Steve Lazuka says, “If your content doesn’t provide readers with value, solve a problem, answer a question or entertain, then it doesn’t really serve a purpose. Have you ever had what you thought was a great post idea, but it failed to resonate or, more importantly, get shared? It’s frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be. Writing content that readers will love isn’t only about what you write, but how you write it. Here are four keys to help you unlock your creative juices and increase your chances for writing content that readers — and Google — will love. 1. Be irresistible Great... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “You know how holiday buffets are … you take a little bit of cheese, and then another kind of cheese, and then four more kinds of cheese, then squeeze six desserts onto the plate, and finally you take a tiny square of Jell-O because it’s basically a vegetable? No? Just me? ANYWAY. This week we have a little buffet assortment for you … without the Jell-O vegetables. On Monday, Sean Jackson and Jessica Frick were nice enough to host me on the Members Only podcast, where we talked about the days when I launched my first membership community. We laughed a lot and had... [...]

Craig Simpson”Claude Hopkins was a whiz at writing effective advertising copy in the early part of the 20th century, but what really made him stand out was that he tested everything before he presented it to the public. As a result of the dedicated testing he did with his own copy, Hopkins knew for a fact what elements of copy worked and what didn’t, and was able to apply his findings to all his new campaigns so that he kept achieving better and better results. In his classic book, My Life in Advertising, Hopkins included a chapter on “Scientific Advertising,” in which he laid out... [...]

Stefanie Flaxman says, “When I was a cub copy editor, I learned a simple fact-checking technique that is still one of my favorites today. It may seem unimportant, but if you don’t use this technique and fail to catch a certain type of mistake, you could set yourself up for extra work later. This is one of my favorites because it demonstrates that reviewing your copy and content for accuracy goes beyond checking for proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Check for day/date discrepancies I told you it’s simple. Whenever you see a day of the week and a date in your text, check that... [...]

Brian Clark says, “First off, check out this quotation: “It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.” – Leonardo da Vinci Now, let me ask you this … How do you spark the buying process without a lot of high-pressure, high-hype selling? You do it by getting the reader, listener, or viewer to imagine buying from you, even before you’ve presented the full offer. Why is that important? It’s important because once someone imagines buying from you, they’ve made a mental commitment”. Educate to Dominate Your Competition Copyblogger  [...]

Sonia Simone says, “Funny thing — you can ask for people’s favorite words of advice, and you’ll get a decent number of answers. But ask for their favorite piece of bad advice, and you’ll really get a response. I did exactly that on Twitter, and the podcast and Copyblogger post this week are all about what I found. It ain’t what you don’t know … it’s what you know that just ain’t so. In this 21-minute episode, I talk about: Jason Miller’s smart article about why the “goldfish attention span” myth is dangerously wrong Why it’s a terrible idea to dumb down your content My... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “Ever heard the term negativity bias? Briefly stated, it means that we’re wired to notice things that suck far more than things that rock. I had a hilarious (and productive) example of this when I asked this question on Twitter I got more than enough replies to fill my podcast episode. In fact, I got so many good answers that I wanted to compile them for you here … in the spirit of encouraging you to leave unhelpful advice behind as we march forward into 2017. I asked our editorial team to chime in with their favorites as well”. Conventional Writing Wisdom You... [...]

Dustin Walker says, “Let me ask you this … Roughly how many articles do you think you’ve read about writing better headlines, subheads, or even opening sentences, for that matter? A ton of ’em, I bet. After all, smart marketers know those are all valuable lessons. But here’s the thing: Don’t assume that copywriting techniques can only improve your content by helping you grab people’s attention. There’s a smorgasbord of content-writing tips that can be borrowed from sales copywriting that go beyond crafting headlines and subheads. Here are three lesser-known copywriting tactics... [...]

Craig Simpson says, “The tendency for the mind to go blank and lose touch with any creative impulse has stymied the efforts of many copywriters. But legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz claimed never to have been plagued by writer’s block, and it was for a simple reason: He’d developed a surefire method that enabled him to get right to work, without wandering around in that limbo of helplessness. He would start by reading the book he was to sell, maybe four times. Each time he read it, he’d highlight lines and phrases he thought were important or sounded interesting. By the time... [...]

Amanda Zantal-Wiener says, “Even after years of education, there are some things that some people still mess up. For me, it’s algebra. For others, it’s the laws of physics. And for many, it’s grammar. It’s not easy. Words and phrases that sound fine in your head can look like gibberish when written down — that is, if you even realize you made a mistake in the first place. It’s easy for little grammar mistakes to slip by, especially when you’re self-editing. But how do you prevent grammatical errors if you’re not even aware you’re making... [...]