India Revokes Passport Of 'Panama Papers' Man Vijay Mallya

Vijay also reportedly buying up penthouses in midtown Manhattan.

Rainmaker Rewind: How to Write a Book Without 'Writing' a Word

Jim Kukral, host of Authorpreneur, has a fantastic guest on this week's show to discuss how to write a book without “writing” a single word.

Tucker Max, best-selling author and film producer, joins Jim to chat about what it takes to write a best-selling novel, and how sharing the ideas in your head with someone who can get them down on paper may be the best way to write a book.

Tucker Max's first book, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, is a #1 New York Times Best Seller, spent five years on the list, and has more than two million copies in print.

He has also been credited with being the originator and leader of a new literary genre, “fratire,” is only the third writer (after Malcolm Gladwell and Michael Lewis) to ever have three books on the NY Times Nonfiction Best-Seller List at one time, and was nominated to the Time Magazine 100 Most Influential List in 2009.

Listen and learn.

Here are two more episodes you shouldn't miss this week:

This week, Patrick McGinnis joins Hack the Entrepreneur host Jon Nastor to discuss the importance of aligning a business idea with the passions and strengths of its founder.

Hack the Entrepreneur:

How to Become a '10% Entrepreneur'

In this episode of The Showrunner, Jerod Morris and Jon Nastor discuss the many benefits of mini courses and why your podcast is the perfect place to start prepping.

The Showrunner:

How (and Why) to Teach a Mini Course via Your Podcast

And one more thing …

If you want to get my Rainmaker Rewind pick of the week sent straight to your favorite podcast player, subscribe right here on Rainmaker FM.

See you next week.

The post Rainmaker Rewind: How to Write a Book Without 'Writing' a Word appeared first on Copyblogger.

How Our Startup Simplified Our Family Life

Three wins we automatically experienced by combining our family life and business startup together.

7 Reasons Your Outreach Emails Aren't Getting Responses and How to Fix That

Almost any online marketing campaign these days includes email outreach.

While social media has its place, email is universally the most personal form of contact you can make online.

Well-written outreach emails can get links, joint venture opportunities, clients, and just about any other good result you can think of.

The only problem is that most people can't write a good outreach email.

If you've sent a few thousand and have read some other guides on the subject, you likely have a good grasp of the basics and can write okay emails.

But are you honestly getting the responses you're looking for?

The fact that you're here right now probably means that you know you could do better.

And that's okay.

By the end of this post, you won't be sending just “okay” emails. You'll be sending good to great emails that almost always get a response as well as much better conversion rates (for links, sales, etc.).

I'll go over the 7 most common mistakes I see marketers, even smart ones, make on a regular basis.

Be honest with yourself because otherwise you won't be able to spot your mistakes and make improvements. 

1. Are you a liar, or do you seem like one?

I get several cold outreach emails a day. By now, I'm pretty good at spotting an outright liar or even someone who is just stretching the truth.

In a large portion of those emails, I see an opening line that sounds like:

I'm a huge fan of Quick Sprout…

Okay, cool.

The only problem is that I don't recognize your name from comments (on Quick Sprout posts) or from social media.

Surely, a “huge fan” would at least be subscribed to my email list. Surprisingly, a fairly large percentage of these emailers are not.

Right away, I feel lied to and usually delete the email.

A lie like that makes me assume that the emailer just searched for the top marketing blogs to pitch something to-no thanks.

Can you validate your claims? I'm always talking about creating data-driven posts and backing up all your claims with charts and studies.

Emails are no different.

If you claim you are a fan of someone or you enjoyed their work, prove it.

Here's one example:

I'm a huge fan of your work on Quick Sprout. Your emails Monday morning always get my week off to a great start.

Assuming you're actually on the email list, so far I believe you're not lying.

Another common opener is to tell someone you liked one of their articles. If you really liked it, you would have shared it on social media, left a comment, and, most importantly, applied it.

Don't just say you liked an article with nothing backing it up; no one believes it.

Instead, try something like:

I loved your post “How to Leverage Q&A Sites to Generate Traffic.”

Since I read it, I created a profile on Quora and have already driven 400 visits to my site.

The hardest thing to fake is sincerity. Don't say you're a huge fan or you love a post if you don't mean it.

2. You're asking for a lot of work

Chances are you're emailing fairly well-known bloggers in your niche.

They're busy people.

Even if they aren't incredibly popular, assume they're busy anyway because most people are.

Common sense should tell you that busy people are trying to get through emails quickly so that they can do productive things (emails usually aren't considered such).

