Well, not the whole summer. But we are giving ourselves a break.

We spend a lot of time teaching people how to build smart, sustainable businesses with content. The kind of businesses that give us enough free time to have some decent work-life balance.

After all, working your own schedule, to suit your own life, is one of the biggest benefits of running a business, right?

Then it occurred to us — hm, maybe we should take some of our own advice.

Many folks in the U.S. are taking today off for the Independence Day holiday, and we’re going to join them.

And tomorrow we start our official summer schedule.

We’ll post three terrific articles a week: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Then from Thursday through Sunday, enjoy a long summer weekend.

Go for a bike ride, have lunch with friends, go to the zoo with your kids, maybe throw in a picnic or two.

Yes, continue to work on and grow your business. But balance that out with all the other great stuff in your life.

In other words, have a terrific summer — we only get so many of them.

(Special note for our readers in Australia, where it is currently winter. Um, sorry. Maybe go for some relaxing sleigh rides on the beach?)

Already pining for your Copyblogger fix? Feed your addiction by subscribing to the free Internet Marketing for Smart People newsletter. It’s all the cutting-edge marketing advice you’ve been craving, delivered hot and fresh to your email in-box. Even if you live in Australia.

About the Author: Sonia Simone is Senior Editor of Copyblogger and the founder of Remarkable Communication.

You may think you only need to learn about conversion strategies if you are creating & selling products. Or if you’re a super affiliate, or an aggressive email marketer.

But that’s not the case.

ANYone who is working online needs to be able to convert. Like a blogger who wants to build a strong personal brand, with an active readership and community. Yes, even if you are not directly selling anything to your readers…

Your conversion rate is something you always want to improve. From the opt-in conversion rate, to the conversion rate on a sales letter or affiliate promotion, higher conversions equal more profit. Period.

Getting people to take action – such as clicking a link in your tweet, subscribing to your list, or buying a product – is something you must master to make money online. So today I’m going to give you the 32 most powerful “conversion triggers” of all time. And I’m going to give it to you completely free, with no catch…

Download The 32 Most Powerful Conversion Triggers Of All Time

Before you dive in, let me back up and tell you how this brand new free resource came to life.

3 months ago I met a really cool and interesting marketer. We met at Yanik’s UG6 Seminar in Washington, DC and decided then and there that we would be working together. We weren’t sure on what exactly, just that we definitely would.

His name is Oliver Olsen and we simply hit it off. We spent hours brainstorming ideas and discussing our business models and long term goals. We have continued brainstorming via email & Skype since that weekend in DC, and my opinion has not changed. In fact, my gut feeling has been confirmed accurate – the man is brilliant.

This exclusive free report that teaches you how to increase your conversion rates, improve your influence with your target market, and shows you how to create loyalty and trust… is just the beginning of what you’ll be seeing from us.

You won’t find this report anywhere else online…

And we are giving it to you free!

I just read through the final draft myself, and I got a lot of creative ideas from each of the 32 “conversion triggers”. Everything from increasing the number of subscribers to my mailing lists, to (much) better ways to close a blog post (even when I’m not selling anything at all).

That was my biggest take-away from the report: the fact that conversion strategies are something I can use in more than just sales messages – they are something I can use to build or grow anything I am working on. Whether that be a podcast, a blog, a product, a following on Facebook or Twitter – you name it!

Converting visitors into buyers is the topic of a lot of questions I receive. A lot of people struggle with “asking for the sale”, or the best way to present a “call-to-action”.

Some worry that their marketing message will annoy readers. And done wrong, it often will. But done right, they will actually appreciate you and your offer.

There’s so much more I could say, but this report is free – and it’s a quick & easy read. So I’ll close now and let you get straight to it so you can read over it yourself.

Direct Download Link

After you read The 32 Most Powerful Conversion Triggers Of All Time leave a comment below and share your thoughts with us. I look forward to hearing your biggest take-away from the report.

Feel free to share this exclusive free report with your groups & friends!

Best,

p.s. Grab this free report now while you can, and then stay tuned – Oliver and I will be bringing you even more cool stuff in the near future!

I recently put out the word that I wanted to interview small business owners for an upcoming project, the Empire Building Kit.

