the full post here . Friday: How to Get Free When You’re Feeling Stuck and Scared I relate so strongly to this post by Julie Roads that I’m not even going to make a joke about it. I spent two years scared out of my mind, and the problem is you can’t see the forest for the trees. My dad says, “You can’t see out of panic when you’re down inside of it.” So yeah, no matter what’s going wrong (particularly if it’s in your biz), you could probably use some coping skills. And that’s where this post comes in, so read it. Okay, maybe one joke. Q: What’s brown and sticky? A: A stick. Now go on and learn about frightened little birds . About the Author: Johnny B. Truant is one of the creators of “ Question the Rules : The nonconformist’s punk rock, DIY, nuts-and-bolts guide to creating the business and life you really want, starting with what you already have” — an awesome new course which will launch this coming Wednesday, April 28th.

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Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of April 19, 2010

The 8 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers

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Do you want to be a successful blogger? I do. I might be getting a bit obsessed with it, actually. Post ideas pop into my head unexpectedly. I keep a long running list of ideas for improving my blog. I also study how the most successful bloggers got where they are, and I pore over every word that they write. If you want to be a great blogger, you should, too. A lot of the top bloggers like Brian Clark, Darren Rowse, and Leo Babauta have shared hundreds of tips about how they made their blogs so successful. But each blogger’s tips are just a little different. There’s too much advice to follow So I would read one special report with a great idea and put that into place on my blog. But the next day I’d find a podcast from another top blogger with contradictory advice, so I’d change my blog again. Then I’d come across a third idea from an equally successful blogger, which sent me down a totally new path. Finally I realized I needed to stop focusing on little things like what plug-ins to use, how to write my About Page, or where to position my ads. I needed to focus on a bigger picture. I wanted to find out what all these top bloggers had in common. Their mindset, their mental habits. I spent a lot of time observing, which led to this list of the eight success traits shared by all top bloggers I’ve found. I’m happy to share it with you. The good news is that even if you don’t have all these personality traits already, most of them can be developed over time. Best of all, if you can cultivate these traits, you’ll become more effective in the rest of your life as well. 1. Effective bloggers are prolific The first key to being a successful blogger is to write. A lot . The more you write, the better your writing gets. The more posts you add to your blog, the more juice you’ll get from search engines. And more content means more reader visits to see what’s new. There’s no way around it; it takes work to be prolific. Effective bloggers work hard. Putting a successful blog together requires a lot of time in front of your computer, and not surfing LOLCats or Twittering about what you had for lunch. Great bloggers put serious time into researching, writing, editing, and planning posts for their blogs. 2. Effective bloggers are concise It is a truth universally acknowledged by top bloggers; people come to your blog for a reason. Usually because they want to learn something from you. No one wants to read fluff or blather, especially online. Top bloggers know how to quickly get people’s attention, how to keep it, and how to make their posts easy to digest. Most effective bloggers tend toward short posts. They also divide their copy into short paragraphs, and use bullet points or numbered lists to keep the reader scanning. They use compelling subheads so readers can scan for the information they need. Brevity comes in handy in other areas of life, too. Keep your phone calls short. Pare your email messages down to the essentials. You’ll have more time for creative work, and people will be much more interested in what you have to say. 3. Effective bloggers are analytical Successful bloggers don’t work or live in a bubble. They always look to their readers, observing carefully to see what readers care about and respond to. They study their statistics, so they know where readers come from — what sites, what search engines, what search terms, and even what countries. They know when they tend to get the most traffic, what kinds of posts are best suited for their audience, and what kinds of headlines get tweeted most often. Then they tailor the timing, content, layout, and images of their posts to suit their audience. 4. Effective bloggers are lifelong learners If you’re new to blogging, you’re probably on a steep learning curve at the moment. Maybe you tell yourself that things will get better when you’ve been doing it longer. There won’t be so much to learn. You’ll have systems in place soon and everything will run smoothly. Sadly, I think this is a myth. I’ve been using and designing for the Internet for about 15 years, and it keeps changing. Just when you’ve got one element sorted out, something new gets released. Or becomes obsolete. Or mutates in 20 different directions. If you want to stay ahead in blogging, you have to keep learning. Fortunately, being curious and wanting to learn keeps you young and your brain active. A love of learning doesn’t just set you up for a successful blog, but for a successful and happy life. 5. Effective bloggers are focused and consistent Successful bloggers choose a topic and stick to it. They write consistently about their chosen subject, and with a consistent voice and approach. Even when they write about something that seems to be off-topic , they relate it back to the niche they know their readers are interested in. Top bloggers are also consistent about timing. Most stick to regular posting schedules. Whether they post three posts a day or two posts a week, their readers know what to expect. 6. Effective bloggers plan ahead Successful bloggers know where they’re going. They have a master plan and they stick to it. Yes, they adapt based on feedback, but always in service of a vision. To paraphrase Seth Godin’s recent book Linchpin , “Effective bloggers ship.” Top bloggers don’t waffle for months about the typeface on their upcoming ebook. They may tailor the angle, price, or format to better suit their market. But they don’t let themselves get derailed. They follow the plan. 7. Effective bloggers are persistent Top bloggers understand that success doesn’t happen overnight. Real success rarely happens quickly. Time is on your side. To get to the top takes consistency, hard work, serious study, and lots of persistence. Successful bloggers don’t give up. 8. Effective bloggers are self-starters I’ve been self-employed for years. I’ve noticed a lot of people like the idea of working from home, working for themselves, being their own boss. But if you want these things, you need to be able to manage yourself. No one is going to sack you if you’re late. No one reminds you of important deadlines or nags you to get your sales numbers up. If you want to be a successful blogger, you need to be a self-starter. It’s not enough to have good ideas. You have to act on them. What trait do you think is most valuable? What do you think the most important trait of a top blogger is? It might be one of these eight, or something completely different. Let us know in the comments! About the Author: Annabel Candy is a travel fiend who currently calls Australia home. She has travelled widely and writes a personal improvement blog called Get in the Hot Spot . It’s stuffed with inspiration and tips to help people live their dreams.

