Men With Pens

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Author’s note: I wrote this post while picturing James Chartrand leaning forward, squinting into a computer, wondering when all the aches and pains would go away. As always, I swooped in to rescue someone who probably doesn’t want my help. Editor’s note: At the moment of reading this post, I was actually sitting casually (meaning, slumped, not straight), leaning to the left with my elbow propped on the chair, my shoulders forward, and my head tilted.

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Writer Electronics Food Creativity 89

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 22, 2010

A guest post by Naomi Dunford from IttyBiz who emailed last week to remind me (Darren) that today is ProBlogger’s 6th Birthday and asked if she could write a birthday post. Here it is! I’ve sat where you sit. I’ve devoured the articles and the blog posts and the link roundups. I’ve agonized over whether I could afford that video camera or that conference or that membership program.

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Blogger Copy Blog Blogging 53

Men With Pens

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

When Ali Hale sends me a post, I know it’s going to be good. And this one – on what to do about writing when life sucks – hits the target. Feel free to let us know in the comment section what you’ve done with those “life sucks&# moments and how you can use them to create emotional content that packs a punch. This isn’t news to you: sometimes life sucks.

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Writing Prose Food Copywriter 81

Men With Pens

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

We tend to think about life in 24 hours. Most freelancers complain about needing 40 hours just to get everything done. But imagine all the things you could do if someone handed you 168 hours to spend however you pleased? Go ahead. Take a minute to think about that. A whole 168 hours… what would you do? Want to know a little secret? You have that 168 hours – everyone does.

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Projects Concept Freelance Management 72

Speaker: Mike Rizzo, Founder & CEO, MarketingOps.com and Darrell Alfonso, Director of Marketing Strategy and Operations, Indeed.com

Though rarely in the spotlight, marketing operations are the backbone of the efficiency, scalability, and alignment that define top-performing marketing teams. In this exclusive webinar led by industry visionaries Mike Rizzo and Darrell Alfonso, we’re giving marketing operations the recognition they deserve! We will dive into the 7 P Model —a powerful framework designed to assess and optimize your marketing operations function.

Marketing

Men With Pens

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

Joshua Black has long stood out in our comment section here at Men with Pens – I admire his firm tone, his thought-provoking suggestions and his dead-on comments that show plenty of marketing brains. (His avatar also shows off a nice pair of shades, but that’s a different story.) Enjoy Joshua’s post – and put his ideas to good use! “If I asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said -a faster horse.&# – Henry Ford.

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Retail Copywriter Copywriting Banking 66

Men With Pens

SEPTEMBER 5, 2010

Do you ever feel like you can’t catch up to what everyone else is doing? Do you feel worried that you don’t have enough time and that opportunities are passing you by? The internet moves at the speed of light, and just as you start to work on your new ebook… you find out that ebooks are out. Oh, okay. Well, a membership forum then. That’ll work.

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Men With Pens

SEPTEMBER 2, 2010

When someone I don’t know emails me out of the blue and hands me a guest post, I’m usually a little skeptical. (There’s truth in the experts’ advice of building relationships and trust first.) But when I took a look at Justin’s post – and the quality of his writing – I fired back a reply. “Win.&#. You see, there’s a whole world out there beyond our screens, and we often forget about it.

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Freelance Portfolio Concept Copywriter 55

Men With Pens

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

You’re probably tired of hard sells, big launches and links to all sorts of promotions. I don’t blame you. I get tired of it too sometimes. That’s why I’ve always taken a stance of quiet marketing. We have a reputation for soft launches, and we don’t push sales pitches down your throats. The feedback’s been good – we’ve had many people email us to say they appreciate this strategy.

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Marketing Consulting Sales Copy 52

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

In the race to social media stardom, plenty of bloggers have joined Twitter and are furiously tweeting the titles and openings of every post they publish. When they launch a product or open registration for a seminar, they tweet that. But surely these can’t be the only ways to support your blog using Twitter? Your tweets might be limited to 140 characters, but the scope of your tweeting is limited — you guessed it — only by your imagination.

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Social Media Construction Blog Blogging 50

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

Guest post by AnnabelCandy from Get In the Hot Spot. Over the last 13 months 63,548 people from 165 countries have visited my blog and left 1,637 comments thanks to my friend Teresa. In fact it’s really all thanks to Teresa that I’ve enjoyed so many amazing opportunities since I started blogging. These are a few of the highlights of my short blogging career: meeting like-minded people from around the globe; being flown to China for a social media conference; earning money online; get

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Blog Blogging Blogger Social Media 49

Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions

Join this brand new webinar with Tim Buteyn to learn how you can master the art of remote onboarding! By the end of this session, you'll understand how to: Craft a Tailored Onboarding Checklist 📝 Develop a comprehensive, customized checklist that ensures every new hire has a smooth transition into your company, no matter where they are in the world.

