November, 2012

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The Writer’s Guide to Overcoming Insecurity

Men With Pens

“This is horrible.” “I’m just not cut out for this.” “Why do I even write?” Everyone who writes has that little voice in their head. It’s the voice of Mr. Insecurity – and if you aren’t careful, he’ll move in permanently with his annoying grandmother, Procrastination. Luckily, there are things you can do to overcome your writing insecurity and shut that voice up for good.

Writing 95
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How to Write a Must-read Product Review

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Karol K. Reviews are one of the more common types of content on the internet. I’m sure you’ve looked for a review of a given product yourself once or twice. However, being on the receiving end of a review, so to speak, is a completely different ball game than actually writing one. First of all, some people mistake reviews for sales messages.

Writing 52
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5 Common Mistakes that Even Great Writers Make

Men With Pens

Writers make hundreds of mistakes, but most writers end up making the same mistakes over and over again – often without even noticing. These repeated stumbles leave your writing dull and lifeless, and they eventually cause your readers to think your work always sounds the same. So here are 6 ways you can avoid common writing mistakes – and what to do to really make your work shine: What’s Your “Tell”?

Writer 94
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Why Do You Write?

Men With Pens

Think of your favorite book. Better yet, go and get your favorite book, feel its heft in your hand, flip through its pages, smell its bookness. Read a passage or two to send that stream of sparks through your head, the alchemy that occurs when the written word collides with the chemicals of your consciousness: Delight is the fruit of that collision.

Writing 76
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How to Leverage Behavioral Science Insights for Direct Mail Success

Speaker: Neal Boornazian, President and Nancy Harhut, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer - HBT Marketing

Direct mail has consistently remained a powerful tool in the marketer's arsenal, but in an age of digital dominance, its effectiveness hinges on the strategic integration of behavioral science. 💡 When you incorporate powerful behavioral science principles into your direct mail marketing strategies, you can prompt the hardwired decision-making shortcuts your audience relies on — and that automatically unlocks new avenues for engagement, conversion, and brand loyalty.

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How to Achieve Your Freelancing Dream – Without Quitting Your Job

Men With Pens

Right now, you have one idea with the potential to change the world. You know the one I’m talking about – it’s the one you’ve been putting off. The one you don’t have time for. The one that’s too hard. The one they’re all going to laugh at you for trying. While you’re sleep, this idea lingers at the foot of your bed like a creepy 5-year-old, watching you shift, prodding you to get up and research.

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The Secret to Becoming an Overnight Success

Men With Pens

You know who I’m talking about – those people who suddenly burst out like instant celebrities. Sure, you’ve noticed these people from time to time before, but they didn’t seem like anyone special or important, so you moved on. Now they’re everywhere. More than that – they’re getting LOTS of attention. A-Listers are talking them up like they’re the next best thing to a great Shiraz.

More Trending

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How to Publish Your Blog on Amazon Kindle

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Ali Abbas of thenextgenwriter.com. Have you published your blog on Kindle? If not, you should do it, pronto! It’s easy, it’s productive and it’s free. We’re not talking about publishing ebooks or PDFs, but your dynamic and regularly updated blog. Rather surprisingly, not a lot of bloggers have considered this option hitherto, but some big guns, including The New York Times, PC Magazine, Amazon Daily, Huffington Post, and others—that realize the potential—are already t

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The 4-Step Guide to Building Your Authority

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Derek of Fear No Goal. If you want people to visit your blog—and stay there—you have to be an authority figure. This is definitely true if you are trying to solve a common problem. You have to know and understand what you are talking about. When people know you’re an expert on a topic, it gives them comfort. They know that they can trust you.

Retail 49
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One Essential Characteristic of a Pro Blogger [Not Your Everyday Blog Writing Advice]

ProBlogger

Each week, my Content manager Georgina turns away around 20 or so posts for publication at ProBlogger. She tells me that maybe 5-10% of those are of a publishable standard, but they just don’t fit our audience or purpose. The rest aren’t pro-level pieces. Image courtesy stock.xchng user Valsilvae Forget for a moment that these are guest posts—which are supposed to be bloggers’ best content.

Blogger 49
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6 Practices to Overcome Your Fears of Playing Bigger

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Tara Wagner of TheOrganicSister.com. Playing bigger. Putting yourself out there. What others will think? Not being good enough. Most bloggers have had to face those fears at same point. Dreams and goals tend to bring up our ugly stories after all. Being a life coach who works primarily with women looking to overcome fears, blocks, beliefs, and barriers is what I do.

Blogger 48
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SME Relationships: Proven Solutions for Seamless Collaboration and Success

Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions

💢 Do you find yourself stuck in never-ending review cycles? Are you wondering if your Subject Matter Expert actually got that last review request? Are you having trouble trying to decipher impractical or conflicting feedback? 💢 If any of these scenarios sounds familiar, you may benefit from a crash course on managing SME relationships!

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5 Ways to Use Images to Make Your Posts Irresistible

ProBlogger

This week on #blogchat on Twitter, we discussed the use of images in blog posts, and I thought that some of the advice we covered there might be useful for you too. So here are my top tips for using images in your blog posts. 1. Use an image per post. At Digital Photography School , I include an image at the top of every post. This provides a visual point of interest that draws people to read the post.