So, if you're asking them to do a lot of work on their end, they'll be understandably hesitant.

Let me give you an example of a line that I often see in outreach emails:

Here's the link to my content: (link)

Please take a look at it, and let me know if you have any thoughts and if you think it's a good fit for your audience.

Do you see the problem with that?

You're asking the person to review your work, give feedback on it, and determine if it's appropriate for their audience.

The first reaction of any blogger will be:

Why on Earth are you sending me this if you're not positive that it's a match for my audience?

What could you do instead? Always minimize the time and effort that the person on the receiving end needs to spend if they decide to help you out.

To improve the above example, you could change it to:

Here's the link to my content: (link)

I'm sure it's a great fit for your audience because:

• (reason 1)

• (reason 2)

Just say the word, and I'll create an original summary of the results that you can copy and paste in a future article.

Now it's clear to them that you've done your homework and you understand their audience. As long as a quick glance at the content reveals that it's of a decent quality, you might be onto something.

Finally, offering to write a custom introduction or summary and making linking to your content easier will make the email even more enticing.

To finish off, let me give you a few more examples of what marketers ask in outreach emails that is too much work:

1. Watch this video and see if you enjoy it


2. Look at my new tool and see if the features are worth sharing with your audience


3. I'll write a guest post for you, but please suggest some article ideas

Before you send an email, always ask yourself: “Am I asking this person to do a significant amount of work?”

If so, find a way to reduce it.

3. This might sting-you're not special

I didn't really mean that; I am sure you are special in your own ways.

I'm referring to the fact that most emails do not reveal anything special.

If you ask someone to link to your content, why should they link to it and not to any one of the other hundreds of articles about the same topic?

Most emailers never address this question in their emails.

Let's look at an excerpt of a bad email:

I've just published a guide to making beets. If you're writing a post in the future that mentions beets, please consider using it as a reference.

What's special about that? Absolutely nothing.

Now, let's look at a better email:

I've just published a guide to making beets. It is the only beet-making guide that has step-by-step pictures as well as a complete video tutorial. I know I'm biased, but no other beet guide is as useful for a beginner as mine is.

You need to be able to quickly explain why your content or offer is special. Why should this person help you or work with you over all the other people out there (some of whom have already contacted them)?

4. I don't know you

Take a link building technique like the skyscraper technique. It involves a lot of cold outreach.

The average conversion rate is about 5-10%. That means you'd have to send 1,000 emails to get 50-100 links (pretty good).

It's a great technique that has its time and place, and I recommend it often, but it can easily be improved by removing the cold outreach.

If I get an email from someone I don't know, it's unlikely I'm going to do them a favor right off the bat.

If there's any indication that they're just after a link, their email goes in the trash.

That's why you get about a 5-10% conversion rate even though you're targeting the right people with the technique.

But when I do know someone? Of course, I'll read the email, and if it's a friend or even just a casual acquaintance, I'll help them if they have a reasonable offer.

Get to know someone before you ask for something: This is the hardest part of being able to create great outreach emails-there are no templates for it.

However, learning to build relationships is also the easiest way to skyrocket your success.

In general, you can break down the process into the following steps:

1. Make contact - You have a mutual interest in your niche, so use it to have a brief conversation through email, social media, or comments, preferably about their content.


2. Provide value – Anything you can do to help them out goes a long way. If you have any special skills, e.g., design, offer to create custom pictures for their content or update some graphics in their sidebar. If you're a writer, offer to update and upgrade a few outdated posts. Be creative.


3. Then ask for something – At this point, you're probably at least 4 weeks into the relationship (yes, it takes time). If you follow the other points in this post, you should be able to write a good email to ask for a link or whatever you're after. You'll have a much higher success rate (double or triple at least) than if you did it with a cold email.

All of this takes planning and having a genuine passion for your niche. If you don't care enough to spend weeks getting to know people in your niche that you could work alongside for years, you're taking the wrong approach.

5. I hate it when there “aer” typos

This is going to be a short but necessary section.

There is no excuse for typos in a short email.

One might go unnoticed, but two or more will be easy to spot.

It shows a lack of attention to detail and effort. If you're asking me to work with you or link to your content, having typos is not a good thing. I'll assume that you produce content of the same poor quality and will delete the email.

Almost every email service has a spell checker these days: use it.

6. No one wants to be “templated”

I've hinted at it so far, but let me be crystal clear:

Email needs to be personal.

If your email starts with “Hi”or “Dear Sir,” it's likely going into the trash.

If there's nothing about it that shows you know me well, it's also likely going into the trash.

