Men With Pens
MARCH 18, 2012
There comes a point in every freelance writer’s career where he simply can’t take it any more. Unless he’s leaving the house to conduct first-hand research, he’s seeing the same things all day, every day. The place where he works during the day is 20 feet from the place where he lounges at night. It’s the same kitchen, the same bathroom, the same everything, every day.
Neil Patel
MAY 30, 2012
Facebook Insights is a powerful tool for those wanting to track user interaction on their Facebook business page. Facebook Insights can be seen by all the admins of your page, and it can provide a wealth of information about your content and audience. By using Facebook Insights, you’ll be able to determine the best time of day to post , the best day of the week to post, and what type of content is most popular.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
ProBlogger
NOVEMBER 27, 2012
Every now and again I am pulled aside at a conference or am emailed and/or tweeted by someone wanting to get the “real” scoop on whether it is possible to make money blogging. Is it really possible to make a living from blogging? Is it just a small number of people making money from blogging? Is it only really possible to make money blogging if you write about the topic of making money blogging?
Men With Pens
MARCH 25, 2012
A free ebook is a great way to showcase your expertise and provide value to potential customers. But for most small business owners, finding the time to put together an ebook is hard. Sure, you know all the benefits an ebook could bring you … you just can’t find the time to write it and get it done. After all, writing ebooks are typically known as huge, long projects, right?
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.
Men With Pens
JULY 15, 2012
“Jason, I strongly suggest you call me immediately!”. The tone was harsh, bordering on threatening. This was by far the rudest voicemail I have ever received from a client. It was also for the smallest reason. My client had sent me an email telling me to meet her an hour earlier. It wasn’t a request; it was a command. No explanation. No apology. No room for argument.
Men With Pens
DECEMBER 16, 2012
Marketing your freelance business can often be frustrating. You’re already busy trying to make ends meet, and it just seems like there’s not enough time to do everything you know you need to do. There’s no “magic formula” to making marketing easy – you just have to do it. But lucky for you, there are simple, often-overlooked techniques you can use that take just minutes to put into practice.
Content Pro Pulse brings together the best content for content professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Men With Pens
NOVEMBER 14, 2012
Writers make hundreds of mistakes, but most writers end up making the same mistakes over and over again – often without even noticing. These repeated stumbles leave your writing dull and lifeless, and they eventually cause your readers to think your work always sounds the same. So here are 6 ways you can avoid common writing mistakes – and what to do to really make your work shine: What’s Your “Tell”?
Men With Pens
SEPTEMBER 16, 2012
You have a great idea for a blog post – and that’s a good start. But you need more than just ideas. If you want to grow your business, you need published content – and that means turning your idea into a written blog post. This is where you probably get stuck. Maybe your idea is so good that you’re afraid you can’t do it justice. Or maybe you love coming up with ideas – you have notebooks full of them – but sitting down to write the actual post doesn’t seem like much fun at all.
Men With Pens
APRIL 29, 2012
You’ve got a great idea. You’re going to write an ebook – perhaps your first! It’ll grow your business, bring in money, and help establish your expertise. And to keep yourself accountable, you tell all your readers to expect the ebook by the end of the month. Sure, that might mean a few caffeine-fuelled, late-night sessions … but your ebook will be done, dusted, and out the door.
Men With Pens
JULY 29, 2012
As an author and writing coach, I’m a big fan of good writing. I love a well-structured sentence or the perfect choice of word. But writing isn’t rocket science … and there are a few simple writing tricks you can use to write blog posts that are much more powerful and engaging. Before we get into those 9 tricks, though, here’s the why behind it: Fully-engaged readers are more likely to remember your blog posts.
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.
Men With Pens
AUGUST 5, 2012
“I am a lousy copywriter.” So said one of the all-time great ad men when describing his work. And really, that doesn’t surprise me, because he followed that up with “I am a good editor.” (How great an ad man was he? A half-century after his heyday, he still gets an occasional mention on Mad Men. The guy couldn’t even type—but he could produce a “gush” of copy.).
Men With Pens
SEPTEMBER 30, 2012
I fail at a lot of things, and I’m not ashamed to say that I fail spectacularly. As a fiction writer, I have a whole folder of novel starts that got trashed because of procrastination. As a blogger, I was crazy enough to pitch to ProBlogger (and yes, fail) when my own analytics were damn flat. And as a career hopeful, I was uncommon enough to choose writing as a profession, despite my mom and dad being CPAs.
Men With Pens
NOVEMBER 7, 2012
Every freelancer I’ve ever met started at the bottom of the barrel. I did. So did James. I’m willing to bet you started at the bottom too. Maybe you’re still stuck there. So how do you climb your way to the top? Insecurity can hold you back. Figure out what’s keeping you at the bottom. Maybe you don’t think your work is good enough. Maybe your rates are low because you don’t think anyone will pay you more.
Men With Pens
FEBRUARY 5, 2012
For several years now, you’ve been given advice from probloggers (and not-so-probloggers) that just wasn’t very good advice at all. The advice made sense. The analogies were understandable. But the theory was wrong. I know, because I dished out that advice and followed it strictly for years. I was convinced it was good advice and that if I didn’t follow it, all hell would break loose.
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!