These were the criteria: you had to net at least $50,000 a year with two or fewer employees, you had to be willing to talk about money in specific terms, you had to share your biggest mistakes as well as your greatest successes, and you couldn’t be a professional blogger.

(Obviously there’s nothing wrong with professional blogging — I just figure that bloggers get enough attention already. Besides, if you want to create a business, there are much easier models.)

I heard back from 300 people with all kinds of different backgrounds, but Lisa’s email stood out from the rest.

I have a dog-walking business in Minnesota. Can I contribute my story?

I’ll be honest: I didn’t think much of it at first. A dog-walker? Shouldn’t we be talking about affiliate marketing, information products, and Facebook ads?

Walking dogs around the park for cash isn’t really my thing, so I assumed I’d say no.

But then Lisa told me how much money she makes: $88,342 in 2009, and now on track for $105,000 in 2010.

That got my attention. She makes six figures as a dog-walker? Wow. Now that’s a story.

And in marketing, of course, story is everything. If you can build a real business around something you’re passionate about — in this case, Lisa loves dogs — I think that’s worth some attention.

Follow your passion? Yes . . . sort of

The thing about following your passion to the bank isn’t so much overrated as it is incomplete.

Finding a way to get paid for doing what you love is both feasible and sustainable. The trick is to construct a lifestyle business around something you’re passionate about that other people are willing to spend money on.

The difference is crucial: I can be passionate about eating pizza and playing video games, but so far I haven’t found anyone willing to pay me for it. Therefore, I have to orient my business not only around my own interests, but also around what other people are willing to pay for.

I built the rest of the Empire Building Kit around conversations and insights from people like Lisa. The photographer, the triathlon coach, the translator, the guy who makes baseball art, the murder mystery host, and so on.

You’ve probably never heard of most of them, but they’re doing very well doing something they love.

Last month I released the product on board a 44-hour Empire Builder train from Chicago to Portland. It was a huge success, with rave reviews from our inaugural group of emperors — and a freaked out merchant account that wanted to know why so many sales were rolling in.

Long story short, today I’m doing it again. It’s for 24-hours only, before I get on a plane and head overseas as part of my quest to visit every country in the world. If you’re interested in joining the inaugural group of new emperors, I’d love to have you on board.

All the details

The goal of the Empire Building Kit is to help people build a business in one year by doing one thing every day.

To that end, I’ve compiled a truckload of resources and hand-holding to make sure that happens. The Kit includes:

15+ Case Studies. From 300 initial respondents, I narrowed it down to more than 15 thriving emperors from at least as many different backgrounds. I asked for their stories, their secrets, what they wish they had known before they started.

The case studies come in a variety of formats: video interviews, MP3 files, PDFs, with complete transcripts. So you can get the most out of them no matter what your learning style.

365-step Email Series. You get one mini-lesson today, one tomorrow, and 363 more over the rest of the next year.

According to the folks at Aweber, it’s officially the longest follow-up series in their history. The key is: if you do one thing a day, it will be much easier than trying to do everything at once. But you also have to make sure you’re doing the right things, so we help with that too.

A 52-step Product Launch checklist. Even if you’re not launching from the “bloggers’ lounge” onboard an Amtrak train, something always goes wrong with a product launch.

Use this checklist to avoid big mistakes, and dramatically increase revenue. One step produces an average revenue increase of 30% every launch, no matter the price of the product. Another step ensures you can sleep at night by not screwing up the confirmation emails. And so on.

“Show Me the Money” module. All the details from behind the scenes of my own Unconventional Guides business. You’ll learn how much money each product brings in, where I’ve screwed up, where I hit it big, and so on.

Ok, so I could go on about all of that for a while. But what you really get is insight and context from people who have successfully cracked the code of following your passion. They all talk about money, they are all extremely candid, and they’re all real people doing fun things while getting paid.

Care to join Lisa and the rest of us? You can find out all about it right here, but it’s only available for 24 hours, ending Wednesday morning at 9am Pacific Time.

And if it’s not a good fit for you, of course, that’s fine too. Most importantly, I hope your business is as enjoyable as Lisa’s — and as enjoyable as mine.

About the Author: Chris Guillebeau travels the world and writes for a small army of remarkable people at chrisguillebeau.com. Follow his live updates from every country in the world at twitter.com/chrisguillebeau.

