Top Misc Content on Internet

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• Writing Articles Online: Boost Your Business Reach
• Content Writing in India
• Article Writing Service: How to Create Interesting Articles
• Freelance Content Writer for Health Articles and Medical Articles
• Benefits You Get When Using Article Writing Service
• The Purpose of Article Writing Service
• Fancy a visit to Georgetown, TX? Check out the brochure...
• Employee Feedback Questions
• Employee Incentive Programs Pros and Cons
• How to Write a Resume for a Staff Accountant
• Best Self Employed Jobs
• How to Raise Money for Cancer Patients
• Notice of Intent to Vacate
• How to Become a Pediatric Dental Hygienist
• Best Short Term Investments for 2011
• Investing in Silver and Gold
• How to Delegate Effectively
• Performance Reviews for Managers
• Online Jobs for Students Without Investment
• Workplace Health and Safety Messages
• CIO Salary
• What Makes a Good Executive Assistant
• Organizational Skills Interview Questions
• Organizing Sports Events at Work
• Different Leadership Styles in Business
• Medical Receptionist Salary
• Financial Planning for Women
• The Art of Enchanting Online Marketing
• How to Create Online Content Like an Immortal Renaissance Artist
• 4 Ways to Keep Your Lifeless Blog from Boring Your Readers to Tears
• How to Consistently Attract High-Quality Traffic to Your Site
• 5 Crippling Beliefs That Keep Writers Penniless and Mired in Mediocrity

Writing Articles Online: Boost Your Business Reach Posted: 07 Mar 2011 03:45 PM PST Writing articles online redefines the Internet in terms of business and personal success. Website owners knew that without quality content, visitors are hard to come by. On the other hand, a writer realized that he could make a substantial income by writing articles. If you notice, it’s a win-win situation. The site owner gets what he wants, and the writer is compensated for the job well done. Writing articles online takes time, lots of time. It is a downright draining activity. Some writers even suffer the “writer’s block,” a common occurrence that even the most experienced writers suffer from time to time. Anyone who has the knowledge in Internet Marketing is eligible to become a writer. A degree in English will come in handy, nonetheless not compulsory. As long as someone has the right attitude and skills to create informative and compelling articles, he’s in. Good writers are like 5 star chefs in the online arena. Their articles will stay for many years bringing more traffic and sales leads to the site. Site owners must be able to quantify how the articles are benefiting them and then try to duplicate for even more satisfying results. When people are looking for something on the Internet, they search for it using keywords in their favorite search engines like Google. Internet Marketers collect these keywords and use them to optimize their sites. These keywords are the very essence of a site’s success, which is why in creating articles the first three words should focus on the target keyword to increase the success rate. However, submitting and posting articles is not enough. Although search engines will still index them, often times they just end up deeply buried in the search results list. The remedy is to make sure that the keywords are strategically placed in the body of the article. Not putting too much or it becomes keyword stuffing. By the way, keyword stuffing is the overuse of the target keywords all over the article. Avoid keyword stuffing at all cost as this raises the red flag and your site could be penalized for doing such tricks. A 3% density is fair enough to tell the search engines what you are trying to say in your article. Writers for hire know that writing articles online require more than just writing but a thorough research as well. This is the nitty-gritty in creating informative content. Website owners must be aware that using quality content will ensure steady downpour of qualified traffic to their online business. Do you need articles to promote your site or affiliate products? Let our cheap article writers help you with that. Start making money instead of spending by outsourcing your needs to our cheap article writing service. Visit us today @ http://www.content-graphics.com for more info.

Content Writing in India Posted: 02 Mar 2011 09:49 PM PST According to a recent research, content writing in India is found to be one of the most popular industries. Moreover, there is a huge demand of content writers in the web world, as it is one of the major factors to increase the profit of any organization. A quality web content writing can help your product to reach maximum number of customers on the internet. It is one of the important decisions to select a high-quality content writing company for your website, which can provide you the better services, and the following measures can help you to choose the best service provider: Result Oriented: There are many service organizations in the content writing field, which make big promises, but there are very few of them, who offer guarantees. Therefore, the service provider should be able to deliver the positive results in a limited period. Customer Services: It is necessary for your service provider to have a quality customer service, which can facilitate you to obtain the information about the current level of your website on the internet. Experience: You need to look for the experienced service providers for the best content writing, which helps your web application to grow faster. In case you are taking services from any newly opened company, then make sure that they do have a team of qualified content writers. Long Term Relationship: Your content writing service provider should look for a long-term relationship with you by not charging very heavy amount for the content writing. So, the next time whenever you would be looking for the best service provider for your content, try to remember the above-mentioned guidelines.

