More than three-fourths of small businesses say they do at least 25% of their marketing on social media. And 7 out of 10 say social media has been somewhat or very effective. (Buffer) Even so, many businesses don’t feel confident that they’re getting the most out of social: Where’s the ROI? How do I define […]
24 Writing Tips You Didn’t Learn in School
One of the best ways to build credibility and name recognition while attracting your best customers is content marketing. Sadly, though, most people think of content as blog posts—nothing more. Don’t limit yourself! There’s much more to content marketing than blogging. Let’s look at the big picture of what content marketing is, then we’ll review some […]
20 404 Pages You Can Write Home About (& 3 You Shouldn’t)
It happens. A link breaks on an old blog post, and the webmaster is too busy to notice. Or a URL gets typed wrong. Trouble is, people clicking on those links end up… on your 404 page. What’s a 404 page? It’s that page you sometimes land on that tells you the page you were […]
Social Media in the Wake of a Tragedy
Unless you live under a rock, you heard about bombs at the Boston Marathon and the explosion in West, Texas, last week. My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the people of Boston and West. Today, I’d like to talk about our responsibilities (and expectations) during times of crisis. We live in a […]
12 Commonsense Rules for Scoring Big as a Guest Blogger
You’ve probably heard that guest blogging is a powerful traffic-building strategy. But traffic isn’t the only reason to start publishing on other blogs. Getting your name on big-name blogs gives you: Name recognition. Credibility as an expert in your field. More opt-ins to your list. More visibility in your community. So what’s holding you back? […]
Words from Copywriting Masters [Infographic]
There’s no better way to learn how to write sales letters than to listen to words from copywriting masters. Yes, much of what they say relates to sales letters and physical mail-outs. And yes, we don’t usually mail sales letters anymore. But if you write direct response sales pages or landing pages, this infographic is […]
How to Create Your New Twitter Header
If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to update your Twitter profile. A few weeks ago, Twitter rolled out a new header feature, similar to the Facebook’s timeline banner. It’s a nice change that allows you to personalize and brand your Twitter page. Below, I give you step-by-step instructions for doing it. It’s simple.
How to Be a Better Writer
From the folks at Copyblogger comes this helpful graphic: Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger. The truth is, there’s no way to become a writer by simply thinking about it. Writing is like swimming or any other sport: It takes lots of practice to get all your muscles working together to […]
Beg, Borrow and Steal… with Integrity
Is there ever such a thing as pure, unadulterated creativity? Probably not. Which is why even great writers like Shakespeare borrow ideas and plots. Hey, if Shakespeare wasn’t above a little non-plagiaristic stealing, who am I to argue? The truth is, when you need to come up with a lot of great ideas fast, there’s […]
Before You Write: Plan
A great promotion doesn’t just appear, fully realized, to the expectant writer. It’s not like Field of Dreams. If you sit at your computer, it won’t come. To write copy that gets a mere 1 to 2% response rate (which is the least you should shoot for), you’ll need to invest time up front, before […]