Rainmaker Rewind: The Story of StudioPress Founder Brian Gardner

By Caroline Early

Rainmaker FM rewind

We’ve got a special treat for you on Rainmaker Rewind this week: the premiere of StudioPress FM, hosted by StudioPress founder Brian Gardner and Vice President of StudioPress Lauren Mancke.

Each week, they’ll help creative entrepreneurs build and grow powerful digital businesses. In this episode, they dive into the story behind StudioPress and the world of premium WordPress themes.

And, as always, be sure to check out the other great episodes that recently aired on Rainmaker FM.

  1. StudioPress FM. Brian Gardner and Lauren Manke discuss all things digital design on the new StudioPress FM: <a class="colorbox" …read more      
Read More

6 Questions to Ask for Powerful Testimonials

By Sean D’Souza

what to ask to get powerful testimonials

Most of us ask for testimonials. And if we follow up and pester our customers enough, we receive testimonials.

There’s only one problem. These testimonials have no power.

Testimonials are stories. And stories potentially have power and grace, flow and rhythm. Look around you and you’ll see none of that in most testimonials.

Limp testimonials are a fact of life because clients don’t always know how to give testimonials and we often don’t have a clue about how to ask for testimonials.

We’re going to fix that today by examining six key questions you can use when asking for testimonials.

Ask these 6 …read more      

Read More

What Happens to SEO When You Stop Blogging?

By Neil Patel

blogging

I’ve been blogging for longer than ten years.

Ten years! And I haven’t quit.

That’s a long time.

I’m not trying to toot my own horn here. I simply want to make a point.

Why haven’t I stopped blogging? After all, I get tons of traffic from old blog posts that I wrote two, four, and even eight years ago.

Why do I keep at it? Writing is punishing work. It’s tough, and it takes a long time. Don’t I have better stuff to do like binge-watching Netflix or just relaxing?

Why am I so devoted to blogging?

I’ll let you in on a secret. I actually …read more      

Read More

How to Dig Deep and Discover the Treasure in Your Niche

By Pamela Wilson

jelle-annaars

Let’s take a moment to sing the praises of counterintuitive moves that propel our businesses to a whole new level.

Every so often, you try something completely different. And every so often, it really works.

Take Jelle Annaars, for example.

Jelle has spent years offering copywriting services to a long list of clients. But when he shortened that list, business improved.

He’s also spent years building a robust online presence. But when he incorporated offline techniques, that’s when things took off.

And he became a Copyblogger Certified Content Marketer by submitting writing samples in English — and English isn’t his first language!

Speaking of our Certification …read more      

Read More

5 Simple Touches that Deliver a Warm Welcome to New Email Subscribers

By Beth Hayden

usher in prospects with a warm welcome

You know the old adage: you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

That maxim is certainly true in the email marketing world. Your email welcome message is the first message new subscribers receive when they register for a free account with your site or subscribe to your email list.

A well-crafted welcome message creates an initial connection with a new subscriber. It’s the first step toward establishing a solid long-term relationship with that person.

But all too often, content marketers treat their email welcome messages as afterthoughts — notes they write as quickly as possible so …read more      

Read More