Every week I get a variety of questions about how to start an online business.

Most of them come from people who have heard about the opportunities online, and are struggling with all of the options and information out there. Just like this email I received from Rebecca…

I am trying to do too many things at once. I have been trying to learn it all to start an online business: Affililate marketing, article marketing, video marketing, creating and maintain a blog, etc. and really just going in circles.

My goal is to find ONE good method of creating an income from home similar to what you have done. The problem: Where to start. Most likely I need to scrap it all, and just start with a clean slate. Any suggestions as to a starting point? (Just one)

Thank you so much for your advice!
Rebecca

How To Start An Online Business

The proper way to start an online business, just like any kind of business, is to first decide which market you want to serve – and how you want to serve that market.

All of the other details will fall into place once you make that decision. Details such as your website model, business plan, marketing strategy, etc.

Most people start out backwards, trying to learn all of the models and strategies, without actually having a specific business idea in mind. You’re certainly not alone on that point, and it can be very overwhelming.

Especially when you don’t yet have a business to apply it to!

I have a personal rule when it comes to “learning”. I learn only what I need to know to accomplish what I am working on right now. And when I do study a method or strategy, I implement as I learn – on the spot.

My suggestion for your starting point is to choose a niche. Just one niche. Then decide how you are going to serve that market, or what your business model will be in that niche. Everything else will fall into place from there.

See How To Make Money Online – For Beginners for 10 simple steps to start a successful online business.

Click on the link above, read through my advice there, and then start with step one. Each step includes detailed instruction, with an opportunity to leave a comment or ask a question about that particular step.

Best,

p.s. You’re going to have even more questions along the way, and you may need technical help as well. Find a community you can get involved with where you can get feedback & resources, and ask questions. I run a community for online business owners and welcome you to join us there – even if you’re still just trying to figure out how to start an online business (yes, newbies are welcomed!).

While I was catching up on my email this weekend, I had a nice conversation with Ann Smarty of MyBlogGuest.com.

I’ve mentioned before that Guest Blogging is a great way to increase blog traffic, and also get quality inbound links that will help your pages rank better in the major search engines. It’s the easiest way to get targeted traffic.

Ann has created an online community to bring together bloggers who are looking for guest posts, and people who are interested in writing guest posts. You can search by category, tag, topic and specific offers…

It’s free, it’s super fast to get signed up, and within minutes you’ll be able to browse opportunities for fresh blog content – or for guest blogging opportunities.

The link is: http://myblogguest.com

I just signed up myself as I am always looking for cool new people & topics to bring to you here at ClickNewz, and also use guest blogging to increase traffic and improve my search engine rankings. There are a lot of great opportunities posted. Here’s just a snippet of what you’ll find inside:

As you can see there are writing opps for a women’s fitness blog, for tech writers, small business topics, etc. And this is just a sample – there are a variety of topics and niches covered in the network.

Of course, the more people that join and submit their requests, the more opportunities there will be! Check it out, let me know what you think, and share any other guest blogging networks you’ve discovered in the comments below.

Best,

Also See: How to Increase Blog Traffic – Fast!

-

After my last post, I received an email from Ralph with a question about how to sell products online as an affiliate – specifically physical products through networks like Commission Junction and Linkshare…

Lynn,
I read your wonderful post about the life of a super affiliate – It was great and I know you put in long hours and hard work to get to this stage.

Lynn, I am a newbie and would like to know when you promote affiliate products from LinkShare and Commission Junction – Do you build a landing/sales page and market it by writing articles with a link back to the landing page? I am trying to understand the best way to get started marketing physical products.

Thank you,
Ralph

Hi Ralph,

The process of selling anything online as an Affiliate is pretty simple. People get online to search for products, information, deals, to get help with their buying decision, etc. Your job as an Affiliate is to add value to that process.

First you have to figure out what your buyers are searching for, and where they are searching. Are they the type to ask peer groups for recommendations? Do they search on Google? Are they on Facebook or Twitter?

What are they asking and talking about online? The first place to start is with traditional search. You find out which keyword phrases your market is using, and you target those keyword phrases with your product recommendations.

How to Sell Products Online

What you’re asking is how you frame those recommendations, and how you set up the pages that have your affiliate link to the product(s) you want to sell.

