Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t recall Leonidas apologizing to the Persian army before battle.

I definitely don’t remember Russell Crowe’s vengeful Maximus sitting down to write a few notes of sincere and profuse regret before he suited up and took out a couple of gladiators.

Do you?

Then why do so many people ask forgiveness right before they actually do something worth doing?

You can see it in the way they write.

Of course, this is just one person’s opinion …

I could be totally wrong about this …

I’m not trying to pretend I’m some kind of expert but …

When I read things like that, it’s like watching Tyler Durden cry.

It’s just not right.

When I think about great, response-focused copywriting, I think about a writer reaching out, grabbing her audience by the collar, and snarling, “Buy my stuff or leave, but make a decision.”

The end.

What are you doing this for?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time for
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anything but decisions. I don’t post on my blog in order to kill time between flower-arranging and playing bridge. I post on my blog in order to create a response. To attract a certain type of person.

Granted, I definitely piss a lot of people off. There are many of you who probably cringe as you read this. Fair enough.

But if I lie to you to make you like me, what does that make me? A liar, no?

I’d much prefer to make you hate me. Not because I want street cred or because I actually enjoy annoying people, but because in making one person hate me, I make others love me.

Havi Brooks or Michael Port would say I’m rolling out my “red velvet rope.” I’m not just turning people away. I’m forming a bond with other people who are on my wavelength.

It’s this bond that builds tribes, and it’s this bond that builds businesses.

Instead of pandering and trying to sell a little bit of something to everyone, I’m selling a lot of something to a small bunch who believes in what I’m trying to do — my version of 1,000 true fans.

Don’t just sell … lead

To me, leading a tribe means you need to finally accept who you are, to write the truth as you see it, and never apologize for it.

Let’s face it, there are hundreds of thousands of blogs that look just like the next. It’s easy to think that you should do the same, but that’s a fast road to failure.

Readers are begging for someone to not only be different, but to own being different.

Want to lead your own tribe? Don’t show them how to fit in. Show them it’s OK not to.

When they see you’re willing to be first over the wall, they’ll be thrilled to follow you into battle.

In my journeys throughout the blogosphere, I see far too many people concerned about offending someone or possibly even making an enemy.

I’d argue that cowering in the corner just makes you look like everyone else. Which gets you nothing.

So get out there. Be real. Be yourself.

And don’t you dare apologize.

About the Author: Nathan Hangen writes about web entrepreneurship at NathanHangen.com, and about how to bootstrap your business without losing your savings or your sanity at The Bootstrap Sessions. Follow him on Twitter @nhangen.

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It’s only for people who want:

A systematic, simple way to get a good grasp of the power of effective online marketing.
Easy-to-navigate tutorials on the “Copyblogger method” of creating a profitable online business or marketing your offline business online.
An organized reference guide to the “best of the best” that’s appeared on Copyblogger over the years.

Internet Marketing for Smart People is a free 20-part course and ongoing newsletter that’s delivered via email. Each week you’ll get a new lesson on one of the four essential pillars of effective Internet marketing.

You don’t have to be a genius to master Internet marketing. You just have to be smart enough to take us up on this free offer.

Sign up here.

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Last week, I told a story about how Brian lured me down to Texas, loaded me up with tequila, and convinced me to become a walking endorsement. Now, I’m biased, but I thought that was funny. But what was more funny was that there were a handful of people who actually thought I had gotten “Scribe” and “Thesis 4 LYF” tattooed onto my arms.

This misunderstanding proved that sarcasm doesn’t always translate online. But more troubling, it also established that people feel that the ladies walking the streets around that tattoo parlor and I have similar opinions about what money can buy.

So this week, I’m going to be more clear. I did not get any logos tattooed onto me. I was not mistakenly pronounced dead and delivered to a medical college. And no matter what Brian and Sonia may say later, I did not hack Copyblogger and redirect it to Rather Good.

Yet.

Until I didn’t do that, you can check out what happened this week on Copyblogger:

Monday:

How to Write an Article That
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Draws Thousands of New Readers

Sean D’Souza explains how to write an article that draws thousands of new readers. All of us should pay attention to this advice, because more readers means more potential donations in the event your blog fuels a religion based on Xenu, the tyrant ruler of the Galactic Confederacy. It could happen.

Sean lays out why an article that Psychotactics ran was passed on a zillion times, retweeted endlessly, and garnered a bunch of new newsletter signups… and it wasn’t because it was written elegantly. It was all because of three specific things.

I could tell you outright which three things did the trick, but then I wouldn’t be doing my job as a teaser-writer. And how am I going to get the FTP access needed to hack this site that way?

Read the full post here.

Tuesday:

Chris Guillebeau wrote a post on Tuesday for the 24-hour-only re-release of his Empire Builder thingy, but now it’s sold out. So there’s nothing to see here, move along.

No, really… there’s literally nothing to see here. Let proceed, shall we?

Wednesday:

How to Promote Your Blog on TV for Way Less Than You Think

According to Dean Rieck, the advent of Google TV on the AdWords platform means that I can advertise my blog on TV. It sure is a good thing I stole all of those Teleprompters.

This was a surprising notion to me. It makes sense, though; Google actually controls the universe, and besides, I guess a network would rather take my tiny offer than have a spot open during which they’re forced to run sports bloopers or possibly Gilmore Girls. Who knows?

You could totally be the next Ron Popeil. I’m going for Joe Francis, but that’s just me.

