January 5, 2012 By

The Great Blogging Slowdown

After taking most of December 2011 off from blogging, I have decided to blog less. Before that, I was publishing daily, and before that three or four times a week (if I’m remembering right). I think it’s time to stop that for now.

Here’s the thing. I’m not trying to become a professional blogger. Blogging is a good outlet and writing device, but it’s not the end I’m looking for. Blogging isn’t how I want to write. Not exclusively, at least.

I want to spend most of my writing energy on other writing projects. I’ll still blog, but it won’t be every day. Right now, I’m working on a short story collection (fiction) that I’ll publish to the Kindle and possibly via Smashwords. Then I might work on a novel, or a non-fiction book. Blogging will be there, but not the focus.

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With:
December 5, 2011 By

Don’t Limit Yourself to One Kind of Writing

If you consider yourself a writer of any kind, don’t limit yourself to just one kind of writing. Writing has mechanics to it, sure, but it’s also a creative act. Creative activities benefit from doing other creative activities. It’s the whole “get your creative juices flowing” thing.

If you write fiction, consider doing a long non-fiction research piece. If you write the news, try branching out into something that flows naturally instead of punchy bullet-like writing. You get the idea.

When you primarily do one type of writing project over and over again, you can get into a rut. It’s like hitting a plateau when exercising the same way for too long. The results you get just won’t be as profound, and you’ll have to work harder to get the words out.

I find that fiction writing is a great break from all the other kinds of writing. The important thing for you to consider is taking time every once in a while to write like you don’t normally write. It’s good for the brain.

And if you’re not a writer, apply this same principle to what you do.

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: ,
November 25, 2011 By

Make Your Writing Easier by Doing Good Research First

If you do most of your research before you ever sit down to write, you’ll be in a better position to deliver quality content. I remember back in the days of college when I would write something, and then have to search around for research material that supported what I had already written.

Don’t be backwards like I was. There are two reasons. First, you might be missing out on some direction-changing information by writing and then finding supporting material. If you had learned what you could first, your writing might have taken a different direction.

The second reason is that it just makes writing easier. There’s no sitting and staring at a blank screen while you wonder how to approach the subject. You already have an idea where you’re going to take the reader, because you have read and looked over various information sources, and compiled the data.

Not only is the writing easier, but it’s also faster. There’s no need for you to bang your head on your keyboard while you try to think of the next section to write. It should be all right there in your research.

If you write about anything other than what’s in your head, do yourself a huge favor and do your research first. I’ve tried both methods, and researching first makes it all easier. It’s funny…when I was younger, I didn’t research first because I thought it would just mean more work. Turns out I had it backwards.

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With:
October 20, 2011 By

State of the Writing – Oct 2011

This is the first of a new monthly segment that will be an overview what I’ve done with my writing business and where it’s going next.

I’ve borrowed the idea from Corbett Barr’s monthly traffic reports. I’m doing this because a lot of people don’t know how to make money with their writing. Hopefully this segment will serve two purposes: Help those who need ideas about monetizing their writing, and help keep me on track. As a writer, staying on track is very important. We can be easily distracted by great works of fiction, like this.

What this is not going to be is a place for me to brag about how much money I made. I think that’s kind of tasteless. Informing…not so much. But bragging is just lame.

What I’ve Done

I’ve made money with my writing in the past with an ebook. I wrote that book in 2008, and just recently did a test to see if there was still a viable market for it. The test? Take it off the market. I gave site visitors notice that I was going to take the book down soon. Sales went up.

What I’ve been doing over the last couple of months is rewriting that book into a second edition. It’s scheduled for re-release November 1, but I might let it loose sooner. I’m kind of ahead of schedule. Check it out here: The Bug Out Bag Book.

In addition to working on that, I’ve been doing some brainstorming for my next book. I’ll post more details sometime after the I launch my current book project. I’ve also been kicking around another idea in a completely different area — my head is full of ideas. The details for that idea will likely be revealed in my premium newsletter, Break the Cycle, which is also due for launch soon.

What I’m Going to do Next

I’ve got a couple of things I need to do next, so November is likely to be a busy month. Here’s what I’ve got planned:

  • Work on my next book
  • Launch my premium newsletter
  • Create a plan to promote my writing so I can hit my Target Monthly Income
  • Work on other secret project that isn’t entirely writing related.

