Agencies, Freelancers, Design, Copywriting & more.: [Copyblogger] 47 Ways Copyblogger Can Help You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

47 Ways Copyblogger Can Help You Keep Your New Year's Resolutions

47 Ways Copyblogger Can Help You Keep Your New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Resolution

2009 promises to be a year of profound change. Millions of people around the world are having a tough time, but periods of dramatic upheaval are also the best time to start or grow a business. Extraordinary times create extraordinary opportunities.

Now we can’t help you lose 20 pounds or learn to play the violin. But if you want to increase your income, spend more time with your family, finally launch your online business, monetize your blog, or just get in better touch with your inner entrepreneur, here are some of the best Copyblogger posts of 2008 to help you do exactly that.

Diversify

Try something new this year. Get outside your comfort zone. Move beyond what you’ve always done. This is the best possible time to create something remarkable and new.

If you’ve built a great content net, learn the fine art of harpooning. If harpooning is the only life you know, learn to weave a compelling content net. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this post.

Be generous

Generosity is the secret key to success–and that’s more true than it’s ever been. Most people are retreating into a scarcity mindset. When you cultivate generosity, you’ll stand out among the crowd and put yourself in a position of power, confidence and profitability.

Create a free report with some of your most valuable content, and give it away–either for free or in exchange for permission to send an email autoresponder.

Write more guest posts.

Tweet pointers to ten times as many posts from other blogs as you do your own.

Think about what you can give away. Your generosity will come back to you in multiples.

Give it all you’ve got

Generosity goes hand in hand with audacity.

Make a commitment to put everything you’ve got into your content. Don’t hide or hold back. Whether your content is free or paid, throw yourself into it.

Holding your “good stuff” in reserve, whether it’s for a paid product or a bigger audience, is the key to writer’s block and poverty. When you give your very best, you’ll attract more and better ideas (and more and better customers).

Give it all away. Don’t worry, the well will refill.

Take care of your community

Money isn’t half as hard to earn as trust. Make sure everything you do supports your community, whether they’re on your blog, a forum, or an email list.

Always remember that the money isn’t really “in the list.” It’s in the relationship with that list.

When you nurture your relationship with your readers first, everything else gets much easier. You won’t be looking for ways to “monetize their eyeballs,” but for offers you can make that will help solve their problems. Different mindset, much better results.

Become a student of human nature

You can spend the rest of your life trying to figure out what makes people do the things they do. Not only is it endlessly interesting, it can make you lots of money.

If you haven’t picked up Cialdini’s Influence yet, put it on your January reading list.

Get systematic about content creation

If you only write when you feel like it, you’re going to sputter out pretty soon. Instead of frustrating yourself and your readers, develop a simple, user-friendly writing system.

The more you write, the more ideas will come. Keep writing.

Boost your conversion

Online newbies tend to chase traffic as the holy grail. But the real pros will tell you that it’s conversion you should be working on–in other words, how much of that traffic you can convert to loyal, happy customers.

Small improvements in conversion can yield tremendous benefits to your bank account. Here are some of the year’s best posts on how to convert strangers into raving fans:

Read deeply, not just widely

Reading makes you smarter. Reading deeply makes you a lot smarter.

Think about the most important books (or blogs, or websites) in your own field of expertise.

Now pencil some time in your 2009 calendar to truly make their ideas part of your own intellectual DNA.

Quit going it alone

Strike up friendships with bloggers and content producers inside your niche, or out of it. By expanding your relationships, you’ll find new readers and expand your content community–and your own thinking.

Trying to do it all yourself makes business ten times harder than it has to be. And great partnerships aren’t just more profitable, they’re more fun.