Communication

Men With Pens

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

Last week, I wrote about how you have more time than you think to do more meaningful activities than you are now, and I even gave you tips to start reclaiming just five out of every 168 hours so you could start living a life you love. Today, I’m giving up my Monday spot in honour of Laura Vanderkem, the author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think.

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Writing Management Website Blog 48

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

A Guest Post by Glen Allsopp from ViperChill. There’s a ton of advice in the blogosphere about how to increase the size of your blog audience and become an A-lister. There is far less advice though on how to deal with such a large readership and the changes that come with it. While I don’t consider myself an A-lister, my blog is closing in on the 10,000 subscribers mark after less than a year since launch, and quite a few things have changed from when I had a much smaller audience.

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Blogger Communication Ads Audience 48

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 22, 2010

6 years ago today I imported a series of posts that I’d written about blogging on my previous blog over to the ProBlogger.net domain – ProBlogger was born. I look back on that time and while I was almost making a full time living from blogging there was so much about the medium that I didn’t yet know. I still feel I have a lot to learn but thought I’d take a few minutes out today to reflect on some of the lessons I’ve learned about blogging.

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Blog Blogging Blogger Consulting 48

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

For the beginner, the blog learning curve can be steep. As well as all the technical and blog visibility issues, there are questions about focus, content types and research, and of course reaching readers. You’re plugging away, day after day, and getting little in the way of recognisable success. How can you stay motivated during what can be a very trying time?

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Speaker: Michelle Garrett, PR Consultant, Author, Speaker

Yes - press releases are still relevant in the world of public relations! 🎯 Ever wondered how to write a compelling press release, or what are current best practices for pitching your news to earn media coverage? In this exclusive webinar with Michelle Garrett, PR Consultant, we’ll cover tips and advice to help you get the most out of each piece of news you pitch!

Writing

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

A Guest post from Stanford from Pushing Social. No doubt about it – Content is King. However, the formula for successful blogging doesn’t end there. In fact, content is just the beginning. If you want to make money, create a loyal readership, or attract new clients, you need to keep your readers ON your blog. In a word, your blog needs to be sticky.

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Editorial Social Media Promotion Blog 45

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

This post was written by the Web Marketing Ninja — a professional online marketer for a major web brand, who’s sharing his tips undercover here at ProBlogger. Curious? So are we! eBooks are a great monetization channel for your blog. Unlike methods such as advertising and affiliate programs, your own products allow you to keep the lion’s share of the profit.

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Sales Copy Banking Sales Copy 44

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 29, 2010

“What’s the biggest mistake you see aspiring bloggers making?&#. This is a question I’m asked a fair bit on panels or in interviews, and it’s one that I suspect the people asking the question would like a technical answer to. The reality is that the biggest mistakes I see bloggers making are usually things that are going on in their minds, rather than on their blogs.

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Blog Blogging Blogger Projects 43

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

This is a guest post by Kelly Kingman of StickyEbooks.com and the co-creator of Engaging eCourses. A great ecourse can make a huge difference to your blog and your business. In fact, I can name eight fantastic reasons why you should add an ecourse to your blog. But first of all, what exactly do I mean when I say “ecourse”? Ecourses can be anything from a simple, free auto-responder educational series to year-long, in-depth membership programs with live calls and personalized coaching.

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Blog Blogging Education Social Media 43

Speaker: Jesse Simms, VP at Giant Partners

This new, thought-provoking webinar will explore how even incremental efforts and investments in your data can have a tremendous impact on your direct mail and multi-channel marketing campaign results! Industry expert Jesse Simms, VP at Giant Partners, will share real-life case studies and best practices from client direct mail and digital campaigns where data modeling strategies pinpointed audience members, increasing their propensity to respond – and buy.

Audience

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

“I’m having trouble deciding what topic to blog about.&#. This was a statement I heard three times at the ProBlogger meet up in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago and is a problem that many PreBloggers face. I’ve written numerous times about how to choose a niche or topic to write about but it struck me while talking to the Brisbane folk asking the question that the biggest factor in helping me to narrow in on my own niches was having a personal blog.

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ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

A guest post by Adam from Things To Learn. I’ve been blogging for over two years now and I will be the first to admit that I haven’t been the best blogger in the world. Far from it. There were several stretches where I didn’t blog regularly or I wrote posts that just didn’t cut the mustard. The blog that I was maintaining was in the ever crowded personal finance (PF) niche.

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ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Many entrepreneurs and small business owners start a blog to support their business. A blog, they figure, will allow them to illustrate their knowledge to clients, build a reputation and brand, get people to check out their work, and take the place of that pesky enewsletter they started a year ago but never seem to have time to write these days. But in many cases, the errors or glitches that these bloggers can make end up undermining their owners’ businesses in subtle ways.

