writing

The importance of pre-selling on your content pages [PRESENTATION]

by

pre-selling web contentOne way to define the various types of pages on a website is to place them into two main categories — sales pages and content pages.

The purpose of sales pages is self-evident.

But the purpose of content pages is a little less easy to define.

Some content pages are created specifically to attract organic search engine traffic. Others are created to become popular across social media. And a few are created with the specific purpose of informing and educating the site’s readers.

Vaguer still is the connection between the content pages and the sales page.

Read the full post…

Monday Spark: Remember the very best work you have done.

by

first prize for good workWe all of us suffer from self-doubt from time to time. We have good days and not so good days. Days when we think we can conquer the universe, and days when we feel we’re not even worthy to get paid for the work we do.

Welcome to the life of a freelancer!

Hopefully you have more up days than down days.

For when you do have the occasional down day, here is something I do to snap myself out of it.

I think back to some work I did that was really good. Maybe it performed incredibly well. Maybe I was just particularly proud of what I created. Either way…

Read the full post…

Being able to write for a living is a remarkable gift.

by

writing skillsFor most of the time, we take our ability to write for granted.

After all, pretty much everyone can write. It’s one of those default skills we learn at school. And because everyone can do it, the act of writing becomes a commodity. There is no longer anything special about it.

Your mother writes. Your neighbors write. Your kids write. In fact, chances are that one of them is writing something on Facebook right now.

But if you view writing as a craft instead of just a commodity activity, remarkable things can happen.

First, you will have found a way to express yourself, your feelings and your opinions beyond simply writing one more Facebook entry. Second…

Read the full post…

My favorite way to make money as a writer [VIDEO]

by

money-making website videoFor most of the last 30 years I have earned my living by writing for clients, as a freelancer. And I have no complaints about that. I wrote promotional materials to help companies sell more of their products and services and, in return, they paid me for my time.

But over the last decade I have branched out a little, using my writing skills, and my love of writing, to make some money in a few different ways. I have written books, ebooks, courses and programs.

But my favorite way to make money as a writer is to generate passive income from the websites I create for myself.

The most successful of these sites, so far, is my site about coffee – CoffeeDetective.com.

As you`ll see from this video…

Read the full post…

Monday Spark: Giving military wives a voice by teaching them to sing together.

by

singing for inspirationI’m in the U.K. at the moment, and watched a remarkable program on the television here.

Gareth Malone is a choirmaster. I understand he’s in his forties, but he looks more twenty. Anyway, he is a professional and has worked with some of the leading choirs in the country.

But recently, instead of working at some high-brow opera house, he is driving around the country to military bases. When he gets there, he organises the military wives into choirs and teaches them to sing.

Military wives are the women left behind when their husbands are deployed overseas, principally to Afghanistan. They are isolated and live under a shadow of fear, hoping and praying their husbands come home.

Gareth Malone creates a remarkable bond with these women, and tutors even the most timid of them until they find their voice.

Read the full post…

On your web content pages, reveal your core message slowly.

by

mystery in the box revealedOften when I arrive at a content page online, I read the first few lines and find the answer or information I was looking for. Or I at least get the gist of it. I then stop reading and hit the back button.

In other words, the writer has revealed the good stuff at the top of the page, and has given me little or no reason to keep reading.

In fact, I have made the same error with this post. You have already finished reading the short version of what I plan to say and – if you were in a hurry – you could pretty much move on at this point.

(That said, the good stuff is yet to come…I just didn’t flag it in the intro.)

Read the full post…