Article Writing Service: How to Create Interesting Articles Posted: 02 Mar 2011 04:04 PM PST Many online companies these days (and even blog publishers) have come to realize that it’s a whole lot better (and cheaper) to outsource their content requirements to article writing service than to maintain in-house writers or write the articles themselves. Apparently, writing is not as easy as it seems. Not only that you need quicker hands when typing, you also need to understand the entirety of the Internet and the different types of audience you need to cater. Quality articles are hard to come by these days. Sometimes, you will have to pay a substantial amount to get it. With that said, below are some of the tips how to write quality articles (if you choose to write your own articles) or what to expect from a content provider. Make a draft. You either do it inside your head or jot down your ideas, doesn’t matter. Following these points will guarantee a smooth transition of your thoughts in between the lines. The majority of today’s article writing service providers use a specific article writing format. The one popular being the topic introduced first, progresses to the body of the article, and then summarizes the whole idea towards the end. Don’t be afraid to test your own ways of writing articles. Keep the content light and in a conversational mood. Avoid using complicated terms or jargons that you alone understand. But then again, this only applies to websites categorized as general. Obviously, if you were into rocket science or Biology, this tip wouldn’t apply. In general, you should avoid using too technical phrases and always try to explain things in layman’s terms. After all, content writing service is all about throwing content to your target audience with a precise balance of information and grace. Avoid looking like a textbook. Tons of websites are already doing that. Understand your readers. Don’t use confusing terms but focus on how to deliver the information by using appropriate language and tone. If they believe you are being a good source, you’ll soon reap all the benefits. Don’t forget to enhance your articles by using punctuations, bullets, and whatnot. Balance your thoughts by not using too long or too short phrases. If you harvested certain ideas somewhere else, don’t forget to cite them as your references. This will add value to your content. In addition, it’s best to use examples, especially if you are writing confusing topics. Crisp, easy to read, and informative articles are what your readers are looking for.

Freelance Content Writer for Health Articles and Medical Articles Posted: 02 Mar 2011 12:00 AM PST A freelance content writer or content writer for health and medical articles mean the same. It speaks about the writer who specializes in medical articles and health articles. Unlike other niche subjects like finance and product reviews, health and medical content articles stand apart and the information there is taken quite seriously. It is therefore, most of the webmasters prefer medical domain expert, health care provider or a doctor as content writer for health articles and medical articles. When webmasters hire content writer for medical articles and health articles, they are pretty sure about the information and content for healthcare and medical condition. Written by professional health doctor, medical articles carry unique information in a simple language that a layperson (a reader or netizen) can understand without opening the dictionary! Content writer for health articles and medical articles can be found on internet. Or you can simply search tricky terms to get qualified and experienced content writer for health articles. The search term may include… 1. Content writer for health articles 2. Content writer for medical articles 3. Freelance writer for health articles 4. Freelance writer for medical articles 5. Health and Medical article writer 6. Doctor for writing medical and health content 7. Health and Medical content writer 8. Medical domain expert for health and medical articles. These are just examples that you can try to get content writer for your website based on medical field or healthcare niche. Specifically, you can ask SEO friendly medical articles or SEO friendly health articles for diet, weight loss (obesity), acne, pimples, diabetes, breast enlargement, penis enlargement and other health and medical ailments, diseases or conditions.

Benefits You Get When Using Article Writing Service Posted: 01 Mar 2011 09:32 PM PST Benefits You Get When Using Article Writing Service What if you have an online business and you want to reach your customers. How will you do that? Unlike conventional stores wherein you can distribute flyers, brochures, or business cards, online stores are different. Although it’s still possible to distribute flyers, brochures, or business cards, but how are you going to do that if the target market is another country. The best way to do that is to have an article written specifically for that particular product or service and then submit that article to article directory sites. Overtime, this will build back-link into your site where you have this product or services advertised. In other words, if you want to succeed in your online business, article writing service is the way to go. Once you have enough backlinks and your site is already visible in the search engines results page, you will experience a dramatic increase of your visitors. People will start calling you, inquiring about your services or knocking at your door wanting to buy your cheesecakes. These are just a few of the many possibilities a well-written article brings to your business. Know what your visitors are looking for. If you can give what they want, they’ll become your avid fan and visit your site or blog regularly. Keep the articles interesting. If they enjoy reading it, they’ll come back. And when they do that, your website traffic increases. If writing articles is not your cup of tea, you can also opt to hire SEO article writers to write on your behalf. It’s called outsourcing and successful businesses do this all the time. You can’t write and manage your business at the same time. Ask yourself. How much is your time’s worth? Can you afford to sit for hours writing articles when you can outsource them easily? This is where article writing service comes to play. Outsourcing is a new way to deal with an online business. Yes, a one-man show might do the trick, but for how long. If you are already making this much, outsourcing will double or triple your income because you can now focus on things that matter to you. This is the reason why finding professional article writer will save not just your time and effort, but money as well. Keep in mind that a good professional writer doesn’t have to cost you a fortune. As we speak, thousands of website owners are hiring professional article writers to create interesting articles for their websites. They have finally realized that spending money to hire writers have actually increased their bottom line at the same time. The returns of investments are just phenomenal. When you are out there looking for an article writing service, always chase for the quality of the articles. This is important, because the quality can make or break your site. If you put low quality content on your website, don’t wonder afterwards why your earnings are way below your expectations.