Men With Pens
JUNE 10, 2012
I’m really sorry to be the one to break it to you, but you’re an idiot. I say that in the nicest way possible, because at least one of these 3 things will be true: You’ve looked back on mistakes you made and opportunities you missed in your writing, business and in your life and thought, “ What was I thinking ?!” With your gift of hindsight, you’ve cast your memory back on life events you’ve experienced and thought, “ If only I knew then what I know now… ̶
Men With Pens
DECEMBER 5, 2012
My friend and I took my 6-year-old daughter to this crazy tree-climbing adventure: a place where they string logs, tubes and wires to the branches of tall trees. The result is a leaf-top playground high above the ground. You climb up, clip yourself to a safety line and clamber around like a monkey. Full of bravado, my daughter whipped through the courses like nobody’s business, swinging from ropes, scampering over logs and asking for more every step of the way.
Men With Pens
NOVEMBER 21, 2012
Think of your favorite book. Better yet, go and get your favorite book, feel its heft in your hand, flip through its pages, smell its bookness. Read a passage or two to send that stream of sparks through your head, the alchemy that occurs when the written word collides with the chemicals of your consciousness: Delight is the fruit of that collision.
Men With Pens
OCTOBER 7, 2012
Nobody is born great. We all start off as equals: tiny infants who can’t do much on their own. Forget about beautiful paintings, elegant singing and persuasive writing that sells itself; we can’t even smile yet! Later on in life, we often get frustrated with ourselves when we’re first trying to learn a new skill. We expect to be naturally good at it.
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.
Men With Pens
NOVEMBER 25, 2012
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. – Winston Churchill. Dealing with criticism is one of the most important skills you have to develop to be successful in writing – and in life. I used to get really hurt and instantly defend myself if I received any type of hateful email.
Men With Pens
APRIL 15, 2012
Let me tell you a story about what’s happening right now in Greece, my corner of the world, entrepreneurship-wise. The situation in Greece is quite bad at the moment. We keep hearing how it’s in ‘critical condition’ and ‘hanging from a thread’ If you’re an entrepreneur running your own business, the blows come one after the other: surging taxes, closing businesses, long periods of unemployment, spending on the decrease….
Men With Pens
OCTOBER 1, 2012
Do you wish you had more time to write? That’s a question I get asked by writers most often – from beginners to old-hands. How do you find enough hours in a day? The key is building strong writing habits. Everyone can build these habits. Even if “write first book” has been on your New Years’ resolution list for the last ten years or you haven’t blogged in six months, you can become a much more productive writer starting now.
Men With Pens
JULY 11, 2012
You spend your days jumping from one task to the next. Answer this call. Answer this email. Do this. Do that. You keep telling yourself that you’ll find time to think about your long-term goals when everything quiets down. But somehow, this strategic thinking time never seems to happen. And you know what? It never will. Effective people don’t wait to strategize.
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
Men With Pens
FEBRUARY 12, 2012
Icky. It’s a word that makes me shudder. I shudder because this juvenile term is being used by fully grown adults. Business owners. People who should by now know a little more professionalism and who should speak words a touch above my 7-year-old’s current lexicon. Really, people. Icky ? But using a childish term when you’re 40 or so isn’t what most turns me off.
Men With Pens
MAY 24, 2012
People often ask me this question, and it makes me grin every time: “James, exactly how do you manage to write such massive quantities? Is there some magic switch we can flick on to write lots of articles?” Now, sometimes I answer it’s jet-fuel-strength coffee that’s so black, it’s like ink. But the truth is that it’s not the coffee (though that helps) and it’s not a magic switch at all.
Men With Pens
NOVEMBER 11, 2012
Right now, you have one idea with the potential to change the world. You know the one I’m talking about – it’s the one you’ve been putting off. The one you don’t have time for. The one that’s too hard. The one they’re all going to laugh at you for trying. While you’re sleep, this idea lingers at the foot of your bed like a creepy 5-year-old, watching you shift, prodding you to get up and research.
Men With Pens
APRIL 22, 2012
A lot of people have been telling me they wished they could register for the Damn Fine Words writing course. It’s launching May 7 for its 3rd edition, and people who write me say that if they could just get in on this course…. …they could finally start that online business, because they’d have the skills to write their web copy and blog for business. …they could improve their writing skills and pull in more clients and money, instead of making the meagre income they’
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.
Men With Pens
APRIL 8, 2012
Do you ever wonder why so many ads, web pages and emails sound the same? And why is it that some copywriters get their content to sound so much better? Is there a secret copywriting conspiracy going on? Do they know something we don’t know? Yes. Yes, they do. And I’ll tell you what it is… right after I tell you a little story. Once upon a time, I wasn’t on the inside.
Men With Pens
JULY 8, 2012
“I stay true to myself and my style, and I am always pushing myself to be original.”. ~ Aaliyah, American recording artist. The other day a friend mentioned he had started a blog as a way to earn some money on the side. I smiled, held my tongue, and finished the conversation without comment. But it got me to thinking about some of the deeper problems with the bloggosphere and success in general.
Men With Pens
JANUARY 12, 2012
It’s been done tens of millions of time: a blog post is written. Someone has an idea to share with the world. Someone has a beef and they want to rant. Someone writes an inspiring poem. Because of the glut of so many posts, blog posts have become boring. When I scroll through my reader, my eyes glaze over. I long for something exciting. Something different.
Men With Pens
JANUARY 5, 2012
Have you ever looked over a piece of your writing, only to realize that something’s missing? It’s so easy to get caught up in all the tips, tricks and techniques: Write a great headline – a number, adjectives, a clear promise. Have a gripping introduction to draw the reader in. Make sure you spell out a benefit for every feature. All of this is good advice.
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.
Expert insights. Personalized for you.
100 
Let's personalize your content