Read the full post here.

Thursday:

Three Training Tips to Become a Better Blogger

James Chartrand totally duded it up in this post, talking about working out, and being all sweaty at the gym, and pumping iron until you bleed, and hunting with your bare hands, and driving sports cars off a cliff while playing Russian roulette with a Cuban hit-man named Rocco, who has a Chuck Norris beard and an eyepatch.

But then she (how am I supposed to handle the pronouns here?) turned the metaphor on blogging. And just like chugging NO-Xplode shakes and doing curlz until your massive gunz explode, blogging takes training and time.

Expecting to blog really well and effortlessly (and be received with great response and praise) right out of the gate would be like expecting to bench 500 pounds while your partner yells “YOU GOT IT! FEEL THE PAIN!” at you on your very first trip to the gym.

Get all ripped and swoll here.

Friday:

How to Write Your Ass Off

Brian commented once that my Copyblogger posts are never about writing. So to correct that (I can’t live in a world where Brian Clark is correct), I decided to write about writing on Friday. The result was this post containing a silhouette of Freddy Krueger and talking about having multiple personalities. And so it goes.

See, I’m two different people. One is Johnny B. Truant, and the other is the guy who hangs out with my wife and kids. I need both of those guys. Johnny isn’t always kid-friendly, but without Johnny, I wouldn’t have exposure in the blogosphere, and my kids would be living under the freeway. Schizophrenia for the win.

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I think that being two people is a huge benefit for any creative person, but it’s also really helpful when playing board games alone, standing in two lines at once, or when pretending to be Julius Caesar and Abraham Lincoln.

Read the full post here. Or maybe here.

About the Author: Johnny B. Truant writes (and builds awesome websites) at JohnnyBTruant.com and is one of the guys behind Question the Rules. You should also really check out his Jam Sessions with Charlie Gilkey, because they’re filled with tasty informational nuggets that will make your business better.

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Imagine you woke up this morning and wrote an article.

Just another article like all the articles you’ve been writing. Except something is different about this one.

Tons of folks are clicking on this article. They’re reading it and forwarding it to friends. They’re signing up to your newsletter in droves. The numbers go into the hundreds, then into the thousands, then into the tens of thousands.

What was it about that single article that created such a surge of traffic?

This exact scenario happened to us. The article was on headlines. We wrote about three specific steps to create pretty awesome headlines.

After giving the article ten minutes of reading time, you’d be able to write a pretty good headline. Better still, you’d know when you got the headline wrong, and when you got it right.

The power of the article wasn’t in the prose

The power was in the three psychological principles we brought into play.

Empowerment
Specific steps
Minefield warnings
Empowerment

Giving your readers the power of new knowledge is the most important thing your articles can do. Empower your reader with a new skill they didn’t have ten minutes ago, and they’ll not only be grateful — they’ll want to get more of what you have to offer.

Empowering articles are like a magic potion. Drink down what it has to say and you walk away stronger, smarter, and more powerful.

Why wouldn’t you get excited and sign up for more of what this article writer has to offer? Why wouldn’t you share it with your friends?

Specific steps

You’ve read how-to articles before. Most of them are like foam on your cappuccino — just fluff.

They seemingly draw you in to tell you ‘five ways to do something’ but each step goes off on a different tangent. After your reader is finished, he still doesn’t feel like he can take action.

Give your article a sequence.

Start here, do this.
Then do this.
Then this.

Step by step, teach how to do something from start to finish. Give your article specific steps in sequence, and you’ve just boosted the power of that magic potion.

Minefield warnings

Telling your client exactly what to do doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be able to execute those steps without tripping up. You have to show them where they might stumble into a trap — we like to think of it as navigating the minefield.

Where they’re likely to get it wrong. Where others have got it wrong before. By showing them potential pitfalls, you continue to empower your reader by giving them the power to anticipate problems before they happen.

It’s like having x-ray vision. You’re creating something amazingly powerful.

What happens next?

When you write an article that hits all of those points, you’ll find that your readers start signing up for your newsletter, forwarding the article to their friends and clients, and tweeting the heck out of the article link.

Why? What makes this article something that people want to pass on?

When you wrote the article, your readers felt empowered by the information, and they felt grateful enough that they signed up for your newsletter or your RSS feed. They may have even bought products, services, or pricey workshops because of how empowered you made them feel.

They wanted more of that feeling.

When your readers pass on the article to others, they get all of those rewards too, just as if they’d written the article themselves. They’re passing on the gift of empowerment — and getting rewarded just like you did, with grateful clients who want to work more with someone who can give them that heady feeling.

But will those tens of thousands of readers show up tomorrow?

Not unless you work to leverage your article.

We not only published it on our own website and blog, but we also repackaged it as a PDF (which is given away free). Over time clients, bloggers, and other readers have read it and passed it on.

Make your article available in lots of different formats and promote it as much as possible. If you’ve followed our three steps and it’s a truly empowering article, pretty soon your readers will be doing the promoting for you.

Don’t rely on a fluke

Occasionally, someone gets lucky and writes a great article that goes viral without any strategy behind it at all.

You may indeed get up one day and write a great article by fluke. But flukes are not a strategy. Use the three steps outlined above and use them as often as you can.

And then watch as the trickle of new readers turns to a flood.

And the flood into an unending deluge.