The Purpose of Article Writing Service Posted: 01 Mar 2011 05:39 PM PST After making sure that your website is already up and running, the next goal would be to tell the world that you exist. You can either do it by yourself, or use an article writing service. Web site traffic is a very crucial factor for website owners. Without it, the business will tank down in no time. This is the reason why website owners, like you, need to understand how to generate traffic on a steady scale. Creating a website with no visitors is like spending your money on a billboard advertisement tucked away in Sahara desert. You certainly don’t want this to happen right. You need exposure and audience to visit your site, purchase your products, or call your 800 number. Unfortunately, many business owners are still unable to distinguish between the “casual” from “targeted” traffic. Both of them will bring visitors to your site, but only one of them actually helps your business succeed. To visualize the situation, let’s take an example. Casual traffic is precisely what television advertisers are doing. They throw their ads to the public regardless of whether they want the product or not. While this approach works, it’s still possible to increase the sales by targeting the right people that they think will end up a purchase. The same analogy works on the Internet, and by using article writing service, targeted traffic is achieved at minimal costs. Other ways to generate traffic include direct email campaigns, banner ads, social network, etc. Again, they aren’t as effective as article marketing in terms of sales generation and long-term results. On the other hand, marketing a product using articles will yield better results because these people are already sold out in the first place. You will find that it’s a bit harder to sell golf balls to a person who hates the game, than to a person who loves the sport. Knowing the people who are passionate with the products or services that you offer won’t take much of your convincing efforts. This is known as qualified traffic and can be cheaply achieved using article writing service. Targeted traffic could also originate from the people who are passionate with it. They exchange links with each other. If they see your article valuable, it could go viral without you doing anything. More and more people will link or visit your site. Should this happen, search engines will put you on top of their search results boosting traffic to your business. Either you sweat day and night creating your articles or have paid someone to do it on your behalf, make sure you track the progress. Determine if what you are doing provides benefits or get ready to change anything and make it work. Failure to understand what your customers are looking for will eventually lead to business failure.

Fancy a visit to Georgetown, TX? Check out the brochure... Posted: 01 Mar 2011 07:14 AM PST Traveling is one of our favorite pastimes here at Rhyme & Reason Design, Inc. If you know us personally, or have read through some of the back pages of our blog, you will have realized that we hop a plane in a blink of an eye. So what better client to have the opportunity to work with than a visitors bureau? Right up our alley. Well back in November, we received a call from the Georgetown, Texas Convention and Visitors Bureau informing us that we won the bid to re-design their Visitor's Guide brochure and website. The only minor detail about winning such a great project was coming up with the perfect design and messaging for a city we'd never stepped foot in. Luckily, Cari Miller, Georgetown's Tourism Manger did an incredible job as our virtual tour guide throughout the whole process. From start to finish, she unlocked the city and introduced us to some of its incredible residents. Due to a tight printing deadline, we started with the brochure. Designing for places we haven't been is no problem; with enough research and immersion you can create a picture in your mind. But what about writing the contents of an entire visitor's brochure? Well let's just say, I now know a heck of a lot about the Red Poppy capital of Texas. Seriously, ask me anything. Who's the city named after? Easy, George Washington Glasscock. Try another. When's the Red Poppy Festival? April 16th and 17th. Ok seriously give me a tough one. Where's the best place to eat? Ok now that's just not fair because there are more than 100 restaurants to choose from and as they tell me, every one of them is finger licking good. Although, there are three – Wildfire, Dos Salsas and Monument Café – that received the award for best overall restaurant and after writing about them, I have a strong urge to not just book a ticket but, also a reservation or two. Although, I have become a bit of a walking Wikipedia post for Georgetown, the brochure still had to go through several rounds of revisions. Don't worry, we didn't miss the boat with the design or the copy, it just so happens in our world, revisions happen regularly. Not to mention, Cari and her team know a lot more about their small town Mayberry than we do. Once our team completed the revisions and the brochure received final approval, we packaged up the files and sent it off to the printer. Now printing is a nerve-wracking experience, no matter how great the printer is or how many times you've proofed a file, things can sometimes go wrong. So from the moment we send a file off to the moment we receive it back, we often sit holding our breath. Ok perhaps I exaggerated, there's no way we could go without oxygen for a week. Well seven days after we clicked send, we were able to breath easily, because one fantastic looking brochure appeared in the mail. Yes I may be biased, but I am so proud of this brochure that it has taken up residence as the focal point of my coffee table. In order not to create a novel out of one blog post, I'm going to make you wait with baited breath to learn more about the Georgetown website… To be continued…

Employee Feedback Questions Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT Employee feedback is an important factor that forms a crucial aspect in the smooth functioning of any company. That is why there is a need to know some of the employee feedback questions. In this article we will look through some of these questions and help you understand the type that need to be used.

Employee Incentive Programs Pros and Cons Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT Planning to start with an employee incentive program? If yes, the following article which discusses the employee incentive programs pros and cons, will prove to be of immense help to you.

