Men With Pens

JANUARY 9, 2011

Ever realize some people don’t want your help? It’s true. Some people don’t want to solve their problems, no matter how easy, fast, cheap or effective the solution might be. You might have the perfect advice for them but… No. They won’t take it. In fact, those people are kind of comfy in their misery. Really. You know the type, those people who sigh that if they just had more money, more time, more support, or more skills, more this, more that… THEN they’

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ProBlogger

FEBRUARY 1, 2011

This week, I’ve been reading The King of Madison Avenue —an interesting biography of ad man David Ogilvy (aff). I’ve always been fascinated with Ogilvy and see a lot in what he’s done as relevant to bloggers. So here’s some of his more famous quotes, with a few thoughts on how they relate to our medium. 1. “The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife.&#.

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Men With Pens

DECEMBER 6, 2011

Hunter S. Thompson was the creator of Gonzo Journalism – or as he called himself, “the doctor of journalism” – and the writer of the infamous books Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas , Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga , and The Rum Diary. Thompson was known for his drug frenzy-filled stories, his use of powerful verbs and wild descriptions, and the ability to tell a story like a journalist.

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Men With Pens

DECEMBER 13, 2011

The worst piece of writing advice I ever heard was to write the way I talk. The next time you have a conversation, listen to yourself. If you wrote the way you talked, your writing would be riddled with space-filler words and phrases such as “like” and “um” and “you know what I mean?”. You’d rely on your inflection to make your meaning clear. Your vocabulary would go right down the toilet.

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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.

Engagement

Men With Pens

AUGUST 8, 2011

Perfectionism. It’s a tricky little concept. People work like dogs at a project and smile as they say they just want something to be so stellar, so excellent, so clearly brilliant that it’s…. Well, perfect. But let’s call perfectionism by its true name, shall we? Fear. That’s what perfectionism really means: that you’re scared of saying something’s done, something’s finished, something’s good enough.

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Concept Copywriter Copywriting Projects 96

Men With Pens

JUNE 2, 2011

Busy people are suckers for things that promise to save us time. We assume that our days are so jam-packed that any shortcut will immediately boost our careers to the next level. But you know what? We’re lying to ourselves. Our problem isn’t a lack of time. It’s that most of us use the time we do have badly. That’s why these “time savers&# won’t do much for us at all.

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Men With Pens

JANUARY 27, 2011

I recently found myself thrown into a group situation where several people were quite excited about a new project. Discussion soared, emails flew back and forth, and the brainstorming was supercharged with electricity. They’ll do this! And that! And oooh, THAT! It was a Bright, Shiny Idea. As I watched conversation unfold at lightning speed, I must’ve looked like a stunned idiot.

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Men With Pens

MARCH 20, 2011

“I change lives.”. During my recent trip to SXSW , I overheard these three words often. Someone would ask a person what they did for a living and more often than not, the person would brighten, smile and chirp up the answer. “I change lives!”. And I would think to myself, “Well, now. That’s kind of dumb.”. Sorry, but it is. You’re a human being. You change lives all the time, every day.

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ProBlogger

OCTOBER 17, 2011

This guest post is by Neil Patel of KISSmetrics. Do you wish you knew the secret to writing popular blog posts? You know, the posts that get over 200 comments, 20 backlinks, and hundreds of shares on social networking sites? Over the past five years I’ve started two blogs. The first one became a Technorati top 100 site, and now I’m working on Quick Sprout.

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ProBlogger

JANUARY 12, 2011

Welcome to the 2011 list of bloggers to watch. A few caveats before we launch into the list: This is my own list of the people I’m watching. I was approached to do this list because of my work as a professional connector. These are the people that have stood out to me, or my network. Your niche is different from mine, and that’s a given. My goal was to find the people whose tips and stories can be applied to your own niche.

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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!

Collaboration

ProBlogger

OCTOBER 15, 2011

This guest post is by Satrap of BlogStash.com. What is the best way to drive traffic to my site? What’s the fastest way to generate traffic to my site? What’s…? We all want to know the best way to drive the greatest amount of traffic to our sites. However, the truth is that there is no best or fastest way to drive traffic! What works for me might not work for you, and vice versa.

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ProBlogger

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

Teach me how to do something. Entertain me. Stimulate me to think. Tell me a story. Present me with some interesting research results. Make me laugh. Review a product or service to help me make a decision. Tell me why and how something applies to me. Show me a case study of something you’ve (or someone else has) done. Make me feel like I’m not the only one who… Predict what will happen next.

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Entertainment Blog Blogging Projects 54

ProBlogger

DECEMBER 30, 2011

This year, I tried to go outside of the social media echo-chamber and focus on people who are expanding beyond their blogs. As Michael Stelzner said at Blogworld, “You’re not a blogger, you’re a publisher!”. These are 20 people who stood out to me this year. There is no ranking, nor is there a competition. If you are after more variety, I’ve included links to other round-ups at the end of this post.

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Blogger Storytelling Social Media Consulting 53

ProBlogger

DECEMBER 16, 2011

Last week I was digging around in my Google Analytics stats and drilling down to look particularly at sources of traffic to my photography tips site. I noticed a new source of readers that has been creeping up in terms of how much traffic it sends. Here’s the chart from the last few months. It started as a trickle, but as you can see, in the last month there have been days on which traffic from this source has spiked up to over 2000 unique visitors.

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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.

Marketing

ProBlogger

MARCH 5, 2011

This guest post is by Arsene Hodali of The Good Life? | dancePROOF. Why should you blog? I can’t tell you. I don’t like telling people what to do, or why they should do something. Instead, I want to show you a couple of things that, through my own experiences and research, I’ve deducted happen to the majority of people once they start to blog. 1.