Post 47
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Why People Share … and How You Can Get Them to Share Your Work

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Jonathan Goodman of www.viralnomics.com. It’s Friday night. You just pulled your new shirt over your head and sprayed on some cologne. One look in the mirror is enough to remind you how awesome you look. Time to roll out. The party doesn’t disappoint. 50 of your closest friends are here and you see the object of your affection in the corner.

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How to Build a Dominant Google+ Presence

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Ryan Howard of Denver SEO Kings. Google+ is the hottest game in town when it comes search engine placement gains—at least for the time being. We’ve run multiple tests and so have a few other agencies we know, almost with unanimous consent that preferring Google+ for the hours you dedicate to social media offers the greatest ranking benefit.

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12 Lessons from 4 Inspiring Local Business Blogs

ProBlogger

Earlier this week I explained why every business needs a blog. Today I want to show you just how much potential there is for businesses to connect with their customers through a blog. Image courtesy stock.xchng user zd The blogs I’ve chosen here are all for small businesses I know of. I’ve tried to look at local businesses, so most of them are Melbourne-based, though the lessons they teach should be useful for any business thinking of starting a blog.

Blog 45
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The Resurgence of Direct Mail as a Growth Marketing Strategy

Speaker: Jeff Tarran, COO, Gunderson Direct & Margaret Pepe, Executive Director of Product Management, U.S. Postal Service

Learn the secrets to direct mail success for growth marketers! Industry veterans Jeff Tarran and Margaret Pepe are here to delve into how direct mail has completely evolved in recent years, and has rightfully earned a seat at the table alongside the email and digital marketing plans of SMBs, enterprise companies, and agencies as they look into strategy for 2024 and beyond.

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Find Yourself … and Find Your Niche

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Kid In The Front Row. I once watched an interview with Ricky Gervais, where he talked about how a lot of people don’t like his stand up comedy. He said he didn’t care. All he needs is 5,000 people in each town to fill a theater, and then he’s set. Whether the rest of the population like him or not is irrelevant. It’s the same with your blog.

Writer 45
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The Biggest Lie in Blogging and How to Disprove it

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Ryan Biddulph of Cashwithatrueconscience.com. You lie to yourself. Every day as a blogger. Okay, maybe you don’t. Maybe you don’t buy in. But you probably do. If you moan about struggling to blog. Writer’s block. The lie is writer’s block. You have no ideas. You can’t write. So you don’t write.

IT 44
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Use Word-of-Mouth Promotion to Boost Blog Traffic

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Jeszlene Zhou of First Communication Job. I love the idea of using a blog as your personal hub, and how it creates a centralised space for all your social media sites, your portfolio, and more. Most bloggers and social media professionals promote a link to their blog or website, and shamelessly direct traffic towards their personal hub.

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How to Establish the Right Priorities to Grow Your Blog and Profits

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Nathalie Lussier of The Website Checkup Tool. Here’s a harsh nugget of truth for you. Once you get this, your blog will not only take off, it will become way more profitable. Are you ready for it? Here it is: You don’t need more how-to’s or to-do’s… You need priorities. As bloggers and business owners, we’re constantly introduced to cool new tricks, strategies, and techniques to grow.

Blog 43
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Lets Get Physical: How to Blend Direct Mail Marketing with Your Digital Strategy

Speaker: Akeel Jabber, B2B SaaS Investor and Growth Marketer at Horizen Capital

⭐ Are you ready to boost campaign success? Consider the untapped potential of integrating direct mail marketing seamlessly with digital marketing strategies. Combining the physical, tangible impact of direct mail with the dynamic reach of digital marketing can be a game-changer, significantly increasing your ROI when done right. Direct mail grabs attention, making it great for reaching your target audience 📩 Digital marketing keeps the momentum going, driving action 📲 So.

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10 Ways to Woo Would-be Advertisers on Your Blog

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Anup Kayastha of MoneyMakingModes.com. Earning money through blogging is an attractive and viable income source. But it is not possible unless your blog have relevant, current, and useful information for your readers. That will not only help increase traffic to your blog: it will also attract advertisers to buy ads. but to make that a reality, you need to know how advertisers are evaluating your site.

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A Community Starts with 1,000 Members

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Jeremy Miller of www.StickyBranding.com. It’s easy to see the successes bloggers like Darren Rowse and Chris Brogan are having with social media and think, “I want that.” Darren’s ProBlogger Facebook page has over 43,000 Likes, and Chris has over 103,000 people following him on Google+. I’m not in their league, but in less than two years my LinkedIn Group, Sticky Branding , grew to over 22,000 members.

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Blog Design for ROI, Rule 1: Prioritize the Opt-in Form

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Gab Goldenberg, author of The Advanced SEO Book. Are you writing phenomenal posts only to have your poor design fail you? Here’s how to fix that, with rules that will guide you whether you create a custom theme or just pick a theme and adapt it. Today’s post is the first in a series on blog design for ROI. Lots of articles give blog design rules or guidelines, but no one I’ve seen explains how these rules achieve your goals.

