I got an email this morning from Tomáš, a subscriber to my “other” newsletter for software developers: I like your newsletter and I would like to buy your book. But for my country (Czech Republic), even after discount, the book is still too expensive. I have no doubt that your book is great and worth […]
Continue readingPaul writes: I’m looking for some advice about how to help a client “famous” with regards to an issue that is complex. She is involved in litigation that could effectively change the foreclosure industry. Part of the challenge is being able to translate legalese into language the average person can comprehend. Trying to “sell” this […]
Continue readingThe first thing a baby duck does after pecking its way free from the shell is take a quick look around… It’s scanning its surroundings for anything big. And when it sees something, it’s tiny brain instantly makes the connection: “MOM!!!” It’s called “imprinting,” and it’s why you’ll sometimes see stories on the news about […]
Continue readingEver heard of Rube Goldberg? Mr. Goldberg was an engineer and inventor, but what really made him famous is his cartoons. He’d diagram out these outlandish machines that chained together water wheels and tiny steam locomotives and even the occasional octopus… Just to accomplish some braindead simple task. Like his “Simple Way to Uncork a […]
Continue readingEver see those “Shark Week” commercials where a scientist dumps buckets of bloody mackerel over the side of a boat until the water is frothing with Great Whites? This weekend I felt a lot like the bait… I needed some data collection done. There’s an online directory of 400 companies in a market that I’m […]
Continue readingThis week Apple announced a brand new iPhone feature that promises to do away with those grainy, poorly lit selfies. They call it: Front-Facing True-Tone Retina Flash The front camera on my iPhone 5 has always bugged me, so my first thought when I heard the news was “Sweet!” Then I thought about it for […]
Continue readingRecently a friend told me about one of his clients—let’s call him “Alan.” Alan had a SERIOUS problem. He owned a large and successful personal injury lawfirm. And since personal injury cases are a huge cashcow for attorneys, the competition for advertising is a knifefight. In some cities, lawyers fork over $50, $80 or even […]
Continue readingIn response to my call for email marketing questions, reader Nathan says: How do I come up with another kick butt freebie? FlippedLifestyle recommends that I wow them by sending the freebie for which they signed up, then throw them an unexpected, bonus freebie. I’ve tried asking them directly in the past. (My list is […]
Continue readingWhen my oldest son was born, the docs had barely scrubbed the ink off his tiny feet before the marketing started. The beaming nurses handed us a “new parents kit”—a bag bulging with free goodies. Mostly these were samples from companies like Huggies and Enfamil, eager to grab a new customer. But a few sly […]
Continue readingEmail copy clinic is in session. Recently I was working with an entrepreneur, who I’ll call Sam. Sam has a 7-figure business providing marketing services for small businesses—mostly dentists. He’s a superstar marketer in a lot of ways—but his autoresponder sequence is a massive pile of fail. That’s why he was talking to me. Dentists […]
Continue readingGot a voicemail from a client the other day, wondering about the copy I’d written for his sales page: “Is this all, or were you planning to write more?” he asked. “I thought it would be longer.” If you hang around with marketers for even a little while, you’ll discover that there’s a HUGE debate […]
Continue readingOne common question I get is this: “How do I remove the ‘Powered by KingSumo’ badge on my giveaway landing page?” People are nervous about their competitors noticing what they’re doing and spinning up a giveaway of their own. That’s understandable–after all, I found out about KingSumo Giveaways from clicking that very badge on a […]
Continue readingThere’s an app I’ve always wanted for my phone. With this app, I could tap one icon and just start writing. No futzing around with filling in note titles. Or entering email addresses. Or digging around in folders. This app would be just a scratchpad for dumping out words. And when I was done, I […]
Continue readingThe team behind DroneU was flying high. With just 24 hours left to go on their giveaway, they blasted out a “last chance” message to their social media followers. And their traffic EXPLODED. Thousands of hits per minute. Signups were pouring in, until … Well, I’ll let Tim Ray tell the story, since he was […]
Continue readingTo run a contest with the KingSumo Giveaways plugin, here’s what you need: A website or blog that runs on WordPress The ability to install WordPress plugins (wordpress.com sites won’t work) The ability to send emails from your website. Installing the KingSumo plugin KingSumo Giveaways is a premium WordPress plugin, and it installs just like […]
Continue readingNote: This is a loooooong post, almost 5,500 words, which originally appeared on Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income blog. It details, blow by blow, exactly what I did to grow my email list by nearly 200,000 addresses. If you don’t have time to read the whole thing, I understand, but be sure to check out […]
Continue readingAt my day job (I’m a programmer when I’m not writing sales copy), we talk to other remote team members with an instant message program called HipChat. It includes some fun “emoticons,” including this one: (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ Can you see it? The little dude flipping the table in rage? Lately I’ve been using that icon […]
Continue readingI’m a member of a small Google group that likes to talk about marketing, and recently one of the members, James, posed an interesting question. One of his clients is a novelist who is trying to build an email list to help market a novel. And James has no idea where to start: Assuming I […]
Continue readingDuring my workout this morning at the local YMCA, I noticed a couple of the other lifters gathered around a small placard on the decline bench press station. I hit pause on The Fizzle Show (awesome podcast, by the way, you should subscribe) and wandered closer to hear what was going on. The little card, […]
Continue readingA few weeks back, Derick Bailey forwarded me an email he’d received from one of his subscribers, asking for my take on the question the reader had posed. The question boiled down to this: How do you stay focused on a side project (app, site, book idea) as an entrepreneurial developer? Here’s what I had […]
Continue readingLast week while we were recording the Entreprogrammers Podcast, John Sonmez hit me with a painful proposition: Has my entire marketing strategy for my books been wrong? Let me back up. Over the last couple of months, sales of my two Sublime Text books have tapered off. I recognized the downward trend in April, and […]
Continue readingPortland doesn’t get a lot of snow. An occasional dusting, from what I’ve heard. Maybe an inch or so of slush once in a while. But this was a weird winter in the U.S., and in mid-Feburary, a storm dumped 12 inches of snow on Portland. That evening, a couple of students at Reed College […]
Continue readingAs I’m sitting here, writing this, my neighbor’s lawn mower is whining away in the background. Last spring, I probably would have been out there with him. Not this year. Early each Monday morning, usually as I’m working on my latest Sublime Text-related blog post, a pickup truck with a trailer rolls up in front […]
Continue readingOf all the sparring partners in my karate class, I feared Adam the most. I was a skinny teenager, maybe 120 pounds soaking wet. Adam was a college student, about my height but built. He had at least 60 pounds of muscle on me. One evening we were squared off, circling each other and throwing […]
Continue readingThe little group of Jamaican children kept glancing at me. And pointing. And giggling. I was 17 at the time, and visiting Jamaica as part of a church group on a mission trip. We helped to convert an old warehouse into a church/school building, and it was the pre-teen future pupils who were getting such […]
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