How to Write a Resume for a Staff Accountant Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT Writing a resume takes a little more than good vocabulary. Read on to know how to write a resume for a staff accountant.

Best Self Employed Jobs Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT Being self employed has its own set of advantages. However, a person should be aware of the different self employment careers to make concentrated efforts and set up his venture successfully. This article will present to you some of the best self employed jobs which you can try...

How to Raise Money for Cancer Patients Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT Passionate about fundraising for patients with terminal illnesses like cancer, but not sure how to go about it? This article will give you some ideas on how to raise money for cancer patients.

Notice of Intent to Vacate Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT If you have ever rented a house, then you would know that while vacating a house before the lease agreement comes to an end, you will be expected to provide the landlord with a notice of intent to vacate. In this article, we will tell you how such a notice needs to be drafted.

How to Become a Pediatric Dental Hygienist Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT The job of a pediatric dental hygienist demands dealing with temperamental children and their oral hygiene. Read on to know how to become a pediatric dental hygienist.

Best Short Term Investments for 2011 Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT In the following article, a brief yet elaborate explanation of some of the best short term investments for 2011, has been given. For inputs on some of the best ones, read on

Investing in Silver and Gold Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT Investing in silver and gold can give phenomenal returns to investors. This article will acquaint you with the various ways of investing in these metals, and also help you understand when to invest in gold and silver...

How to Delegate Effectively Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT Delegating duties is one of the most important functions that one has to undertake for the efficient functioning of an organization. In this following article, we will learn exactly how to delegate effectively and why it is considered so important.

Performance Reviews for Managers Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT You put it off all year long and now it's time to rush through writing a performance review as a manager. How do you go about writing one that elicits the right kind of response? With some of the tips provided here.

Online Jobs for Students Without Investment Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT Are you searching for online jobs to increase your income? If yes, then you have landed at the right place. In this article, we shall discuss the various online jobs for students without investment...

Workplace Health and Safety Messages Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT Workplace health and safety messages play a very important role in preventing accidents or small mishaps in the office. This article gives you some useful safety messages for work.

CIO Salary Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT The average CIO salary in the US is around $180,000, and they are entitled to several other benefits as well. In this article, we will know more about the CIO salary, and will also take a look at their duties and responsibilities.

What Makes a Good Executive Assistant Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT If you're looking for some points on what makes a good assistant, then you have landed at the right article. Yes, for being a good assistant, skills are necessary, but there are some personal attributes which can take you ahead in your career...

Organizational Skills Interview Questions Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT Organizational skills are not only essential in the workplace, but are a part of our everyday life. In this article we will take a look at some organizational skills interview questions that are asked frequently during an interview.

Organizing Sports Events at Work Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT Organizing sports events at work can look like a daunting task, if you are doing it for the first time. Read on to know some of the important things you need to consider, while planning a sports day at office.

Different Leadership Styles in Business Posted: 20 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT Like you need leadership in life to succeed, there are different leadership styles in business as well. Read into the coming up article, where you will find more about how to lead with positive leadership skills.

Medical Receptionist Salary Posted: 20 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT If you are planning to become a medical receptionist and want to know how much they earn, then you must read this article. This article throws some light on the job description of a medical receptionist and the salary earned by them.

Financial Planning for Women Posted: 20 Apr 2011 10:00 PM PDT In the following few paragraphs, a brief set of guidelines and tips for financial planning for women has been give. Take a look at these financial solutions which might help you out in due course of time. To know more, read on

The Art of Enchanting Online Marketing Posted: 22 Apr 2011 06:50 AM PDT What’s the driving force behind effective online marketing? Is it self-centered promotional messages? Manipulation? A secret hard-sell method that social media won’t reject? Nope. So what is it? According to bestselling author, entrepreneur, and Apple’s former Chief Evangelist Guy Kawasaki, it’s the art of enchantment, a very specific form of persuasion that results in great outcomes for you and your prospects, customers, and clients. And it just so happens to tie in perfectly with what we’ve been talking about on Copyblogger for the last 5 years. Listen in to make the connection. In this episode Guy Kawasaki and I discuss: The simple and powerful content strategy that Guy uses every day The 3 timeless keys to success online — or anywhere Why you shouldn’t copy the marketing success of Apple Why competition is good, and shouldn’t make you sweat one bit Guy’s 4 unrivaled words for headlines that work Hit the flash player below to listen now: Other listening options: Click here to download the mp3 | 39.9 MB | 27:41 Click here to subscribe via iTunes Click here for the RSS feed (non iTunes) Click here for the show archive Want to know more about an enchantment strategy that builds businesses that are both profitable and meaningful? Come join us for Authority Rules. It’s a free series of three webinars and additional articles, and it kicks off with a special report by Brian Clark on The 10 Rock Solid Elements of Successful Online Marketing. Links from the Show: Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions Guy’s blog Alltop, all the top stories Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Objectified (documentary film on industrial design) About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media. Get more from Brian on Twitter. Tweet This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