The key is to look at each keyword phrase you are targeting, and come up with a strong message to market match for that search. Consider what they are really searching for, and how you can offer them the ideal solution. Are they looking for information, a specific solution to a problem, reviews/comparisons, pricing or deals?

Whatever they are searching for, specifically, that’s what you want to deliver.

It’s easiest to just ignore all the internet marketing terminology (landing page, mini site, authority site, flycatcher page, etc) and instead consider how you can best serve that market. This concept is easily lost if you get sidetracked by all of the buzz words and trends, but it’s the key to good conversion rates.

In the Affiliate Site Options post I shared some specific examples of various types of affiliate sites. Look those over to get a better idea of ways you can serve your market. Some of them are ecommerce-style sites that look more like an online store, but send the visitor to the merchant (via an affiliate link) to checkout and purchase the featured product. Others are blogs or informational sites that answer questions and lead into a call-to-action.

To answer your question more specifically, I don’t generally create a one-page promotion as an affiliate. I create a blog or website around a market or topic, and use that to recommend products. I never create an affiliate site around a specific product, but around the topic.

For example, instead creating an affiliate site around “brinkman grills” or “weber grills”, I might create an affiliate site like GrillDominator.com – which is currently available, by the way – that includes all grill types (gas, smoker, charcoal), reviews and comparisons, instructions & products needed to build your own grill, etc.

I prefer to build an authority site on a topic, and then make recommendations on the keyword level. Meaning each page of the site serves it’s own purpose, and leads the visitor into a specific call-to-action that matches the search that brought them there.

Article Marketing is something that I use for inbound links, often to specific pages on my affiliate site – which is called deep linking. It’s very effective, but it is just one of my marketing strategies in the overall marketing plan.

In the GrillDominator.com example I gave above, I would use grill recipes that get searched frequently as content for my articles. They are informational searches (vs commercial searches) but highly relevant to the site topic… and so great for a source of quality inbound links.

The more we talk about it, the more complicated it sounds. But it really just boils down to common sense marketing, and figuring out how you can best serve your market. Get in the shoes of your ideal visitor every time you analyze a keyword phrase. Consider what you would be looking for if you were searching that phrase yourself – and create that. Your market will thank you for it. Everyone is sick of wading through junk to get to the results they’re actually looking for…

I hope this answers your question. If not, or you have more questions, feel free to ask below. That goes for anyone reading along, of course.

Best,

When you write a post for your blog, your headline is the last thing you should be thinking about.

OK, I realize this is Copyblogger heresy.

There’s a lot of emphasis on writing a good headline. Hell, I’ve written posts about how to write an eye-grabbing title myself. Brian wrote an entire series on headlines (including a post on why you should always write your headline first), and he’s been known to come up with some pretty catchy ones.

But while crafting a good headline is critical to getting people to read a blog post, open the email, or get past the headline to the copy, it’s actually the last thing you should be thinking about when you first sit down to write.

Who’s your audience?

Get this wrong and you can mess up a lot of potentially awesome headlines.

Your headline could fit the perfection checklist to a T. It could be a list with a number. It could have action words. It could be creative, intriguing, ask a question, be a little crazy, hint at a secret. But if it isn’t written for the right audience, you’re screwed.

5 Powerful Headlines that Get You All the Chicks — and How to Write Them

That’s a pretty decent headline right there. But if the majority of your audience is work-from-home mothers, that headline isn’t going to get you as far as it would if you were writing for an audience of straight single men.

Know who your audience is, and know what kind of language appeals to them. Lexi Rodrigo wrote a post not too long ago about feminine words that sell. There were plenty of responses to that post in the comment section, some of them from women saying which words wouldn’t necessarily appeal to them, and why.

You have to get in the brain of your audience, and you have to know the words that work for them.

There are no short cuts. It’s not just about appealing to women or men — the question is, which women or men. You have to figure out your precise audience, and you have to write directly to the way those specific people are feeling when they read your post.

What do you want them to do?

If your blog attracts new customers and enthusiasts, then every single post you write should let your audience know what you want from them.

Now hang on there — before you run away because you run a strictly informational, no-sales blog, we’re talking to you too.

Even if you have no intention of getting sales from your blog, you still want your readers to do something.