About the Author: Sean D’Souza offers a great free article on ‘Why Headlines Fail’ when you subscribe to his Psychotactics Newsletter. Be sure to check out his blog, too.

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If you’ve read the Federal Trade Commission’s new 81-page Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, you might think the FTC is a really nice bunch of guys trying to do the right thing by consumers — which, for the most part, is true.

And yet, I just don’t think they give most consumers enough credit.

Maybe fifty-odd years ago, when many people believed everything they read or saw on TV, a bit of paternalistic condescension might have been advisable.

But today?

Today, who believes anything anybody has to say?

We are a nation of cynics, skeptics, and disbelievers.

Does anyone believe politicians will keep their promises — about anything?

Would anyone stake their life on what they just read in the New York Times, The Washington Post, or saw on CNN or FOX?

And can we honestly believe that actual adults at football games really wear sleeved blankets with their butts poking out the back?

So I’m not sure the new guidelines are doing all that
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much for consumers.

For us marketers, though, that might be another story.

On the brighter side . . .

Thanks to the FTC, your competitive landscape, along with the Internet and your mailbox, won’t be so cluttered.

Thousands of fly-by-night marketers will simply stop marketing — because they’re unable or unwilling to tell the truth.

No longer permitted to manipulate facts in their favor or influence perception by playing fast and loose with various forms of social and statistical proof, they’ll seek less-regulated fields to till.

For example, marketers who rely on spectacular testimonials must now clearly state the substantiated generally expected results, too. Not just the one, two or three over-the-top results from a few outliers.

And if marketers can’t substantiate their generally expected results, well, they’re now limited to testimonials that don’t quantify results but merely display a common level of customer satisfaction.

Of course, if those testimonials are not exactly awe-inspiring, many marketers will simply quit including testimonials altogether.

Affiliate marketing comes out of the closet, too

Slapping up a sales page and posing as an impartial reviewer won’t be so easy anymore.

The laziest affiliate marketers who’ve been relying on fast and easy clicks to make a living will probably disappear.

Not only will affiliate marketers be required to disclose that they’re getting paid or compensated to review or endorse a product, they also need to actually be a user of that product, too.

Obviously, affiliates who advertise hundreds or thousands of products will either have to limit themselves to a personally manageable handful or hire a huge back office.

Either way, their free lunch is over.

Of course . . .

If you’re an adept and capable marketer you’ll thrive

First, there won’t be as much “marketing noise” emanating from your less-ethical competitors.

The threat of an FTC-imposed $16,000-per-day fine should help quite a bit with that.

And with less competition, your market share should grow, if only by virtue of being one of the businesses in your niche to survive the marketing shakeout.

But increasing your business is far from guaranteed — even if you satisfy the new FTC guidelines and are indeed the last man standing.

Adjust your message accordingly

Just deleting testimonials or coming out with a weak marketing message will obviously not increase your sales.

Marketing isn’t a cut and paste job. You can’t treat it as a series of mix and match templates. New approaches to sales and marketing will have to be created, or old ones brought to the fore and refined.

Creative marketers and copywriters will still be the ones getting rich in this new and evolving FTC environment — though many of the individual faces may change.

Marketers, to survive and thrive, will need to return the selling discipline to what it should’ve been all along: an honest and transparent offering of genuine benefits.

If the FTC were completely successful (which, of course, isn’t likely), hype in all its empty guises would disappear.

Deceptive manipulation of facts and statistics would disappear.

Unrealistic claims and one-in-a-million results would disappear.

Hidden self-interest and undisclosed compensation would disappear.

Now I don’t think the FTC can usher in some new utopia of honesty online. But they will have an effect, and that effect will be to push many marketers to more candid and honest communication with their target market.

Marketers and copywriters will need to work, maybe not harder, but certainly differently, on a more open and higher level to acquire new customers.

Marketers will need to employ sales copy that is straightforward, transparent and realistic — yet still compelling and persuasive.

They’ll need to make disclosure into a selling point, using transparency as a sales tool.

This will require an inordinate amount of marketing skill and savvy.

(And, in many cases, it will simply require better products.)

Transparency’s net effect: better products, better communication

Clearly, confessional and authentic sales copy can’t rescue bad products. Some products just aren’t well-served by that much honesty.

But creating a remarkable marketing and sales approach, even for a quality product, isn’t just about embracing FTC guidelines.

The guidelines have raised the bar, it’s true. The new killer copywriters will be as ethical as they are persuasive. Those who can rise to the occasion will succeed and thrive.

Those who can’t meet the new standard . . . well, there’ll be many of those indeed. And you can be sure they’ll be searching for loopholes to keep old practices alive.

About the Author: Barry A. Densa is a freelance marketing and sales copywriter. You can reach him at 805-236-4801. To view samples of his work and sign up for his free ezine Marketing Wit & Wisdom, visit WritingWithPersonality.com.

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This is another addition to our ongoing series of tutorials and case studies on landing pages that work.

Nicole Johnson wants to get babies and their moms some much-needed rest. She’s packed napping plans, schedules, and strategies into her $37 ebook/consultation package. She’s tried different pricing, Google Adwords, different offers, freemiums, and more to pop conversion, but her results still ping between a snoozy 0.5 to 3%.

She has good traffic, but needs more help getting those tired, sleepy moms to buy. Let’s see if we can’t help Nicole give her sales a much-needed wakey-wakey.

