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Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of June 28, 2010

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After Brian didn’t run last week’s Wrap-up due to alleged technical issues, I got nervous and decided that I’d better secure my position around here by showing some evil initiative. Eventually, after agonizing seconds of brain-wracking agony, I got the idea to defraud advertisers. So I called Xerox. “This site has nothing to do with copying things,” the Xerox ad rep told me after clicking through a few posts. “Are you crazy?” I said. “‘Copy’ is in the title. We’re running a series this summer on the many joys of having handy multiples of any document. First up: Filing. Then: Passing brochures out to friends.” At that point, the Xerox rep hung up on me. So, while I ponder my next evil plan to secure my position at Copyblogger (and also to rule the entire tri-state area), you might as well read what happened this week: Monday: The Grateful Dead 4-Step Guide to the Magical Influence of Content Marketing I’ve never liked the Grateful Dead, so I laughed out loud at the joke Brian told in the intro to this post. But then I kept reading and realized that those stoned dudes DID in fact know a thing or two about content marketing, as strange as it may seem. It’s enough to make me contemplate the color of the wind in my mind. Woah… heavy. Think about it: Why would you possibly encourage bootlegging the way the Dead did? Because hippies or not, that band made a lot of money doing their thing and gained a ton of notoriety. So either it was chance, or they knew what they were up to from the beginning. Either way, I’ll bet they liked brownies. Read on to find out how you can learn to be just as effective, and also maybe how you can get these huge pink elephants in my office to go away. I tried reading poetry to them, but that only made them turn into tie-dyed screwdrivers that begin disassembling the injustices of the world while Hendrix showed me the true path to zen neuroticism. Read the full post here . Tuesday: Charles Bukowski and the Secret to Immortal Writing As a budding student of diabolical evil, I really related to what Robert Bruce wrote about Charles Bukowski, “I’ve only spent a few minutes with his now 16-year-old corpse lying in San Pedro.” Which is so funny because I was just lying around with several corpses I have here yesterday, albeit ones far less famous than Bukowski’s. What a coincidence! What Robert learned from his chat with Bukowski’s corpse (I’m not totally certain here and may have that detail wrong; I was reading this post while hang gliding into a coral reef while on fire) was one tiny little should-be-obvious maxim that can make all the difference for anyone struggling to improve their writing. You don’t need a big instruction manual. You can’t just focus on hooks and structure and whatnot. You need to truly pay attention to one little thing. I forgot what that one thing is, though. You’ll have to read to find out. I’d look for myself, but I can’t right now because I’m writing this while fighting reanimated mummies with nunchucks. Read the full post here . Wednesday: The 7 Essential Steps to Creating Your Content Masterpiece Finally, a handy guide to keep your blog from being used to wrap discarded fish! This post by Mark McGuinness is all about how to make your content last longer, and how to get the most out of your writing. You can write a stream of mediocrity with no real plan for use and have people forgetting your stuff the day after you write it, or you can find ways to use it as part of a whole that becomes your content masterpiece. Just like Bach and that large poodle he wore on his head had going for them. Honestly: How are you going to do any real evil in the world if nobody remembers what you do and instead uses your stuff to wrap fish and chips? Read the full post here . Thursday: Landing Page Makeover Clinic #27: HiddenSoy.com In this latest installment of the Landing Page Makeover Clinic, Roberta Rosenberg turns her watchful eye on HiddenSoy.com, a site dedicated to sniffing out (wait for it) the hidden dangers of soy in everyday foods — soy being something the site’s owner isn’t a fan of and doesn’t exactly think is health food, to put it mildly. In this post, Roberta gives her 10-point critique of the site’s landing page, identifying ways that it can better convert visitors into more sales of the book The Hidden Dangers of Soy . But the bigger question (one that remains unasked and therefore suspiciously unanswered) is “WHO exactly is behind this nefarious soy plot?” Because it’s a sublimely evil plot, on par with a scheme to SET FIRE TO THE SUN! And what’s their purpose? Is it to decrease consumption of animal protein? Is it about eliminating a soy surplus? Does it have anything to do with “big laundry?” (I forgot what that means, but I promise you it’s evil.) Anyway, check this post out if for no other reason than to fight Big Soy. It’s more important than just you or me. Read the full post here . Friday: The Writer Runs This Show Friday’s post was kind of poetic, so it doesn’t lend itself well to me writing a teaser other than for me to say “read it,” so I’ll just offer two quick things before repeating that you should read it: 1. Stephen King said “The book is the boss,” and Brian Clark said, “The writer runs this show.” Coincidence? Or are they the same person? Yet another unsolved and persistent mystery. 2. If I were invited to a dinner party thrown by zombies, I’d never go. Aside from the constant worry over whether I was there FOR dinner or AS dinner, I’ll bet the whole situation would be really awkward. And you know the conversation would be absolutely terrible: “So, where do you and the family summer?” “Brains!” You get the idea. Anyway, read brains Brian’s manifesto on the real importance of writing here . About the Author: Johnny B. Truant is a cartoonish supervillain who blogs at JohnnyBTruant.com and is behind many extraordinarily evil schemes involving space laser-inators and giant baking soda volcanos.

