A New Book to Make Content Marketing Easier

By Sonia Simone

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There’s a word that comes up a lot when we talk about content marketing: Intimidating.

It’s easy to get intimidated at the prospect of creating a high volume of really good content. And even more so if you don’t completely think of yourself as a writer.

Guess who wrote a book to help? It’s Copyblogger’s own Pamela Wilson. She wanted to share what she’s learned from her own journey, starting as a business owner who didn’t see herself as a writer. Today she consistently produces content that audiences love to read — while juggling the many other aspects of her role with …read more      

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The Ultra Powerful 7th Principle of Persuasion

By Sonia Simone

who we are and why that matters

You may have seen that Robert Cialdini, author of the marketing classic Influence, has a new book out.

It’s called Pre-suasion, and you should read it. It’s all about setting the right context before you make the “ask.”

(In other words, it’s all about content marketing.)

Like his earlier book, it’s full of fascinating little insights that will be keeping marketing and copywriting dorks like me thinking for months.

I was particularly interested in what he had to say about:

  • The stages of “pre-suasion”
  • Using mystery to keep an audience engaged
  • The right time to use a popularity-based …read more      
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How Will Falconer Stopped Trading Dollars for Hours and Found His Calling

By Brian Clark & Jerod Morris

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This week’s guest on The Digital Entrepreneur is all about vitality. His focus is educating dog owners on natural practices that prevent pet illness effectively and sensibly. He helps people who want the best for their animals.

He is … Will Falconer and he is a digital entrepreneur.

In this 40-minute episode, Will and I discuss:

  • His journey to digital entrepreneurship, which goes back to when his cat “Cali” got sick
  • Why he decided to stop “trading dollars for hours” and steps he took next
  • A great story about his audience coming to his defense
  • The moment that led to his realization that he could make …read more      
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How to Create a MVP (Minimum Viable Podcast)

By Jerod Morris & Jon Nastor

minimum-viable-podcast

Have you ever fallen off the podcasting wagon? Or come close? In tough times, it can be useful to consider the idea of the minimum viable podcast. So long as you’re willing to never compromise on producing useful audio, this version of the MVP can be extremely helpful to keep you moving forward.

In this episode, Jonny and Jerod discuss the following:

  • The mantra of a Showrunner Podcasting Course member that inspired this episode
  • How the software concept of MVP can be applied to podcasting
  • Why a minimum viable podcast is not an excuse to compromise on quality
  • Which elements of your podcast are essential, …read more      
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How (and Why It’s OK) to Make Money with WordPress, with Matt Mullenweg

By Brian Gardner & Lauren Mancke

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This week, we have the very distinct pleasure of talking to a gentleman who is not only a talented member of the WordPress community … but the one responsible for it.

Matt Mullenweg is the founding developer of WordPress, which currently powers more than 26 percent of sites on the web. The WordPress website says it’s “a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform.”

More importantly, WordPress is a part of who Matt is.

In this episode Brian Gardner, Lauren Mancke, and Matt Mullenweg discuss:

  • Matt’s start with WordPress
  • Founding Automattic in 2005
  • The difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
  • Analysis of the premium theme market
  • Generating revenue in the WordPress …read more      
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