The Goal: Increase conversion (currently below 4%).
The Problem: Nearly 3,000 visitors monthly, who show an interest in the free information but don’t ultimately translate to sales.
Content Marketing Strategies: Various. Nicole’s free Baby Nap Guide is one piece she uses to get users into her email funne
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l
The Current Landing Page: www.babynapswell.com (home page)
Value: $24.95 to $37

Click image for larger view

The Maven’s 10-Point Critique
#1 – Your first screen has to answer the question — Why do moms want their babies to nap?

Because they’re exhausted! They want a relaxed, rested child and a chance for themselves to rest and recharge for a few hours. They’re desperate for RELIEF and they want it now.

What’s the deep, realized benefit to your ebook? Your ebook helps break the vicious no nap/irregular nap cycle, makes mom feel more competent and secure as a parent, and makes it easier to enjoy her baby.

So here’s the problem — you’ve got 2-3 seconds from the first screen to get your reader involved in your message. Perhaps they’ve already reviewed the free nap info, perhaps not. In either case, you don’t present them with a rich, emotionally resonant headline. You’ve basically repeated the banner head as if it was a headline. It’s not. At first glance, I also have no idea you’re selling anything at all. It isn’t clear to me.

So be clear. Develop and test your headlines that speak directly to the mom’s emotional environment — Too tired to enjoy your baby? Dread the nap-time power struggles day after day? In just XX days, you CAN turn your pint-sized nap-fighter into a sweet-smiling, nap-lover. All you need are the right strategies and tools . . . and so forth.

#2 — Get personal. Get emotional. Talk to your readers, Mom-to-Mom, in a letter format.

Dear Cranky Mom,

A few years ago, I was just like you. I was a new mom with a new baby that no matter what I did wouldn’t nap or when she did, it was short and fitful. When this kind of stuff goes on too long, even the most confident mom in the world begins to think she stinks at this mom thing. I was sure I was doing something wrong but I didn’t know what to do instead.

Your current copy is factual, but a little bloodless. It doesn’t speak to the heart and the desperation that I know I felt when my kids were little and wouldn’t sleep. If ever there was a problem/solution fraught with anxiety and a deep need for help, this is it. Make sure your copy reaches the frazzled mom with solace and hope that she will, once again, get a chance of closing her own eyes for an hour or two in the afternoon.

Get personal with video. I think this could be very effective for you, especially if done professionally. (I don’t think a simple chat to the webcam would support your value or credibility.) Imagine how wonderful it would feel to “Tired Mom” to have someone talk right to her and tell her that relief is in sight.

#3 — Make the case why napping issues need a $37 solution.

There are a ton of books, sites, products, and even support groups devoted to sleeping issues. I wondered why I needed a special book about napping as opposed to a broader sleep solution. That’s probably the biggest challenge you have to overcome. You’ll want to make sure your copy continues to underscore how the daytime napping problems are different and need a different set of strategies to solve them.

#4 — Show and tell the product you’re selling. Put your first call to action in the first screen.

If you want people to know you’re selling a book, you gotta show them the book and YOU’VE GOT TO SHOW THEM THE TITLE. I didn’t even realize your ebook was called “Maste
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ring Naps and Schedules” until I saw it mentioned in a testimonial at the end of the second screen.

Your cover is very appealing so I’d definitely give it above-the-fold prominence, perhaps working it into the banner art. You also need to give your prospects the opportunity to order at several points in the copy, starting with the first screen. You want one button, text link or other call-to-action (CTA) device per screen scroll. (Right now, it takes me 3 screens to locate the order buttons.)

Click image for larger view

I prepared a heatmap so you can see what people look at and what they look at first. Too much attention to elements that don’t promote your message means lost sales opportunities for you. (Free heatmap courtesy of the technology at Feng-GUI.com.)

#5 — Tell me precisely what I will get and learn from your ebook.

Give your readers a bulleted list or two of goodies, and be specific.

28 proven strategies that will . . .
3 easy-to-use tools that make . . .
12 ways to get well-meaning grandma off your back . . .

Etcetera. Nothing strengthens copy more than specificity. You already do some of this. Do more.

Also, take the feature and expand it into its core benefit. For example, “How to get LONGER naps” becomes “10 ways to get longer naps from your baby and more couch-time for you.”

#6 — Emphasize that your system works for nearly all babies and parents.

Everyone, including me, thinks their baby and parenting situation is unique. That’s why you’ll want to make sure your copy reinforces that your system works for nearly all young children — preemies, internationally adopted toddlers, twins, and also that it works for all sorts of moms and dads. Use your testimonials as a way of underscoring this.

Think about personas representing your customer types. Who is this ebook really for? Write out 3-5 ’stories,’ each representing a key member of your core parenting market, and make sure your copy delivers the message, “Yes, this ebook is perfect for someone like me,” for each one of them.

#7 — Establish and reinforce your expertise on the subject. Add a headshot.

Who are you and why are you qualified? That’s another one of the big challenges your copy needs to address. Unless I missed it, I don’t see anything about you. If you want me to spend $XX, I want to know enough about you to think I’m spending my money wisely. You don’t have to have an alphabet soup of degrees following your name, but you do need to reveal something of yourself and background within the context of your offering.

#8 — Edit, edit and edit some more.

Click image for larger view

Your moms are tired. Their eyes are glazing over looking at dense, forbidding text in super long paragraphs.

