Posts Filed Under Paid Content

Back in the summer of 1997, I walked into the managing partner’s big corner office of the downtown Dallas law firm I worked at and resigned. I wasn’t certain what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I didn’t want to practice law.

So I packed up and headed south to Austin. In addition to being a Mecca for live music, Austin has a very cool film community, especially for writers. So, the plan was to become a screenwriter and just tough it out until I made it.

You know… tend bar or something. Starving artist stuff.

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After much work and not much sleep, the Teaching Sells training program is open for business. Hopefully the combination of the free report and the site copy will stand on its own, but I thought I’d take a moment to address some of the questions I got in comments and emails.

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Imaginary conversation going on in the blogosphere right now:

Dude 1: “Hey man, did you hear that Google lowered the Page Rank on a bunch of popular blogs?”

Dude 2: “Yeah, I did… Engadget, ProBlogger, Copyblogger…

Dude 1: “What’s up with that? Copyblogger? That guy has never bought or sold a link!”

Dude 2: “I know. As far as I know, he’s done nothing but put out valuable, original content like Google says to do.”

Dude 1: “Yeah… he even preaches about writing for people first.”

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So, I’ve been promising that I’d release a free report this week, and I actually got it done. There’s even an audio version, should you be so inclined.

Anyway, I’ll let the download page give you the details, but if you’ve ever wondered what NASA, Russian cosmonauts, the film industry in the 1940s, Marshall McLuhan and the Sex Pistols have to do with online business….

Well, you’re going to want to read this.

This collection of link karma is a bit different, in that the links lead to articles that tell a story about Teaching Sells.

• Forget the ebook, interactive media artists are the next big online entrepreneurs.
• What happens when everyone blocks out your advertising?
• Do writers and content creators really need to take clients?
• Is the long tail holding you back?
• The art of business development is critical to even purely online businesses, and luckily it’s a lot easier to pull off in the social media space.
• Joy Division has been more influential than many people realize.
• What does selling information have to do with community?
• I’m not related to Tony Clark, but we have a lot in common.

I’ll connect the dots next week, and no, I didn’t throw in the Joy Division link just to throw you off. :-)

As more people begin to realize that blogging for ad dollars and other free content strategies might not be the best way to make money online, I’m getting more and more questions related to creating ebooks.

Producing any information product is almost entirely an exercise in marketing. Everything from the topic you choose, to how you position it, to the copywriting strategy you use to sell it boils down to figuring out what people are willing, and even driven, to pay for.

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