One of my all-time favorite bits of programmer slang is: “yak shaving” Here’s a good example of a yak shave: Let’s say you have a simple task—you want to send a quick email to a friend. You head down to your office in the basement to and flip the light switch. Pfift! The bulb in […]
Continue readingWhile I’m making embarrassing admissions, here’s another one: When I launched this blog there was NO way for people to opt-in to my email list. The reason? I couldn’t decide what to offer as a “lead magnet.” I wasted MONTHS thrashing around over this. After all, I knew I needed a great “bribe” if I […]
Continue readingDuring my senior year in college, I spent a semester living in Washington D.C. And while I was there, I worked as an intern (I preferred the term “cub reporter”) at The Washington Times. For the first few weeks I thought everything was going great— I’d met my deadlines and had several articles published in […]
Continue readingWhenever I really want to get the programmers on my Sublime Text list all worked up, I write an email about “tabs vs. spaces.” See, when you’re staring at lines of gibberish code all day, on of the few things that saves your sanity is— NEAT FORMATTING. Small differences in punctuation and indentation can make […]
Continue readingToday I have an incredible secret to share with you… It’s a secret that is shared by an elite group of fearless adventurers… These daredevils willingly venture into the heart of the Earth… Winding their way through secret tunnels and hidden passages, some so narrow that these daring souls have to inch forward on their […]
Continue readingThe results of my Thrive Themes Giveaway are in, and the winner is… Bridgit Kong! Bridgit lives in Calgary, Canada. She owns a virtual assistant business and her husband has a handyman/renovation business. They plan to use their website (and Thrive!) to escape “pay check to pay check,” “project to project” living and start a […]
Continue readingDon’t you just HATE popups? Well, the guy who invented the popup back when (14.4 baud modems roamed the Earth) recently crawled out of his bunker… Turns out we can blame all this on an MIT scientist named Ethan Zuckerman. He said: “I wrote the code to launch the window and run an ad in […]
Continue readingA few months back I was skyping with a client, “Jack,” he had me agitated. Jack ran what most people would consider a successful blog. He’d invested 3-4 years building up his traffic and his audience, and over a million people a year visited his site. Now Jack wanted to launch a product so he […]
Continue reading“Amy” is a frustrated single mom who wants to know: +++ Why is it so hard to get others to opt in? I’ve tried freebies, download free guides, list… virtually nothing has helped. I don’t have time to waste in growing my business and as a divorced mom this is essential to figure out. +++ […]
Continue readingThis morning I read a question from a VERY frustrated subscriber who I’ll call “Amy”: +++ Why is it so hard to get others to opt in? I’ve tried freebies, download free guides, list… virtually nothing has helped. I don’t have time to waste in growing my business and as a divorced mom this is […]
Continue readingDear Wikipedia, Today I visited your site to look up the titles of the books in the Harry Potter series (which I have not yet, to my undying shame, read). The following message greeted me (dressed in full funereal black): +++ Dear readers, We’ll get right to it: This week we ask you to help […]
Continue readingNot long ago I had my copywriter hat on and I was giving my buddy John Sonmez a good grilling. John hired me to help him launch his video course for software developers, “10 Steps to Learn Anything Quickly.” So we jumped on Skype and I started pummeling him with questions about his product. He […]
Continue readingHow’s this for a threat: “c’mon – this is pure click/buy bait – wasted my time reading to learn something (the newsletter is called sublime text tips) and just got a teaze. Please refrain from crap like this – one more and I unsubscribe.” And this: “If you’re going to lure me into your reading […]
Continue readingThis year I tried an experiment with my traditional post-Thanksgiving book sale. For the last couple of years I’ve done Cyber Monday sales for my Sublime Text book that went like this: Announce “the deal” with an email on Cyber Monday morning. Usually it’s a steep 50-60% discount that expires at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday. […]
Continue readingThat cold I got Thanksgiving weekend knocked me flat on my back. I spent the better part of a week on the couch, slurping down popsicles, guzzling Nyquil and bing-watching “24: Live Another Day.” (Which was AWESOME, by the way. Definitely the best season since 1-2 aired. Almost made getting sick worth it…) Anyway, I […]
Continue readingMy boys recently discovered the “Mighty Mophin’ Power Rangers.” (Thanks, Netflix!) I haven’t seen this show since I was 12 or 13. And back then, I had NO idea how hilariously formulaic it really was. I mean seriously… Every show is exactly the same: Our heroes are chillin’ in the juice bar. Then Rita Repulsa […]
Continue readingMany service-based businesses live and die by the mantra: “Referrals are king.” I’m doing a copywriting project in the mortgage niche right now, and some of these guys get 100% of their business from referrals. Don’t get me wrong here—referrals ARE pretty great. They’re basically free leads, and it’s hard to argue with that. And […]
Continue readingI saw this great poster on Pinterest. It said: “Introverts of the world, UNITE! Separately. In our own homes.” THAT’S SO ME!!! There’s a running joke at our house that I’m the “copy troll” who works in the basement and only ventures out into the blinding sunlight when forced to… This is actually pretty common […]
Continue reading“Listen. Understand. That Terminator is out there. It can’t be reasoned with, it can’t be bargained with. It doesn’t feel pity of remorse or fear and it absolutely will not stop. Ever. Until you are dead.” Kyle Reese, The Terminator Seems I’m earning a bit of a cold-blooded reputation. Subscriber Dave writes: +++ Hey Josh. […]
Continue readingOne of the biggest “controversies” in email marketing is this: How often should I mail my list? The gurus are all over the map on this. On one hand, you have guys like Matt Furey and Ben Settle who take an aggressive approach—emailing every day, sometimes even multiple times per day. Then you have a […]
Continue readingThis Thanksgiving weekend was pretty much a blur. Not so much because of the travel and turkey (although those was a factor). No, I’d come down with a “fun” little cold that started in my head and then sank its phlegmy tendrils into my chest as well. About the same time, my business partner and […]
Continue readingWhen I first got into email marketing, I was obsessed with open rates. I would send an email and then wait breathlessly while the stats started to roll in. I asked other email marketers what their open rates were to see how I stacked up. If I wrote a good subject line and my opens […]
Continue readingA funny thing happens when you sit down to write. It’s like that old classic horror story, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You can be the warmest, wittiest, life-of-the-party person in real life, but when you write, you transform into someone else. Stilted. Formal. BORING. And “boring” is DEATH in copywriting. The problem is this: […]
Continue readingDid you ever see the comedy “What About Bob”? Bill Murray plays Bob Wiley, a guy who’s so paranoid that his fear basically paralyzes him. He’s afraid to get on elevators… Ride a bus… Or even touch anything out in public because he thinks he’ll get sick and die. Early in the movie, his shrink […]
Continue readingOver the weekend I fielded a question from Matt, who runs a landscaping business. Matt and I are both in Perry Marshall’s Mastermind Club, a paid private group that’s packed with top drawer marketers. Matt’s a sharp guy. If I remember his story correctly, he took over his dad’s business and has grown it like […]
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