Category: Rainmaker FM

Digital Business, Authenticity, and the Freedom of Being Yourself

It’s no secret that many of us struggle with who we are and that validation is at the very top of our priority list.
Social media and the Internet make it really easy to wear a mask, but that habit can be devastating.
Identifying the issue is a great place to start, but it requires a lot of ongoing work and maintenance. Thankfully, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel … and a way to get it right.
In this 18-­minute episode of No Sidebar, host Brian Gardner and Allison Vesterfelt discuss:

How I met Allison and her husband Darrell
Vulnerability, being unfiltered, and balance
The freedom of being you
The difficulty of starting a podcast
The idea behind our weekly newsletter, No Sidebar
The Skype call that paved the way for the future of the podcast

Click Here to Listen toNo Sidebar on iTunes
Click Here to Listen on Rainmaker.FM
About the authorRainmaker.FMRainmaker.FM is the premier digital marketing podcast network. Get on-demand business advice from experts, whenever and wherever you want it.

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How to Build Your Digital Business with the ‘MVP’ Process

Last week on The Mainframe, Tony Clark explained how he and Brian Clark built Copyblogger into an eight-figure business using the minimum viable product process.
In this episode, Chris Garrett and Tony explain how you can implement the MVP process in your own business for faster time to market, better customer experience, more effective launches, and profitable bootstrap funding.
In this 26-minute episode of The Mainframe, hosts Tony Clark and Chris Garrett discuss:

What you need to get started building your own MVP
Research and the “Co-Creation” process
How to decide what to build
What people really want to buy from you
How to get those first hard-to-get sales
What you need to do after you launch

Click Here to Listen toThe Mainframe on iTunes
Click Here to Listen on Rainmaker.FM
About the authorRainmaker.FMRainmaker.FM is the premier digital marketing podcast network. Get on-demand business advice from experts, whenever and wherever you want it.

The post How to Build Your Digital Business with the ‘MVP’ Process appeared first on Copyblogger.

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Website Blunders: How to Look Like a Pro (and Not Like a Fool)

We all know we have just a split second to make a great impression online. Users hover over their mouses, ready to click away from your site if they don’t like what they see.
There’s a lot riding on the quality of our websites. (No pressure!)
This week on Hit Publish, three Copyblogger experts share their best advice on designing websites that put the best face on your online business.
Tune in to Hit Publish to hear from host Pamela Wilson and her guests Rafal Tomal, Brian Gardner, and Tony Clark as they discuss:

The real reason “flat” design has taken hold, and how to recognize it when you see it
The website technology that’s the wave of the future, according to Brian Gardner of StudioPress
How to be inspired by other websites (and not follow their lead blindly)

Click Here to Listen to
Hit Publish on iTunes
Click Here to Listen on Rainmaker.FM
About the authorRainmaker.FMRainmaker.FM is the premier digital marketing podcast network. Get on-demand business advice from experts, whenever and wherever you want it.

The post Website Blunders: How to Look Like a Pro (and Not Like a Fool) appeared first on Copyblogger.

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Introducing Rainmaker.FM: The Digital Marketing Podcast Network

Yep, we’ve launched a digital marketing podcast network. Someone was bound to do it, but you may be surprised that it’s us. Truth is, this is something I’ve personally wanted to do for a long time … and the time is right.
Copyblogger came to prominence by teaching people how to write engaging content and copy, and that won’t change. But we’d be silly to ignore the surge in podcasting. In many ways, audio makes more sense for more people than text.
Audio is the perfect format for accessing the intelligence and advice you need to succeed. It goes with you wherever you are, and you can access it whenever you need it.
And you benefit from it at times when you can’t be staring at a screen. Whether driving, working out, or on in the background as you work, audio works harder for you than text or video.
Rainmaker.FM brings you the best tips, tactics, stories and strategies that provide acceleration for your business. Each day delivers eye-opening advice on some vital aspect of the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape.
The network is powered by many of the subject matter experts from inside our company (and a few good friends who know their stuff). We’ve launched with ten distinct shows, each covering different aspects of digital marketing.
Check out our first batch (in alphabetical order):

