March, 2012

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The Best – and Worst – Places to Write

Men With Pens

There comes a point in every freelance writer’s career where he simply can’t take it any more. Unless he’s leaving the house to conduct first-hand research, he’s seeing the same things all day, every day. The place where he works during the day is 20 feet from the place where he lounges at night. It’s the same kitchen, the same bathroom, the same everything, every day.

Writing 100
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Pinterest Basics for Bloggers

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Yang of ChilliSauce.co.uk. Does your world only revolve around Facebook and Twitter? Now it’s time to move on: in case you haven’t heard, Pinterest is the new rising star of social media! Pinterest was developed in December 2009 as a closed beta that was released within a restricted group of individuals. After it opened registration to everyone in 2010, the Pinterest boom began.

Blogger 50
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How to Write a Free Ebook in Just 7 Days

Men With Pens

A free ebook is a great way to showcase your expertise and provide value to potential customers. But for most small business owners, finding the time to put together an ebook is hard. Sure, you know all the benefits an ebook could bring you … you just can’t find the time to write it and get it done. After all, writing ebooks are typically known as huge, long projects, right?

Writing 97
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The Cold, Hard Truth About Guest Posts

Men With Pens

Guest posting is a great way to get known and gain exposure for your business. I know, because I used guest posting as a marketing strategy for years. I still guest post when the mood strikes me. Heck, I even wrote an ebook about it. But most days, I’m on the other end of the spectrum. This place is a popular blog, and I get hit with guest post requests at least ten times a week.

Post 69
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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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Why You Should Invite Your Customers to a Campfire Storytelling Session

Men With Pens

Why do those ancient cave paintings, with their crude renderings of animals and people and symbols, intrigue, draw us in, and provoke a sense of wonder? Because they tell a story. They tell of deaths, births, times of feast or famine—the gritty and sometimes grace-filled stuff of life. People are storytellers (and story listeners). They have been for ages, whether the words were inscribed on resistant stone, delivered in a lilting voice or scanned on a Kindle’s screen at 30,000 feet.

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How to Smash Writer’s Block Forever

Men With Pens

Fear. Lack of confidence. Blank-page syndrome. Insecurities. Writer’s block. These are the writing idea killers. Cater to them, and you’ll run out of words, live in doubt and constantly fight with your writing confidence. Destroy them, and you’ve freed yourself from the psychological traps of writer’s block forever. Your writing becomes effortless, ideas flow from a fountain of creativity and words come easily, on demand.

Writer 60

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10 Types of Killer Filler Content for Your Blog

ProBlogger

Last week I ran an impromptu Ustream chat session with my Twitter followers on the theme of Blogger Productivity (to celebrate the launch of Blog Wise ). It was an informal and fun session (you can view the hour-long recording of it here ) but one of the recurring questions that came up was around the topic of posting rhythm and how to keep up regular posting when you may not have the time to post daily.

Content 48
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Three Easy Video Formats for First-time Vloggers

ProBlogger

This is a guest post by Gregory Ciotti of Sparring Mind. YouTube is the next big thing for blogging. Seems like pretty poor advice, since everybody is hopping all over Pinterest and people have known about YouTube for a long time. The thing is, few bloggers are utilizing YouTube to its full potential. And it’s not just me thinking that: on a recent post on Social Media examiner , many of the 30 experts featured agreed that YouTube was going to see a tremendous rise in use by bloggers in 20

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How to Launch a Product on Your Blog (and Sell Out in 12 Hours!)

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing. Congratulations, you’ve made it. You’ve worked hard and paid your dues, and finally you have a blog with healthy traffic and a large list of engaged subscribers. You know what they need, and you’ve invested the time and energy to create a product that will meet and exceed their expectations. Now all that’s left for you to do is launch the product, and rake in the cash.

Blog 47
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The Keys to Creating Unmissable Content

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Jonathan Mead of Trailblazer. Over 1.6 million blog posts are published each day. That’s an average is 18.6 posts per second. That’s a staggering number. And with so much content being published, how do you make sure that yours gets seen? And not just seen, but commented on and shared? Many people focus on the tactics of getting content spread.