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Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of June 28, 2010

20 Warning Signs That Your Content Sucks

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Admit it … you’ve wondered. You’re writing and writing and writing, and a few people say they like it, but you’re just not getting results. Traffic is coming in at a trickle, links are hard to come by, and your comments section is about as lively as a nightclub at breakfast. And you can’t help wondering … Do you just need to be patient, waiting for your traffic to snowball? Or could it be possible that, really, your content sucks , and everyone is just being nice so as not to hurt your delicate artistic feelings? The hard truth: there’s no way to know for sure For one, we’re talking about quality, which is subjective by definition. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure, and all that jazz. It’s also a matter of scale. This isn’t American Idol, where you have 30 million people voting, transforming a singer into a superstar through the power of public consensus. If you’re a beginning blogger, you might have fewer than 100 regular readers, and 20 of them are your friends and family. And let’s face it; your mother is going to like everything you do, no matter how bad it is. That’s her job. So who are you supposed to listen to? Well … nobody, and everybody, all the same time. The maddening thing about creating anything is no one can tell you how to do it, and yet everyone’s opinion can teach you something. There aren’t any rules, no, but there are warnings. If your content sucks, you’ll see dozens, maybe hundreds of telltale signs, hinting that something is wrong. I’ve collected 20 of the most common here. Take a look through them, and see if any describe you: 1. You think your content is “good enough” If you had to rate your content on a scale of 1 to 10, what would you give it? A 6? A 7? That’s what most bloggers say. But here’s the problem: you can’t really grade content on a scale. You’re either blowing people’s minds or putting them to sleep, and there’s nothing in between. Put another way, content graded as a 6 or 7 gets the same reaction as a 1. It’s a waste of time to publish it. 2. Your posts read like journal entries Not too long ago, most people used their blog as a sort of online journal, where people took a few minutes every day to write down their thoughts. But blogs have evolved beyond that. Now they’re more like online magazines, with highly polished content. If your posts look more like “Dear Diary” than a magazine you would see at the newsstand, you’ve probably got a problem. 3. You’re not getting many (or any) comments Comments are one of the best ways to measure reader engagement. If you have a few hundred subscribers, and yet none of them are commenting, then it might be because they find your content unworthy of their attention. Translation: it sucks. 4. Your visitors stay less than two minutes, on average Install Google Analytics, and look at the average amount of time visitors are staying on your website. For most traffic sources, anything less than two minutes is bad. If you are at less than one minute, then your content is repelling people. You can do better. 5. You spend less than an hour on each post Yes, it’s possible to write a great blog post in 15 minutes, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that it doesn’t happen very often. Most of the popular bloggers I know spend anywhere from 2 to 10 hours on each blog post they write. If you’re not, you should be. 6. You’ve never received fan mail If your content is good, people will go out of their way to tell you how good it is. We’re not just talking about nice little tweets; we’re talking about five page e-mails where they tell you their life story and thank God for your existence. No, you won’t get much of it when you’re a beginner, but you will get some . If you haven’t, then your content isn’t as good as it should be. 7. You’ve never received hate mail The opposite is also true. If your content is good, you’ll always have a small but vocal group of people who think you’re wrong, rude, or inconsiderate. They are the righteous majority for moral authority, and nothing you can say will appease them. So don’t try. Their mockery and screams of outrage are merely signs that you’re headed in the right direction. 8. You focus on SEO before you get your first link Whenever a newbie starts asking me about SEO before they’ve even written a post, I always know they’re doomed. There is no better way to write horrible, crappy content than to deliberately stuff it with keywords in an attempt to boost your search engine rankings, when what you really need is for people to link to you in the first place. If this is you, immediately throw salt over your shoulder, turn around three times, and spit. Then forget everything you think you know about SEO. Study smart SEO instead. (But pay attention to the next item.) 9. You believe SEO is the secret to building a popular blog First, let me set the record straight. I am a big fan of SEO. I’m just not a fan of the pedestal many beginners put it on. SEO can’t, by itself, make a popular blog. First, you need remarkable content , and then you optimize it for search engines. Skip the remarkable part, and all the optimization in the world won’t help you. 10. You’re saving your best ideas for later Are you planning to do an e-book or course, and you’re holding back all of your best ideas, waiting for your blog to get popular before you publish them and make gobs of money? If so, stop. To riff on Warren Buffett, waiting until your blog is popular to publish your best ideas is like waiting until you’re old to have sex. Get your good stuff published today. 