Copyblogger Weekly Wrap: Week of March 21, 2011

My birthday was on Wednesday (I turned 17 and my dad says I can drive his car to the prom – SCORE!), and I got about fifty billion of those little Facebook notifications of people writing on my wall to say Happy Birthday. Got a ton of tweets saying the same. And now I think I get it. Mark Zuckerberg isn’t any kind of a genius who recognized the need for a comprehensive network of interpersonal connections.

Clearly he was just a guy whose birthday was perpetually forgotten.

Anyway, consider that as you read social media posts here on Copyblogger. Rather than asking whether what you’re doing will expand your reach, instead ask if it’ll get you more birthday salutations.

Here’s what happened this week on Copyblogger:

Monday:

How a Single Bullet Can Get a Customer to Buy

This post is about the power of outstanding, compelling bullet points in copy, and how just one great bullet point can make a sale, but I found myself instead thinking about silver bullets. A silver bullet wouldn’t get you to buy, but it would keep werewolves away. NOTE: I once went running under a full moon and actually had the thought that the pepper spray I carry for angry dogs wouldn’t stop werewolves.

Read the full post here.

Tuesday:

109 Ways to Make Your Business Irresistible to the Media

Posts like this one are always painful for me because I can’t stop thinking about the insane amount of work that goes into them. You want 109 ways to make your business irresistible to the media? Well, guess how many fully fleshed-out ways there are in this post to do just that? That’s right: thirty-seven. Or possibly more.

Read the full post here.

Wednesday:

The Simple 5-Step Formula for Effective Online Content

This is a really good post about how to create content that will help grow your business… the Copyblogger way. Some of it’s advice you’ve probably heard before but could stand to hear again, and some of it feels totally fresh. And sure, it’ll help you develop a good content marketing strategy, but the big question is: Why was there no mention of werewolves? Every other post this week besides Tuesday’s, Thursday’s, and Friday’s had a strong werewolf focus. Let’s keep on task here, people.

Read the full post here.

Thursday:

Write Better Copy with Set-ups, Open Loops, and Emotional Payoffs

This post about seducing your audience by first setting them up and then paying them off is pretty awesome once you realize that there’s no lust, sting operations, or bribery required. Want to deliver an emotional “big payoff” that will entice readers and keep them coming back? Well, you’ve got to do the steps beforehand that build tension and make the payoff possible. Also learned: Why I need to start wearing fake pearls more often.

Read the full post here.

Friday:

The Critical Online Marketing Question You Need to Answer … Now

I’ve heard the crux of this episode of the IMfSP podcast called “Shiny Object Syndrome,” and I really like that expression because it conjures up much funnier imagery than does any talk of “fad strategies” that distract you from doing the things that matter in your business. Imagine a guy looking around and saying, “Ooh, shiny!” every few seconds and then ask yourself if you want to be that guy. Because if you do, you’re definitely a party and I want to meet you.

Read the full post here.

This week’s cool links:

• How to Attract Clients and Fill Your Coaching Practice Using Blogging and Content Marketing: This is a really good post on building up coaching as a service, but what’s not mentioned here is that Chris Garrett admits to having “no skills” at playing Rock Band.
• 12 Insider Techniques to Increase White Paper Leads: This post nails what I think is the problem with most white paper marketing: there has never been a more boring phrase than “white paper.” So here’s how to make them more interesting and compelling.
• It’s arrogant NOT to promote your business: “Keeping it real” and believing that your stuff is so awesome that it doesn’t need promotion is pretty arrogant. Promotion and marketing are the way to go for anyone who wants to get noticed and not be all haughty and jerky.
• Silos, Facebook Advertising, and Opportunity: You should read this post because it contains the sentence, “Facebook is the Justin Bieber of social media, so hot you start to question when the other shoe is going to drop.”

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.