Blog 43
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Free Webinar: 10 Things I Wish I’d Known About Blogging When I Started

ProBlogger

It’s time for another ProBlogger webinar, and as part of my 10 days of celebrating my 10 years of blogging , I thought in this next webinar that I’d do some reflecting upon the big things that I wish I’d known when I started blogging. Register to attend here. The last ten years has been a pretty amazing journey. I’ve learned a lot about creating content, building an audience, building community, and monetization.

Blog 43
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Is Training the Right Solution?

Speaker: Tim Buteyn

Let's set the scene: you’ve identified a critical performance gap in your organization and need to close that gap. A colleague suggests training, but you suspect there’s something going on that training can’t address. How can you determine if training is the right solution before you commit your budget and resources to a new training program? In this webinar, you will learn how to determine if training is the right solution using the Behavior Engineering Model.

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How to Blog In the Moment (or What Acting School Taught Me About Being a Better Blogger)

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Tommy Walker of Inside The Mind. . Editor’s note: We’ve broken ProBlogger’s ban on offensive language for this post, as we feel it’s necessary in this particular piece. If harsh language offends you, you may want to skip this one. . In the Summer of 2005 I graduated from The New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts with a certificate in Film Acting.

Blogger 43
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8 Rules You’ll Need to Become An Editor’s Go-To Writer

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Thomas Ford of www.123Print.com. Whatever stage of development your blog is in, it’s useful to consider the elements that characterize a good blog writer. Perhaps you’ve recently begun accepting guest posts. What are the criteria that inspire you to publish or make the call to reject a post? Even if you’re just getting started and authoring all of your own posts, don’t publish just anything.

Writer 42
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Trial by Fire: a Beginner’s Attempt at a Product Launch

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Ryan Derousseau of R.M.D. Media. Unlike most bloggers who share their experience on ProBlogger, I haven’t quite seen the fruits of my labor turn ripe—yet. I only launched my blog on social media and media outreach a couple months ago. I’m a newbie to this whole blogging thing. My decision to launch the blog fit well with my background, since I work as a journalist and a social media manager.

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Set a Posting Schedule that Encourages Shares and Pageviews

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Lindsey Dahlberg of Bloggingtips.com. We’ve all heard the saying, “great content gets shared.” But what happens if yours isn’t getting shared? Does that mean you don’t have great content? Not necessarily. It could mean you have top-notch content, but you’re not posting it at the most opportunistic times of day. Maybe you aren’t interested in social shares but would like to know why your killer content isn’t generating lots of pageviews.

Post 42
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Revitalizing Dry Content: A Lesson in Engagement

Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions

We’ve all been there. You’ve been given a pile of dry content and asked to create a compelling eLearning course. You’re determined to create something more engaging than the same old course that learners quickly click through, but how do you take this “boring” content and create something relevant and engaging? Many instructional designers will say, “Boring in means boring out.

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5 Fatal Mistakes Your Paid Content Marketers *Are* Making (and How Much it’s Costing You)

ProBlogger

Businesses wanting to reach users in more subtle ways are jumping on the blogging bandwagon. Well and truly. In a recent Australian study , 62% of respondents said “blogs are the most appealing medium for business to promote a brand.” If you’re in a business that’s paying an agency to create content on your behalf and place it on niche- and audience-appropriate sites around the web, you might be surprised to learn how far short your chosen agency is falling.

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Courting Brands to Collaborate on Your Blog: A Complete Guide

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Anshu of Blooms And Bugs. You may have seen other bloggers working with different brands and wondered how they did it. You may have also considered if it was a good thing to emulate. I’m a sewing blogger and in my one and half years of blogging, I have worked with several brands from the sewing industry. Here’s the why and how of finding the right brand for your blog, and developing a successful partnership with them.

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Blogging in Brief: Engagement Tools, App Auctions, and Brutal Realism

ProBlogger

This week has turned up some really interesting ideas for blog reader engagement using technology as well as creative content techniques… Mini reader surveys … and more. On Eugen Oprea’s blog , we saw this handy little query form: It’s made with LeadConverter , which you can use on a free subscription if you want to give it a try on your blog.

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Blogging the Festive Season

ProBlogger

It’s that time of year: the silly season is upon us! Photo by Axel Bührmann on Flickr. The bricks-and-mortar stores have had the Christmas trees and fake Santas up for months … but what’s the blogosphere doing to prepare? The answer depends on who you talk to. Every blog and every audience is different, after all. Still, we can learn from each other’s ideas and get inspiration from niches outside our own.

Blog 41
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Brain Fog HQ: Memory Enhancement Techniques for Professional Development

Speaker: Chester Santos – Author, International Keynote Speaker, Executive Coach, Corporate Trainer, Memory Expert, U.S. Memory Champion

In October, scientists discovered that 75% of patients who experienced brain fog had a lower quality of life at work than those who did not. At best, brain fog makes you slower and less efficient. At worst, your performance and cognitive functions are impaired, resulting in memory, management, and task completion problems. In this entertaining and interactive presentation, Chester Santos, "The International Man of Memory," will assist you in developing life-changing skills that will greatly enha