Bloggers are rightfully skeptical of emails with little personalization in them. They are often sent out to hundreds of other bloggers to try to get links or something else.

Yes, some bloggers don't care, but most do these days. If you ever want a great reply rate, don't dismiss this crucial aspect.

While templates are useful to help you work out the general message you're trying to capture, take the time to personalize every single email you send.

7. It's all about you

Think of emails as conversations.

In real life, would you rather talk with someone who never shuts up about themselves or who cares about your wants, needs, and thoughts?

For 99% of people, it's the second one.

When you write any outreach email, always write it from the perspective of what's in it for the person I'm emailing?

Always explain how what you're asking for benefits their business.

If you're asking for a link, don't do what everyone else does and say: “I think your audience will love it.”

It's not horrible, but be honest, that's not a real benefit for the person you're emailing.

Asking for a link is typically a one-way street, which is why I recommend giving value well before asking for one (in reason #4 of this post).

Conclusion

Email outreach is one of the most effective ways to grow your business. You can use it to get more links (for SEO), generate more sales, and form partnerships.

However, most people make several mistakes in their email outreach campaigns and rarely get positive replies.

You might never write the “perfect” outreach email, but never stop trying to improve them.

Create a checklist based on the 7 things I went over in this post, and use it to make sure you are not making any of the mistakes before you send out an email.

This is how you spot problems, fix them, and learn from them. Eventually, it will all become second nature.

I'd love to hear about how you've used email outreach in the past and what results you've achieved. Just leave me a comment below, and I'll see it for sure.

Action Content: Turn Fans into Customers [Plus a Free Bonus for You]

This article is part of our series on the 4 Essential Types of Content Every Marketing Strategy Needs. Make sure to get your special free bonus at the end of the article.

So far, we've covered Attraction, Authority, and Affinity content. Now it's time to turn your fans into customers with Action content.

And this is where all the work you've done as a content marketer starts translating into revenue for yourself, your clients, or your organization.

The good news is that Action content is probably the easiest type of content to understand. But the bad news is that it can also be some of the most difficult to produce.

We'll dig into the reasons why shortly, but since we are in the habit of defining each term before we get started, let's do that here for Action content:

Action content is content designed to get somebody to take an action.

How about that for easy?

The marriage of copywriting and content marketing

Content marketing is a new kid on the block in some ways, surging in popularity in the last five years.

In other ways, content marketing has been paired with advertising for quite some time. Take John Deere's 118-year-old magazine, The Furrow, as an example.

The Michelin Guide, first published in 1900, is another great example of classic content marketing.

However, what I'm talking about here is the marriage between copywriting and content marketing.

A marriage between copywriting and content marketing helps you attract attention, increase engagement, and then ultimately, persuade someone to take action.

Types of actions

When you create content, you should have an action in mind that you'd like the reader to take. Actions could include, but aren't limited to:

• Asking your readers to comment on a blog post


• Asking your readers to share an article or podcast


• Asking people to participate in a poll or survey


• Encouraging people to download a free video training course


• Persuading people to subscribe to your email newsletter


• Convincing people to follow you on social media


• Enticing people to hire you


• Getting people to buy your product

Naturally, you'll want to start off with small requests. Get people used to taking your advice and following your instructions.

You first want people to say, “Hey, I want to pay attention to this person (or this company, or this brand) because it's really relevant to my current challenge and the journey I'm on.”

You get people to warm up to you and trust you - step by step - until the sale, and then the repeat sale or the recurring sale.

Let's look at some successful pieces of Action content.

Examples of Action content

The most obvious piece of Action content you will create is promotional - sales copy that you publish and run for the duration of the offer. After the sale is over, we recommend you remove the post from your site.

Action content also includes landing pages, like this one on content marketing that encourages visitors to register for Copyblogger's content library.

In addition to those two cases, your best content will combine all four types of “A” content. Here's a stellar example: What's the Difference Between Content Marketing and Copywriting?

What makes it so great?

• It's useful. The headline suggests you are about to learn something important. The question-style headline also helps attract attention. People wonder whether or not they do indeed know the answer. They think, “This might be too important to miss.”


• It's authoritative. Sonia Simone's years of working in the copywriting and content marketing world turned what could have been a shallow answer into an extended clinic in effective writing.


• It takes a stand. The content exposes people to one of our core philosophies at Copyblogger: Really good content is unsurpassed at building rapport, delivering a sales message without feeling “salesy,” and getting potential customers to stick around.