11. Your blog is about … well … everything One of the quickest way is to frustrate your readers is to write about everything that’s on your mind. Here’s why: people don’t come to your blog to find out what you think. They come to your blog for solutions to their problems. The moment you stop talking about them is the moment they stop reading. 12. You don’t know the benefit Pop quiz: one year from now, how will your reader’s life be better? What specific, measurable results will you have helped them obtain? We are not talking about “Having a greater sense of fulfillment and prosperity.” We’re talking about “They’ve lost 20 pounds” or “They’ve brought in five high-quality new clients.” If you can’t put your content in these terms, you’re setting yourself up to fail. 13. You think you deserve more traffic than you’re getting Do you feel annoyed that no one appreciates the value of the knowledge that you’re giving away for free ? I know I used to, and it took several years of struggling to realize no one is entitled to attention . You have to earn it, day in and day out. No exceptions. 14. You have a science, engineering, or technology background I know, it sounds horribly prejudiced. But here’s the deal: scientists, engineers, and other types of technologists are trained to be objective, passive, and detached — all three of which will destroy you as a blogger. No, you’re not doomed if you have a background in one of these disciplines. But it is a handicap, and you need to be aware of it. 15. You’ve never read a book on copywriting Writing a blog post without studying copywriting is like hunting for buried treasure without a map. You might be able to do it, but you’ll have to get astoundingly lucky. If you haven’t studied copywriting , you should. Like right now . 16. You have no idea what keeps your readers up at night Great writing is about intimacy, and nothing is more intimate than knowing what keeps your readers up at night. Find out what makes them afraid, find out what makes them excited, find out what’s going through their mind at 2 a.m. Then use it in your blog posts. You’ll be communicating with them on such a deep, emotional level that it will be impossible for them to ignore you. 17. You write less than 1,000 words per day Of all the warning signs, this is probably the biggest. If you’re not writing at least 1,000 words per day, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for you to write anything but mediocre content. Try writing at least 1000 words every day for 30 days, and see what an impact it has on your writing. You’ll be astounded. 18. You read less than 10 hours per week Besides writing a lot, you also need to read a lot. It exposes you to different writing styles to learn from; it gives you new stories and metaphors; it keeps you abreast of what’s going on in your field. In my opinion, 10 hours a week is a bare minimum. If you really want to be good, think more in the range of 20-40 hours a week. 19. You’ve never talked to a reader on the phone or in person A one-hour conversation with one of your most ardent readers will teach you more about how to communicate with your audience than anything else you can do. If you’re not doing it at least once every month or two, there’s a good chance you’re falling out of touch. 20. You’ve been blogging for less than six months Okay, we’re at the end, so I’ll go ahead and admit it: not everything is your fault. If you’ve been blogging for less than six months, there’s almost nothing you can do; your content is going to suck to some degree. Keep your chin up, expect to be ignored, and just keep going. You’ll get good soon. The bottom line I’d love to tell you that producing great content is easy. I’d love to tell you that there are shortcuts. I’d love to tell you can do it with your brain on auto pilot. But I won’t, because we’re being honest here, right? Producing great content is work. No, it’s not building a pyramid or putting a man on the moon or curing cancer, but it does take time, energy, and dedication. If you’re sitting here, right now, worrying about whether your content sucks or not, that’s actually a good sign. If you’re worrying about it at 2 in the morning, that’s even better. Achieving greatness in blogging is the same as anything else. You have to work your butt off. If you’re willing to do that, then there will always be a place for you on the web. You’ll always be in demand. You’ll always be able to stand out. It’s tough, yes, but it’s worth it. So, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and get started. About the Author: Jon Morrow is Associate Editor of Copyblogger. Get more from him on twitter .

