David Ly Khim says, “Any good salesperson knows that the key to email is personalization. Don’t send generic emails to huge email lists — it’s a waste of your time and won’t get you any results.Heather Morgan, the founder of sales copywriting agency SalesFolk, knows this fact all too well.Morgan has written and optimized over 10,000 cold emails for over 200 companies over the last decade. She’s taken email response rates from 3% to 31% — a 10X increase — and helped sign hundreds of new customers by personalizing email templates for her clients, who include Lyft,... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “You all know the Old Spice guy, right?The years-old “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign was memorable for many reasons, but one of them was that it gave Old Spice a voice — voice that came through in every video, commercial, tagline, Facebook update, tweet … you name it.And do you know who is behind all of that marketing collateral?Copywriters. The ability to find the exact right words to tell your company’s story isn’t an easy feat, and it’s even harder to do so consistently. New Call-to-actionSo when we come... [...]

Kelly Exeter says, “Halfway through the writing course, our instructor — not known for being one to sugar-coat — threw out a challenge:“Send me a favorite piece of your writing and I’ll critique it; I’ll tell you whether or not it’s any good. The only catch is, I’ll be critiquing it in front of the entire class.”A surprising number of us (bristling with hope and hubris I suppose) took up the offer. The ensuing session was, to date, the most illuminating experience I’ve had as a writer.The key message we all took away?Not that we needed to self-edit more tightly or have... [...]

Kerry O’Shea Gorgone says, “As an attorney, I regularly get asked legal questions by my friends. Of particular concern among marketers and PR professionals are copyright and fair use, because those concepts apply to content marketing strategy.I get asked some variation of the same 10 questions on a regular basis, so I’m going to answer them here.1. Can I use someone else’s content (text, image, video, music) on my website if I give them credit?Not unless they’ve given you written permission to use their material, OR you’re willing to spend the money to present... [...]

Eddie Shleyner says, “In Chicago, there’s a famous restaurant called Alinea. It’s one of only a handful of restaurants in America that have earned the coveted 3-star Michelin rating, making it one of the best restaurants in the world. But if you ask people who’ve dined there what makes it unique, most will tell you that, somehow, it’s not just the food.Alinea is an experience. The food, artistic and delicious as it is, wouldn’t garner its full effect if each course (there are about 20 in all) didn’t arrive just in time, perfectly ordered, with each dish complementing the one... [...]

Beth Hayden says, “I have fallen in love with a travel website.It’s called CheeseWeb, and it’s a blog dedicated to “slow travel.” Slow travel is staying in one place for longer periods of time while you’re on the road and having full experiences in each place you stay.When I stumbled upon it, the incredible photos and gorgeous design of the site made my mouth water. As an armchair traveler, it has now become one of my favorite travel sites.One of the reasons why the site appealed to me during my first visit was CheeseWeb’s amazing “Start Here” page.The page told me:–... [...]

Jeff Rajeck says, “There are an overwhelming amount of tips and tricks to help you become a better online copywriter.To help you organise these tips into a useful ‘writers toolbox’, we have covered two high-level best practices in previous posts:1. Use short words, short sentences, and signpost your writing. (link)2. Outline for your audience, write for yourself. (link)If you follow these rules, your writing will be easy-to-read, clear, and coherent. Your writing will also be well-structured yet capture some of your unique, personal voice which keeps readers interested. Additionally,... [...]

Demian Farnworth says, “Do me a favor, dear content marketer. Type this phrase into Google: “You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One).”I’ll wait.Okay, did you do it? What is the top result?It should be the product page for Jeff Goins’s ebook on Amazon.In fact, the first entry should be the Kindle version and the second entry should be the paperback version — both on Amazon.The third entry should be the author’s own product page dedicated to this book.So, here’s a question for you: Why do you think Amazon has the top result and not the author’s own product page? Got... [...]

Brian Clarke says, “I once asked the Copyblogger community to name their biggest writing challenges.From the many responses, a pattern developed:– How to get started– How to cut the fluff– How to finishThese three issues are really symptoms of the same painful problem, which boils down to not clearly understanding what you’re trying to accomplish with your writing. Don’t worry … it’s a fairly common ailment”.The 5-Step Process that Solves 3 Painful Writing ProblemsCopyblogger [...]

Demian Farnworth says, “Cornerstone content is vital for both seasoned bloggers and anyone launching a brand-new website because it can help you accomplish many of your content marketing goals.Goals like:– Getting links to your website– Finding new readers– Attracting subscribers– Ranking in search engines for competitive keywords– Highlighting archived material– But what exactly is cornerstone content? “.Cornerstone Content Defined in 60 SecondsCopyblogger [...]