My plan is to put out a monthly “State of the Writing” post around the 20th of each month. I guess I’ll have to put a reminder in the calendar of my phone. I rarely know what day it is without really thinking about it. Comments and questions welcome over on Google+.

Filed Under: State of the Writing, Writing Tagged With: ,
October 13, 2011 By

Am I being real?

As I write, I ask myself, “Am I being real?” On this blog, I write about my experiences, observations, and adventures in business and writing online. The risk, as I see it, is to just repeat what everyone else is saying.

I read Brain Clark, Darren Rowse, Seth Godin, Ev Bogue, and Leo Babauta online, usually daily. They always have some great things to say, and provide awesome advice for conducting business online, marketing, and writing.

These things are all a part of what I do, and some of what I write about. What I don’t want to do is just subconsciously regurgitate what I’ve read the week before. I don’t want to write something based on pure theory, or based on some ebook I read two months ago.

So as I write, report on my experiences and (many) errors, and give advice about business, I often wonder if I’m being genuine.

I ask myself if I’m being real. Am I being true to myself, my experiences, and my ideas? Am I being honest and helpful, or parroting what others just said on their own blogs?

I worried about this “being real” when I was getting ready to rewrite my first ebook. I’m releasing it next month as a revised and expanded edition (it’s still short, but meant to be — I’ll post more details next week). It crossed my mind that I would read the manuscript I published in 2008 and be disgusted with a book full of theory and little or no practicality.

As it turns out, my writing wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it might be. Overall, I mean. The text had some issues… So as I was adding to it I made sure I was being honest, and true to my goals.

Sometimes I worry that my writing is just full of crap. If I find it is, I scrap it. The one thing I don’t want to be is fake — an Internet Marketing Theorist, for example.

Maybe being so critical of my thinking and writing will help me become better at both.

Google+

Filed Under: Online Business, Writing Tagged With:
August 23, 2011 By

How to Market an Ebook Without Spending Money

You’ve written an ebook…now what? In this post, I’m going to teach you how to market your ebook without spending money. You might need to spend a little money on technical stuff, and maybe a sales letter, but marketing can be done for free.

When I wrote my first book (that I planned to sell), I had no money for advertising. I was forced to get creative and promote my work without spending money.

It turns out it’s not that hard. If you can write an ebook, you can do the basic tasks needed to market your book. But first…take care of your domain name.

Buy a Great Domain Name

A good domain name can go a long way. It should be relatively short, easy to remember and spell, and contain product-specific keywords.

Take a look at some popular websites today and note their name. Google. Facebook. Ebay. These are short and easy to remember. Some that are longer, but still easy to remember are: Internet Business Mastery, Zen Habits, and Entrepreneur’s Journey.

Those last few are each more than one word, but they are easy to remember and contain words descriptive of the site’s content. Take a look at their domain names.

They contain descriptive keywords, they aren’t too long, and they’re pretty easy to remember. This is what you should go for when picking any domain name. But you also need to keep your book’s title in mind, too.

If your book title is “Elephants are Awesome and You Can Ride Them Too,” you’ll need to get creative. That title is a bit cumbersome as a domain name. You could play with the core concept a little, like ridingawesomeelephants.com.

On the other hand, if your title is simple, coming up with a domain name will be easier. “How to Sell Men’s Shoes” is a simple book title and would make a great domain name (if available).

It’s best to make a long list of domain names. Your first idea might be good, but your 27th idea might be super fantastic. You also need a list in case your first choice is already taken by someone who hasn’t written a book as awesome as yours. Once you have your domain set up, you have to build a site to sell.

Setting Up Your Site to Sell

Everything on your site needs to lead visitors to one thing: buying your book. Anything that distracts from that result should be cut.

Ads? Gone. Links taking the prospect offsite? Lose them. An “about me” page full of information that is irrelevant to the product, your expertise, or why they should buy the book? Cut it. Unorthodox is OK, distracting from the goal is bad.

I’m not going to go into technical details here. Website construction and choosing a content management system are topics for another article. To be honest, that stuff is all secondary to creating a purposed selling environment.

If your site doesn’t sell, it doesn’t matter what tools you used to build it.

Make sure you have a clear sales message that is honest, direct, and persuasive. You might need to hire a copywriter for this if you have no experience writing sales letters, but you’ll make that money back.