You want them to think about what you’ve written. You want them to feel something. You want them to take some sort of action. You want them to comment. You want them to get into conversations with other people. You want them to follow you on Twitter or friend you on Facebook.

You want all kinds of stuff. And yeah, sometimes you even want sales. But before you scribble down that headline and start writing, you need to know what you want. Then you need to leverage your headline to make sure you get it.

What are you going to give them?

Brian recommends writing your blog title before you write the post, and I agree with that as a general rule. Writing down your headline reminds you of what the focus of your post is supposed to be.

But even if you haven’t written the post yet, you still need to know what you’re going to be writing about. This makes logical sense — and oddly, a lot of people don’t seem to think about it.

They say they’re going to offer you “10 Secrets of Copywriting” and they write that headline down, but what they end up writing about is common knowledge on every marketing blog out there.

If your title is going to be about secrets, you need to be prepared to write about secrets. If you’re only prepared to write about what someone already knows, then you’re not going to be able to deliver on the promise of your title.

Before you write your headline, you need to know you’ll back up the promise it’s making.

All right, then. Have you thought about all that? Good. Now you’re ready to tackle the last thing you need to think about:

What’s your headline going to be?

Your headline might need to be last on your task list, but last doesn’t mean least important. Often, it means just the opposite.

How about you? What else do you think people need to do before they get to their headlines?

About the Author: James Chartrand is the copywriter setting your business priorities in the right order. Check out Men with Pens for more tips, tricks and techniques on how to write better blog posts, or better yet, sign up for the Men with Pens RSS feed right here.

I recently came across blogger and copywriter Ryan Healy, and really enjoyed his blog. I took the liberty of sending him an email with a few questions, and what follows are Ryan’s responses…

Hear Ryan’s top 3 tips for growing your online business, and why copywriting is an important skill for all bloggers to learn!

Hi Ryan! You have an impressive history of working online as a copywriter for the last 8 years. What was it that inspired your transition to working online?

When I went freelance back in 2005, I had already been doing a lot of online marketing for the company I worked for. Plus, online advertising was exploding. So it seemed to make the most sense to focus on helping online businesses to improve their marketing.

Of course, I’ve been fortunate to have been involved with a few off-line projects as well. But to this day most of my work is online.

In addition to being a highly referred Direct Response Copywriter, you’re also known as a Business Growth Expert. Do you focus mainly on the growth of online business?

Yes. I help online businesses get more sales from their current advertising efforts. If they’re making 1 sale for every 200 visitors, I want to help them make 2 or 3 sales from the same volume of traffic.

Most times I’m hired to write a direct response sales letter. Sometimes I’m hired to do a copy critique or write emails or run some split-tests. Every situation is unique.

I’ve also helped a few off-line businesses in the sense that they generate leads online and close them off-line. Or vice versa: They generate the lead off-line (through direct mail or space ads), then bring them online.

With every year that passes it becomes harder to define businesses strictly in terms of “online” or “off-line.” Many businesses choose a hybrid approach. And why not? There’s money to be made in both places, and it’s silly to cut off one or the other “just because.”

What 3 tips would you share with ClickNewz readers to help them grow or improve their online business?

Only three?? Just kidding.

Here are three tips that come to mind…

Improve Your Online Business Tip #1:
Master the Execution of Fundamentals

The fundamentals of building and growing an online business never change. The basic formula is:

Targeted Traffic + Conversion + Remarkable Product = Sustainable Online Business

What have you done today to get more targeted traffic to your site? What have you done today to improve your conversion rate? What have you done today to make your product better?

You don’t necessarily have to tackle all three areas in a single day. But I believe you should be doing one of these things every single working day.

It’s work — but it works.

Improve Your Online Business Tip #2:
Automate What Can Be Automated

If you were a door-to-door salesman, you’d have to knock on dozens of doors every single day to have even a fighting chance at earning a living. This is not something you could automate. You’d have to do it yourself.

One of the advantages of running an online business is that many sales functions and even fulfillment functions can be automated.

For instance: You can load up an autoresponder sequence with quality content and a few sales messages mixed in. The emails will be sent out automatically on the schedule you determine.

Surely I’m not telling you anything new. Most people who’ve been online for more than a couple months understand the importance of an autoresponder sequence. And yet very few people actually build out their follow-up sequence like they know they should.