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Why Third Tribe is Shutting Down

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Before I talk about our reasons for shutting down Inside the Third Tribe (our community of next-generation internet marketers), I want to stress that it had nothing to do with our members. In fact, they’ve been amazing. More than 2,000 smart, motivated entrepreneurs, hungry for knowledge and passionately applying the education we provide. And it’s not because I don’t believe in the community. In fact, I think it’s one of the most remarkable projects I’ve ever been involved with. Unfortunately, we’ve had some issues with the team that I no longer believe we can reconcile. There were hints all along, as there usually are. But at the recent South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, it became clear that we couldn’t continue as we had been. I think we were somewhere at the edge of town when the drugs began to take hold. Brian said something like, “I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive . . .” And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was heading for Austin going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down. And Brian’s baritone voice was bellowing: “Holy Jesus! What are these [expletive] animals?” “Bats, Brian,” I said. “Austin is known for its bats.” You have to understand, he’s been under a lot of stress He’d seemed lucid enough back when we were planning out how we’d approach the conference. Lucid, but showing some signs of strain. We had launched too many projects back to back, and frankly, South by Southwest tends to bring out Brian’s . . . eccentric side. His voice was fast on the phone when we were making plans, but he sounded reasonably in control of himself. “You’re going to need plenty of legal advice before this thing is over.” “Really? OK,” I said, grabbing a pad of paper to take notes. “And my first advice is that you should rent a very fast car with no top. This blows my week, because naturally I’ll have to go with you. And we’ll have to arm ourselves.” My voice faltered a little. “Sorry, did you say arm ourselves?” But you know, I’ve followed Brian down a lot of strange rabbit holes, and so far we’ve always done all right. So we got the convertible, and the guns, and the 55-gallon drum of creamed corn, and he pulled some kind of connection that let me secure a tank of medical-grade ether. I try not to ask too many questions when he gets like this. Which makes it my fault too, I realize. He couldn’t stop talking about retirement, about how much he wanted to walk away. “Social media is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs.” “Right, but there are good people too!” I kept saying. “You know there are.” But he wasn’t in any kind of space to hear me. As I’ve come to realize, there is nothing more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge. He took another hit and sank into a dark silence while I circled the Austin airport. We were there to pick up Chris Brogan Brogan . . . now there’s a piece of work. I don’t mind the first-class airfare or the Rolls Royce or paying for all the booze. Whatever. The man’s got his issues. But picking up the tab for those identical twin Thai massage girls is just . . . I don’t know, it gives me the creeps. Plus it’s hell on our profit margins. He was hysterical, as usual, as he careened out of baggage claim. His voice kept getting higher and higher, talking about not getting his due, not getting his respect, not feeling the love. “Don’t you understand? Don’t you get it? I’m still huge!” he shrieked. “Brogan,” Brian said, in the dangerous voice. That’s the first moment when I started to get nervous. Brian’s dangerous voice is . . . well, dangerous. “I’m everything I ever was!” Brogan screamed. “Who have we got now? Nobodies! Can’t you see it? I’m still big! It’s the media that got small.” Brian pulled out something that looked like a gun, and I nearly passed out. I don’t know if you realize this, but since 9/11, pulling out a gun in a U.S. airport is like wearing a giant sign saying, “Dear TSA dudes, please blow our heads off. Thanks tons, love, Copyblogger.” Brian squeezed off two tidy shots, but instead of a sound like gunfire, there was a sort of whuff . Brogan hit the floor like a sack of irradiated meat. “Damn it, Brian, what the hell was that?” I grabbed the gun and stashed it, then tried to lift Brogan’s head off the linoleum and check his vital signs. Actually, my words were a little stronger than that. You have to be firm when Brian gets this way. “Elephant tranquilizer,” Brian said. “Brutal stuff. Very bad. He’ll be having hallucinations