On Copywriting

7 Unusual Things About Me

Chris O'Byrne tagged me with a meme that sometimes floats around the Internet. It asks other bloggers to share seven things about themselves that most people wouldn't know. So here it goes...

• I'm first-born of five children.

• I've done three centuries on my road bike. One of them was The Triple Bypass. It's over 120 miles across three mountain passes in one day. Highest elevation reached: 11,930' above sea level. Total vertical feet climbed: 10,320.

• I've logged every book I've read since 8th grade. Every time I finish a book (I finished The Heavenly Man last night), I add it to my book log, which includes title, author, a brief summary of the book, and my rating.

• I enjoy eating sushi with chopsticks.

• I just picked up a brand new 2007 Honda Odyssey today. (Planning ahead for Baby #3 who arrives this November!)

• I'm an adrenaline junkie. I used to skateboard all the time... until my knees began to ache from the high impact. I still snowboard in the winter, ride my motorcycle in the summer, and "free run" through the playground when the other parents aren't looking.

• I love Jesus, and believe He will restore all mankind.

Oh, and here's an eighth:

• I'm extremely contrarian. I usually do the opposite of what everyone else does.

That's it for now. Chris tagged seven people, but I'm only going to tag three people to make it more manageable. (I'm trying to avoid a "tag loop" where the same people get tagged multiple times.)

• Ed Rivis
• Tim Schaefer
• Kyle Tully

What Do You Want in a Copywriter?

For Those Who HIRE Copywriters:

If you are in the process of hiring a copywriter... or if you think you might hire a copywriter in the future... then I'd like you to answer this question:

What do you want in a copywriter?

How you answer could be about the qualities a copywriter has... services the copywriter offers... or even the process the copywriter uses to write copy or run his business.

To reply, simply leave a comment below or send a Trackback.

For Those Who ARE Copywriters:

If you're reading this, I realize you might be a copywriter yourself. If that's the case, then perhaps you can answer a slightly different question:

What have you found that clients appreciate about doing business with you?

Please note... your responses are public! So you might not want to reveal your "secret recipe," if you know what I mean. ;-)

Trackbacks Continued

My post about how to do Trackbacks has been well received. Already, some of my readers have linked to the post... and Google has indexed it and started sending traffic to it.

So, to continue the discussion, I figured I would share another little "Trackback trick" that I learned by observing other A-list bloggers. Here it is...

Instead of always sending Trackbacks to other blogs, consider...

Sending a Trackback to Your OWN Blog!

I've only recently begun to do this because:

1. It improves blog navigation by linking related articles together.

2. It increases page views per visit. (If a person reads an article and enjoys it, they are likely to read another "deeper" article on the same topic.)

3. It can help boost search engine rankings. (For instance, Google looks at what incoming links say, but also looks at what links within your site say.)

If you've never done a Trackback before, this is also a low-risk way to learn how to do one. Simply write two related posts and send a Trackback from one to the other.

Once you feel comfortable with how the process works, then start sending Trackbacks to other bloggers. Make sense? Alright, go to it!

Blog Readership Rising...

Within the last month, the number of RSS feeds pulling content from this blog have more than doubled. How did that happen?

Well, I suspect it's because of a small little tweak that I almost didn't bother to do.

Take a look at the top right corner of this blog. You'll see a Feedburner icon that displays the daily number of readers.

Ever since I added that icon, readership has risen steadily. I've taken a screenshot so you can see for yourself what a dramatic difference it's made.

Click Here to See Feedburner Reader Stats

Want more readers? Get a Feedburner account, and display the Feedburner icon in the top right of your blog.

Deadlines Are a Good Thing!

I just got the new Linkin Park album, Minutes to Midnight.

As I was reading the liner notes, I noticed a little story I think you'll appreciate.

At the end of over one year in the studio, the band felt that the album was finished. After initial listening, however, they were devastated to hear from friends that the album felt like it was missing a piece--one more song. The band was horrified. Many of the songs on the album had taken months to write, so throwing a new one together that could stand up to the rest was unlikely. To complicate matters, any further writing meant they might miss deadlines that had been set up for album release and touring. In spite of risks, the band decided to take this challenge of character. A little over a week later, the record was officially ready for release with the addition of "What I've Done."

