This one will probably get me into trouble.
I’ve worked as a graphic designer for over two decades and I’m not supposed to say this stuff. After all, it’s my job to make miracles. To wave my magic design wand and make a business look stronger, smarter, and more powerful than it really is.
Before I start [...]
You know what I’ve discovered? Most of the people writing about blogging are experts. Funny thing, that.
These expert bloggers have been doing it for a while and they have thousands (if not tens or hundreds of thousands) of subscribers. The best give lots of free stuff away that’s actually worth reading, and [...]
Do you want to be a successful blogger?
I do. I might be getting a bit obsessed with it, actually.
Post ideas pop into my head unexpectedly. I keep a long running list of ideas for improving my blog.
I also study how the most successful bloggers got where they are, and I pore over every word that [...]
Sometimes it seems like we’re running out of juicy debates in the blogosphere.
We used to have endless back and forth conversations about a few pet topics. Long posts versus short. How-to posts versus introspection. Professionalism versus authenticity. Ginger versus Mary Ann.
We never had a debate about bullet points, mind you. Everyone knows bullet points are [...]
Content is king, but if the king looks like a toad, no one will know he’s royalty.
On the one hand, your blog theme might be drop-dead gorgeous. But if your writing isn’t compelling, readers won’t stick around to read it.
Even worse, your writing might be fantastic . . . but if your design doesn’t stop [...]
blogcrastination (blŏg-kras-tuh-ney-shuhn) — the deferment of writing a blog post to a later time; often a mechanism for coping with anxiety.
If you’ve been a blogger for long, you know how ugly blogcrastination can be.
It disrupts your goals, stifles your spirit, and makes you second guess your decisions. It can take you from writing a post [...]
There’s a new version of Thesis out, and this is one of the best updates in quite a while. And yet there are a lot of new Copyblogger subscribers who might use WordPress, but might not really “get” what this Thesis thing is all about.
So in this post I’ll share with you why Thesis [...]
There comes a time in every blogger’s life when the thought of writing another blog post makes you want to . . . well . . . gag.
You know you should write, you know your readers are expecting to hear from you. But sitting down to crank out another post is like throwing your bucket [...]
Have you ever planned what you thought would be a brilliant, jaw-dropping week on your blog?
You pour your heart and soul into an ingenious post (or series) then sit back and wait for the praises to come pouring in.
But instead, you hear from just your usual readers, commenting politely and moving on.
Where are the trumpets? [...]
Writing is difficult.
So is teaching it to distracted, hungover college students whose cultural touchstones are TMZ and the Twilight series.
But after years spent writing in professional newsrooms, I was surprised to discover how teaching college students actually helped make me a better student of the craft of writing.
And it’s not (just) because I now have [...]
I just returned from a Bobby McFerrin concert, and now I know how to run my new business. No, this post isn’t about “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” Bobby McFerrin is much more than that.
You see, I’m a little nervous. For 23 years, I’ve made my income the same way — in a service business, as [...]
The entertainment and CGI world has been fawning over the movie Avatar for months, and it seems you can’t watch any entertainment news program without hearing about James Cameron’s groundbreaking 3D epic.
And even if Cameron went home last week without the armful of Oscars he expected, directing the highest-grossing movie of all time probably takes [...]
About 80% of your blog’s success comes from “ass in chair” time. That’s the time you spend writing posts, editing posts, finding the perfect image, connecting with fellow bloggers, answering comments, shaping up your SEO, and all the other tasks we teach you about here on Copyblogger.
You’ve got to get that stuff right. But great [...]
A 40 year-old unsolved murder mystery. Strange cryptic codes in a bible. Sweden, sandwiches, and many, many cigarettes. The badass-est female protagonist since . . . forever. And an author who has, posthumously, caused quite a ruckus in the book world and in the minds of conspiracy theorists everywhere.
Yes, I’m talking about The Girl With [...]
There’s a wonderful European-style market and bakery in the Oak Lawn area of Dallas. They serve everything from made-to-order salads and sandwiches to chef-prepared, ready-to-eat meals.
But what I love most about the place is the sign on the door when you leave. It’s classic.
