Monthly Archives: September 2010

How to Find Ideas to Write About for Your Blog

Business, General Categories, Internet Marketing, traffic, , , ,

 Starting a blog is easy – keeping a blog interesting and fresh is a whole other matter. While many marketers have no trouble beginning a niche blog, the sheer number of abandoned blogs around the ‘net speaks to the fact that many marketers don’t know what to do to keep a blog going. According to blogging experts, the key to keeping a blog going is to post frequently. This means that you’re going to need a ever present stream of content coming into your blog.

You may be intimidated by the thought of having to come up with lots of topic ideas. Finding topics for your blog posts are easy if you use the following ideas.
1.       News in your niche
Your blog should be timely and there’s no better way to attract attention on your blog than to tap into some ongoing news. No matter what your niche is you can find news stories and breaking information that will help fuel timely blog posts. Sign up for Google Alerts (it’s free) and set up alerts on important words in your niche. This way you’ll be able to see the news in your niche and blog about current topics.
2.       Comments section
The comments section in your blog can be a great source of writing inspiration. Let’s say you have a post on your marketing blog about keyword research. Within the comments section, a few people start asking about how to use keywords in articles for article marketing. Voila! You have your next blog post. Look through your comments section to identify topics that you can write about or questions you can answer in the form of a blog post.
3.       Resource lists
Are there some websites or other resources that your niche needs to know about? Write a few resource list posts. Resource lists posts are very easy to write and they provide maximum value to your readers because they can get the information that they need easily. When you can’t think of anything else to write about you can pull together a helpful list for your readers.
4.       Other blogs in your niche
Keep your finger on the pulse of your niche. Watch other blogs in your niche and see what they are writing about. You can take a different angle on the same topic, or cover an area of the topic that the original author missed. If you disagree with the author, feel free to go ahead and express you opinion on your blog. Other bloggers can be a great source of information so be sure to get involved in the community.
5.       Quick tips
Start collecting a list of quick tips you’d like to share with your niche. These can be inspired by your personal experience with the niche, from other blog posts you’ve read or from other products in your niche. When you find yourself stuck for blog post ideas, you can write a quick tips post.
These tips just scratch the surface of where you can find ideas for blog posts to populate your blog. Start keeping a notepad file with blog post ideas and you’ll never be at a loss for material.

Here is a blogging resource for you:

5 Steps To Writing A Great Salesletter

affiliate programs, Business, General Categories, Internet Marketing, , , , ,

 There is no doubt that having a great salesletter can make or break a product. You can sell a phenomenal product to a tightly focused audience, and if the sales copy is only marginal, your results will not be up to snuff.

One of the problems with writing copy stems from being too close to a project. If it is your product, sometimes it’s hard to step back and realize that the reasons you love it might not translate to someone else. It’s a lot like having kids. What is adorable or wonderful about your kid to you might be peculiar or irritating to someone else. Now maybe if they get to know your child, they’d find them adorable, too. That’s the purpose of the salesletter.
Your product is your “baby” at the moment. You’re already sold on it. You need to step back and try to think of what would make you spend your money on it if it wasn’t yours already.
So how do you do it? How do you write a great salesletter? I’m glad you asked…
1.    Grab Attention: You MUST get the reader’s attention quickly. A pre-head, and then a main headline should grab hold of the reader and make them want to know more. If possible, you want to give the ultimate reward for the product right in the headline. If it is easy, requires little time or effort, and/or has a big payoff, the reader should be hooked with the possible results right away.

­- What is the ultimate “best reason” someone should buy your product?
– What is the most desirable result of buying your product to the reader?
– What, above everything else, would be most beneficial about buying it?

This is your chance to quickly encapsulate your entire salesletter in one, eye-catching sentence that is GUARANTEED to be read by the visitor to your site.
Fire your biggest gun! 
2.    State the Problem: Your reader must find out why they need your product. What problem are you solving? What are the frustrations that you can alleviate with your product, manual, report? Many times, there are multiple problems that can be listed to make sure you address every angle possible.
I generally prefer to use the “3 Reasons Why”, or “5 Problems With” approach. Make a list of problems or issues that you know your audience deals with, and then explain a few details about these problems. Make them feel personal.

3.    Introduce the Product: Give details about your product, what will be included, and why it’s an answer to what your prospects are looking for. You’ll want to list solutions in direct answer to the problems described above. Brag on yourself a little, but do it in a humble manner. If you are the expert, be the expert. Tell them why your product can answer their concerns, solve their problems.

4.    Give Plenty of Details: People want meat, not tofu. You must present the meat of what your prospects will be getting when they part with their hard earned cash. Bullet lists, subject or chapter heads, examples of real content. The more content shared here, the more they know they’ll get with the product, and the more valuable it will be to them. If you have proof, testimonials, etc…these are great information about the product, too, if used sparingly and properly.

5.    Call to Action: In sales, this is the close. You must give the reader a reason to act. Ask them to buy, set a limit, or offer a bonus for quick action. Offer a satisfaction guarantee, too. Make them feel at once compelled to buy, as well as comfortable with buying.
 
There are a lot of ways to put a good salesletter together. Use the tools you have, and your own experience, to promote your baby. Make sure you incorporate these 5 steps, and you’ll be on your way to sales copy that really sells.

 Learn how you can automatically write your sales letters Click Here!