In case you don't know, "What I've Done" was the first single off the album. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 at #7, making it the band's highest debut for a single.

Seems to me deadlines are a good thing!

3 Reasons to Trackback

Trackbacks are helpful for three primary reasons:

Reason #1: It tells the author of the original article that you're continuing or expanding the discussion on your blog.

Reason #2: When you Trackback, a link to YOUR blog appears on the original author's blog, if they accept your Trackback. Not only are you sending traffic to the original author, they're sending traffic back to you! (Notice how many people Trackback to Seth Godin's blog? One reason people do it is for the traffic.)

Reason #3: You make friends. I've found that to be a successful blogger, you must become friends with other successful bloggers. One way to quickly "make friends" is to send Trackbacks.

So How Do You Do a Trackback?

For Typepad or Wordpress, it works like this:

Step #1: Write a post on your blog that references a post on another blog.

Step #2: In the body of your post, create a link to the original blog post that inspired you. (The link must go to the specific post, not the home page.)

Step #3: Underneath the space where you write your blog post, you'll notice a small box that says "Send a Trackback to these addresses" (Typepad) or "Trackback a URI" (Wordpress).

Step #4: In this space, you'll want to copy and paste the Trackback URL. If the person you're linking to uses Typepad, you'll notice that underneath the original post, there's a line that says: "Trackback URL for this entry." A URL like this follows:

http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/30595/18654976

That's the link you want to copy and paste into the "Trackback" space underneath your new post in your user interface. Now, if the person you're linking to uses Wordpress, then the Trackback link is almost always the same as the normal URL, except you add "/trackback" at the end.

For example, you would link to:

http://www.terrydean.org/unplug-for-ideas/

And then you would send a Trackback to:

http://www.terrydean.org/unplug-for-ideas/trackback

Does this make sense? Give it a try and see what happens. Heck, Trackback to this article if you want. After all, the more people who know how to do this, the more Trackbacks you're likely to get!

Now, after you complete the steps above and publish your post, please double-check your work. Go to your blog and click on the link to the original author's post. Does it work? If not, go back through the steps and see if you can identify where you made the mistake.

A common error is to link directly to a Typepad Trackback link instead of linking to the permanent URL. This won't work. You've got to hyper link to the permanent URL... and then ping the Trackback link. So there are two links involved. You cannot send a Trackback with just one link.

When Should You Send a Trackback?

It's my belief that you should only send a Trackback when you're adding to, expanding, or continuing a discussion. This way readers can track how a discussion evolves from blog to blog.

If you are only giving a one-sentence plug to a great blog post you found, then you should NOT send a Trackback. In this case, simply link to the blog post without sending a Trackback. (Otherwise, it might look like you're trying to hijack traffic from the original author's blog without adding any value to the discussion.)

P.S. When somebody sends a Trackback to my blog, I see it in my user interface. I can accept the Trackback if it's a legitimate post. I can reject the Trackback if it's a spam post. This is why you often won't immediately see your Trackback on the original author's blog. Don't worry if this happens. Just wait a few hours and check again.

P.P.S. In case you're wondering, Blogger doesn't have Trackback functionality, which is one reason I don't suggest using it.

Ladders to Climb

"A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder." -Thomas Carlyle

You know everything is meaningless, right?

Bigger home, nicer cars, Caribbean cruises, etc. All meaningless.

Still, you've got to have goals, even if you realize they're meaningless. Because without them, you'll lose your motivation... the raw fuel that keeps you going. That's why I've concluded you must have...

Ladders to Climb!

Which is to say, you need something to work toward and a way to measure your progress. What you measure could be dollars earned or gross profit or how few hours you worked.

Whatever metric you choose is a bit arbitrary, just so long as you have something to track.

As I told my brother this weekend, I feel a bit lost without any ladders to climb. I like to climb for climbing's sake.

Still, it's important to ask:

Are You Climbing the Right Ladder?

Stephen Covey says, "If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster."

I understand what Covey is saying, but let me ask another question: Can we really know for sure we're climbing the right ladder?

If you've set out to climb a ladder, of course you believe it's the right ladder to climb! Why else would you bother climbing it?

In terms of motivation, it does not matter which ladder you climb. If you've decided to climb a ladder, and you're tracking your progress, you'll naturally be...