How to Create Online Content Like an Immortal Renaissance Artist Posted: 21 Apr 2011 07:12 AM PDT So you want your online content to get noticed, huh? Maybe you’re an blogger that aspires to crack into the A-list crowd. Perhaps you’re a promising author with an irresistible story idea. Or you may simply be an online freelance writer with big league dreams. Kudos if you are, because the exploding digital content universe needs you to be at your best. But there lies the prime question — how do I rise above the billowing obscurity blanketing the digital content universe to achieve online relevance? Thankfully there is a simple (though not easy) answer to this question. Sorry, it’s not entirely about Twitter tricks, smart SEO, or self-promotion wizardry. Those elements are all useful, but you need to do one thing first: Create content masterpieces. Masterpieces? Yup, masterpieces — those iconic and enduring creations that withstand the tests of space, time, and short attention spans. Ironically, the best role models to emulate for crafting such online masterpieces are long dead and from a very un-digital world. Enter Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael — the holy trinity of the supreme Renaissance artists. We remember, celebrate, and idolize these creative legends because they were both epic and prolific. Their works are immortal, as are their legacies. Plus, they’re the namesakes for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. How cool is that? It goes to show that our three Renaissance friends have a thing or two to teach us about creating masterpieces. So put down your keyboard and pick up your quill and ink, because it’s time to create like it’s 1559. Write with urgency like Leonardo da Vinci I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. ~ Leonardo da Vinci Leaders act with the utmost urgency. Both Leonardos (the Renaissance pioneer and the Ninja Turtle) took up that charge. The same quality holds true for you in your quest to build content masterpieces worthy of notice and praise. You must lead yourself (whether you like it or not). This includes … Marshaling your creative ideas into a tenacious writing force Squashing the inner gremlins that seek to destroy your determination, and … Establishing high standards for your creative output As Jonathan Fields puts it, “that’s what pros do.” In January alone he published 17 blog posts, wrote 25,000 words and completed the manuscript for his next book, tweeted hundreds of times, and much more. And according to him, that’s not an unusual month. Hello urgency! Do you operate with the same drive? Are you taking full initiative to create your most vivacious masterpieces? If online stardom is your aim, then you should. Here are a few ideas to get you started … Set a daily writing goal, like 1,000 words. This is Chris Guillebeau’s benchmark. Publish consistently and frequently. Don’t sacrifice quality, but ‘show up’ often. Sharpen your unique creative identity. Become memorable for who you are. Write larger-masterpieces (think books, special reports, and manifestos) that give a bigger picture of your bold style and story. My friend Corbett Barr advocates this urgency premise in knockout fashion — write epic sh*t. Are you being epic today? Be one with flow like Raphael When one is painting one does not think. ~Raphael John Cleese of Monty Python fame teaches that “if you get into the right mood then your mode of thinking will become much more creative. But if you’re racing around all day ticking things off lists … and generally keeping all the balls in the air then you are not going to have any creative ideas.” John’s recommended solution to conquering this “frenzied world that we all live in” is to construct our own “tortoise enclosure.” Yes, we’re talking about a turtle shell that you can escape into away from life’s bombardment of interruptions. It’s here in this protected space that your “tortoise mind,” as John calls it, can fully play. Here are the basic building blocks for your masterpiece-incubating (ninja) tortoise enclosure … You must establish strong boundaries of personal space and time You must permit no distractions (electronic or otherwise) You must focus on a single task at a time (stop multi-tasking) Your playtime within this shell is vital to the unlocking of your full creative potential. It’s the time you’re able to devote to such play that leads to Flow — the state of mind where your deepest and most vivid ideas pour out of you in a single, consistent stream of consciousness. And that’s precisely what Raphael meant by “not think[ing]” when painting. When you’re in this fluid state, you don’t really think as much as ride the waves of creativity to the shores of your content masterpieces. Oh, and if you’re wondering if John Cleese was secretly the Ninja Turtle behind the red mask, I think you might be right. Free your angel like Michelangelo I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. ~Michelangelo The exploding digital universe, which includes the publication revolution, has brought with it a tsunami of new writers. On balance, we’re all “authors,” capable of being published with the click of a button (blogs be praised). It’s an exciting ecosystem to be a part of. But it’s not a utopia. Case in point is the now herculean challenge of standing out and getting noticed in the crowd surge of online writers and the subsequent overload of content. This atmosphere fosters an inconvenient truth — good content isn’t good enough anymore. If you want to achieve escape velocity from the masses, you must — as Michelangelo says — continue carving your content until you set your masterpiece free. There’s a common term for this all-important skill: editing. I believe that sharp editing has become an invaluable competitive advantage within the digital content universe. And I’m not alone. Thom Chambers, for one, agrees. Thom is the brilliant editor behind In Treehouses, a free e-magazine focusing on topics that will help you reach your 1,000 True Fans. In his latest edition, titled We’re All Publishers Now (featuring The Domino Project, eBookling, Chris Guillebeau, Issuu, By Bloggers, and more), Thom writes that “with more and more content appearing online each day, the value of editors and curators is rising.” You may not actually hire or collaborate with a skilled creative editor. Although, this is likely a smart decision if you’re a major league online author or someone who aspires to become one. The key point is that you put your content through the full writing process. Don’t just write and publish like most online writers do. To create a genuine masterpiece worthy of much attention and fanfare, you must write, edit, and publish. And consider executing the writing-editing loop a few times first. Go Ninja, Go! Supreme online attention and relevance is reserved for those dedicated to creating content masterpieces. It’s as simple as that. Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo are apex examples of this axiom. True, we online ‘artists’ have traded paintings for pixels. But that doesn’t excuse us from learning and applying the timeless lessons that these grand masters of creativity have to teach. Not a history buff? Don’t care about Renaissance artists? Not a problem. Just get your Ninja Turtle freak on. You could do far, far worse than aspiring to be an online writing “hero in a half-shell.” Cowabunga! Tweet