• It's laced with action. You might not see it at first blush, but this piece of content motivates readers to check out the educational resources Copyblogger has to offer - from the My.Copyblogger free membership site to the paid offers like Authority and Content Marketing Certification.

The success of this content wasn't accidental. There was a plan: the content primes people for when we actually do make an offer.

How to write Action content

Writing something interesting to fill space and keep people reading won't cut it here.

You need to pair your content with a business goal.

That's not as complicated as it might seem, because all you have to do is ask yourself this simple question before you write each piece of content:

What is the action I want my audience to take?

Now, getting people to actually take that action requires some skill. Like I said above, this is the hardest type of content to master. It takes time to learn copywriting skills, and it also takes time to master them.

The following resources can help you:

• Copywriting 101: How to Craft Compelling Copy


• The Copyblogger Conversion Series


• How to Be a Copywriting Genius: The Brilliantly Sneaky Trick You Must Learn


• 9 Classic Must-Read Direct Response Copywriting Books


• The Ultimate Guide to No-Pain Copywriting (or, Every Copywriting Formula Ever)


• The Ultimate Copy Checklist: 51 Questions to Optimize Every Element of Your Online Copy [Free Poster]

Once you've worked through that list, the next best thing you can do is to practice. Write. Then write some more.

And on that note, let me close with a little encouragement.

Keep your chin up

When I first got into copywriting, I threw myself into it whole hog.

I devoured every book I could get my hands on. Tore through successful promotional pieces. Listened to a legion of cassette tapes on the art of direct response copywriting, human psychology, and negotiations - yeah, this was way before podcasts. Wrote a mountain of sales letters, emails, and text ads (and then watched mentors tear them apart).

This went on for years. I thought I knew my stuff. However, it wasn't until about Year Five when things clicked … when I turned the corner and all that head knowledge became heart knowledge.

The moral of this short story is that if I can learn how to write Action content, so can you. But it's going to take time. Don't expect too much of yourself too soon. Just start learning, publishing content, measuring results, adjusting, asking for feedback, and so on.

You can do it.

Get your free ebook: 4 Essential Types of Content Every Marketing Strategy Needs

Build a content strategy based on the four content types in this series! Get your free ebook, 4 Essential Types of Content Every Marketing Strategy Needs.

Click to get the free ebook

Over to you …

What's your favorite example of Action content?

Drop us a note in the comments section below to share your thoughts.

The post Action Content: Turn Fans into Customers [Plus a Free Bonus for You] appeared first on Copyblogger.

Yik Yak Settles With Ousted Cofounder

Yik Yak, the anonymous social app popular with the high-school and college set and said to be valued at $400 million, has settled a lawsuit filed about two years ago by its third cofounder Douglas Warstler, who claimed he had been robbed of one-third of the company.

Affinity Content: The Key to Growing Your Community

This article is part of our series on the 4 Essential Types of Content Every Marketing Strategy Needs.

Due to its potential to generate large amounts of traffic, but result in low conversion rates, bare-bones Attraction content is kind of like saying, “Let's throw some spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.”

It's the spaghetti that sticks around that matters. (No, I'm not suggesting your readers are spaghetti. That's where the analogy breaks down.)

But for those readers who do stick around, Affinity content is the content that keeps them sticking around. It gets them to like you. Even love you.

When you attract ideal visitors to your site, they hopefully click around and find Affinity articles that further endear them to you.

So, what is Affinity content? Here's a definition:

Affinity content is content that attracts people who have the same values and beliefs as you. This content shares your beliefs, so people with similar beliefs feel like they belong in your community.

Read on to discover the value of Affinity content and how it works with Attraction content and Authority content.

Why you need to create Affinity content

Attraction content gets you attention, and Authority content builds your reputation.

But what distinguishes you from your competition? Why would a prospect choose you over them?

Well, it comes down to basic human psychology - what we call the know, like, and trust factor. It's true that “liking” and “trusting” are subjective, but a lot of our decision-making is grounded in those fuzzy feelings.

In the end, we're going to go with the person who makes us feel better. We feel better when we feel as if we share a mutual bond or similar worldview.

A company that has attracted an audience with value-added content - but is buttoned-up and remote - will have trouble competing with a person who produces the same content and who you feel a bond with because they seem to understand the way you view the world.

It's about putting yourself in their shoes. Walking their paths - relating. That's how you increase affinity.

But you will actually have to state what you believe in. You will need conviction. About something.

Examples of Affinity content

If you want an example of how this works, study Facebook. Facebook is largely a splintered, contentious, belief-based communication medium. It's all about people's beliefs and how they define themselves and find places where they belong, according to their preferences.

