It’s Not Supposed to Be Easy

12 January 2012 By

Do you think creation comes easy for some people?

By now we should all be somewhat familiar with Steven Pressfield‘s concept of the Resistance: the sneaky, remorseless force that keeps us from planting our asses and working.

This is the voice that tells you you can’t write with a headache, or that you should really declutter your desk and get yourself a coffee first – anything that delays you from pressing keys and rattling out a string of words. It’s also the friend who calls on a workday and suggests a trip to the beach or a round of golf.

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Filed Under: Creativity

How To Dispatch Your Internal Saboteur

12 January 2012 By

Who, on this planet, do you have the most faith in?

…

If you said anyone other than yourself, you get to answer again.

Would you let someone else do your most important work? (If you don’t think your work is important, my apologies – you’re well on your way to becoming a miserable person.)

If you’re an entrepreneur, you trust yourself at the wheel. Maybe not at great speeds yet, and not without the occasional bump and wrong turn, but you’re doing your thing.

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Filed Under: General

The Three Pillars of Magnetic Content

12 January 2012 By

What is the goal of your web content?

The quick, off-the-cuff answer may simply be “more:”

  • Traffic
  • Attention
  • Fans
  • Customers
  • Money

The bottom line is the bottom line, right? You’re in business to make money, marketing is a means to that end and the content you publish is a cog in your marketing machine.

So you set out with this in mind, looking for tactics and tools you can leverage to engineer your content into the best magnet possible (with the least amount of investment possible).

We all want content that’s going to have our readers tripping over themselves to hire us, subscribe to our newsletters – whatever your desired action is – and we want them doing it in droves.

The problem: you’re starting with the wrong mindset.

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Filed Under: Copywriting

10 Sad Website Mistakes Small Businesses Make

12 January 2012 By

Do you enjoy reading mission statements?

How about “welcome to our website” messages? Photos of jigsaw puzzles and handshakes?

No?

That’s weird, because if we’re to learn from the examples set by our small business peers, this stuff is the friggin cat’s pajamas. Why would anybody do this stuff if nobody wanted to see it?

Because they suck, that’s why. And if you don’t want to suck too, here are ten things you probably shouldn’t do on your website.

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Filed Under: Small Business Marketing, Usability, Web Design, Web Development

7 Web-based Apps to Stay Lean, Get Mobile and Grow Your Business

12 January 2012 By

Do you find the IT side of business to be a pain in the ass?

I’m talking about the programs and systems that you use to:

  • Store your files
  • Handle billing and expense tracking
  • Send/receive/store email
  • Schedule your work
  • Track your projects and tasks

The last generation of small business relied on IT workers, and lots of pricey equipment and software, to keep things running smoothly (and prevent data loss). And most of this stuff lived in your office – meaning if your neighbor finally set the building on fire with his foot massager, you were S.O.L.

No more, dammit.

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Filed Under: Resources
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