4 Ways to Keep Your Lifeless Blog from Boring Your Readers to Tears Posted: 20 Apr 2011 06:30 AM PDT You'd better sit down. I want to tell you something, and you're not going to like it. Your dreary blog is putting me to sleep. I just visited your site, gave it the requisite three seconds of my attention, and found myself in Dullsville. Nothing grabbed my eye. No headline inspired me to read. No images drew me in. And here's the thing: I'm not a captive audience. It was remarkably easy for me to rid myself of your insipid prose, your bland blog. One quick click and I was gone. It doesn't have to be that way. A few tweaks here, a little more effort there, and your website will stop me in my tracks. Try these four changes this week to market your blog more effectively. 1. Speak to me If it's me you're trying to reach, let me know by tailoring your writing and design so it connects with me. (I'm pretending to be your perfect customer here. Work with me.) Discover what frustrates me, and write about how to fix my problems. Find out what I'm passionate about, and share everything you know about the topic. Learn what keeps me up at night, and figure out how you can restore my slumber. If you'll do that, I won't be able to resist reading. I'll become a frequent visitor, and I'll know you're speaking directly to me when you write. And — most importantly — I'll realize your products and services are exactly what I need. 2. Colorize to feed my eyes Why's everyone so afraid of color? If we had to print our blogs instead of displaying them on screen, I could understand the hesitation. In print, every ink color you add makes your job cost more. But this is the web. We have millions of colors available to choose from. So pick two. Why only two? Using two main colors (not including black or dark grey text) is a great way to visually brand a website. It's easier for visitors to register and remember two colors. That's one reason sports teams use two colors. Don't be afraid to harness the power of color to establish your brand personality. Find two that will resonate with your target market. Use them consistently in everything you do. 3. Break down those walls of text You may have a lot to say on your topic. There's nothing wrong with that, but please, please present it in a way that I can digest it. It’s frustrating to arrive at a website only to be greeted by walls of text with no line breaks, no subheads, and a scrollbar that gets progressively smaller as the page loads. Reading sites like that feels like a chore. The solution is easy. Stick to one idea per paragraph. Keep them short: three to four sentences at the most. Spend time writing good subheads, too. After your headline, many readers will scan your subheads to decide whether or not to invest time on your site. If the subheads are compelling and tell a story of their own, your post will look appealing rather than daunting. 4. I'm yours for the asking You've drawn me in, you've held my interest, and I made it all the way to the end of your post. Now what should I do? Time for you to get bossy. Tell me what you'd like me to do next. Should I share your post? Do you want me to sign up for your updates? Would you like to hear from me in the comments? Insert a call to action. I can't read your mind. Once I'm at the end of your post, my hand is poised to click away. So ask me to take a "next action." Sell me on the idea. Make me spend an extra minute on your site. I can hear some of you now. "I just want to write. I don't want to market my blog." These marketing and design techniques don't take a lot of effort. The first one takes some thought. The second is a one-time decision. Numbers three and four are simple habits you can adopt. You have something to say. With these easy tweaks, you'll wake up your visitors, keep them engaged, and give your ideas the best chance of spreading. Don’t think of it as marketing. Think of it as caffeine for your website. About the Author: Want to learn more about formatting your pages to invite scanners to stop and read? Download this free (no opt in) report, "8 Incredibly Simple Ways to Get More People to Read Your Content: Illustrated," based on Pamela Wilson's popular post. Tweet