Your book’s main benefit needs to be made perfectly clear to every visitor within a couple of seconds. If you haven’t communicated the main selling point of your book — the unique selling proposition — in 3 – 5 seconds, you lose. You’ll need to refine the look, the copy, and the message until it’s clear.

There’s a lot more to selling than that, but what you as a content creator need to focus on is the benefits your book provides and turn those browsers into buyers. Hire a competent copywriter to help you sell your work.

Content to Draw a Crowd

Selling your book isn’t going to happen on it’s own. You’ll need traffic on your site before you can make a sale. The key to getting traffic isn’t buying it with search ads, and it isn’t tricking Google into placing your site first (it’s not gonna happen, so don’t bother).

What you need is quality, informative content. Give value to your audience. These people who might buy your book aren’t your customers, your prospects, or some sleazy marketer’s conversion project. These people are your audience. Give to them, and they’ll buy from you.

The first and best way to do this is to create a bunch of informative content right on your site. If you’ve properly researched your subject, you should have a bunch of information that didn’t make it into the final draft of your book. Use that material to write several articles for your site.

This way, you have free informative content that sets you up as an expert in your book’s subject. People who are interested will read your free articles, and develop some trust in your knowledge level. That’s what can introduce them to you and help them decide to give you money.

When people search for things, it’s hard to predict — even with online keyword tools — what they will type. Having a bunch of articles (related to your book, of course) on your site will help bring in people that search for something that might not be in your book’s sales copy.

Getting browsers on the site is almost as good as getting them right on the sales page.

In case you’re thinking about what I said earlier…about not giving your audience distractions from the sales process…informative content isn’t a distraction. All you have to do is make it really easy for people reading an article to buy the book.

This can be done with a “home” button prominently displayed on the page. Or with a “Buy Now” ad or button in the sidebar that takes them either to the checkout page or another sales page. Make your site easy to read and your book easy to buy, and extra content won’t be a distraction.

Marketing Articles are Really Informative Freebies

There’s been a lot of talk the last few years about marketing articles. I’ve written several of them. They help drive traffic and grab readers searching for certain terms. It’s important, however, to view these articles as informative content instead of an SEO tool.

Apart from basic web SEO practices, don’t bother. Google and Bing are three steps ahead of you…and you really don’t want to fight with them anyways. They are your friends. Instead, ignore them and let them do their job.

Your job is to produce “marketing articles” that are really just free informative articles. These are just like what you put on your site — rich, original content relating to your book’s subject. The difference here is that you place them in article directories.

Here are a couple that I have used in the past:

What’s great about these sites (and others like them) is that you get a two-fold benefit. First, your article is online in a huge, search-engine crawled site. Many times I’m looking for information on a subject, Google returns Ezine Article links.

The other benefit is that many of these article directories allow publishers (bloggers, email marketers, etc.) to freely publish your article. This is beneficial to you because part of the license that lets people publish your article for free comes with a catch. They have to also publish a “resource box.” In this box, you put a link back to your site.

If you get a couple of articles published to popular sites, you can get some decent traffic from those resource links. And even if no one really popular picks up your articles, 1 referred person is better than none.

Testimonials

Testimonials are a great way to promote your book and show others that it’s a good buy. They take surprisingly little work, are free, and help promote your work.

Getting testimonials is easy. You just have to ask for them. If someone contacts you about the book (via email, contact form, whatever) and says something good, ask to use their words as a testimonial. Get permission, and then put the quote on your site.

I’ve found you can display testimonials three ways and get results. The first tactic used by many writers is to place some key testimonials right in the body of the sales letter. After you get a few, you could create a “What others are saying about this book…” section on the sales page.

Another great way to use them is in a sidebar. If your site has a sidebar filled with other information, add a couple of great testimonials there. Some people scan a sidebar to see what else the site might have to offer, so this is a good place to put a few positive words about your book.

If you get a lot of testimonials, put them all on your site. Create a separate page just for these faith-generating comments. Let your audience do some selling for you. Link to it in the sales letter (to open in a pop-up or separate tab so you don’t get them away from the main sales message), or have a menu item linking to a testimonial page.

Networking

Social networking can work both as general promotion and create an additional testimonial push. Get your work on the social networks.

I don’t mean release the whole book, but tell others about it. Create a Facebook page, link to it on Twitter, Google+ it. Whatever networks you are on need to hear about it. You can also link to all of your free content.

