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Recent Posts Tagged With 'copywriting'
The Best of Copyblogger 2009
You didn’t think we’d close out the year without a “Best of 2009” post, did you? Well, you’re not getting off that easy. Here’s the best Copyblogger content of the year, based on your enthusiasm via comments, links, retweets, and gratuit...
Happy Holidays from Copyblogger!
Here’s to a safe and joyous holiday season for you and yours. In case you’re actually looking for something to read, here are some Copyblogger gems for your solstice surfing pleasure. Copywriting 101 Content Marketing 101 How to Write M...
5 Lessons Learned from a List to Santa (All of Them Can Make You Money)
In the eight Christmases since life changed my name to Dad, Santa’s list has never been more important. In our house, the tradition is that each child requests a single gift from the big guy. The problem is, this year both kids asked for something...
Should We Be Worried About Fast Food Content?
Earlier this week on TechCrunch, Michael Arrington wrote an alarmed post about “fast food content that will surely, over time, destroy the mom and pop operations that hand craft their content today.” Mom and pop operations and hand-craft...
Warning: Are Your Words Helping or Hurting Your Business?
Earlier this week we saw a stark lesson in the power of a label when it comes to promoting your business. Using the right vocabulary is everything when it comes to writing powerful copy. And though I adore words even more than donuts, it was only re...
How to Do Less and Get More
I’m a big fan of Leo Babauta. His book, The Power of Less, is required reading for anyone who wants a rewarding life. But many of Leo’s followers think doing less means, well, settling for less. I’m here to tell you it can mean achieving much ...
What a Bestselling Author Can Teach You About Hooking Your Readers
Pulled away. Distracted by twitter, e-mail, FaceBook. Every reader has it happen several times a day. Will your readers be any different? Not unless you hook them. And the secret to hooking your readers comes from the storytellers of the world. A ...
10 Surprising Books That Will Transform Your Writing
You don’t have to look far to find a list of the best books a writer should read. A benefit for new writers, no doubt. Unfortunately, those of us who have been around for a number of years often own every book that tends to make these lists. N...
The First Rule of Copyblogger
Are you guilty of spamducation? Spamducation is a white paper, special report, video, podcast or manifesto that claims to solve a pressing reader problem, but is in fact a thinly disguised ad. Jon Stribling describes them as “compelling headlines ...
10 Secrets to More Magnetic Copy
Whether it’s a cover letter for your resume, a sales pitch to a client, a blog post, a Twitter tweet, or an internal business proposal, all of us need to write in a way that draws the reader closer to us. We need writing that’s compellin...
The Force is Strong With This One: 10 Ways to be a Direct Response Jedi
Do you remember the doubt on Luke Skywalker’s face when he first held the cool metal of an inert light saber? Looking up at Obi-Wan, he believed it when he said, “I can’t go with you to Alderaan.” Last summer, we felt just li...
The Eminem Guide to Becoming a Writing and Marketing Machine
Ten years back, my soon-to-be wife, Cindy, and I first noticed the bombarding beat for Marshall Mather’s “My Name Is.” “What an ass,” I said as the two of us sat to watch the Grammies a year later. “It’s sad he can sell so many records...
The Art of the Paragraph
Anyone can write a paragraph, but not everyone knows how to write one that other people want to read. You’ve seen it: You open a book, and the whole page is one long block of text. Each sentence in the paragraph makes exactly the same point, s...
How to Persuade People to Accept an “Unfair” Offer
Ever heard of Charley Hill? He seemed like an average, ordinary guy. He lived in a mid-sized town with his wife, two children, and a dog. He went to church on Sunday, coached Little League, and drove a pickup truck. He was friendly but quiet, the so...
The Flashing Christmas Light Technique for Writing Irresistible Bullet Points
Step into a bookstore, find the business section, and pull out a book. Then flip the book to the back cover. Here’s what you’re sure to find on virtually every business book: A selection of well-chosen fascinating bullets. And thereR...
What My Five-Year-Old Son Taught Me About Marketing
You know that “inner child” we hear so much about — the one that’s supposedly deep inside of all of us? Well, I live with it. As a matter of fact, I call him “Austin.” In the five years I’ve been a parent, I...
Here’s Something to Think (and Talk) About
I’m flying to New York City today for the Audience Conference, so I thought I’d share a quotation about the relationship between writers (or any content creator) and the people they hope to connect with. When talented people write badly it’s g...
The Quentin Tarantino Guide to Creating Killer Content
In a recent Copyblogger post discussing how the king of content is being slowly usurped by the Crown Prince of Context, author Larry Brooks referenced the remarkable opening scene of Quentin Tarantino’s new movie Inglourious Basterds. There a...
7 Bad Writing Habits You Learned in School
What is good writing? Ask an English teacher, and they’ll tell you good writing is grammatically correct. They’ll tell you it makes a point and supports it with evidence. Maybe, if they’re really honest, they’ll admit it has ...
Three Ways to Make Your Competitors Irrelevant
Buying online is a consumer’s paradise, right? One can compare competing offers ‘til the heart’s content, all with simple clicks of a mouse. Well, it’s not that great if you happen to sell online. And what if I told you it’s not really tha...
Audience Conference: Ready to Get Serious About Social Media?
In my view, social media represents the greatest entrepreneurial opportunity of a lifetime. But there seems to be a mindset that holds people back from making the most of it. One is thinking of yourself as a blogger, or an affiliate marketer, or wha...
The Sideways L: How to Use Misdirection to Make Your Readers Laugh
Making your readers laugh can be a great way to capture attention, create word of mouth, and develop a terrific relationship with your audience. A lot of writers may think you can’t teach people how to write humor, but I don’t buy it. In...
Why It’s a Good Idea to Buy Brian and Sonia a Beer
Brian and I are heading out to the BlogWorld and New Media Expo this week, where we hope to meet plenty of Copyblogger readers. As you might know, one of the smartest things you can do at a conference is to see if there’s someone you can lear...
Don’t Let Your Blog Readers Touch that Remote
You remember the last time you channel surfed? We all do it when there’s nothing good on TV — nothing that holds our attention. Well, you can’t channel surf with a book. You can skip pages, put the book down, or stare off into space, bu...
One Big Way to Avoid a Headline Fail
The other day, we published a headline that failed. It happens to everyone, even those of us who consider headline writing to be a primary skill. In this post, I’ll show you one way to avoid a headline fail when using one of the more powerful head...
Don’t Tell Anyone
Next week, we’re launching a free email newsletter called “Internet Marketing for Smart People.” At BlogWorld in Las Vegas on the 15th of October (that’s Thursday of next week folks, but you can still get 20% off with the cod...
Do Your Readers Secretly Think You’re a Liar?
You might not hear it, but your readers might be saying it. To themselves and to one another, they’re reading what you have to say and shouting “Liar!” It’s not because you’ve stretched the truth, because you don’t care, or because you go...
Four Ways to Be More Interesting
I’d like you to stop and think about something for a second. Try to remember the last time you visited a site that had good, solid content but read like a technical manual. I’m talking factual and helpful, but not terribly compelling. May...
Beyond Headlines: How to Get YourAudience to Read Every Word
Whether you’re trying to get on the front page of Digg or just angling for a sale, writing magnetic headlines that grab your readers’ attention is everything. But once you have their attention, you need them to read every word that you...
S.P.E.E.D. Writing: 5 Tips to Double Your Writing Productivity
Some people are writing machines. They get an idea, pound it out in minutes, post it to their blog, and move on to something else. For the rest of the world, writing is often slow, grinding work. But it doesn’t have to be. Anyone can write fa...