This gets back to Tip #1. You need to become an expert at execution.

Here are a few things that can be automated: follow-up emails, opt-in processes, delivery of electronic products, delivery of physical products, etc.

If you begin to automate your business, you get to do the work once and then enjoy the fruits of that labor for a long time. (There is almost always a degree of ongoing maintenance involved, but it’s minimal compared to the initial work.)

Somebody will point out: “But Ryan, you’re a copywriter! You’re just trading hours for dollars!”

Point taken. And it’s something I continue to work on: Shifting my income away from activities that pay only once and toward activities that generate income for the long-term.

Improve Your Online Business Tip #3:
Avoid Unnecessary Distractions

There are a million and one things demanding your attention when you’re online.

There are emails, Facebook updates, news alerts, RSS feeds, tweets, etc. If you’re not careful, an entire day can flash by — without you getting a single thing done to advance or improve your online business.

So whereas the first two tips I shared were “offensive,” this one is “defensive.” It’s imperative that you stay focused and cut out unnecessary distractions.

Do you have email alerts turned on? Turn them off. Does Tweetdeck run in the background alerting you to every new tweet? Turn it off.

Half the battle is usually just managing and controlling the tyranny of the urgent-yet-unimportant things that crop up every day.

Do you feel copywriting is important to bloggers, since they don’t create products & sales letters?

Absolutely! After all, every blog post title has to “sell” people on taking the time to read what follows.

(I’ve actually studied the most popular posts on my blog and on other people’s blogs and have made some interesting discoveries, particularly about blog post titles.)

One commonality among all top bloggers is their ability to write well and be entertaining. Too many blogs have no life in them, no passion. They just bore me (and everybody else) to tears.

Plus, there’s much to be said for learning how to engage people. By studying copywriting, you can learn a lot about how to capture people’s attention and engage them — both important skills for bloggers.

You offer a Free 39-Point Copywriting Checklist on your blog. Who is this checklist best suited for, and can you tell us what to expect from the download?

The check list is specifically designed for people who are selling things online. But affiliate marketers and bloggers can pick up a few good ideas as well.

When you get the check list, you’ll see that each item is phrased as a question. And there is a check box next to it. After you read the question, you can then check it off if it is complete.

For instance, the first question is, “Does your headline enter the conversation that’s already happening in your prospect’s mind?” There’s a check box to the left of the question so you can check it off.

There are 38 more questions like this. And while there isn’t a precise order, the check list is organized so that things you should think about first are at the top, and things you should think about later are at the bottom.

The 39-Point Copywriting Checklist is available for free (with opt-in). Or feel free to simply peruse the 200+ free articles on my business growth and copywriting blog.

Ryan M. Healy

“““““““““
TELEPHONE:
Open call-in hours 2-4 p.m. MST,
Monday-Thursday: 720-344-7788

“““““““““
WEB SITES:
Blog – http://www.RyanHealy.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/healymonster
Copywriting – http://www.CopywritingCode.com

Ever found your eyes glazing over when you read through your own copy or blog posts?

I hate to break it to you, but a lot of the products, services, or niches that we write about just aren’t that thrilling. Although the finer points of search engine optimization might keep you glued to your screen, most of your clients or blog readers aren’t feeling the excitement.

So what can you do?

You bring in a register which deals with excitement: the heroic. We’ve all read advertisements encouraging us to “win the battle” with our email, or our paperwork, or our tendency to procrastinate. They grab our interest by making a frankly unexciting activity sound like a heroic quest.

The use of heroic language in decidedly non-heroic contexts isn’t anything new. Poets have been doing it for centuries, though generally in a satirical context (if you’re interested, Alexander Pope is a great example of the mock-heroic with The Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad).

You can definitely still use heroic language for comic effect. (It’s possible to do this unintentionally, too, by going over the top in your copy.) But the heroic is a powerful way to tap into our need for drama, for excitement, for a story, a quest . . . and a hero your reader can identify with.

So how do you do it?