How to Consistently Attract High-Quality Traffic to Your Site Posted: 19 Apr 2011 06:30 AM PDT What’s the first thing any business with a website needs? Traffic, right? Without it, you’re dead in the water. Your site design might be amazing. Your content might be useful and entertaining. Your salesmanship might be brilliant. But if no one’s visiting your pages, you’ve thrown a great party that no one showed up for. And we can’t have that, now can we? And, of course, you need more than raw numbers. You need the right traffic — traffic that will grow your business. Traffic that’s made up of customers. Over the years, Copyblogger founder Brian Clark has taught me a thing or two about the “Copyblogger method” for pulling the right kind of traffic in. And I’d like to pay that forward by sharing some of those insights with you. That’s why we’re holding a free webinar next Monday, April 25, on How to Attract the Right Customers To Your Business. “Attraction” sounds like some kind of magic formula, but actually it’s a well-tested set of principles that work for virtually any topic. We’re going to talk about: The Copyblogger model for attracting the right readers — readers who will translate into customers. The “second customer” you need for effective content marketing. The two elements you absolutely need to build your traffic. If either of these isn’t working, your content marketing is dead in the water. The ten-minute exercise that will help attract the right readers to your site. Our favorite technique for accelerating your traffic. We want to give you an intensive boot camp on finding the traffic you want — and we want to do it for free. To get all of the details, just leave us your best email address at Authority Rules. We have a series of three kickass webinars for you on the fundamentals of growing your online business, as well as additional articles and a special report by Brian on The 10 Rock-Solid Elements of Online Marketing. Grab the special report, the articles, and access to the webinars at Authority Rules. It’s all free, and of course, we’ll never share your information with anyone, for any reason. About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media. Share your highly attractive qualities with Sonia on twitter. P.S. Of course, the game doesn’t end with traffic. You have to create engagement, trust, and rapport with the people who come to your site, then present them with appealing offers that convert your fans into customers. That’s why we’ve got two more webinars coming in the Authority Rules series over the next couple of weeks. We’ll let you know more about those as we get closer to the dates. Don’t miss out on any of the great content — sign up for the series now. Tweet