If you link to an article on Facebook, and then a friend shares it and says they like it, you’ve got another little testimonial. Then three of their friends like it and share it with others. This sharing and re-sharing can go on for a while, which is a good thing.

Social networking isn’t a magic pill or sure thing, but it’s worth your time. It’s another way to get the word out about your stuff, and it makes it really easy for other people to tell even more people about it, too. Use the networks.

Questions or Comments?

See…you can market your book for free. It just takes a little work on your part. What’s great is that you can apply these same principles to other products you create. If you have a membership site, online courses, how-to videos, or anything else for sale, you can use these ideas to help market your products.

Do you have any questions about any part of the process? Do you have some free technique that’s worked for you in the past that I didn’t cover here? I would love to hear about it in the comments, and I’m sure everyone else would, too.

If you liked this article, please share it on whatever social networks you frequent. Someone you know might be writing an ebook right now… Maybe they’re wondering how they can market it. Share the information. That’s why I wrote it. Thanks!

Filed Under: Marketing, Writing Tagged With: , ,
August 4, 2011 By

Don’t Join the Discussion…Make a Statement

A lot of bloggers talk about joining the discussion with your audience, but is that really right for you? Does spending time with the comments on your blog align with your goals?

Whenever I hear about joining the discussion online, or interacting with your community, I wonder if it’s really the right thing to do. It seems to be the common response among bloggers — to always respond to comments, interact on Facebook, etc.

Make a statement. If you have something to say, just say it. It doesn’t really matter what other people think, or if they comment to tell you they agree or disagree with you. That’s not really important. What’s important is to get your ideas out there — other opinions be damned.

If, after you’ve made your statement, it’s an organic process to interact with those who respond to your idea, go for it. Just don’t force it. I think too many people feel like they have to constantly interact to remain competitive online. After all, it’s what everyone else is doing…what all the “gurus” tell you to do.

Just because someone says you should do something doesn’t mean you should. That’s just their opinion. Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s not appropriate. It really all depends on you, your goals, and your strengths.

Take podcasting, for example. There have been some really successful blogger-podcasters out there, like Sterling and Jay of Internet Business Mastery. They recommend blogging and podcasting as a way to get your message out to your audience. What if you are great at writing, but suck at talking?

Just because something works for someone else doesn’t mean it will work for you. Just because you write a mean blog, do you think you can perform a mean podcast? It takes a slightly different skill set and approach to create a podcast. I tried it three different times. While I did improve over time and had subscribers, it just didn’t feel natural.

It was forced, a chore, and I ended up creating a low-quality product. So I stopped podcasting. It’s just not my thing. Maybe interaction with your audience isn’t your thing. Maybe it’s a chore to respond to every comment on your blog, or retweet this and that on Twitter. What if you just don’t care about Facebook?

If your message is solid, your statement clearly presented, and regular interaction with your blog audience isn’t your thing, don’t worry about it. If it’s not you, don’t do it. Just because successful bloggers, like Problogger and Copyblogger do it, doesn’t mean you have to. Take Zen Habits, for example. No comments. It works for Leo Babauta (the creator), and he’s got a great following.

Making a statement is more important that joining the discussion, so make your statement before you ever think about discussing it with your audience.

Filed Under: Online Business, Writing Tagged With: ,
July 8, 2011 By

An Emotional Buying Response Doesn’t Have to be Created with Fluffy Crap

Since the web first came out, we’ve been bombarded with crap. First, we had pages and pages of useless nonsense, just because someone wanted to be on the web. Once ecommerce kicked off, it was like the wild west, with snake oil peddlers and horse thieves trying to sell you their goods.

We fell for it. With no community oversight and no established norms, people would tell you just about anything to get you to part with your cash. They would paint pretty pictures for you and fill your heads with nonsense about how completely awesome you will be if you buy their $100 information product. These kinds of hollow tactics just don’t cut it any more, and it’s best if you leave them behind.

What these tactics were carefully designed to do was to create an emotional response in the reader. This is the response that prompts people to begin the purchase decision process. Take a look at these sample headlines:

I made $100,000 in 90 Days and You Can Too!!

Two weeks to becoming a real estate tycoon and earning your financial freedom? Read on…

These headlines — which are essentially an introductory sales message designed to get your attention — generate an emotional response in the reader. For the first headline, you, the reader, wants $100,000 (really, who doesn’t?). It normally takes a long time to get that kind of money, so the prospect of a three month turn-around is enticing. You get excited at the possibility and there’s the emotional response.