Heroic Words Work

Certain words can turn dry topics – like writing, personal finance, small business and marketing – into something that makes you feel a frisson of excitement. You can almost hear the rallying notes of a battle horn, and see the sun glinting from swords. A few favorite heroic words are:

“Battle”

(Writers seem especially fond of this one: I think we just like to make our struggles sound more exciting than they really are…)

• “I have had my battles with writer’s block.” from Writer’s Block … A Thing of the Past
• Also see Battling Blogger’s Block on Problogger

“Dragon”

• “You can think of each project like being sent on a big quest to slay a dragon. Your client is the king of the realm. The project is the dragon threatening his kingdom. You go out and slay that dragon, and the client will give you a nifty monetary reward. You fail, and so does his kingdom, and he is justifiably pissed” from The Dragons of Writing and How to Fight Them on Men with Pens

“Enemy” / “Nemesis”

• “Blogger’s block is the arch nemesis of productivity” in 10 Simple Productivity Tips for Bloggers on Daily Blog Tips
• “When it comes to taking payment from international clients, your number one enemy is processing fees” from Taking Payment with PayPal, Escrow and Other Online Options on Freelance Switch

“Fight”

• See Grow Up, Green Up: How to Fight the Impulse Purchase on Dumb Little Man
• “When you feel as if your head’s underwater, don’t wait to drown. Kick and thrash like a motherf*cker. Fight like your life depended on it.” from Johnny Talks about Motivation on IttyBiz

“Quest”

• “Has your quest for project efficiency ever led you to rely on outdated tools and methods?” in Why Every Freelancer Should Slow Down and Brainstorm on Freelance Folder

“Treasure”

• “Your library website and departmental webpages should help you find the treasure,” in Research via Google alone: Are you crazy or just lazy? on The University Blog

“War”

• “Having one day can give you the space to zoom outside of the war zone” in 10 Lesser Known Ways to Increase Productivity on Pick the Brain

Metaphor, Hyperbole, and Overkill

Heroic language can become a running metaphor when you theme the entire post around it – see Taylor’s The Dragons of Writing and How to Fight Them series on Men With Pens. Like using pop culture references, this gives you a hook to hang your post (or series) on, and potentially a structure.

Heroic language can also be used as hyperbole, to set a powerful tone. Some writers can pull this off well, but for others, it’s too aggressive. Dave Navarro uses it to great effect in How To Kick That Habit’s Ass (When It’s Been Beating Yours) on Rock Your Day – just look at these excerpts:

“You get knocked down, punched out, kicked to the curb, beaten to a pulp … hell, pardon my French, but you get your frigging ass kicked emotionally and psychologically, big time.”

“It All Starts With Declaring One Word: War.”

“Finally, build your battle plan…”

But for some bloggers, that’s too much, and would be jarring for readers. (Can you imagine gentle, pink-haired Sonia Simone writing like that?) If in doubt, go sparingly. Try using heroic language for a punchy introduction and conclusion to your post, and ease up in the middle.

Take Up Your Sword Pen

Heroic language combines exaggeration with metaphor – both powerful tools for grabbing attention. If you have sales copy which seems a little bland, why not add a touch of the heroic?

• “Solve Email Problems” becomes “Battle Your Email Overload”
• “Stop Procrastinating” becomes “Defeat Procrastination”
• “Advice to Help You Do Better” becomes “Advice to Help You Win”
• “Ditch Your Bad Habits” becomes “Conquer Your Bad Habits”

If you’ve got a blog on a topic that’s not inherently gripping (productivity, personal finance, writing, small business marketing, habit-breaking), introduce some of the heroic words. Make it a quest, not a project. Look for treasure, not results.

Let your readers, prospects, and customers be the heroes while you help them solve their problems.

About the Author: Conqueror of the keyboard, battler with the blank screen, Ali is a hired wordsmith for several blogs, as well as writing for her own Aliventures.

@BarbraSundquist: How do I keep track of and make the best of all the programs that I am an affiliate for?

Hi Barbara – Great question!

Everyone does this differently, so I’ll share how I organize things myself and also some different options to consider.

Being a Super Affiliate, I am usually promoting 20-30 (minimum) different merchants or products in any given month.

And the programs, and number of programs vary from month to month, too.

That really adds up to a lot of log-in pages, passwords, emails, offers, stats and links to manage & keep up with over time!

Let me start by saying that my system may not work for you. We all operate differently, so it’s important to create a system of organizing your affiliate marketing data in a way that works best for you. I have tried to use recommended methods & systems in the past, but found they didn’t work with my personal style.

