Copyblogger Weekly Wrap: Week of April 4, 2011

A week ago yesterday, this post ran here on Copyblogger, all about how I’m actually a woman. Not coincidentally, a week ago yesterday was also April 1st, widely known as April Fool’s Day. So, the whole thing was the drunken brainchild of me and James Chartrand, who actually did make that revelation for real. (In fact, that’s James in the photo that goes with my post).

I tried to make that post as ridiculous and over-the-top as possible, but I still got several comments, messages and emails saying, essentially, “You go, girl!”

So I guess I should make it clear that I’m not actually a woman. I have watched every episode of Sex and the City, though. Don’t look at me like that. There’s sex in it.

Reporting from the ladies’ room, here’s what happened this week on Copyblogger:

Monday:

40 Questions You Need to Ask Every Copywriting Client

I love to set proper expectations, whether they’re about work you’re doing with a client or about the gender of any given Copyblogger writer. This post will really help to set the right tone for any relationship with new copywriting clients, and to avoid awkward confrontations like, “But you said you wanted this press release to center on buffalos!” NOTE: This post is still applicable for most journalists working in the buffalo/bison fields.

Read the full post here.

Tuesday:

The Old-School Content Marketing Strategy That Scores Freelance Writing Clients

What? There are forms of writing that occur on flattened sheets of some kind of papyrus-like material? This post claims so, and encourages you to use “tree pulp trade magazine content creation” (or something) to gain clients — if you can crack the code to make it work. (Speaking of codes, remember Pig Latin? Pig Latin was awesome. I’ll bet there’s even a trade magazine about it that you could write for).

Read the full post here.

Wednesday:

5 Things a Bad Dog Can Teach You About Writing Good Copy

Let’s not sugar-coat it. This post is all about writing copy that will get the readers of your copy to roll over, sit up, and beg. The good news is that if you can do that, you stand to convert more leads and make more sales. The bad news is that if you fail with your copy, get ready for a whole bunch of prospects soiling your rugs. And that’s a really gross way to do business.

Read the full post here.

Thursday:

The Two Essential Elements of Irresistible Content

I can totally blow it for you in the teaser and explain that the two essential elements are meaning and fascination. I can do that because that information doesn’t help much unless you read specifically what we mean by “meaning” and “fascination,” and learn how to use both to create tons of content people will actually keep coming back to read. (I’m experimenting with the limits of my tease power as wrap-up writer. It’s oddly intoxicating).

Read the full post here.

Thursday redux:

Are You the “Likable Expert” that Owns Your Market?

If you’ve been confused about what it means to be “an authority” (or possibly “The Authority,” the god in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy – what, too obscure?), this post offers an easier way to conceptualize it. Really, being an authority is not as complicated as it seems. Instead of being all authoritarian, try to become the expert that people like. You can read this post to find out how to do that. (Or just ask your atheliometer – what, too obscure?)

Read the full post here.

Friday:

How to Constantly Create Compelling Content

Ah, an episode of the Copyblogger podcast that deals with the everpresent writing quandary “Where do you get your ideas?” If you want to intrigue readers, you have to keep throwing stuff at them that they find interesting, and here’s how you can do it. NOTE: If your readers find squid interesting, you can try throwing actual squid at them. Just remember that calamari tossing always carries risk.

Read the full post here.

This week’s cool links:

• Do You Have these 4 Unrealistic Expectations of Blogging?: Think blogging will get you an NBA championship ring? Think it’ll reverse the flow of time so you can save Lois Lane? These are just two of the unrealistic blogging expectations not in this eye-opening post.
• Give Big, Get Bigger: Man, I wish I’d known this post was about the power of reciprocity in business before I threw away my MASS GAINER 4000 in favor of a donation-based “get swoll and huge” strategy.
• How 3 Tiny Tweets Got My First BIG Client: Are you happy now Martyn? Sheesh.
• Retargeting: What It Is & How to Use It: Finally, an explanation for why I keep seeing oddly appropriate ads for sites I’ve gone to that doesn’t involve aliens or spies. I can totally see why this would drive sales.
• Cut to grow: If you think giving people a lot of options as to how to share your stuff on social networks is a good thing, think again. Simplify and fewer options is almost always more effective.

About the Author: Johnny B. Truant specializes in selling through stories and is the proud creator of The Badass Project, a site profiling amazing people who make your excuses look stupid.