http://www.contentwheel.com/Public/Blog/index.cfm Copywriting, Editing, Information Product Development en-us Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0600 Full Partner http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/convert-your-social-media-contacts-into-leads-and-subscribers-with-an-opt-in-landing-page/ http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/convert-your-social-media-contacts-into-leads-and-subscribers-with-an-opt-in-landing-page/ info@contentwheel.com (by Susan Raab) Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:00:00 CST You're connected with hundreds, maybe thousands of people through Facebook and Twitter. How do you get them to raise their hands and say, "please market to me!"? You can take the lead in the conversation when they give you their e-mail address, phone number or both. The trick is to ask for this information in the right way. 1. Develop a compelling offer. Attract those you can help by offering to share the secrets of solving a painful problem-the one you're an expert in solving-as a free gift from you. You'll need to package up those secrets in an information product you can deliver electronically, like a special report or audio recording. 2. Get a landing page just for the offer. You risk losing your visitors' attention when your social media links to your blog or home page-they'll be tempted to browse around and might forget your offer. If you don't have a blog or website yet, all the better! This landing page is a great "starter home" for your internet business. Give it a unique doma ... http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/you-dont-have-to-write-a-book-to-be-a-successful-author/ http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/you-dont-have-to-write-a-book-to-be-a-successful-author/ info@contentwheel.com (by Susan Raab) Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:00:00 CST Will authoring a book make you happy? With 20,000+ books being published every month so far in 2009, a lot of people must think so. Imagine your future as a first-time book author. You may enjoy writing, but what happens after that? You must promote your book, whether you have a publisher or not. Book marketing is a wonderful lead-generation opportunity for those who already have a business. But if you don't have a business, where will your satisfaction come from? Choose the right form for your content. A form other than a book might be more satisfying for your first authorial effort. Answer these three questions to discover to the form that's right for you. 1. "How do you see yourself interacting with the people you want to help?" I asked one budding author recently. "I see myself in front of a classroom, presenting the material and helping people apply it," she replied. "Then wouldn't you be happier if you created stand-up training materials? Then instead of promoting a book, you cou ... http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/for-business-when-do-i-stop-giving-content-away-and-start-selling-it/ http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/for-business-when-do-i-stop-giving-content-away-and-start-selling-it/ info@contentwheel.com (by Susan Raab) Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:00:00 CST When you're rushing to jump on the social media marketing bandwagon, you may search frantically for content to throw into its ever-devouring maw. You have to write articles. You have to come up with blog posts. You have to be timely, relevant and interesting. You have to "build relationships" by promoting links to your content. In your haste, you might wonder, "How will I ever make money from this?" How can you give information away one minute and sell it the next? If you give too much away, how will you ever have enough left to sell in your information products? You have an information architecture problem. Can you imagine how confident you'd be if you knew where to draw the line? You'd be able to look at your vast expertise and tell in a moment which facts are more valuable in your promotional material than they are in your book. The solution is to build a content structure that "gives away" engaging and enticing content, while charging for content that actually produces results. Usa ... http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/profit-from-the-leap-self-publisher-to-business-publisher/ http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/profit-from-the-leap-self-publisher-to-business-publisher/ info@contentwheel.com (by Susan Raab) Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:00:00 CST "Should I find a publisher or should I self-publish?" Emerging authors often anguish over this question. Caught up in the mass-market dream of traditional trade publishing, they're blind to their own power to publish, accepting without question the demeaning "self publishing" label. Wake up to your true power! A book publisher is limited to publishing books for the retail channel. But you can publish your expertise in many media types, in many channels-a book of course, but also audio CDs, articles, your blog, your web site, special reports, e-books, information products, speeches, workbooks, videos, home study systems, webinars, mentoring systems... the list goes on and on. You have the power to build a business around your content, so recognize yourself as a business publisher. Then leverage the publishing forms and technologies that work for your business-that work for you. "How do I want to interact with people?" What kind of interactions do you enjoy? If you enjoy standing in fro ... http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/for-business-measuring-how-fast-your-ideas-roll/ http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/for-business-measuring-how-fast-your-ideas-roll/ info@contentwheel.com (by Susan Raab) Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:00:00 CST "Is it worth it?" As an entrepreneur wondering whether to invest the money to "up" the production values on your content, you need to know what difference it will make. But metrics that prove the value of good writing get more and more scarce as you move down the product funnel. When you're trying to attract new leads and prospects, good marketers carefully track the results of campaigns. Although there's more to a campaign than copywriting (notably, the offer and list), internet marketers especially leverage their power of split testing to isolate the effect of each factor. What they've learned makes them rabid about the quality of their copy. They know it creates results, whether clicks or sales. Small business owners setting up their websites, if they think about measuring results at all, hope to avoid the costs simply by adding experienced marketers to their team-marketers whose experience includes measuring results. In this way, they get the benefit of knowing "what works" on a sm ... http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/to-make-connections-help-them-achieve-their-goals/ http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/to-make-connections-help-them-achieve-their-goals/ info@contentwheel.com (by Susan Raab) Fri, 29 May 2009 12:00:00 CST Having trouble getting people to read your stuff or take action on your web site? Remember, one factor unites all the content disciplines: the human condition. All content consumers are human. We all have problems. We need help and solutions. When I'm reading along wondering, "what's in it for me?" I'm looking for something that will help me make progress towards my goals. So show me you understand my predicament! Once I know you care about it, I'll be ready to listen. You'll have credibility. Here's how to apply this in your business today. In social media, find groups of people who have problems you can solve. Go hang out with them and sympathize, then send them to your site to discover the shining golden path to successfully achieving their goals. On your web site, show your visitors how well you know the problem, how expert you are at solving it, and how delighted your clients and customers are with the results. Then offer to put them on that shining golden path... via your product ... http://www.contentwheel.com/utility/showArticle/index.cfm?objectID=586 http://www.contentwheel.com/utility/showArticle/index.cfm?objectID=586 info@contentwheel.com (by Susan Raab) Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:00:00 CST Build paragraphs that get your point across fast. Site visitors scan until they find what they're looking for; only then do they start reading. To keep them happily zipping along: Make your point in the first sentence. That's all a scanner reads, so don't build an argument with your conclusion at the end. Put your conclusion first. Keep sentences short. Use action verbs and speak directly to the reader. Keep paragraphs short. Two or three sentences should do the job. If not, chunk your ideas down. Brevity builds loyalty. Keep it short and sweet and they'll be back for more. http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/for-self-publishers-google-vs-amazon-in-ebook-distribution/ http://www.contentwheel.com/writing-content-copy/for-self-publishers-google-vs-amazon-in-ebook-distribution/ info@contentwheel.com (by Susan Raab) Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:00:00 CST Google announced that they're partnering with Sony to compete with Amazon's Kindle. A worthy partner: Sony has a long history with e-books and readers, with development going back to their joint venture with Gary Kildall the early 1980's here in Monterey. ...