by
There’s no delicate way to put this. If you’re a regular Copyblogger reader, you’re just . . . well . . . smarter than most people looking to market online.
You’re not interested in lame “get rich quick” schemes. You’re not trying to build a business with no work, no time, and no sense. You’re not chasing after that magical silver bullet that will solve all your problems.
Mainly, you’d just like some solid, smart advice on online business that actually works.
In other words, you don’t have to be an Einstein to “get” this stuff. But you’d have to be an idiot to believe some of the stuff peddled by traditional Internet marketing “gurus” (many of whom have never done what they’re “teaching” before).
Copyblogger has been delivering solid, smart advice for nearly four years now, and starting this week, we’d like to take it up a notch.
Oh, and one more thing: we’ll be doing that for free.
Introducing Internet Marketing for Smart People
Brian and I have been kicking around the idea of a focused email newsletter for months, but we wanted to make sure we put something together that reflected the high standards we always try to set for the site.
We wanted to create a systematic, simple way that you could get a good grasp of the power of effective online marketing.
We wanted you to have an easy-to-navigate tutorial on the “Copyblogger method” of creating and marketing a profitable online business.
And we wanted a way to make sure that you got a chance to see all of the “best of the best” that’s appeared on Copyblogger over the years.
The four pillars of online marketing success
Thinking through what this would look like, we found four themes that kept coming up.
So we created an introduction to the newsletter that works through these four themes, systematically introducing you to the most important concepts we think every online marketer must know about. It’s like a course in Internet marketing that prepares you for the more in-depth newsletter content that follows (still all free).
These are the cornerstones of how to build a business with the Copyblogger model, using everything we’ve learned over the years.
Ready?
Pillar 1: Relationships
Creating strong relationships with an audience is critical to everything we do here. Rather than constantly hunting down new customers, we’d much rather create a valued environment that benefits our existing readers and customers and keeps pulling them back. We don’t advertise in the traditional sense; instead, our readers do a great job of “spreading the word” for us.
It’s about having consummate respect, always, for your audience and your market.
It’s about focusing almost obsessively on their needs, over and above your own (and getting what you want, almost magically, in the process).
It’s about making a commitment to creating a quality experience for your readers and subscribers.
Pillar 2: Direct response copywriting
We certainly stay abreast of the latest social media trends (and sometimes create them), but underlying everything we do here is solid copywriting techniques.
Starting with a killer headline and moving strategically through the copy to a stirring call to action, traditional copywriting technique works amazingly well in social media.
“Old-fashioned” copywriting advice can make all the difference between a business or blog that limps along and one that truly thrives.
We’ll show you precisely what we mean in the initial issues of the newsletter.
Pillar 3: Content marketing
What’s the backbone of the Copyblogger formula?
Deliver great content. Deliver more great content. Deliver still more great content.
Keep doing that in a strategic and focused way.
Every once in awhile, make a great offer that benefits the reader and involves the exchange of cash money.
Of course, we’ll give you some more specifics on how to do that once you’re on board.
Pillar 4: Have something worth selling
Everyone is selling something. It might be a service, a product, a download, or simply an idea.
Whatever you’re selling, it’s got to be worth the price. (And never forget that reader attention is a valuable commodity that’s in strictly limited supply.)
Whether you’re asking for dollars, euros, yen, or valuable time and attention, you’ve got to deliver something that towers above your asking price.
Bringing it all together
Each of these four pillars enhances the others. Together, they’re much stronger than they would be if any of the pillars were missing.
Internet Marketing for Smart People is a free course and continual newsletter that’s delivered via email. Each week you’ll get a new lesson on one of the four pillars.
You’ll get lots of pointers to archived Copyblogger content, but with a new frame that will help you “connect the dots” and start putting this advice to work in your own business, web site, or blog. It’s much like the approach Brian took with Authority Rules, but ongoing and ever-evolving as the Internet marketing space does (which is fast).
To make it work even better, we’ll also be including “behind the scenes” lessons that show you how we put our own marketing systems and launches together, and the role each piece plays.