Confessions of a Pink-Haired Marketer

Sonia Simone delivers advice, encouragement, and the occasional rant from outside the drone of the marketing mainstream. Join her for a regular

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Why Copyblogger Media is Betting Big on Podcasting

Back in 2005, I came up with the idea for Copyblogger, a site that taught people how to create text content and copy to sell products and services. Right … everyone knows that.
But did you know a competing idea was to instead start a podcast? To say that would have been the wrong move (in several ways) is a monumental understatement.
For one, I had never recorded anything other than bad tape recordings and a few .wav files. And for another, it was way to early for the medium and the technology.
But even now in 2015, why is Copyblogger Media — a company that came to prominence in part by teaching people how to write — now embracing the podcasting phenomenon this strongly? Well, in many ways, audio makes more sense for more people than text. The Internet is just now catching up.
If you want to know why (and how) we’re betting big on podcasting, you’ll have to tune in. And if you like what you hear, you’re about to have a whole lot more to listen to when it comes to digital marketing advice and commentary.
In this 48-minute episode Robert Bruce and I discuss:

More on why I didn’t start a podcast in 2005
A short history of Copyblogger audio content
Why we’re betting big on audio, and you should too
The thinking behind our decision to build a podcast network
A brief overview of the current Rainmaker.FM lineup
What’s coming next (and soon) for Rainmaker.FM …

Click Here to

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Henry Rollins on the Art and Business of DIY Media

I vividly remember the first time I heard Black Flag. It was in a kid named Mike Goodman’s bedroom, and the record was called Damaged.
That’s how it was pre-Internet in suburban Houston. If it wasn’t on the radio or MTV, it was invisible — unless some cool kid turned you on to something new (who probably got it from the older sibling of some other cool kid).
And by “cool,” I mean a misfit who couldn’t abide in a Top 40 world.
My first impression was, “Wow, this guy is pissed off!” And sarcastic, sometimes funny, sometimes sad. I loved it.
At the time, I had no idea that the guy’s name was Henry Rollins, or that he wasn’t the first lead singer of Black Flag. So we can’t really say it’s his time fronting that band that makes him a personal hero to me … but it started there.
Black Flag recorded, financed, and distributed their own records, set up and promoted their own shows, and created their own merchandise. There was no one in the mainstream music world who wanted to help, so they did it themselves.
The band broke up in August of 1986, just before I started college. Henry carried on in true DIY fashion, using his own publishing and record company to release his first book, his spoken word recordings, and albums by the first iteration of the Rollins Band.
By 1994, Rollins is all over MTV, and he’s featured in the film The

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Three Misconceptions About Modern SEO That Confuse Content Marketers

What’s the reality of search engine optimization after the Google Hummingbird update? Can someone destroy your business with negative SEO? Did Google kill the concept of AuthorRank when it eliminated the Authorship initiative?
For these types of questions, there’s no better person to ask than Danny Sullivan, founder of Search Engine Land and Marketing Land, CMO of Third Door Media (producers of the popular SMX conferences), and a veteran search engine expert of 20 years. Today’s show is just a warmup to Danny’s presentation at Authority Rainmaker 2015, May 13-15 in Denver, Colorado.
In this 32-minute episode Danny and I discuss:

His search expertise expertise dating back to 1995
What the next generation CMO will focus on
The biggest misconception about Google and SEO
What’s (really) working with SEO right now
The ongoing power of the humble hyperlink
The true nature of good SEO practices
Is Google “AuthorRank” really dead?

Click Here to Get Rainmaker.FMEpisode No. 30 on iTunes
About the authorBrian ClarkBrian Clark is founder and CEO of Copyblogger, host of Rainmaker.FM, and evangelist for the Rainmaker Platform. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

The post Three Misconceptions About Modern SEO That Confuse Content Marketers appeared first on Copyblogger.