Think shorter, 2-5 line paragraphs. Use lots of subheads and bulleted lists to hook the eye and make scanning and scrolling less like a chore. People only need the science/other background about napping to support your ebook’s information. Don’t give more background than is necessary to help folks make a decision to purchase.

#9 — Test a 2-column format. Load your sidebar with testimonials.

Get the bulk of your “Mom-and-Baby-Tested” testimonials here. Again, edit these judiciously. You want each
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of these to amplify and illustrate your ebook’s core strengths. I’d also get some pediatricians, pediatric nurse practitioners, daycare center directors, home daycare moms, etc. to weigh-in with their big thumbs-up. Run these short, punchy kudos adjacent to your main copy.

#10 — Simplify the offer.

Click image for larger view

You need to differentiate your offers more emphatically with titling– “The Deluxe Complete BabyNapsWell System with Personal Consultation” and the “Standard BabyNapsWell System” — and with better design. I might box these and play them side by side. Perhaps add your headshot into the Deluxe box as a reminder of the relief AND personal attention your prospect is about to purchase.

BONUS:

I’d think about giving your ebook a new title. This is a huge topic for so many parents living in the fog of “my baby never sleeps.”

“Mastering Naps and Schedules” lacks the emotional juice of “No More Naptime Tears: Get Your Baby to Love Naptime So You Can Love Yours” — or something like that. You want a title that clearly, perhaps cleverly gets the point across fast. You want your title to spell RELIEF IS AT HAND.

My thanks to Nicole Johnson for her patience and support of Heifer International. Look for my next makeover in approximately 3 to 4 weeks.

Want to get a future Copywriting Maven landing page makeover?

Got a landing page that’s more poop than pop? Willing to share with Copyblogger readers? Prepared to put a little of your own “skin in the game” for a Maven Makeover? Then follow your click to Maven’s Landing Page Makeover page for all the details. I’m booked for gratis “Heifer” critiques until 05/15/10.) If you’re interested in a private critique/makeover, site audit, or other services, please email me directly.)

About the Author: Roberta Rosenberg is The Copywriting Maven at MGP Direct, Inc. Find her @CopywriterMaven on Twitter.

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About 80% of your blog’s success comes from “ass in chair” time. That’s the time you spend writing posts, editing posts, finding the perfect image, connecting with fellow bloggers, answering comments, shaping up your SEO, and all the other tasks we teach you about here on Copyblogger.

You’ve got to get that stuff right. But great blogs are not built by “ass in chair” time alone.

There’s actually a significant element to your success that you may be neglecting with all that work and focus.

Every once in awhile, you might consider getting out of the chair and physically setting eyes on a fellow human being. I realize this is a bizarre, arcane practice, but bear with me.

Social networking 1.0

Have you ever noticed that you don’t really know what a post is going to be about until you start writing? You throw something out there, and next thing you know, it’s gone in whatever direction naturally follows.

Believe it or not, you can actually replicate this phenomenon by physically locating yourself in close proximity to another person, with each of you taking turns speaking. This is called a co
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nversation.

I know, you know all about conversation already. It’s answering blog comments, writing on your ex-girlfriend’s Facebook wall, and tweeting how cranky you are in line at the Genius Bar. But here’s something you might not know — “conversations” actually predate the internet.

Spend enough time in these “real world” conversations, and you actually trigger the growth of new neural connections. You come up with new ideas. You challenge your existing ideas and take them in new directions. You learn.

This phenomenon is improved by another old-school technique, called listening. It’s like lurking, except the other person can see you standing there, so at some point you should probably say something.

Conversation and listening can, if you let them, become awe-inspiring weapons in your blogging arsenal. They’ll give you a virtually endless supply of post ideas, angles for content, and insights into human psychology.

And they’ll improve the quality of your thinking, getting you out of the same stale perceptions and approaches to your writing.

Do enough of this and you will make friends. These are similar to Facebook friends, except a) you actually like them, and b) if they poke you, you get to smack them in the head and tell them to quit being a jackass.

Advanced stuff

Once you’ve mastered these fundamental tools, you may be ready to move forward to a more advanced practice.

You can practice conversing and listening with more than one person at once.

One place you can try this is an entrepreneur’s group in your local community. Generally the way it works is that you show up, pay something, they serve you a really bad lunch, and the real estate guy hits you up for business within the first 2 minutes.

Once you’ve detached the real estate guy, these can be quite fun. You can engage in listening and conversations with other people who are facing the same issues you are. Some stuff you’ll know a lot about, and you can teach them. Some stuff they’re going to be a lot smarter about than you are, which is when you want to shut up and take a few notes.

You can also go to parties. These are gatherings of people in one place for multiple real-time instances of conversing, listening, and friending, often accompanied by beer, tequila, and possibly pretzels.

These “parties” often include music, dancing, and laughter. Things may even liven up thanks to the noisy presence of one or more highly intoxicated people, who provide entertainment and a comforting sense of moral superiority.

What do I know?

I’m writing this post based on a dim memory of these old-school practices, since I haven’t done them for months. (OK, I did a warmup and had coffee this week with Grandma Mary, which was delightful.)

I’ve developed quite an impressive blogger’s tan. In other words, I’m about the same color as the surface of the moon. I’ve developed it by holing up in my basement office recording and writing content, editing posts, coordinating transcripts, and other 80% activities.

So I thought I’d try something radical. I’m going to work on my 20% and fly out to Austin today to hang out with Brian and lots of other friends for a few days at the South by Southwest Interactive conference.