Motivated to Climb Higher!

Example: Think about a role-playing game (RPG) like Final Fantasy. If you've ever played a game like this, you've probably experienced the motivation to help your characters reach higher "experience levels" and accumulate more "hit points." These levels and points don't have any meaning in the real world, yet you're motivated to "get to the next level" anyway.

In terms of happiness, which ladder you climb absolutely matters.

Let's say you decide to measure success by the quantity and quality of your material possessions... or how many women (or men) you sleep with. Chances are, you'll end up feeling lonely, worthless, and depressed.

But let's say you decide to measure success by how many underprivileged children you support... or how many people you help to become self-employed. Chances are, your happiness will be far greater than someone with purely self-centered goals.

So... all ladders provide a certain amount of motivation, but not all ladders lead to happiness. Keep this in mind when you set your goals and begin tracking your progress.

If you'd like to read more about how to set goals, read Terry Dean's "Design an Inspiring Vision." For another helpful exercise (inspired by Alfred Nobel), see what Marcus wrote here.

P.S. People climb ladders all the time "just because." Want proof? Read Who Are You People? by Shari Caudron. It recounts Shari's journey into "the heart of fanatical passion in America." While not directly about copywriting, it's helpful for understanding why people do what they do. First person to send a Trackback to this post gets my copy for free.

Odds of Becoming a Successful Freelance Copywriter

What are your odds of becoming a successful freelance copywriter?

What are your odds of becoming successful at anything?

Here's the way I see it:

Only about 5% truly succeed in any endeavor. Doesn't matter if it's a job, a new business, whatever.

These odds mean you have to fail a lot.

• I failed at MLM.
• I failed at running a vending business.
• I failed at becoming a financial planner.

Looking back, I've failed so many times. But I succeeded as a freelance copywriter. The reasons I finally succeeded are too many to share. Nevertheless, I will share...

An Easy Way to Improve Your Odds!

There is an easy way to improve your odds of success. That is, burn your ships.

When you have no other choice but to make things work, you are much more likely to succeed. Your brain works overtime to bring you success... because... you can't go backward. You can only go forward.

April 19, 2005, exactly one month after my second child was born, I logged my last day on the job. Then I set out to become a financial planner, which, as you already know, didn't work out.

With only two weeks of money left--and no source of income whatsoever--I launched my freelance copywriting career. The date was June 13, 2005.

Miraculously, it all worked out. (Praise God!)

Is it easy to burn your ships? No. It's not. But if you have the guts to do it, success will be that much closer. Let my testimony be an example.

Are 2-Percenters Better?

There's a lot of buzz among Internet marketers about being a "2-percenter."

The phrase is used to reference somebody who goes above and beyond what most other people are willing to do. It also refers to somebody who earns far more than the average person.

For instance, doing a little research, I discovered that to be a "5-percenter," you must individually earn $100,000 or more.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Census Bureau stops tracking personal income at this level, although they track household income to higher levels.

So if your household income is more than $200,000 annually, you are in the top 2% of all households.

If your individual income were to exceed $200,000, we can then safely assume you're a 2-percenter... and probably more like a 1-percenter.

But please allow me a question: Should we boast or gloat that we are 2-percenters?

I think not, and it really bugs me when I perceive this attitude among my fellow marketers.

If you are a 2-percenter, you did not get there by yourself. In fact, God is the one who put you there. So praise God and bless others. But don't boast.

After all, "it is [God] who is giving you power to make wealth." (Deuteronomy 8:18)

I would say then, God is also giving you the power to take the right actions that produce wealth. For it is not we who move, but God who moves us.

P.S. The verse above is not the only passage in the Bible that gives God credit for human wealth. I've listed two more verses below:

"For the blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and He adds no trouble to it." Proverbs 10:22

"Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God." Ecclesiastes 5:19

Long-Awaited Typepad Upgrade

If you use Typepad for blogging, you'll want to pay attention to the latest upgrade.

You now have the ability to create both posts and pages.

When you create a page, you can actually customize the URL--something Typepad has never offered before.

For more details, please read Mike Sansone's helpful explanation.

P.S. Make sure to read the comments. I asked Mike a question I'm hoping he'll answer.