You might actually be surprised at how simple my method is for keeping the data organized. I like simple. Less is better in my book.

There are 4 main things that I keep up with…

Affiliate Log-in Pages & Passwords

Every time I sign up for a new affiliate program, I do two things: bookmark the log-in page in a dedicated bookmark folder, and file the welcome email that contains my log-in details in a special folder in my inbox.

My inbox is organized with filters and folders. I have a main folder for Affiliate Marketing, and sub-folders for affiliate programs I work with regularly.

The reason I use my inbox to store and manage my log-ins is because 1) it is backed up regularly by Mozy, and 2) it has a handy dandy search feature for easily finding anything I need.

Some people use spreadsheets or index cards to organize this type of information. Personally I think that creates an extra step (that I’m likely to forget to do), plus it creates an extra file to keep up with – and my inbox is already open.

Also, I mentioned Mozy – they will also backup spreadsheets if you prefer to use them, but anything offline is subject to loss unless you store it off-site. Consider a house fire. With Mozy you could grab a laptop from Wal-Mart and restore your data – and be back in business from any location in a matter of hours.

When it comes time to check my stats, I simply go to my browser’s bookmarks and click on the Affiliate folder and it shows me every single affiliate log-in page. I can then go through them each and log in to check stats. Very simple.

Bookmarks are also backed up regularly, and they are easy to transfer from one computer or browser to another. I often have my bookmarks file on a USB stick in my bag so I can access things anywhere.

If I need a password (me, or my computer, forgot one) I just go to my inbox and run a search on the Affiliate folder and have it in a matter of seconds.

Special Offers & Current Promotions

I like to stay on top of these as some of the promotions, coupon codes or offers are time sensitive. I allow these to come into my main inbox instead of filtering them straight into the Affiliate folder automatically.

I usually do a quick scan first thing in the morning to see if there’s anything I want to share right away. If so, I’ll compose a blog post or a mailing on the spot – and then file the email in the Affiliate email folder after. I also have a sub-folder for offers I might want to come back to later instead.

Timing can be everything. Be first, or at least be fast. Get the word out, because special deals and brand new products are a great way to serve your target market.

Affiliate Commissions

Many merchants will send commission notifications every time you make a sale. I filter these emails automatically into a sub-folder for commissions. Unlike offers and promotions, this is not something I need to be distracted with in my main inbox.

I often check on my commissions throughout the month to manage my promotions, but at the end of the month I sit down to reconcile my earnings. I use a regular college ruled notebook for this, but a spreadsheet would be a great option too – probably a better option, even. I just happen to be old school -lol.

My notebook is set up as one page per month, and is a detailed list of each program or merchant and the total commissions earned that month. I keep two things at the top right of the page: monthly earnings, and YTD earnings.

This is important to me as I am constantly working towards specific financial goals. I can usually get a YTD figure within half an hour at any time.

I can also match payments easily as they come in, either via PayPal or by check. This lets me know at a glance if a payment is missing or I need to follow up with a particular merchant. Not getting paid affiliate commissions is rare, but I don’t let those rare cases go untended.

Your Promotions and Stats

I don’t really have a super-organized way of keeping up with every single page, promotion, keyword phrase or blog post that I have floating out there. For this I use the memory method. This is something you might want to keep a spreadsheet for as well, but I’m not quite that organized. That said, I have a pretty good memory when it comes to money matters *grin*.

At the first of each month, I sit down to analyze site stats for each of my niche affiliate sites. I look over keyword phrases, rankings, incoming links, referring sites, etc and get a feel for how well things are going and what/where I need to make improvements.

I check in on stats throughout the month, same as affiliate commissions, but it’s sitting down with it all at the end of each month that really gives me the birds eye view of the prior month. I use that data to map out the month ahead.

As I said, very simple. You could easily go overboard on the organization end of it all, but that would leave less time for the actual promotions. I prefer to be out there creating pages, getting rankings and making sales!

How do YOU keep your affiliate marketing data organized? We want to know! Leave a comment below

Best,

p.s. Rosalind Gardner mentions an Affiliate Organizer software in her Super Affiliate Handbook. I will get a copy of that software and give it a proper review for you. Stay tuned for that – I’ll let you know how it goes!