Maybe you’ll bump into me having a margarita with a pal, crashing a party or two, or just wandering around the streets of Austin enjoying some unobstructed solar radiation.

We’ll be back next week. Maybe.

About the Author: Sonia Simone is Senior Editor of Copyblogger and a co-founder of Inside the Third Tribe. She solemnly promises this is the last “funny” post you will see on Copyblogger for at least one month.

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Bloggers have a distinct disadvantage.

When someone hires an expert in — oh, let’s say marketing — that expert can dispense the same information she did for the last client.

And the client before that one. And the one before that.

Not bloggers. Blogging is about breaking down everything you know into bite-sized chunks so that people can learn it all over a period of time. If they look back through the archives, they can often see the entire breadth of your knowledge.

Then one day, your well runs dry.

This is a scary moment for any blogger. It’s not like running out of inspiration or having writer’s block. This is when you’ve said it all. Your blog contains absolutely everything you know.

And let’s be fair — it’s a lot of knowledge. But you simply don’t have anything new to say.

What do you do?

Go get yourself some new knowledge

I’m always amazed by how few people continue to educate themselves on their topic after they’ve become an acknowledged expert in it.

Hey, everyone knows me as the number one guy on naked mole rats! Clearly, I know everything there is to know!

But as an old coach of mine used to say, you’ll never know everything there is to know in your field of expertise, and there’s always something new to learn. People make new discoveries and innovations every day. You have opinions about those innovations. You agree or disagree with them. You try them or manage to take them a step further.

Of course, if you don’t find out what those discoveries and innovations are, you don’t have anything to say about it. No wonder you’re stuck for posts.

Actively pursuing new knowledge about your area of expertise has a side benefit: it provides more value for your clients. You may find the inspiration for a new ebook or web course to help newcomers understand and benefit.

New knowledge could be the next big thing for your business — if you go out and find it.

Doctors are one of the few professions actually required to update their knowledge of their field of expertise continually. If a doctor doesn’t know the latest innovation in surgery, his next patient might die from the lack of that knowledge. That’s a huge incentive for the doctor to always be learning and for the patient — and the medical board — to insist on that continual education.

No one is going to force you to attend conferences or read books or take courses, but you’ll be much more respected as an expert if you continually update your knowledge. Your client’s life may not be on the line, but their business, their financial goals, and their happiness probably is — at least, their happiness with your products and services.

Where can you find new knowledge?

Well, you may not have heard about this gizmo called the internet, but it’s pretty handy for that sort of thing. It seems silly to mention using the internet to upgrade your knowledge on an online blog, but shocking numbers of people don’t use it for this particular purpose — even those who practically live online.

Libraries are an awesome (and free) resource for new knowledge too, and so is your local bookstore. Go pick up some new literature and get someone else’s perspective on what you do.

Magazines and trade journals, of course, are terrific for more recent innovations and information. Find ones that focus on your area of expertise and stay on the lookout for new ideas that sound interesting or innovative. Once an article grabs your attention, go do some independent research on that topic and find new resources to pursue.

Actively pursuing new knowledge won’t just make you a better businessperson — though that’s reason enough right there. It’ll also pretty much guarantee that you’ll never run out of blog topics ever again.

About the Author: For new knowledge that makes you a better businessperson — and that helps you hit the bullseye of success for your freelancing career, check out Men with Pens — or better yet, grab the RSS feed here.

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There are two kinds of people on the Internet: the greedy and the generous.

The greedy want you to pay for everything. Every link is an affiliate link. Every recommendation has a profit motive. The really good content is locked away until you fork over some money.

The generous want to give you everything free.

It never occurs to them that their time or expertise has value. They’re kind, selfless, giving, and (too often) dirt poor.

But there’s a third kind of person on the Internet. And yes, they belong to the Third Tribe you’ve been reading about.

This person understands that you can’t be greedy and build a following. But you also can’t just throw all your treasure to the wind. This is the person who understands the power of focused generosity.

To help understand this and get a little perspective, let’s look at how this works in the real (non blogging) world. It’s an idea that has been used by savvy marketers forever. Here are just
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two examples.

Example 1

The first act of generosity happened one December. I had recently ordered holiday gifts from Amazon. A package arrived in the mail from them, with a letter inside signed by Jeff Bezos, the company’s founder and CEO:

Dear Friend,

With the holidays approaching, I wanted to thank you for making this year such an exciting time for Amazon.com. We really couldn’t have done it without you.

As a small token of our appreciation, we’d like you to have our special coffee tumbler (I’m particularly fond of this year’s quotes). May you use it in good health.

Thank you again for all your support, and best wishes for a holiday season filled with family, friends, and happiness!

I don’t drink coffee very often, but this little thank you struck me as particularly effective. You’ll notice that nowhere is there a solicitation for more business, but I felt so good about Amazon, I wanted to immediately log on and order a book . . . or anything.

Example 2

The second act of generosity came in the form of unexpected customer service from Current, a printer online that specializes in bank checks.

For some time I had been struggling with an ancient, plastic checkbook cover which was slowly deteriorating from hard use and age. (My wife is responsible for most of the “hard use,” but that’s another subject.)

It was a small thing, but I didn’t know how to go about getting a new one. So I wrote a note to Current explaining my problem.

