Copyblogger Weekly Archives

Written by Sonia Simone | August 9, 2018 | 1 Comment

Become Ruthlessly Productive by Tightening Up These 3 Systems

Okay, maybe not “ruthlessly.” But we all have lots of things we need to get done, and that means we need smart strategies to work efficiently — without compromising quality.

This week, we shared some adjustments you can make to your systems that will help you kick your productivity into a higher gear. If we’re going to put in the time, we might as well see great results.

On Monday, Stefanie Flaxman tackled an important task that tends to eat more than its share of time: managing blog comments. She outlined her system for keeping audience engagement, while limiting wasted time.

On Tuesday, Loryn Thompson talked about constructing a better environment for productivity — and how to use activities that might look like procrastination to trick yourself into getting solid work done.

And on Wednesday, I ran through a list of the essential elements you want to have in place if you’d like your content marketing website to actually meet your goals. Because if you’re working incredibly efficiently in the wrong context, you’re going to have a bad time.
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Written by Sonia Simone | August 2, 2018 | 1 Comment

3 Resources for Creating More Courageous Content

Sometimes, we’re fearless with our writing and content. We know what we want to say, and we pour it onto the page with passion and courage.

Other times … not so much. Nerves or a lack of confidence can keep you from publishing excellent work. This week, we’ve got three resources that will get more courage into your content.

On Monday, our ~~Gangster Rockstar Ninja Smartypants~~ Data Analyst Loryn Thompson wrote about how to take some practical, simple steps to actually use your data to make better decisions for your content.

If the whole idea of “data-driven marketing” makes you want to flee, Loryn will show you how to start learning more about your audience — without freaking out. (It involves something you might not associate with data-driven marketing: your intuition.)

On Tuesday, our friend Nick Usborne dropped by to share seven things professional writers can learn from that rarest of things: a really good conversation. (I’m a giant fan of #3.) Nick’s approach to copy produces a wonderfully confident, natural voice.

And on Wednesday, I talked about how to publish consistently (which we know we need to do), even when there are still flaws in our content that make us cringe. We really can beat creative perfectionism and start “shipping” our content, and I outlined three of the most important elements I’ve found to do that.
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Written by Sonia Simone | July 26, 2018 | 0 Comments

How ‘Serious Games’ Can Unlock Your Success as a Writer

This week, we dug deep into getting serious as professional writers — and how sometimes, the key to doing that is turning more of your professional habits into games.

One of the most common problems writers face is difficulty coming up with ideas. But on Monday, Stefanie Flaxman explored why “good ideas” don’t always produce great writing … or happy writers. She also narrowed down how to develop your ideas into thoughtful work that truly serves your audience.

On Tuesday, Kelton Reid outlined five things that only serious writers do — informed by interviews and advice from more than a dozen highly successful professional writers. You can take this post as a blueprint for building your own seriously effective writing habits.

And on Wednesday, I flipped the script slightly and asked our team about the professional games they play as writers. When something is boring or difficult, you can grit your way through — or you can find a way to make that task into a game. The team shared some of their thoughts on how they approach their work through a gaming lens.
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Written by Sonia Simone | July 19, 2018 | 4 Comments

Create Content Success with a Cohesive Content Experience

One of my favorite things about content marketing is the ability to create an experience. Instead of buying a single ad, you can use different kinds of content to do different work strategically.

This week on Copyblogger, we shared ways content can create an experience for your audience and help you strategically move people in alignment with your business goals.
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Written by Sonia Simone | July 5, 2018 | 2 Comments

How to Defeat the Tyranny of Bad Grammar and Worse Sales

Happy North American patriotism week! With Canada Day and U.S. Independence Day, as well as an abundance of summer sunshine, I think we can all agree that the first week of July is a fantastic time to take a few days off. 🙂

With all of this patriotic vacationing going on, we decided to extend the enrollment date for our new sales training course by a couple of days … but we need to close it tonight, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, to give Tim Paige and I the time and space to do an amazing job for our delightful group of new students.

You can jump into the course here: Join us for the Get More Sales with Webinars class, taught by Sonia Simone and Tim Paige.

(Naturally, there’s a money-back guarantee; there’s also a very wallet-friendly payment plan.)
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