For your Affinity content, these shared beliefs can run the gamut. It can be anything from strictly pragmatic to plain silly.

Here are two examples of Affinity content from Copyblogger:

1. Digital Sharecropping: The Most Dangerous Threat to Your Content Marketing Strategy. In this post, Sonia Simone advises against building audiences on social media sites you don't own. She then recommends the opposite: Build on your own property. That's been a Copyblogger belief since day one.


2. The Inigo Montoya Guide to 27 Commonly Misused Words. For many of us, it's posts like this one that endeared Brian Clark to us. Here was a guy sharing conventional writing advice by dropping a reference to a cult movie, The Princess Bride. By the way, Brian didn't discover those 27 misused words. He repackaged them with personality and drew in readers who shared a love for the movie.

The risk you take with Affinity content

Here's the deal:

The price of not standing for something is that you become generic and get ignored.

You have to occasionally speak out for things you believe in.

If you go after everyone, you get no one. And think about this: who really wants to follow someone who doesn't believe in anything?

I can't promise you that Affinity content won't make you some enemies. But for every enemy you make, you'll attract even more people who will go to war with you.

And keep in mind that Affinity content isn't always contentious. Sometimes it's just personal.

Affinity content gets personal

One of my favorite articles on Copyblogger is Brian Clark's The Snowboard, The Subdural Hematoma, and The Secret of Life.

This is not a tutorial like How to Use the 'Rule of Three' to Create Engaging Content. Instead, the snowboard article is a personal story with a moral: live the life you want to live.

It's a moment when Brian was being completely vulnerable. When you are vulnerable, people see who you are. And they realize you have weaknesses just like them.

That you are normal and approachable.

Another stellar example of Affinity content like Brian's snowboard article is Jon Morrow's How to Quit Your Job, Move to Paradise and Get Paid to Change the World. It's an inspirational story that endears you to Jon.

Get comfortable in your own skin

To start creating your own Affinity content, answer worldview questions like:

• Are things ever handed to us? Is luck a part of success? Or is hard work the difference between success and failure?


• Can anyone succeed? How important is formal education?


• Do you view the world as one of abundance and opportunity? Or do you see the world as one of scarcity and competition? Or both?


• Is life a game? A war? An adventure? A cocktail party? A chess match? Meaningless?


• What truly matters in life? Is taking action pointless? Should we have it all? Or is that selfish?


• What virtues mean the most to you? Independence? Intelligence? Compassion? Duty?


• Are you practical or romantic? Are you a lover of literature? A lover of pop culture? Perhaps both? Do you love ideas? Do you love people?


• How do you view death? Is it something to be feared or embraced? Why?

Answering those questions will take some time. But you may find that hitting publish once you have written an affinity-style article is even more difficult.

We worry what people will think about us after we publish. When our truth is out there.

Here's what you need to know: share as little or as much as you feel comfortable with.

If you look at Brian's body of work, you'll notice he doesn't get personal very often. However, he's very open about who he is, what he thinks, and what he likes.

In other words, he's comfortable in his own skin.

Be who you are in pixels as you are in person. Open up, laugh, and don't take yourself too seriously.

Quick case study: The Year of Falling Apart

I'll close with a brief story.

Long ago, when I was frequently publishing on my personal website, I became tired of writing about web content. Basically, I needed to blow off some steam because I had exhausted myself after producing a long run of articles about writing. Sharing a good personal story was exactly what I needed.

The problem was, it didn't fit within the category “web writing.” I was certain to lose readers. It was way beyond the blog's focus - but I published the personal story anyway and it ended up becoming one of the most popular articles on the site: The Year of Falling Apart.

By giving myself permission to publish Affinity content, I also gave birth to a passel of ideas on web writing. It was a win-win.

4 Essential Types of Content Every Marketing Strategy Needs

Don't forget to catch up on the other articles in this series:

• An Introduction to the 4 Essential Types of Content Every Marketing Strategy Needs


• Attraction Content: The Foundation of a Smart Content Marketing Strategy


• Authority Content: Build an Audience that Builds Your Business

Over to you …

So, content marketer, are you ready to get comfortable in your own skin? Are you ready to share your beliefs? To let people know who you are? Are you ready to create some really good Affinity content?

Let us know in the comments.

Also let us know your favorite piece of Affinity content. It could be here on Copyblogger or on another site. It could even be something you wrote.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

The post Affinity Content: The Key to Growing Your Community appeared first on Copyblogger.