The second one is a little understated…no numbers thrown out at you. But it asks a question that is on the mind of anyone in debt, or someone who wants to make their own way in the world. Your mind jumps from reading the sentence to an image of financial freedom and controlling assets long known to have good returns (generally speaking, of course).

We buy things because of an emotional response. Sure, logic and pragmatism play a part, but if what you’re looking to buy isn’t a completely necessary purchase (think toilet paper), emotion rules the decision. It pulls you in and weighs heavily as you decide whether or not to part with your money.

Look back up at those two sample headlines. Will those work today? Well, on some people, yes. But it won’t work like it used to because those headlines are shit. Thanks to the Internet, most of us are trained to spot bullshit money-making schemes that are designed to take our money and provide no real value.

Cut the crap, but still create an emotional response.

The thing is, you still need to create that emotional response in your audience to sell. The trick is to do it without sounding like a scam artist. You’ve got to cut the crap, drop the “this will make you totally awesome instantly” sales methods, and present genuine benefits for your product or service.

Old-fashioned copywriting just won’t cut it any more. Instead, just be honest. You can create an emotional response without the useless hype by highlighting real-world benefits. Solve a real problem and that will create the response you need — it will stir your audience.

Remember my post about features and benefits? Use that. While it is possible to make $100k in three months, it’s highly unlikely. It’s damn near impossible for a noob that doesn’t know what he’s doing online. So the headline above is just nonsense. It doesn’t present anything real for the reader.

Let’s rework that headline just a bit to give it a dose of reality, while still generating an emotional response that will hook the reader into your message.

The tools you need to turn your ideas into a sustainable online business are right here. With training, discipline, and perseverance, you can create passive income streams, and live any kind of awesome life you want.

OK, that is a little long and rough, but you get the idea. That one might actually work as a headline with subhead setup. Anyway, my point is that it communicates a message, but without the hype. It even tells the reader that it’s going to take work. It always takes work…

Getting people interested in what you have to sell doesn’t have to involve anything unethical. You don’t have to lie, cheat, or steal your way to the top. Real people, real customers, would see right through you anyway.

Cut the crap, present honest benefits and an intriguing headline, and you’ll make sales. Here are some examples of headlines I’m talking about:

“Give me 31 Days and I’ll Give You a Dramatically Better Blog… Guaranteed” – Problogger, 31 Days to Build a Better Blog

“How to Build and Launch a Kick-Ass Online Product in Two Weeks” – Think Traffic

“Claim Your FREE Audio eBook Now… THE 3 PILLARS OF DESIGNING YOUR ULTIMATE INTERNET LIFESTYLE” – Internet Business Mastery

You see… you can still create an emotional response without spewing junk on the page.

Filed Under: Marketing, Writing Tagged With: , ,
June 27, 2011 By

Bullshit-Less Marketing Communications

No More Bullshit MarketingThere is too much crap advertising in the world, and I think we need to take a stand for change. Here’s what I’m talking about:

  • Sales letters where the author claims to be your friend.
  • Headlines that promise so much, they are either ridiculous or implausible in most situations.
  • Marketing messages with a formula that has become tired, predictable, and overrated.
  • Messages that insult the intelligence of the now-savvy, Internet-based consumer.

We have got to make a change in the way we communicate what we have to offer to the public. Too many people call bullshit when they see something that’s too good to be true, or some claims that are so outlandish that the chances of the same thing happening to them are slim.

What used to work isn’t fit any more

Many marketers will doubt that claim, since many still make money off of those same techniques that professional copywriters have relied upon for twenty or more years. I’ve read some sales letters that have literally brought in millions of dollars of revenue. But the old model is failing.  [Read more...]

Filed Under: Marketing, Writing Tagged With: , ,
June 24, 2011 By

Communicate Effectively by Writing Quality Blog Posts

It’s important to write quality blog posts to keep your readers interested and your content both relevant and engaging. I learned that first hand today.

I started out penning a post on personal freedom. It was meant to be thought provoking, but it ended up just being crap. While I thought I had good questions to pose, what came out was disjointed, rant-like nonsense.

That’s not something you want to communicate to your readers. I scrapped the post and decided to write about the importance of quality instead.  [Read more...]

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: ,
« Older Posts