Content 45
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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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The 5 Keys to Blog Usability

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Neil Patel of Quick Sprout. The user is king. That’s what a lot of pundits are saying these days, from usability experts to SEO gurus and content marketing pros. Actually, it’s always been true, and it’s why the mantra “content is king” has always been so important. Content is exactly what users wanted. Naturally, you should give them what they want.

Blog 44
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Brand Yourself in Four Simple Steps

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Crissie Fuller of Independent Fashion Bloggers. Think about your resume. You stress over making it perfect, sweat every little detail—from the wording, to the layout, all the way down to your “Special Skills.” It’s your ticket to your dream job and you know it needs to be good. But hold on! Your resume might not be the be-all-end all of potential employer wooing anymore.

Brand 43
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How to Overcome the “I Wish” Mentality and Start a Blog

ProBlogger

This Guest post is by Adarsh Thampy of Conversionchamp. I wish I started my blog a long time back when there was a lot less competition. I wish I was able to write great content from the start. I wish I had the money to purchase hosting and set up a self-hosted WordPress blog. I wish, I wish, I wish… How many of us have wished for something like this in the past?

Blog 43
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Get More Comments: Write Unfinished Blog Posts

ProBlogger

This is a guest post by Jeff Goins of Goins, Writer. Most bloggers want to know their words are leaving an impact. They want to know people are listening. One of the best ways to measure this is to see who’s commenting. Not all blogs have a comments section, but many do. Comments provide an opportunity for the reader to participate in the content, to give feedback and share his or her own ideas.

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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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3 Blogging Rules You Should Break

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Anish Majumdar of DashAmerican.com. The most valuable piece of writing advice I ever got was from an editor at a print magazine after I’d handed in the first draft of an article. I’d spent hours poring over old issues to “get the tone right” and had fought my natural style every step of the way. The end result? A returned draft shot through with corrections and a one-line response: “Write from the inside and trust that we’ll get it.”.

Blog 43
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Tips from the Trenches: Best Blogger Productivity Tools

ProBlogger

When we put together Blog Wise , I thought I would be the only blogger who didn’t use many (okay—any!) of the productivity apps I downloaded. As it turned out, very few of the pro bloggers we spoke to relied on any apps or tools other than Gmail , Google Calendar , and Evernote. So I decided to ask some of my connections on social media what kinds of tools they use, and I got a great response.

Blogger 43
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Make Your Blog a Call to Action?!

ProBlogger

Yesterday’s posts here at ProBlogger looked at the question of driving readers to take action on our blogs. Whether we blog for profit or pleasure, for most, reader action is an extremely important part of blogging. We need readers to action if we hope to: build a communtiy. create loyalty. use organic techniques to find readers. and more. On the most basic level, we want that first-time visitor to our blog to click to another page on our blog, rather than hit the browser’s Back butt

Blog 43
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NEW: 3rd Edition of the ProBlogger Book Available [Free Webinar for Early Birds]

ProBlogger

In May of 2008 – ProBlogger the Book (yep, the real hard cover book) was released. it was a collaboration between myself and co-author Chris Garrett – published with Wiley Publishing. The goal of the book was to summarise much of the writing that Chris and I had been blogging on our blogs – to present bloggers, particularly those at the start of their journey, with a logically ordered guide to blogging for profit.

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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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Blogging Business Plans 101

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Adarsh Thampy of ConversionChamp.com. Do you know what the biggest mistake is when starting your own blog? I’d argue that it’s probably lack of proper planning. At the starting point, you should consider writing a business plan for your blog. “A business plan?” you might ask. “A blog is not necessarily a business!

Blog 43
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Want More Comments? Let ProBlogger Help!

ProBlogger

To be honest with you, I can’t remember much about the first comment I ever received on a blog post I’d written. It was back sometime in 2000, after all! What I do remember is the thrill. When that first reader comments on your blog, you know you’ve finally reached someone. Your writing has moved one of the people who’s arrived at your blog to respond.

