How to Win a Zero-Sum Game: What to Do if Competitors Won’t Link to You

image of two chess pieces

This is the third post in the “Content Connections” series

Because Copyblogger is a company that was born in this strange virtual place we call the worldwide web, partnerships and cooperation have always been central to what we do.

One of the most important of these is the ecosystem of voices that share our content.

We work hard to keep engaging your interest and teaching you valuable things. And we rely on other web publishers to share what we create, so we can find new people to talk to.

We believe in cooperation … but we know perfectly well that business is also a competition. And sometimes, competitors don’t much want to play.

[ Continue Reading... ]

Buffer

Score More Traffic, Subscribers, and Buyers by Discovering Your Second Customer

Content Connections

This is the second post in the “Content Connections” series.

We all know what a customer is.

The customer is that lovely, wise person who buys our stuff. Whether we sell a product, a service, an idea, a candidate, a change of habits … the customer is the one who buys.

If we don’t have customers, we don’t have a business. Simple enough.

But when you’re doing business online, particularly if you’re using content in your marketing, you need another customer. One who might never take out a credit card to buy from you … but who can still help take your business to amazing places.

[ Continue Reading... ]

Buffer

What Michael Phelps’ 19th Olympic Medal Can Teach You About Smarter Online Marketing

image of Olympian Michael Phelps
If you were an Olympic-caliber swimmer, you could be forgiven for sort of hating Michael Phelps.

On Tuesday, he broke the record for holding more Olympic medals than any other athlete in history — 19 medals, of which 15 are gold.

During this summer Olympics, he’s been battling it out in a widely-publicized rivalry with his U.S. teammate Ryan Lochte.

Even a casual observer gets the impression that Lochte is, well, kind of sick of hearing about how great Michael Phelps is.

[ Continue Reading... ]

Buffer

Save 15% on PubCon Las Vegas this October

PubCon logo

For serious practitioners of web publishing, online marketing, and optimization, PubCon is a must-attend event.

PubCon Las Vegas 2012, the premier search and social media conference, takes place October 15 – 18 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where it will be one of the biggest international gatherings of new media and optimization innovators ever assembled.

And if you’ll be attending, be sure to use our discount coupon to save 15% on your registration.

Just enter cb-6942315 in the “Offer Code” box near the bottom of the registration page.

[ Continue Reading... ]

Buffer

How to Protect Your Business’s Most Important Asset (No, It’s Not Your Website)

image of audience

We talk a lot about your self-hosted website as a cornerstone business asset. You own it, you control it, and over time, if you take care of it, it becomes more and more valuable.

Your permission-based email list is an asset as well. You don’t control it to quite the same degree as your website, but it’s still something you build over time that keeps getting more and more valuable.

But there’s something more important than your site or your list. In fact, it’s what gives them value. It’s the reason you’re in business in the first place.

[ Continue Reading... ]

Buffer

5 Key Takeaways on the Road to World Domination

image of planet Earth

I had a great time at last weekend’s grandly-named World Domination Summit in Portland, hanging out with lots of smart people and generally getting geeky about online business.

There were tons of ideas floating around, from people at all stages of business.

Some were already very successful, others were just getting started.

But everyone I met was curious, engaged, and asking a bunch of great questions. This was clearly a community united by common values — and those values were woven, formally and informally, throughout the weekend.

[ Continue Reading... ]

Buffer