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How an Email Newsletter Publisher Built an Audience of 223,991 Subscribers

Brian and I have been talking about his new curation-based email newsletter lately, and I thought it’d be interesting to have a similar conversation with someone in a completely different topical market.
It’s about one person writing and curating a topic he knows and cares about, building a massive email audience over a period of four years, then turning all that work into a sustainable business.
And hang in there, even if you have no interest in (or understanding of) programming, Javascript, Ruby, or HTML5, you’ll be able to apply the lessons of this episode to your own business …
In this 39-minute episode Peter Cooper and I discuss:

How this programmer became a major content publisher
Why he switched from blogging to email newsletters
How he promoted his newsletters in the early days
What he learned from one of the world’s best Tetris players
Where the majority of Cooper Press’s revenue comes from
The only social network that really works (for him)
His approach to opt-in conversion optimization
His best two pieces of advice for starting a curated email newsletter

Click Here to Get Rainmaker.FMEpisode No. 29 on iTunes
About the authorRobert BruceBy day, Robert Bruce is building a new podcast network (more on that soon). In his off hours, he files unusually short stories to the Internet.

The post How an Email Newsletter Publisher Built an Audience of 223,991 Subscribers appeared first on Copyblogger.

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5 Traffic Strategies That Build Your Curation Audience

Note: This is the third of three core lessons related to content curation based on a case study of my new email newsletter Further. You can listen to the initial two episodes here:

Position Your Content Curation for Success
3 Ways to Grow Your Curated Email Newsletter Faster

Now we tackle the eternal question: how do you get traffic to your curation site so you can build an email list? Should we start building a war chest for advertising?
Not yet. First we’re going to apply some creativity and sweat into driving traffic. Some of these methods are tried and true, but need to be executed a certain way for a curation project. Others are seemingly a little “outside the box,” and yet they complement a curated email newsletter perfectly.
In this 22-minute episode Robert Bruce and I discuss:

What makes curated content shareable and linkable
The best audience building strategy on the planet
How to borrow (and delight) a massive audience
How to get others to share your curated content
Why infographics are pure media curation
How to take advantage of visual microcontent
The true value of iTunes for audience building
The podcast interview as valuable curation content
The viral catalyst the exploded Copyblogger in the early days

Click Here to Listen to Rainmaker.FM Episode No. 26
Or, grab it in iTunes.
About the authorBrian ClarkBrian Clark is founder and CEO of Copyblogger, host of Rainmaker.FM, and evangelist for the Rainmaker Platform. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

The post 5 Traffic Strategies That Build Your Curation Audience appeared

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Three Ways to Grow Your Curated Email Newsletter Faster

Note: This is the second of three core lessons related to content curation based on a case study of my new email newsletter Further. You can listen to the first episode here: Position Your Content Curation for Success With These 5 Essential Elements.
A key aspect of last week’s episode was identifying the purpose of any smart content curation project – audience building. Specifically, building an audience asset in the form of an email list.
This week we’re focusing exactly on that essential element. After smartly positioning your curation project, you want to do everything you can to optimize your initial sign-up conversion rate before you invest serious time and money in driving traffic.
In this 34-minute episode Robert Bruce and I reveal:

Why traffic alone isn’t enough to build an online business
My overall content architecture for Further.net
Whether the “How To” headline is losing effectiveness
The stupidly simple way to get your newsletter shared
The origin of the modern social share button
An unorthodox publishing approach that works
How Copyblogger achieved a 400% increase in email signups
How to create an unbelievably effective ethical “bribe” for subscribers

Click Here to Listen to Rainmaker.FM Episode No. 25
Or, grab it in iTunes.
About the authorBrian ClarkBrian Clark is founder and CEO of Copyblogger, host of Rainmaker.FM, and evangelist for the Rainmaker Platform. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

The post Three Ways to Grow Your Curated Email Newsletter Faster appeared first on Copyblogger.

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