Internet Marketing tips and sales copywriting advice from Chris Garrett to help you launch your products, generate more quality leads, and convert more visitors into long term, loyal customers.
Yesterday I asked you to answer my “The Cluetrain Manifesto” poll, here are the results: The question was based on a quick question I posted on Twitter. I have been thinking about this book and its impact on the web and social media concepts we take for granted. As you can see from the chart…
Just under 10 years ago a website then book was released called The Cluetrain Manifesto. I did a quickie poll on Twitter and found around half of people questioned had heard of it. Today I want to repeat the experiment here. {democracy:10} You will find out why I am asking later in a full article….
Yesterday I wrote about how you can identify your Sneezers and Linkerati. Essentially these people are incredibly valuable to you because they are your advocates. They spread your message, defend your honor and if you do a good enough job of nurturing them, become your all-round raving fans. How do you grow your readers from…
It might seem a strange question to ask. Especially coming from a blogger. But really, do you know where your audience hangs out? Yesterday I had two emails in reaction to my business blogging series where people were having problems that could be solved much more easily if they did a small amount of market…
As blog consultants job is as much about listening as it is advising. A complaint people often grumble about is why do some people find it easy to get exposure, while other people have far better work but get overlooked. It’s the same in all walks of life. Some people naturally attract attention, even when…
photo credit: Gaspa Teaching Sells was already excellent value but I just heard yesterday that you can sign up now for $1! If you were thinking of trying before but didn’t make the leap you should get in now before they put the price back up. Why on earth would they give you all that…
People are irrational animals. There are a lot of scientists who believe we don’t even have free will. An (otherwise objectionable) writer once cleverly referred to humans as “moist robots” because we merely react to our programming and stimulus. Is it any surprise then other moist robots’ decisions confuse the heck out of us? The…
Knowing your audience inside out is a critical part of blog success. If you do not know who your reader is and what they need, how can you possibly delight them? Your blog has to be for your reader first and you second. Yes, before anyone comments, there are notable successes with huge audiences who…
Yet again there is another traffic exchange doing the rounds with widgets appearing on blog sidebars. Of course people are asking if they should join in. Here is my advice … Is it really free? – OK, in most cases you don’t actually pay money to be a part of it, but in return for…
In the past week I have been interviewed again a couple of times. Some common questions are starting to come up. It seems that there are a couple of things people know about me. Authority Blogger Flagship Content This pleases me no end. Why? Because these are precisely the things I want to spread! So…
Attention Age Doctrine is a free report from Rich Schefren. I am sure I won’t be the only person you hear about this from. In fact I heard about it myself from Yaro. So why am I telling you about it? It’s free – Even though you can be sure Rich isn’t giving it away…
Branding and positioning change the marketplace, alter the rules of blogging, and branding your blog is essential if you want it to take off.
Twitter is a social site based around the idea of 140 character messages, but it has grown to be much more than that. My relationship with Twitter has mutated over time. My opinion of the service has ranged from true believer, skeptic, objective critic, right up to now which I would describe as “cautious optimist“….
A couple of times this week I have seen great stories get buried on Digg. It happens and it sucks. The thing is we all tend to think our own story is worthy of getting votes. But in many cases I think the people who complain about getting buried the most secretly know they were…
Aaron has a great post about PR agencies in the social media / web 2.o space. Worth a read, if only for the Office Space inspired giggle. Reading this made my brain connect what Aaron had written with a thought I had been having all morning about authenticity. The attraction of blogging and social marketing…
Often clients assume I am always going to recommend blogging but that is simply not the case. I am not going to push blogs as the magic bullet solution because as you know, blogging does not suit every company or individual. In most cases the decision is down to: Will a blog provide significant benefit…
So you will do-doubt have noticed Darren Gave Away $60,000 of Prizes in a Week. You can already see Darrens conclusions, but after reading his list I had a thought I want to share and get your opinion on. The Problogger give-away was a big success I am sure, and Darren has learned a great…
Do you spend a lot of time obsessing about the technical side of what we do? I am here to tell you the technical side, while important, is NOT your priority.
How Do I Increase Traffic to My Blog? What can I do to get more visitors? How should you promote your articles?