5 Crippling Beliefs That Keep Writers Penniless and Mired in Mediocrity Posted: 18 Apr 2011 06:30 AM PDT Is it just me, or is the whole starving artist thing highly overrated? Yes, there’s a certain romanticism to being a penniless vagabond, sacrificing material goods in the selfless pursuit of art. Yes, it’s fun to fantasize about everyone suddenly realizing you’re a genius after you’re dead and auctioning your once-soiled toilet for nearly $20,000. Yes, it’s hip to take a stand against evil capitalists and proselytize about constructing digital economies based on currencies of cool. But eventually, it gets old. I know, because I’ve been there. In college, I was the epitome of the starving artist, winning poetry competitions and acing English classes with ease and then bumming gas money to get home, but eventually I realized three things … No matter how good your poetry is, girls think you’re lame when you take them out for a romantic dinner at Taco Bell After sleeping in your car for a week, you don’t feel like writing a damn thing Pretty much the only job available to English majors is to become an English teacher, and they’re some of the most underpaid, under-appreciated people on earth Sooner or later, you begin to reconsider. I mean, no, you don’t have to be rich and famous, but would having your own apartment and being able to afford food be so bad? Hell, it might even help your writing. So, you embark on your quest to make some money. You try to write some articles for magazines and newspapers. You hire yourself out as a freelance copywriter (even though you probably have no idea what copywriting is). You start a blog and wait for the world to beat a path to your door. And if you’re lucky, you survive. No, you’re not sitting by the beach drinking margaritas, but you have food and a bed and a car, and people don’t worry about catching weird diseases when they’re standing beside you in the elevator. It’s nice, but you still haven’t “made it,” and you wonder why. In my experience? It’s because you don’t have your mind right. You have these nasty little demons sitting on your shoulder, feeding you lies about the relationship between success and art. You probably picked up some of these ideas from your parents, others from your teachers, and still others from fellow writers and artists. And if you let them, they’ll cripple you. You’ll go through your whole life knowing you’re talented but never quite making it and forever wondering why. We can’t let that happen. Below, you’ll find some of the most common beliefs that hold writers back. Take a look, and see if any of them look familiar: Crippling Belief #1: It’s all about you The most heinous lie to ever infect the mind of a writer is the belief that your work is all about you. You believe your writing is a form of self-expression, an extension of your mind, a little piece of your soul imbued into the page. To write well, you just need to be authentic, and if the world doesn’t like it, the world can go to hell. Provocative, right? And like all the best lies, it has a grain of truth to it. Yes, authenticity matters, but only to the extent people enjoy what you do. You’ll never find me auditioning for American Idol because, the fact is, I couldn’t carry a note to save my life. Yes, my voice is authentic, but it’s authentically bad, and that means I’ll never be a singer. Writing works the same way. To be successful, stop worrying about who you are and start thinking about what your audience wants. What do they like? How is it done? Only after you’ve answered those two questions are you ready to ask the third one: is it right for you? I can’t overstress how important the order is. Them first, you second, never the other way around. Crippling Belief #2: Building a following takes time The last bastion of hope for any struggling writer is that building a following takes time. Sure, life sucks right now, but if you’ll just hang in there, things will snowball, and everything will be all right. It seems reasonable. After all, no one gets famous overnight, right? Everywhere you look, there are stories of successful people persisting when there was no hope, trudging forward one weary step at a time, unwilling to quit, clinging fiercely to their dreams, manifesting success through sheer power of will. It’s inspiring… but it’s also deceptive. Yes, building a following often takes time, but it’s not because people are slow on the uptake, incapable of seeing your brilliance until you’ve been around for a few years. It’s because, when you’re a newbie, you do everything wrong, and most of us get knocked around for a few years until we figure out how to do it right. In other words, you’re not waiting on the world. The world is waiting on you. Yes, persistence is important. Yes, learning takes time. Yes, it’ll probably be slow and painful. But the sooner you learn, the sooner it will be over. So get busy. Crippling Belief #3: You know what you’re doing So, let me guess: You’ve always been a pretty good writer, right? No, you haven’t won a Pulitzer or anything, but your teachers fawned over you in school, and your friends and family are awestruck by your skill with words. Maybe you’ve even written for a magazine or newspaper a time or two and gotten some real credentials to put on your resume. You believe all of that makes you different. When you start a blog or write a press release or hang up your shingle as a freelance writer, you believe things will be easier for you than all of the other bumbling writers out there. Unlike them, you know what you’re doing. Heh. It never ceases to astonish me how many writers believe this. They honestly think being able to spell, write a grammatical sentence, and make a few aunties and uncles smile is enough to make them a good writer. It isn’t. The difference between writing for free and writing to become recognized as a worldwide authority is like the difference between taking a jog after work and running an Olympic marathon. Like running events, each type of writing is also quite different, and even a legend might need years of training to switch. The bottom line: if you want to make a career out of writing, you have to be serious about it. You’ll need to commit years of your life to mastering it, and even then, you’ll have barely caught a glimpse of everything there is to know. Also, if you’re not willing to make that commitment, that’s fine. Just hire someone who is. It’s far faster and much, much less painful. Crippling Belief #4: Writing can only be a labor of love It’s about the art. It’s about the fans. It’s about the ideas themselves. If you start trying to squeeze money out of it, you’ll just pervert it, commercialize it, transform it into a cold and hollow substitution for what it could have been. Right? Well, yes and no. Once again, this one is dangerous precisely because it’s partly true. Yes, all the best writers love what they do. The thing that separates Stephen King from a lot of other horror writers isn’t the gore or the suspense or the characters. It’s the joy. When he’s chopping off heads or destroying the world, he doesn’t just tell you about it. He revels in it. Also, Stephen King is far from broke. I think he made something like $50 million last year. Granted, we can’t all be Stephen King, but one of the greatest fallacies in writing is that art and money are mutually exclusive. If you love something, you can’t make money from it, or if you want to make money, you can’t love the work. That’s just silly. You can have both. In fact, I would even say you need both, or you’ll never have the staying power to become truly great at what you do. Crippling Belief #5: You’re a writer (nothing more) Many writers take enormous pride in what they do, and rightfully so. We use nothing more than little splotches of ink to communicate with people across the globe. We speak the unspeakable. We snatch ephemeral ideas from the air and bring them to life on the page. It’s delightful. Amazing. Humbling. But if you think it’s your only responsibility, you are horribly mistaken. The best way I know to explain it is, imagine a mother carrying a child for nine months, religiously taking care of her body, doing everything a good mother does, and then the day she delivers it, she leaves the hospital and sets it on the side of the road. “Goodbye, sweet thing,” she says. “It was a pleasure, but now I have other things to do,” and then she walks away. It’s a horrifying thought, right? Yet, as writers, it’s something we do every day. We finish working on a piece, publish it, and then prop our feet up, praising ourselves for a job well done. “Finally, I’m finished,” we think. “On to the next project.” And then we watch from afar as it struggles to gain attention, weakens, and finally dies. It’s a morbid metaphor, I know, but this point is absolutely essential for you to understand: If you want to be successful, you can’t be a writer and nothing more. You also have to be a constant caretaker, a shameless promoter, a fearless champion. You have to fight for your ideas the way a mother fights for her children. Your job isn’t over the day you publish. On the contrary, it’s just beginning. More than likely, you’ll spend weeks, months, and years fighting to get your words the attention they deserve, and it’ll be the most tiring, nerve-racking, and yet unquestionably rewarding experience of your life. Don’t neglect that responsibility. Don’t try to outsource it to someone else. Don’t rob yourself of the experience. The truth is, the joy of writing isn’t the writing itself. It’s seeing your ideas spread. It’s seeing them touch other people. It’s seeing them take root within the minds of those people, where they continue to grow into something more wonderful than you could have ever imagined. Do you want that? If you do, then be more than just a writer. The world already has enough of those. What we need are more warriors. What we need are more heretics. What we need are wordsmiths with the courage to change the world. Words aren’t just words, you see. They’re the medium through which writers accomplish change. Great writers don’t just inform you. They don’t just entertain you. They don’t just persuade you. They change you, leaving you a slightly different person than you were before you read their work. If you ask me, change should be the standard we hold ourselves to, not merely scribbling words down upon the page. Then again, what do I know? I’m just a writer. Nothing more. About the Author: Jon Morrow is Associate Editor of Copyblogger. If you’d like to learn more about what it really takes to become a popular writer, check out his free videos on guest blogging. Tweet

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