Blogger 42
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10 Thrills We Newbies Experience That the Top Earners Have Forgotten

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Rick of www.morebettersmarts.com. I know we all want to be like Darren, sipping Margaritas on the beaches of Australia and occasionally opening his laptop to see how much money his guest bloggers made for him today, while beautiful women clean his glasses with $100 bills. But do the big guys truly remember the thrills we newbies are currently experiencing as we grow our sites from poor, to inferior, and someday, God willing, mediocre?

Ads 41
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Get More Comments: Focus on the First Comment

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing. Remember the first time you realized that you’ve actually got traffic? Suddenly, you aren’t blogging to an empty void—real people are consuming and engaging with your content! Or are they? That’s when you begin to wonder … why isn’t anybody leaving a comment? This can be a frustrating challenge for bloggers, and some blogs never get past it.

Banking 40
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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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5 Things to Email Your Subscribers About Today

ProBlogger

I’m a big advocate for building a list around your blog, then making the most of it. A current list of email subscribers is an advantage to any blogger who wants to build their presence, whether you’re monetizing your blog or not. Often, new bloggers tell me they want to find readers, and more experienced bloggers are always wanting to continue growing their blogs, rather than see readership plateau over time.

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You Know you’ve Been Blogging too Long When… #BloggingTooLong

ProBlogger

I posted this on my Google+ account and on Twitter earlier today: You know you’ve been blogging too long when a family member asks for parenting advice and you write a 10 Point Answer, start brainstorming catchy titles and considering adding images and further reading. The responses I got were pretty funny from others who had had similar experiences, so I thought it might be a fun one to open up here on the blog.

Blog 40
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From Hobby Blog to Business Blog: a Plan of Attack

ProBlogger

Many—perhaps most—blogs start life as hobby blogs. We have a special interest, and we want to share our passion with others, so we start a blog. But then somewhere along the line, a large proportion of bloggers decide they’d really like to make some money from their blogs. This is my story—I started blogging for fun, and liked it so much I set myself the goal of doing it for profit.

Blog 40
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Get More Comments: Use Energy to Spark Reader Response

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Jon Morrow of Boost Blog Traffic. According to the legendary copywriter John Carlton, the best way to understand your reader is to visualize them as a giant somnambulant sloth lying on the couch as they watch television. Your job as a writer is to get them to move. You have to be interesting enough, inspiring enough, captivating enough to get them to turn off the TV, get up off the couch, and do something.

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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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Better Buttons Part 1: Set the Right Expectations

ProBlogger

This guest post is by the Web Marketing Ninja. Almost everything I read, see, or hear about buttons (the web version) is all about color, size, location, and contrast. Do any research on this topic, and you’ll come across statements like these: “Just make the button bigger.” “Orange buttons always convert better.” “Get your buttons above the fold.” “You need to use contrast and responsive design with you buttons.” “Make sure your button

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5 Ebook Publishing Hurdles, and How to Beat Them

ProBlogger

This guest post is by Paul Jun of Motivated Mastery. During the journey of writing my first ebook, there were many roadblocks and sudden realizations that I faced; it’s only right for me to share them with you so that you can avoid undermining your ebook’s true potential, or at least starting from scratch. Below you will find the crucial issues that you must overcome when it comes to writing the ebook and marketing it.

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Overwhelmed? Put Some Boundaries on Your Blogging

ProBlogger

This week we’ve been looking at some of the numerous issues that bloggers have to deal with on a daily basis —particularly those who are just starting out. It’s little wonder that so many bloggers wind up their blogs so quickly after they start. It’s easy to run out of steam when you’re trying to work on so many challenges at once.

Blog 40
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Blog Wise Tip 7: Use the Right Tools

ProBlogger

You might think that, with blogging being a digital pursuit, the bloggers we interviewed for Blog Wise would be right up with the latest and greatest productivity gadgets, philosophies, and software. They’re not. Physical tools. Interestingly, almost every one of the bloggers we spoke with relies on physical productivity tools to some degree—pen and paper, wall calendars, and whiteboards.

Blog 40
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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