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Three Training Tips to Become a Better Blogger

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I don’t go to the gym. I could. There’s a gym right here in my town. I’d like to be stronger, faster, and more badass. But I don’t go to the gym, and the reason has nothing to do with my not wanting to get all of the benefits of a good workout. It has to do with the fact that when I want results, I want them now. I want to go to the gym just one time and walk out with muscles I didn’t have when I went in. Now, everyone knows you don’t achieve your physical peak in just one gym session. Yet I keep noticing bloggers out there who seem to believe that they can achieve writing prowess in just one blog post. That’s just as silly as me expecting to be able to do 50 pull-ups on my first trip to the gym. Your brain is like a muscle Your brain is not actually a muscle, so don’t put any bets down on your trivia skills at the local bar. But your brain acts like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. This is how you learn a language, for example. The first time you learn that “Bonjour” means “Hello” in French, you have to think about it pretty hard whenever someone asks you the question. But if you move to Quebec and hang out with me awhile, you’ll find yourself soon saying “bonjour” automatically when you walk into stores. Your brain doesn’t have to think about it anymore. It’s walked down that neural pathway often enough that saying “bonjour” becomes an automatic response. When you write a blog post, your first posts might take a lot of effort. You’re going to work hard to remember how to craft a good story , or pause to wonder whether you just made a common grammatical error , or remind yourself to break things up and use bullet points so people can read more easily. After a few years of blogging, you don’t think about that stuff anymore. It happens naturally. That part of your brain becomes so strong that it doesn’t feel like work. How to make your blogging muscles stronger If you want to be stronger, faster, or in better physical shape, you go to the gym often. Maybe every day. If you want to be a stronger blogger, a faster writer, or in better shape to whip up posts that people want to read, write a blog post every day. Even if you only post once a week on your blog, put in the time to write every day. Otherwise, you’ll never make your blogging muscles any stronger. If you only lifted weights once a week, how long do you think it would take you to turn yourself into an Ironman? The more frequently you write, the faster you’ll improve, and the stronger you’ll get. Here are a few tips to get stronger in even less time. Switch it up. Trainers and fitness magazines say to work different muscles on different days, because muscles need to rest. The same goes for blogging. Try writing about a different topic every other day, or testing new approaches three times a week. You don’t have to post those topics — you just have to write them. You’ll still be working your writing muscles, but you won’t exhaust yourself writing the same type of content every day. Make every repetition count. A lot of people go to the gym and sort of sleepwalk through their routine. They’re doing each motion, but they’re not working that hard. They don’t notice when they could move up a weight bracket to get more results. When you blog, don’t just toss off a post in 20 minutes without thinking about it. Make every single post count. You’ll write faster when you’re stronger, but right now, slow down and make sure the post you’re working on is the best it can be. Increase your difficulty. Speaking of moving up a weight bracket, don’t stick to posts about simple topics. If you feel like you’ve exhausted your current knowledge about your favorite topic, go out and do some research on more complex areas of that topic. Work to make your writing even better and more compelling. Push yourself. Don’t stick around lifting 5-pound weights when you could be lifting 50s. You’re never going to get stronger if you stay in your comfort zone. Above all else, put in the work. Plenty of people think they can run a marathon. They sign up, they undertrain, and when the big day rolls around, they can’t do even a fraction of the run. The blogging equivalent of that is when a blogger pitches a big blog for a guest post, but can’t deliver anything like the caliber of writing that blog demands. So put in the training. You’ll get stronger, faster, and better — and before you know it, you’ll be at the front of the pack with the big shots. About the Author: If you’re looking for more training advice on your blogging, head on over to Men with Pens , where James Chartrand gives you a writing gym packed with equipment to work those muscles.

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Three Training Tips to Become a Better Blogger

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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Rapid Rewriter

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How to put a little sunshine in your writing? Do you know the fastest way to create hundreds of unique content? Which article directories are the best to post your writing there? There is no need to ask all these questions right now. Rapid Rewriter provides the best solution! Rapid Rewriter is designed by Matt

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Rapid Rewriter