To my surprise, a brand new checkbook cover arrived a few weeks later with this note, signed by the customer service manager:

Dear Check Buyer,

Thank you for your recent inquiry about Current Check Products. Enclosed are the materials you requested.

Current offers a full line of check products including checkbook covers, address labels and stampers. We also have a complete line of business checks — 3-on-a-page, laser/ink jet, continuous checks, and more. Call us for information.

If you have any questions or would like to place your order by phone, please call us TOLL FREE at 1-800-204-2244, Monday through Friday, 5 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Saturday 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time.

Once again, thank you for your interest in Current Check Products. We look forward to serving you in the future!

Cool! I had expected them to send me a web address or catalog so I could order a new checkbook cover. The fact that they just sent me one — placing my problem above their profits — impressed me greatly.

The note was clearly written for general inquiries. That suggests that sending my checkbook cover wasn’t part of their corporate policy, but instead a judgment call, a pure act of generosity for a loyal customer. A personal letter would have been a smart addition, but the gesture on its own works pretty well.

The power of focused generosity

You might shrug off these two small acts of generosity. But there’s something important going on here. And it’s related to the principle of reciprocity. Someone does something for you. Then you feel obligated to do something in return.

It might or might not translate immediately into a purchase. Instead, it could be tweeting your content, recommending your email newsletter, linking to one of your blog posts, or otherwise getting the word out about what you have to offer.

Researchers — and yes there is an entire field of study dedicated to such matters — have referred to this idea of doing for others and getting something back in return as a “web of indebtedness,” a form of social interaction that is “central to the human experience, responsible for the division of labor, all forms of commerce, and how society is organized into interdependent units.”

In other words, being generous is a v
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ery big deal indeed. It’s the ultimate in guerrilla marketing. Much more than simply being nice, it’s a central, essential, and incredibly potent way to do business.

You might say that there is a “payback” urge hardwired into our brains. And it’s very difficult to resist. Remember the last time a friend insisted on paying for lunch? (No? Maybe you need new friends.) When it happens you immediately swear you’ll pay for the next one, don’t you?

Which is why you should spend more time thinking about how you can be generous on your blog or other online ventures, and a little less time thinking about how to bludgeon people to death with requests to buy, buy, buy.

Those who get the most tend to be those who give the most, while also keeping a few desirable items that they aren’t afraid to sell.

Making generosity work for you

Okay, so how does this work as a business strategy online? Here are a few pointers.

Offer something free. It can be an ebook, a blog tool, a product sample, a subscription to a genuinely terrific newsletter, or any form of valuable information. It can be anything really, as long as it’s free and relates to your core product or service.

One newsletter I subscribe to used to barrage me with products to buy. I was just about to unsubscribe when suddenly the publisher started being generous, sending occasional emails with valuable information and tips with no hard sales pitch. That made the other more product-focused emails a lot easier to swallow, and I remain a loyal subscriber to this day.

Give something beneficial. Of course you have reasons for being generous, but don’t make people feel manipulated. Do something for the recipient’s benefit. No conditions. No self-serving verbiage.

Allow the “payback,” if and when it happens, to come naturally.

Not only does this make you more likable, it can actually change the way you think about people. They stop being “marks” or even “prospects,” and start being real people you honestly care about. And that will come through in your content.

Give something of value. What you give should have real value for the person on the receiving end. If you run a blog on financial planning and want to “upsell” your readers to a paid online seminar, don’t just give them a self-serving “tease” that piles on the sales patter . Offer an informative sample of the course with solid value even for those who don’t sign up.

Put a personal face on your gift. Take off the corporate suit and tie. Don’t have the gift coming from your “business.” It should come from you personally. It is much easier to feel indebted to a person than to a faceless, formal company. And people are more likely to be loyal to you as a person than to your business empire.

Nice guys finish first

Here’s another classic example from the offline world, and this one may be revealing my age.

Ever heard of Amway? Years ago, some bright business person got the idea to have distributors go door-to-door and give homeowners a package stuffed with cleaners, deodorizers, and other product samples.

They called this package the “BUG.” The distributor would leave a BUG with a homeowner for up to three days with no cost or obligation. They only asked that the homeowner try out the products.

Later, the distributor would come back to pick up the BUG and, of course, to ask for orders. By this time, having used the products for free for so long, the homeowner felt obligated to buy something from this generous distributor who seemed almost naive in his trust and generosity.

Just how successful was this nice guy approach? As one Amway distributor put it, the response was “Unb
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elievable! We’ve never seen such excitement. Product is moving at an unbelievable rate . . . .”

The point is that you should consider what people really care about. Instead of always asking yourself, “How can I squeeze more money from people?” occasionally ask yourself, “How can I help people?” In most cases, focused generosity ends up being more profitable in the long run.

About the Author: Dean Rieck is one of America’s top freelance copywriters and publisher of Pro Copy Tips, a blog that provides copywriting tips for smart copywriters.

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As bloggers, we put a lot of effort into telling our readers how to do things.

We believe that if we can just give them enough informative content that they’ll subscribe to our blog and never leave. We try to become the best teacher we possibly can, instilling wisdom down into short, usable posts that our readers can put into action right away.

But what if that’s not what they really want?

What if they don’t want a teacher to tell them what to do?

What if all they’re looking for is a warm and understanding person who understands what they’re going through and is willing to love them, no matter what?

Someone like (you guessed it) Mr. Rogers.

Do you care how they feel?

