The Secret Source of Clear Content
May 11, 2008
The Secret Source of Clear Content
by: Susan Raab
You can do anything in four easy steps!
An outrageous claim, no? But I can prove it. Because you’re doing it now.
Imagine your laundry basket. What are you going to wash today? Ah, socks. How will you wash them? In the machine. Now you do the wash and when the socks come out of the dryer, you wonder, “are they done?” Are they really clean and dry? Are they both there? Don’t you have to match them and fold them and put them away? Because what you really want is socks that are ready to wear. And soon enough, they’ll be back in your laundry basket again.
This is the circle of life: you decide what you want to do and how you want to do it; then you do it and check whether it’s really done. The pattern’s easy to see with a simple project, but when you’re facing a complex project like writing a book, it’s easy to get muddled.
To get where you’re going, know where you are.
Many of my clients just start writing, trusting that their urge to say something will produce something someone (maybe even everyone!) will want to read.
Six Top Tips - You Could be Proofreading From Home Real Soon
May 11, 2008
Six Top Tips - You Could be Proofreading From Home Real Soon
by: Niall Cinneide
Perhaps you are working for a proof reading company and you are looking for to get into freelance work. Or, maybe you are looking to start a career proofreading from home. In any case, you want to learn how to find proofreading jobs, right? The career is out there, but how do you break in? Many people try unsuccessfully to do this for a long time. Here are some good, solid tips about the proofreading industry, and how to break in.
Tip 1. Educate yourself by taking a few proof reading courses. This can include those that are provided from home as well. You’ll find options all over the internet in this area.
Tip 2. Use your skills to create sample work. Get a project to do for free. This can be a great way to break in. Use it to build your portfolio.
Tip 3. Learn to be a good salesperson. Not only will you need to create work that will impress your clients, but you will have to sell yourself to them in the first place. Learn what it is that they are looking for. This could be quality work, good prices, guaranteed work.
7 Essential Tips for Reviewing and Approving Copy
May 10, 2008
Nothing can turn strong copy into a 97-pound weakling faster than a flawed review process. The result is severely handicapped marketing efforts and, alas, fewer sales.
How can you avoid this dire marketing situation?
By having a smart and consistent review process that preserves the selling power of your marketing communications. Following are 7 essential tips for reviewing and approving copy.
Tip #1: Review the copy from the customers’ perspective.
On the first pass, read the copy (all of it) without your red pen in hand or editing hat on. That’s how your customers or audience will read it. Now, what do you think? Does the concept work? Did the headline grab your attention? How was the tone? Does the copy flow? If you begin by editing the first sentence or sweating the details, you will do your clients or customers a disservice.
Tip #2: Don’t get hung up on grammar and usage.
If you think the copywriter broke a writing rule, 9 times out of 10 there was an excellent reason. Copywriters are sales people in print, so if we take liberty with the English language, it’s for effect. Plus, be aware that copywriters (and proofreaders) review and correct the copy before you see it. For example, I consider spelling, grammar, style issues, trademark usage, and more to ensure the quality control of every piece of copy I write.
Why Article Writing is Increasingly Important in This SPAM Era
May 10, 2008
There is no doubt that Spam has affected online business in a very big and negative way. So serious is the Spam problem today that many ISP filters will routinely reject and filter out messages you need from clients and business associates. Many times even email sites are trying to control ever rising Spam volumes. Many times this makes even genuine communication via email very difficult. Just try sending mail from Yahoo to AOL and you will get an idea of what I am trying to say here. Even sending out email newsletters or ezines, which are a very important online marketing tool, can be quite a challenge these days. Not to mention safe lists that are mostly a nightmare of bounced or unread emails. Out of the volumes sent, only a tiny fraction ever gets opened, let alone read. The result is that online marketing experts have been forced to look for other options and tools to help them meet their online business objectives.
What Hurricane Katrina Can Teach Authors
May 10, 2008
What Hurricane Katrina Can Teach Authors
by: Lynne Klippel
By now, you are heartsick and tired of looking at the images of the horror and devastation in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. However, if you are an author and self-publisher, it pays to look at this disaster as a wake-up call.
Just for a moment, image that a disaster stuck YOUR home. What would happen to your writing and to your business? Could you keep things going if you had no electricity, no internet connection, or no phone service? How could you continue to sell your books, even if you were unable to get online to process orders?
There are several important steps all authors and self-publishers need to take immediately to ensure that your books and your business are protected from natural disasters, fires, and unexpected events like plumbing leaks or computer meltdowns.
