blogging confidence

Copywriters and Journalists Need Not Apply

Flickr photo by Tony the Misfit

If copywriters are word experts who persuade people, and journalists report news, what purpose do bloggers serve? The answer is community. Bloggers are writers (among others) who serve the needs and desires of their community. If you understand this simple and important idea, then keep writing. Stop worrying about the need to write “copy” or press releases. Leave that to copywriters and journalists. Besides–they’ve been around long enough to know how to thrive. [Read more...]

Focus on Being You

I was recently perusing one of those free downloadable viral reports and discovered a very interesting line of copy. It was a simple yet profound statement that summed up everything about the web content niche I don’t believe in:

Today we are going to show you how to appear like an inspirational, creative, buzz generating genius, with almost zero effort.

Hmmm…why would anyone want to merely appear genuinely inspirational and creative? Why not just be genuinely inspirational and creative? Well, to answer that question look at the end of the sentence: with almost zero effort. Standing out from a crowd takes effort, no matter who or where you are. Bloggers need to be brilliant, innovative and patient to realize a payoff. However, it’s very common to see the most eager and ambitious bloggers quickly get derailed by the artificial promise of the quick and easy payoff. [Read more...]