Sonia Simone says, “Search engine optimization — SEO — is one of those “you love it or you hate it” topics. Some get a charge out of the challenge of keeping up with those wily engineers at Google. Others would rather eat a bug than try to figure out what “headless crawling” means and which redirect is the right one to pick in months that end in R. I have to confess, I’m in the bug-eating camp on this one. Fortunately, although technical SEO is still important for some sites, there’s a crazy-powerful optimization technique that people like me can get really good at. Yes, it’s... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “So, Copyblogger has been running for about 11 years now. And in all that time, we’ve never written a post about Arnold Schwarzenegger, unless you count that one time I compared long-form sales pages to the Terminator. Until this week. Entirely independently, Brian Clark and I both used the Governator to illustrate two different points about smart content creation. On Monday, Brian broke down persuasive analogies — citing a particularly effective analogy Schwarzenegger used to make an environmental point. On Tuesday, Stefanie brought a little relief by making some excellent... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “A few weeks ago, I recorded a podcast episode about Jonah Sachs’s book Winning the Story Wars. He had a particularly useful observation about three story elements that pull in audience attention. He calls them Freaks, Cheats, and Familiars. Sachs explains how these elements can be deployed, like the Hero’s Journey, to make stories much more memorable and engaging. As I was reading Story Wars, it struck me that there’s a well-known figure who illustrates all three of these elements in one person: legendary bodybuilder, action star, two-term California Governor, and... [...]

Stefanie Flexman says, “You had trouble sleeping again last night. Up until the time you got into bed, you were looking at their Twitter feed, their Facebook page, and their website. It’s your competitor. You’re completely preoccupied with everything they do … and for a seemingly good reason. Their customer base seems to keep growing and they keep expanding their offerings, while you’re just trying to keep your head above water. You constantly ask yourself: “What will it take for my business to be viewed like theirs?” While it’s natural for that question to arise in your mind,... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “OK, confession time — when I was a kid, I was a complete Nancy Drew junkie. “Sleuth” sounded like just about the best way ever to spend one’s time. (Of course, that’s before I knew what a Chief Content Officer was …) This week, rather than figuring out Irene Adler’s cell phone password or who stole the missing emeralds, we’re working on “Why isn’t this content working? and “How can I get a whole lot better at what I do?” On Monday, Brian gave us three rhetorical tools that can help build trust with your audience — then asks if you should consider... [...]

Robert Bruce says, “Sherlock Holmes was the greatest Consulting Detective in the world. Though merely a fiction — written over a century ago by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — his methods of logical deduction are without equal. Holmes’s mastery of his craft brought him to the fog-cloaked London doorsteps of the most powerful people of his time. Correction: he was so good, those clients came to him. They ran, desperate, to his Baker Street rooms, begging for his help, willing to pay any amount of money for his services”. Sherlock Holmes and Mastery of the Craft of Writing Copyblogger  [...]

Kelly Exeter says, “It’s taken you more than 10 hours to write a blog post. You’ve researched the topic to the nth degree. You’ve edited it to within an inch of its life. Now it’s time to get it out into the world! You excitedly press Publish, and … even days later … crickets. Heartbreaking, right? We all like to think that the amount of effort we invest in creating a piece of content directly correlates to how deeply it resonates with readers. But, experience has repeatedly shown this is not the case. So, what’s the deciding factor if it’s not effort? Luck? Timing? Skill?”. Two... [...]

Brian Clark says, “At its essence, those three things are why we do content marketing. And if you’re not hitting all three, you’re likely not enjoying success with your content. Traditional marketing is big on the know — it’s all about creating awareness in the marketplace. Add in some clever messaging to prompt some level of liking, and mission accomplished, right? It’s as if awareness of a brand is enough to spark trust. And it’s true — we do tend to prefer brands that we know, even if there’s no true difference between one product and a generic one. But when it comes down... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “Oh the drama! No, I’m not talking about the latest political fight you got into on Facebook — I mean this week on Copyblogger has been all about creating dramatic, meaningful content that pulls your audience toward you. On Monday, Brian shared five proven techniques that stir emotions and inspire people to act on your content. And on the Copyblogger FM podcast, I talked about how some of the Super Bowl ads sparked more drama than they intended — with thoughts on what to do when your once-neutral message takes on a political charge. On Tuesday, our friend Sean D’Souza... [...]

Sean D’Souza says, “Stop for a moment to think about a super-athlete. A person who won 122 consecutive races and broke the world record four times. That super-athlete is Edwin C. Moses, a man who completely dominated the 400-meter hurdle event and won every race in sight between 1977 and 1987. And then it happened. On June 4, 1987, in Madrid, Spain, Danny Harris beat Moses. Objections in articles are like Danny Harris. They bring in an unexpected element to one-sided content. Instead of the article pushing a single idea forward, there’s a sudden disturbance. Let’s find out exactly... [...]