* Your number one priority should be to create several back-up copies of your manuscript. You can burn it onto a CD and store it in a safe deposit box. Send a copy to your mother or friend who lives out of state. Another option would be to consider creating a private blog where you can immediately access your work from any internet connection. For a free service check out www.livejournal where you can set up a totally private blog. Another option is www.blogger.com but blogs there may be accessible via blog rings.
Good News About Getting Published
May 9, 2008
So you want to get a book published and add “author” to your resume. A decade ago, there weren’t too many options for professionals and consultants to get into print. If a traditional publisher wasn’t interested in your tome, your only other option was to spend tens of thousands of dollars with a subsidy press or custom printer. And then, without ready distribution, good luck trying to sell the books.
But all that has changed. Thanks to new technologies, today it is not only possible to produce a professional-looking copy of your book for under $1,000, you can also market the book through reputable sales channels.
Alternative publishers are able to print both paperback and hardcover books as they’re needed due to the bold new digital publishing technology known as “print-on-demand.” Simply put, print-on-demand turns the traditional economics of the $27.5 billion publishing industry upside down. Going digital allows books to be produced in small quantities — even one at a time — almost instantaneously. No longer does publishing require behemoth offset presses, hangar-size warehouses and fleets of trucks.
Increase Your Ezine Sign-up Rate By 500% or More Starting Today
May 9, 2008
If you’re satisfied with a newsletter subscription rate of five to ten percent, then you don’t need any of the information I’m about to share with you. If you’re serious about converting up to 50%, or more of your website visitors into newsletter subscribers, though, then read on. It’s time to leave your low sign-up rates behind by following these two easy steps.
1. Make signing up for your newsletter your visitor’s only option; otherwise they miss out on all of the free sign-up bonuses and your incredible website content. Give them something to lose. Let them know that they could be making a huge mistake by not subscribing, and back up your words with valuable free bonuses and information-rich content that makes them glad they did.
Do this by making your entry page your ezine sign-up page. If you have to write 1000-1500 words to convince them to subscribe, then do it. Treat this page like a sales page.
Tell them all of the features of subscribing, and more importantly, all of the benefits.
Don’t sell them on your product, sell them on your newsletter and the valuable bonuses they’ll get get by subscribing. Your home page and your newsletter signup page should be one and the same.
Consider Self Publishing in Ebook Format
May 9, 2008
Consider Self Publishing in Ebook Format
by: John R
Today, more than every before authors are presented with publishing opportunities that have never existed before. This is not to understate the hard work that authors have to go through to get recognition, write great books, and make a full time living from their passion of expression. However, it is to say that today, due to advances in communications technology, authors can now get their books distributed much easier than they could a decade ago. One very popular way that authors are distributing their work is digitally through ebooks. Digital books are gaining so much popularity that even some of the most popular authors in the world have used it to distribute their books. Stephen King for example published “Riding the Bullet” exclusively in ebook format. When this ebook began distribution over Barns and Nobel and Amazon.com there was so much demand for the download that the servers of these two book giants slowed down almost to a halt. People that wanted to download the ebook were put in a large queue with the hundreds of thousands of other who downloaded the ebook as well.
Defy the Myths, Get Your Book Written–Fast! - Part 1
May 8, 2008
Defy the Myths, Get Your Book Written–Fast! - Part 1
by: Judy Cullins
Why don’t you write a book?
Most people complain it takes too long. They are too busy. One professional coach said she was not a natural writer. An entrepreneur feared it wouldn’t sell, or it would be too much effort. A professional speaker says she is so busy marketing herself, she doesn’t know where to find the time to write.
These are reasons, but they aren’t real, they are myths. You can write a profitable book–even a lot of books–fast!
Fast depends on you, your intention, and attention that you will give your book Fast depends on your creating a blueprint of simple step-by-step strategies to write a fast, focused book.
Getting Your Book Written–Six Myths and Options
1. Takes talent.
Actually, the less writing know how you have, the better. In my innocent beginnings I thought I was a speaker, a trainer, a teacher, a coach. I didn’t think of myself as a writer!
8 Surefire Methods to Create an Article Title That Will Get Your Article Read More Often
May 8, 2008
Often all the Web Surfer will see is your title, Your Title will determine if your article gets read or not. You can use these techniques together or in combination to get your articles read.
1 - Use Precise Numbers
Precise numbers seem more believable and less canned. Precise numbers working best. Here are some examples
2 - Appeal to the Curious Side
Anything that asks a question or makes them go hmmm. Titles like
3 - How To
Everyone wants to know how To. How to Lose Weight, How to Save Gas. How to Make Your children Eat
4 - Emotions
Appeal to their emotions.
5 - Enumerated Lists
Enumerated list articles are very popular.