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Blog Blogging Blogger Consulting 43

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

A Guest post by Stanford from Pushing Social. Image by superbomba. Your blog is like the popular kid at school. It needs to look great, be funny, smart, and remember everybody’s name. It’s a tough job. But the hardest part of the job is keeping everyone happy. You are probably figuring out that your readers are not all cut from the same cloth. Although they may share a common interest, each has his or her own reason for visiting your blog.

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Editorial Entertainment Blogger Projects 42

Speaker: Corey Daugherty, Head of Business Development at Flowcode & Georgette Malitsis, Senior Customer Success Manager, Enterprise at Flowcode

Let's explore the transformative power of QR codes in bridging offline and online marketing worlds. 📲 This new webinar featuring Corey Daugherty and Georgette Malitsis of Flowcode will dive into how innovative QR technology not only enhances traditional marketing strategies, but also drives meaningful customer engagement and analytics. Register today to gain practical knowledge on using QR codes to increase conversion rates, optimize customer journeys, and ultimately unlock a new realm o

Marketing

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 21, 2010

A guest post by Kelly Estes – coauthor of Online Business Elements. Image by Storm Crypt. If you’re trying to impress a date, nothing does it like a romantic multi-course meal. In the blogosphere, you’re not trying to romance anyone, but you are out to impress — and snare — prospective readers. Intrigue, Don’t Bore.

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Food Entertainment Blogger Creativity 42

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

Bruce Lee is the most influential martial artist to ever live. In the book “Tao of Jeet Kune Do&# he shares many of his philosophies on life and fighting. The great thing about his teachings is that they can be applied to just about anything, including successful blogging. Let’s examine what Bruce Lee can teach us about the art of blogging. 1. Drive to succeed.

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Blog Blogging Construction Blogger 42

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

A Guest Post by Glen Allsopp from ViperChill. In 2006, at 17, I started a blog about marketing which was very successful from launch. In fact, the first blog post I published was linked to by 4 of the Technorati Top 100 at the time, and I felt like I was on my way to joining the ranks of A-list bloggers. Yet, within a few weeks, I had already ran out of steam.

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ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 5, 2010

Guest Post by Elle from Couple Money. Getting exposure is a goal of many bloggers. They work hard writing and sharing their thoughts on various topics. Once they achieve a certain size however, growth seems to plateau a bit. They need a bigger platform so to speak and some decide to join a blog network. Blog networks have different meaning for different people.

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Finance Blog Blogging Promotion 41

Speaker: Neal Boornazian, President and Nancy Harhut, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer - HBT Marketing

Direct mail has consistently remained a powerful tool in the marketer's arsenal, but in an age of digital dominance, its effectiveness hinges on the strategic integration of behavioral science. 💡 When you incorporate powerful behavioral science principles into your direct mail marketing strategies, you can prompt the hardwired decision-making shortcuts your audience relies on — and that automatically unlocks new avenues for engagement, conversion, and brand loyalty.

Engagement

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

This week we published a moving story on ProBlogger from Naomi Dunford from IttyBiz. When Naomi sent me the post a few days before we published it I immediately knew that it was going to be one that would do well and it was. 100+ comments within 4 hours of publishing – and not just any comments – they were comments that were heart felt (I’ve never seen so many readers admitting being moved to tears by a post), in depth and engaging.

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Publisher Publishing Publishing Engagement 41

Men With Pens

SEPTEMBER 21, 2010

We do quite a few website critique reports here at Men with Pens. People with existing sites often want to know what changes they could make to improve sales or conversion rates, so they come to us for eagle-eye expertise, an objective opinion and a drive-by website critique that covers everything, head to toe. Speaking of covering everything head to toe… today is a special report website critique for Kidorable, an acclaimed kids’ clothing and accessories company dressing little kids up ri

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Text Content Management System Sales Retail 41

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

We all know that rapport is essential to developing lasting relationships with readers. Central to that sense of rapport is how closely you align yourself with your readers. Take a look at your last few blog posts. Do you sound like a trusted friend, or a stuffy (or sanctimonious) authority? The education system and the media have convinced many of us that, to sound like we have authority, we have to be formal, we have to present a bullet-proof case in a verbal flack jacket, and we must either a

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Blog Blogging Consulting Education 41

ProBlogger

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

Blog World Expo (aff) is approaching and I’m getting really excited about heading to Vegas for the third year running to do some teaching , meet some amazing bloggers, and learn from some of the best in the business. Last week, while on a Ustream Live Chat, I was bombarded with questions by first-time BWE attendees who wanted to know how to get the most out of the conference.

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Speaker: Jeff Tarran, COO, Gunderson Direct & Margaret Pepe, Executive Director of Product Management, U.S. Postal Service

Learn the secrets to direct mail success for growth marketers! Industry veterans Jeff Tarran and Margaret Pepe are here to delve into how direct mail has completely evolved in recent years, and has rightfully earned a seat at the table alongside the email and digital marketing plans of SMBs, enterprise companies, and agencies as they look into strategy for 2024 and beyond.

Marketing