There’s an awful lot of selling going on around the web these days. It seems like everyone pitches something. You’ll find pitches for books, for courses, for membership sites… Sales strategies and buy-now encouragements are splattered around the web. There’s no easy way to tell if people are helping you or selling you, either. Everyone seems to have a hidden agenda. Everyone seems to want to make money off you. Everyone wants something from you. You’re just another targeted potential customer. That’s sad, really. Who Can You Trust? “Trust is everything,” the experts say. You’ll
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Blog Archives
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How to Make an Old Blog Post New Again
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You know what I hate? I hate it when someone gives me advice that I don’t know how to follow. It reminds me of the time I was standing there staring at my smoking car engine while on the phone with a friend of mine who knows a little something about cars. He says, “Oh, no problem. All you need to do is change out the spark plugs. You can do that in five minutes.” Um, no. No, I cannot. He can do it in five minutes. I don’t even know what a spark plug
> Read MoreHow to Gain Clients Without Feeling Dirty
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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Too many freelancers are neglecting proper marketing to better their business. In fact, many freelancers are consciously opting not to market. They refuse, flat out, to use any strategy they consider manipulative. They see all marketing tactics as evil, snake oil, in-your-face car salesman strategies geared only to use people to make money. Wrong. Dead wrong. But try as I might to sway more people to learn about marketing to use the strategies in the way they feel comfortable, resistance is high. It’s easier to refute
> Read MoreThe Top Premium WordPress Themes on the Web
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Nothing beats the thrill of starting a new site on the web. You have fresh ideas, your thoughts are wide open, and you’re ready to fill a brand-new site up with all your vision. As exciting as this moment can be, the prospect of finding just the right WordPress theme to fit that vision presents a daunting task. There are thousands of themes available out there. Which one is best? Go ahead and browse the web. You’ll find endless free WordPress themes, so many that your brain gets tired and your eyes start to melt
> Read MoreHow to Devalue Your Blog and Burn Yourself Out
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There are days when words don’t come easy. Creativity is a bitch like that – you can be on the greatest roll in the world, with fantastic prose pouring out of your fingers, then… Thud. Nothing. Nada. The steam’s all gone. Blogging can be like that as well. Passion and excitement can only sustain you for so long before you need a break. That break might be a long time coming, though, when you’re blogging your little heart out to build credibility, an audience, and business. I’m not so sure that bloggers need to tap
> Read MoreWhat Should You Do With Lousy Old Blog Posts?
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We all have things in our past we’re ashamed of. I know there was one particular incident with a couple of day-old baguettes and a fox hunt that I’m extremely pleased to have gotten through with no photographic evidence. Some of our past mistakes can’t be dismissed so easily, though – especially when they’re right there in your blog archives. The other day, James bemoaned the fact that some of the Men with Pens’ first blog posts were scandalously mediocre. I believe his exact words were, “They sound like someone stuffed me in a suit
> Read MoreBeginner Web Design: The Tools You Need
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You’ve probably read plenty of web design advice or noticed some tips around the web, especially if you have any interest at all in customizing your own theme and creating your own graphics. You want to create a kick-ass design yourself, but when you’re a beginner, where should you start? We’re asked that question all the time. There’s plenty of advice around the web, but much of it can be confusing, and the help you do find is often written for an advanced audience. Every technique seems to require the knowledge of another one –
> Read MoreDo You Need Support to Take a Break?
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Today’s guest post comes to you from a good friend of mine, Alex Fayle. He’s been here before, and his posts struck a chord with many people. Now, he’s going to strike another chord. Enjoy. I’ve posted on runaway speeding trains and crashing your business or burning out your engine. I’ve also posted a starter plan to ease up on the train’s throttle so you can take a vacation. Some of you already had vacation plans in mind, and others said, “Va-…ca-shun. Sorry, I don’t know that word.” Honestly, I didn’t expect many people to
> Read MoreLet Biblio Help Build Your Business (And Library)
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For those of you who are writers and hang about this place looking for tips on writing, I say good for you. This is a smart move, for this is indeed what we do here. Excellent. However, this week I wanted to tell you where to find other cool people’s writing advice. Specifically, people who put down their advice in book form. Yes, I know we have ebooks and yes, they are thoroughly awesome. You can go buy one now if you’d like to see how awesome they are. However, my post is about book-books.
> Read MoreIs Elance a Winner or Loser?
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Today’s guest post comes to us from a guest poster. I advocate writers using job sites like Elance to find work. I’ve used the system effectively myself, and I’ve spoken to plenty of people who’ve done well with Elance also. This person gave Elance a whirl… and here’s what she had to say about her experience. In the fall of 2004, I was the marketing director for a mid-sized software company – and I was getting really tired of the corporate grind. That’s the year I began using Elance. I researched the site, figured out
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