Being a kid can be tough.

Everyone is always telling you to be quiet. No one wants to listen to what you think. Your parents make you go to bed, just when all of the fun is starting.

But not Mr. Rogers.

Fred Rogers made you feel like it was just you and him hanging out. He respected what you thought. He loved you, not because he had to (like your parents), but because he genuinely believed you were special.

After a while, you believed him. You felt special.
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You came back to the TV, day after day, just so you could feel that way again.

The best bloggers do that too. I read Copyblogger everyday for years before submitting this guest post, and it wasn’t just the information that kept me coming back. It was because, when I was done reading, it made me feel smarter, like I was one of the few people on the web who was truly in the know.

The more I think about it, the more I believe that’s a part of our job. Our job as bloggers isn’t just to inform our readers, but to make them feel special.

And yes, I realize it’s a little hokey, but I think Mr. Rogers can show us how. Listen to some of these quotes:

Lesson: For your audience to love you, first you have to love them. And they have to know it.

You know, I think everybody longs to be loved, and longs to know that he or she is lovable. And, consequently, the greatest thing that we can do is to help somebody know that they’re loved and capable of loving.

How much do you care about your readers? I mean, really care?

Mr. Rogers didn’t just talk to children on television. He also visited them in person. On a regular basis, he would go out into public and ask kids about themselves. He would bend down and look little boys and girls straight in the eyes, so they knew he was fully focused on them. Then they poured their hearts out to him right on the spot.

No, he wasn’t compensated for that time, and neither are we. Most popular bloggers spend inordinate amounts of time reading every comment, responding to every email, and watching what people say on Twitter. None of this has any direct effect on traffic, but what it does is build goodwill. One at a time, your subscribers find out that you really care, and it transforms them from readers into raving fans.

Lesson: Before you can be a leader, first you have to be a neighbor.

Our world hangs like a magnificent jewel in the vastness of space. Every one of us is a part of that jewel. A facet of that jewel. And in the perspective of infinity, our differences are infinitesimal.

Mr. Rogers didn’t pretend to be better than the children who watched his show. He didn’t point out how young and ignorant they were. He didn’t appoint himself as an expert and command them to listen.

Instead, he decided to be their neighbor: someone just like them, who knew what they were going through, and was ready to help in any way he could, not because they were defenseless children, but because that’s what good neighbors do.

The same is true for bloggers. If you really want your audience to listen to you, you need to take the time to tell them your story, pointing out the ways you’re similar to them and inspiring them through your example.

Lesson: Create an environment where it’s okay to be imperfect.

I like you just the way you are.

Most kids are terrified, not just of getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar or their parents finding a bad grade on their report card, but of the possibility that they’ll do something so bad that their family will stop loving them. They believe that love is only for “good” children, and they worry that they don’t deserve it.

This quote was Mr. Rogers’ gentle way of correcting (and comforting) them. Over and over again, he would tell them that, “I like you just the way you are,” not just because it sounded good, but because it was what they needed to hear. They needed to know that love wasn’t conditional, and that they were safe enough around him to make mistakes and learn how to improve.

I believe it’s important for us to create the same environment for our readers. You may not realize it, but lots of your readers are probably intimidated by you, believi
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ng that they can never be as good as you are, and they’re afraid to reach out to you for help.

It’s important to remind them that you like them just the way they are. Maybe you don’t have to tell them as often as Mr. Rogers, but take a moment every few weeks to mention how impressed you are with the creative ways they’ve implemented your suggestions and how are honored you are to have them as readers.

It’s a small thing, but it matters.

Lesson: Keep what works, throw out what doesn’t, but always know what and why.

Propel, propel, propel your craft softly down liquid solution. Ecstatically, ecstatically, ecstatically, ecstatically, existence is simply illusion.

Every day, Mr. Rogers honed his craft, paying attention to even the smallest of details.

One time, he asked a fellow actor to say “the dog is going back home” instead of “the dog is going back to his owner.” He didn’t like the word owner because it was too possessive for the children viewers.

He also stuck with what worked. “Won’t you be my neighbor?” wasn’t just the theme song for the show; it was a way to set the tone at the beginning of every episode, getting children ready to listen. And so he repeated it, show after show for years.

It’s our responsibility as bloggers to hone our craft in the same way. You should experiment, not just with headlines or post ideas, but with new openings, new closes, new pictures, and even new words. It’s how you improve.

And at the same time, take a lesson from Fred Rogers and don’t be afraid to repeat what works.

Lesson: Seize your opportunity

When will your opportunity be?

Every day that you communicate from the heart, you have a chance to change the world.

Back in 1969, Nixon proposed cuts to PBS, leading the Senate to hold a hearing that would decide the future of the station. And who do you think appeared before them and melted their hearts with words?

Mr. Rogers.

He wasn’t the CEO. He wasn’t a Washington insider. He wasn’t even well-known to the committee. Yet he showed up, spoke from the heart, and transformed some of the toughest, most hardened politicians in the country into raving fans.

It was the opportunity to create change that many of us dream of, and he seized it. But here’s the real question:

When will your opportunity be?

Watch this video, and think about it. Because when it comes, we’ll be counting on you.

About the Author: Karl Staib writes about building stronger relationships and being happy at work: Work Happy Now! If you enjoyed this article, you may like to subscribe to his feed, follow him on Twitter, or read one of his most popular articles: How to Write a Career List.

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