The sign doesn’t read “Please Come Again” or “Thank You for Your [...]
Bloggers have a distinct disadvantage.
When someone hires an expert in — oh, let’s say marketing — that expert can dispense the same information she did for the last client.
And the client before that one. And the one before that.
Not bloggers. Blogging is about breaking down everything you know into bite-sized chunks so that people [...]
Guest posting is the “in” thing. It’s the newest craze. All the kids are doing it!
You’ve heard it time and time again — guest posting is the best way of promoting your work. So why haven’t you become part of the hip crowd yet?
I know why. You’re scared of rejection. You’re not sure if you [...]
How I used a blog to attract thousands of subscribers my first week.
Why I make six figures and you don’t.
How I quit my day job and now I work all day in my robe and slippers while my wife brings me lattes.
Ever seen headlines like these before? Find them at least a little compelling?
Like [...]
As bloggers, we put a lot of effort into telling our readers how to do things.
We believe that if we can just give them enough informative content that they’ll subscribe to our blog and never leave. We try to become the best teacher we possibly can, instilling wisdom down into short, usable posts that our [...]
I’ve always been of the opinion that if Carrie Bradshaw had popped onto our television screens in 2010 instead of 1998, she would have been a blogger. But alas, she didn’t, so she wrote a (gasp!) print column for the fictional New York Star newspaper.
Yes, before there were blogs, there were newspaper columns – [...]
As writers, inspiration is one of the most important of the criteria for success. Without it, well, our writing ends up pretty lame.
A huge percentage of blogs see their demise before the six month milestone. Why?
Because people don’t know what to write about – writing becomes a chore and when that happens, you might as [...]
If you’re a regular Copyblogger reader, you get good advice about five times a week. Excellent advice, really. Stellar.
Especially on days when I’m posting. (Preens.)
Wait, what was I saying again?
Oh, right. You get really good advice, for free, five times a week. Very frequently, this advice would cost you upwards of $150 an hour for [...]
The McGuffin has been a powerful storytelling device for a long time. It was Alfred Hitchcock who popularized both its use and the name that sounds like it should be on a dollar menu.
The McGuffin has a cool job: to keep the plot, character, or situation rolling along. It draws us into the story and [...]
Conversation in social media is supposed to be “open source,” right?
We’re supposed to gain energy and excitement from being open to the entire internet, to ideas that come to us from literally every corner of the globe.
But too often “social media” turns into a predictably closed circuit of the same people having the same conversation.
Finding [...]
Do you know this story?
A scorpion needs to cross the river. He asks a friendly-looking frog to carry him across.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” asks the frog. “You’re a scorpion. You’ll sting and kill me.”
“No I won’t,” says the scorpion. “That would be completely against my self interest. If I sting you, I’ll [...]
Many of you began blogging to get more business. I’m sorry to tell you that many of you are doing the exact opposite.
Your blog isn’t getting you more business — it’s actually sending business away.
How did that happen?
A blog is supposed to create more interest in what you do or what you sell. It’s supposed [...]
If I asked you to define what an A-list blogger actually is, what would you say?
I’m sure the usual thoughts like “thousands of subscribers,” “lots of comments,” and “large influence” come to mind.
While these may be things that many of us agree on, they aren’t really about the blogger, they’re about the blog.
Yet it’s the [...]
We tell you about the power of stories quite a bit. And now we’re able to see what happens in our brains when we encounter a compelling story.
But how do you learn to tell these types of stories? Often, just by studying great ones.
Take 37 seconds to read this one:
______
The soul of the city is [...]
Raise your hand if you’re a writer.
Now, raise your hand if you have a nice-sized ego.
And now, raise your hand if you lied on that last one and kept your hand down.
The thing is, writing and a big ego kind of go hand in hand. And if you haven’t quit, gone crazy, or offed yourself [...]
William Shakespeare is the shorthand we use when we want to describe a great writer. He stands for the pinnacle of writing ability.
One reason is that he mastered the art of writing for completely different audiences. He appealed to the ultra elite, to regular theater-goers who never missed a performance, and to the illiterate mobs [...]
Search engine optimization by SEO Design Solutions