of having his intestines gnawed by naked mole rats for about . . . ” Brian checked his watch, “the next 12 to 16 hours.” Don’t even ask me how we got him into the car. There wasn’t room in the back seat but somehow we managed to fold him into the trunk of the convertible and we headed for the hotel. Brian got snippy with me for insisting we crack the trunk for air, but the last thing in the world I need is a social media darling dying of asphyxiation in the trunk of my rented car. I do have a few boundaries. Then there’s Darren Rowse Darren, Mr. “Nice Guy” of the interwebs, was supposed to meet us in the hotel bar. We couldn’t manage to get Brogan out of the trunk, so we left him there, the trunk propped open by his elbow, twitching and sweating and muttering something about a close-up. I don’t know if you know Darren. He’s . . . well . . . he’s something of a character. He was slumped, as he usually is, giggling on the red plastic bar stool. He turned his manic grin to us and patted the machete that he always carries. “You call that a knife?” he said. He held up the machete proudly. “Now that’s a knife.” “Yeah, right, hi Darren,” I said. I was starting to get tired. One of them at a time I can usually take, but between Brian in an ether funk and Chris hallucinating on elephant tranquilizer, the last thing I needed was Darren’s incessant self comparisons to Crocodile Dundee. “That’s awesome, honey. Put it away before you make the bartender nervous, ok?” “Of course it took me a week to crawl this far,” he muttered, giggling. “I thought I was a goner. I said to meself, Darren old son, find yourself a nice comfortable spot and lay down and die.” “Rowse,” Brian nodded in greeting, his teeth clenched. Darren stroked the machete thoughtfully. “Up North in the Never-Never, where the land is harsh and bare, lives a mighty hunter named Darren Dundee.” Brian began to growl. “What the [expletive] is he [expletive] on about?” Darren snarled, the giggle dissolving. “Is he taking the [expletive] out of me? Because if he wants a fight, I’ll give him a [expletive] [expletive] [expletive] fight.” “Both of you, play nice, please,” I begged. “Just ten minutes of peace and then you can start in on each other.” I was desperate for a drink. But one of us had to keep a clear head, and as usual, it looked like it was me. “He’s [expletive] high again.” Darren’s eyes narrowed. “I wouldn’t recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they’ve always worked for me,” Brian said, with a majestic dignity that almost made me love him again. From there it just went downhill Anyway, I guess you remember the rest of it from the news accounts. They didn’t get it exactly right, but it was close enough. Brogan is doing better in rehab than any of us could have hoped, so I’m crossing my fingers. We don’t think the U.S. will try to extradite Darren for what happened to that biker, and let’s face it, the guy did pull a knife on us. Poor bastard. Brian’s wife won’t give me any details, and when I drove out to their place to try and figure it out, he took a shot at me. You know, it’s Brian. He’ll be ok. He always is. If I were going to write the truth about everything I know, about 600 people — including me — would be rotting in prison cells. So I’m going to have to leave it there. All I know is I can’t do this any more. I’m walking away while I still can. I booked a massage for later this morning, I’m going to go cash my settlement check , and then I’m going to take a walk on this beautiful first day of April and try and figure out what to do with the rest of my life. Until then, you all take care, ok? P.S. This post is 100% Brian’s fault. P.P.S. Thanks, Hunter . About the Author : Sonia Simone is currently the only one working at Copyblogger and the founder of Remarkable Communication . She also co-founded Inside the Third Tribe before it collapsed into a vortex of drugs, ego, and identical twin Thai massage girls.

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Be Found On Twitter

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I was presented with the following message from Twitter today: We were hoping you could help us make it easier for people to discover their friends and colleagues on Twitter. Review your settings below to make sure the people you care about can easily find you. Be Found On Twitter Email tim-cohn at gmail.com Let others find me by my email address Phone +14159353608 Let others find me by my phone number Your email and phone will not be publicly displayed. You can change your settings anytime I don’t recall seeing this message from Twitter before.

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