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ProBlogger

AUGUST 10, 2011

This guest post is by David Wang of The ClickStarter. Hacktivist groups Lulzsec and Anonymous are on the prowl again. Their actions have generated lots of attention for hacking, and you can be sure that many bored kids and shady characters are interested to start hacking too. What if your blog was the target of a rookie hacker, honing his skills to make it to the big leagues?

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ProBlogger

NOVEMBER 24, 2011

This guest post is by Neil Patel of KISSmetrics. Google+ had a hot start, but has since cooled down. For a lot of people, that means ignoring Google+. I want to warn you that is a bad idea. Although the lights are on and it seems like nobody is home, trust me: there are people there. And they are the very people who can have a huge impact on your blog and business.

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ProBlogger

OCTOBER 7, 2011

This guest post is by Beth Hayden of Blogging with Beth. You wake up in a cold sweat. You bolt upright and gasp for air. You’ve just realized that your blog has only one true fan—and it’s your mother. Image used with permission Dear old mom reads all of your posts. She comments every week with supportive but embarrassing encouragement. She even calls to tell you what a great job you’re doing with your site and how much she loves your writing.

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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.

Digital Marketing

ProBlogger

MAY 31, 2011

“ Beyond writing good quality content, how can I format my posts so that they communicate more effectively?&#. I was asked the above question by a reader earlier today on Twitter and shot them back a series of DMs with the following suggestions that I thought might interest others (I’ve expanded them here). Image by Kailash Gyawali. Of course, as the question implies, the most powerful communication strategy for bloggers is quality of writing—but beyond that, here are a few things I&

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ProBlogger

JANUARY 17, 2011

I recently had a conversation with a friend who has just started out with making money from blogging. He had been struggling to get over the initial hump of getting things going and wanted to pick my brain on the “secrets&# of how to do it. Of course I struggled to answer at first—there’s simply not a simple equation on how to blog that will guarantee results—however, I did put together some thoughts for him that he found helpful.

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ProBlogger

OCTOBER 25, 2011

Today I want to talk about a tool all bloggers treating their blogs as a business should at the very least be familiar with—and should probably be using. It’s something that has the potential to drive significant traffic to your blog in the coming years. It could also add significant profits to your blog in that time. It is a tool that can be used in a variety of ways.

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ProBlogger

DECEMBER 5, 2011

This guide to Facebook Marketing is written by guest writer Amy Porterfield. Amy will be presenting with Darren Rowse and Lewis Howes in a free webinar for ProBlogger readers this Wednesday. Register to get access to this Webinar here now. One Billion. That’s the number of users Facebook will hit in a matter of months – if not sooner. The powerhouse network continues to climb.

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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.

Engineering

ProBlogger

AUGUST 5, 2011

This guest post is by Annabel Candy of Successful Blogging. The Dalai Lama recently came to visit me on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. Well, not me specifically but the thousands of people who drove miles, piled into buses, and waited under bright skies to hear him speak. It wasn’t what I expected. I joined Toastmasters to learn the art of public speaking but I don’t think the Dalai Lama needs to.

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ProBlogger

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

This guest post is by Danny Iny of firepolemarketing.com. Everyone is looking for the best strategy for growing a blog. Is it SEO? PPC? CPV? Guest posting? Twitter? Facebook? CommentLuv? Networking? Attending conferences? Writing great content? The list goes on—I could fill a page if I had to, and I’ll bet that you could, too. Every one of these strategies will work for some people, and some of these strategies will work for most people.

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ProBlogger

MARCH 21, 2011

“I don’t think I have what it takes to put myself ‘out there’ every day.&#. “Who would want to read what I have to say?&#. “Do you ever get used to the fact that strangers are reading what you write?&#. “I don’t think I have enough ego to do this!&#. These statements—and others like them—are pretty typical sentiments that I hear from many new bloggers whose main barrier to blogging comes down to self-doubt, shyness or … Blogger Fright.

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ProBlogger

DECEMBER 10, 2011

This guest post is by Jonathan Goodman of the Personal Trainer Development Center. I’m a nobody. Scratch that; I was a nobody. I work as a personal trainer in Toronto; I had no connections, knew nothing about blogging, and hadn’t written anything since University. . What I did have was an idea and, with the right know-how, an idea is powerful enough to break through all barriers.

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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.

Content

ProBlogger

DECEMBER 6, 2011

This guest post is by Sanjeev Mohindra of Makewebworld. What is asking? It is a simple act of putting together a query in order to obtain the answer. Whether you get an answer or not depends on how a question has been framed and asked. Image used with permission Asking has an awesome power, yet it is one of the most unused methods of advancement. When you enter the blogging world, there are lots of things which you might want to know.

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ProBlogger

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

This guest post is by Caz Makepeace of y Travel Blog. Facebook Fan pages are swiftly becoming a standard extension to blogs’ brands and messages. This is a highly effective form of engaging with your target market and building a community around your brand. If you focus on making your Fan page your homepage for the social web, you can create a page that serves as your mini-hub.

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ProBlogger

JULY 29, 2011

This guest post was written by Stephen Guise of Deep Existence. A new blogger is born today! Aw, look at her beautiful blue Twitter and Facebook icon eyes and her cute little RSS nose. This baby blogger does not know the perils of comment moderation, stalkers, low traffic, and spam that await her. I wonder what type of blogger she’ll be. The blogosphere is populous and it keeps growing.

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ProBlogger

APRIL 21, 2011

This guest post is by Marcie Hill of The Write Design Company. Facebook has taken the Web by storm in a very short period. In addition to being the highest ranking social networking site, it is the second most visited site in the world according to Alexa, the popular blog measuring tool. Facebook’s popularity is so great that it unseated Google as the king of the Web one day in 2010.

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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

Entertainment