One of the great things about the internet is the fact you can connect with people from all around the world with diverse backgrounds and interests. In fact I think technology has followed a very human drive for connecting, when techies connected computers together they were really connecting people. Only yesterday I was telling someone…
Since I wrote about how bloggers make money I have had three different people asking about the controversial topic of paid links. I know from past experience when one or two people ask there are usually many more people who are interested, so here are my thoughts and a small poll to see how you…
I consider myself a pretty clued up geek but since my Social Media Marketing roundup I have been learning loads about my favourite social media internet tools. One new find for me that I am quite interested in is the discovery on CornwallSEO that you can send your Stumbleupon pages to your friends If you…
Social Media seems to be quite a popular topic, you guys seemingly had no problems submitting your social media links. Thanks to all who submitted and for anyone who did not get featured, please try on the next one, better luck next time! So What Is Social Media? The main problem seemed to be from…
I have just been going through and editing the Social Media Roundup for tomorrow (submissions closed by the way). As part of the process I have gone through the major social media sites for insights. One thing that is common to almost all of them struck me as missing from Facebook. What is it? Discoverability….
In my last post I asked “Does Your Site Frighten Readers Away?“. When you think about websites that attract or distract, what do you think of? Imagine if your website or blog was as friendly as one of these … Take a good look at the picture above. What do you see? Consider what the…
When someone arrives at your website, be it a corporate site, personal site, or blog, they have a couple of questions on their mind: Where am I? What is there to see/do? Why should I care? Many times a potential reader will have these additional thoughts: Woah, what is this guy talking about? This looks…
There are still people who believe the “build it and they will come” idea. That all you need is great content. Unfortunately it is not true. Look at the examples they provide and you will see what I mean. I challenge anyone to come up with an example of content that required zero promotion. There…
Branding, love it or hate it, try to ignore it, or embrace it, it’s there and we have to deal with it. Every part of our blogging, professional and personal lives is impacted by what we do, what people say about us, the brand we create. Below are some of the best links I was…
How do you know when your brand is successful? A successful brand comes in two parts: Recognition Feelings While those two properties are powerful, they are also imprecise enough to be frustrating for many people. How do you quantify feelings? How important is recognition? Recognition can be achieved simply enough. Repeated interactions with consistency. Just…
Body Language, or Non-Verbal Communication, is the majority of communication. Never more so than online. OK, if you publish video or you are a podcaster you have more expressive possibilities. For the rest of us though we have to be more careful to put across what we mean, who we are, our brand. Your blog…
Branding is about being memorable. It’s about staking a claim to a specific part of your prospects brain and putting up a little white picket fence around it. In the last post of this series we looked at finding your uniqueness, in this one let’s look at a simple way you can stand out. Your…
Branding exists in the mind of your prospects and customers. It is not about what you say, it is what they experience and remember. Branding is how people feel. Brands make promises. Branding is what people think of when they hear, see, touch, smell. Your brand “means” what they think it means, not what you…
Online advertising should be your best bet in terms of confidence. There is little you don’t know about performance of internet advertising campaigns. No hoops to jump through here, everything you need to know should be automated and available. So why is it people waste their advertising budget on no-hoper campaigns that generate lots of…
Why have I selected Aweber as my newsletter software over the free service from FeedBurner or FeedBlitz? I have thought a fair bit about this before taking the plunge, particularly because making a choice between fee and free is never easy for someone with a tight budget! Perhaps my thinking might help someone else who…
This post was created and queued for later viewing. As I write this I have just quietly launched a small experiment. In a news roundup post I have slyly tucked away a link to an email newsletter signup form. Yes, you read correctly, I have launched an email newsletter. I have no way of knowing…
Last night I had the rare treat of going out to a gig. I don’t go out much so that might have been treat enough but it was an especially enjoyable night because this was one of my favourite bands, Marillion. You might not have heard of them, especially if you are under a certain…
Authority blogs are not easy to create or grow, so why choose this way over seemingly easier types of websites and blogging?
Since my limitations post yesterday I have had a couple of people ask me how they can blog about their work without breaking confidences or getting fired. Writing on your blog is not gossip. While you could get plenty of traffic from your industry by spreading juicy titbits about your competitors and colleagues you will…
I have had this discussion before. You might remember it. Let me try again. “All you need is good content. Content is king. Write good stuff and the visitors will come” “Ugly sells” “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. Yeah, right. We think we buy products but what do we actually buy? Packaging. Promotion….