Posts Categorized: Helpful links

A Holiday Break + 5 Of My Best Posts

Posted on in Blogging, Helpful links

It’s December! Which means it’s time for egg nog and ugly thematic sweaters and being simultaneously excited about the holidays and stressed out.

In an attempt to create some of that work/life balance I’m always banging on about, I’m taking a break from my small business blog for the month of December.

But I’ve rounded up five of my most helpful archived posts to keep you busy. I’ll still be tweeting about gummy vitamins that don’t taste enough like candy and posting photos of my strange travel destinations, so you can always follow along there.

And if you’d like the holiday gift of a teeny, tiny consult - sign up for my newsletter and send me your URL. I’ll give your site a once-over and send you three specific-to-you suggestions to make your online space leaner, cleaner, more lucrative + traffic-ful. 

Happy holidays, guys!

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8 links for bloggers + small businesses that are helpful like WHOA

Posted on in Helpful links, Small business advice

Advice-for-bloggers

There are so many smart, helpful people writing smart helpful things on the internet! I rounded up some particularly amazing things for you.

Wait, what? Did you know you can track which of your posts get pinned? And how frequently? And by whom?

Co-signed. Stop using Twitter as a Facebook feed. It looks laaaaazy.

Gosh, but I love transparency. Pinch of Yum is a super successful food blogger and each month she and her husband assemble (and publish!) a traffic and income report. Just reading this made me consider several new income streams! Because if she’s making $23,000+ a month it seems like she knows what she’s doing.

More transparency: the reality of many sponsored posts.

5 tips you’d never think of for personalizing stock photos in social media.

More things I didn’t know about! 12 blogger outreach programs you should sign up for - especially if you’re a fashion, design, or food blogger!

In case you need to be reminded how to run a smart, engaging social media campaign.

If you’re a copywriter (or a writer of any sort) you’ll enjoy these 12 writing exercises that will transform your copy.

Have you read/learned/encountered/written anything good lately? Leave links in the comments!

P.S. Work happiness secret: track your efforts, not your accomplishments and 5 ideas for interesting, I-actually-want-to-click-that tweets.

photo by aleksi tappura // cc

7 Crazy helpful links for bloggers + creatives + small business owners

Posted on in Blogging, Helpful links

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In which I round up incredibly helpful links for you! In the theme of self-employment, creativity, and small business!

I’ve hung up my copy-writing gloves (with the exception of this one client) but if you need guidance writing a sales page this 15-part blog series is SO INSANELY HELPFUL.

Is it just me or is Google Analytics ridiculously non-intuitive? Ugh. Never fear, Freelancers Union is sharing the basics with us.

I pour 90% of my social media effort into Twitter (are we friends?) so this super scientific breakdown of words to use (and avoid) is incredibly helpful.

You pre-schedule out your Tweets, right?  Are you using the Buffer app? And if you are, are you doing it correctly?

If work is wearing you down or you’re just having a tough time staying positive, here are five tips to staying happy even when you’re exhausted.

Did you know you can make your images more SEO-friendly?

Podcast recommendations for creatives and small business owners - I hadn’t heard of most of these!

And a few things you might have missed: Why you need to post consistently and How to blog if you don’t like writing

letterpress print by awkward ladies club

8 Insanely Helpful Links For Small Businesses (And 1 T-shirt)

Posted on in Helpful links

it-guy-t-shirtsuper helpful t-shirt for sale here

It’s been so long since I’ve had colleagues, I forgot to miss them! But they can help you workshop ideas, convince you to send (or not send) that email, and jumpstart your creativity. I really liked this post : 6 tips for staying creative without colleagues.

I’m late to jump on the Instagram bandwagon (let’s be friends!) so I gobbled up Justina’s 6 easy ways to grow your Instagram following fast.

A bunch of advice I need to follow: How to optimize a landing page.

This post is full of that totally-obvious-advice-you-haven’t-thought-of: 3 ways to make more money on your next sale.
Offer discounts on your passive products to your 1-on-1 clients.
You’ve already got clients who love working with you, so why not give them some extra perks? They’ll be getting an awesome deal and you’ll be making an extra sale. Set up a special VIP Client Club that has special discounts for each of your passive products. Make it even more customized by offering them discounts on the specific products you feel they could benefit from. You could include the suggested product and special discount codes in your wrap-up report you provide each of your clients.

Yes! In a perfect world (re: about 50% of the time) I do all my writing before noon and spend the afternoon on email/formatting/being outside doing things not related to work. Scheduling time to work is so important!
Include time spent working on your business, and not just in your business. Schedule time for blog innovation and experimentation—things like investigating new platforms and emerging technology.

Two of my favorite things: travel and self-employment! Traveling like an entrepreneur.

Always needed: How to fire through your to-do list (and have fun doing it).

You already know about If This, Then That, right? I’m still figuring out how to use it, but once I’ve got it sussed? Watch out, internet.

What awesome things did you write/read/discover this month? Leave your favorite links in the comments!

10 awesome links (and 1 video) for smarty-pants small business owners

Posted on in Helpful links

Good advice from Steve Jobs: get rid of the crappy stuff.

I just abandoned the Facebook page for Yes and Yes. Are we the ones who are actually ruining social media sites?
A long-time problem of social networks has been that the bad feelings they can generate are greatly disproportional to good ones. In strict terms of self-motivation, posting something and getting a good reception feels good. But most of Facebook use is watching other people post about their own accomplishments and good times. For a social network of 300 friends with an even distribution of auspicious life events, you are seeing 300 times as many good things happen to others as happen to you (of course, everyone has the same amount of good luck, but in bulk for the consumer, it doesn’t feel that way). If you were happy before looking at Facebook, or even after posting your own good news, you’re not now.

Well, this is insanely helpful! 50 ideas for things to put on social media.

If you’re writing an ebook, the title is (obviously) incredibly important. Here are three ingredients in a best-selling book title.

I’m obsessed with this WordPress theme.  Gorgeous!

I conduct all my True Story interviews over email, but I still found these interview tips to be super helpful.

Want to write a bestselling book? (Who doesn’t?) This post is full of a million tips and resources.

Would you like to email someone who’s incredibly busy? Here’s how to get their attention.
Nothing drives people crazier than an email where someone sends over a lot of information but doesn’t say what they’d like you to do. I often respond to those immediately by asking: What do you want me to do?
Do you want me introduce you to someone? Do you want me read your blog post and give you feedback? Do you want me to respond with whether I’ll be able to attend an event? Be clear and say it explicitly up front.

If you’re creating images and updates unique to each social media platform (which you should be) here’s a great sizing guide for every platform, ever.

Yes!  10 ways to share your creativity and get discovered.

Annnnnd a blog post that’s a note-to-self for me: how to switch off when you work at home.

What good things have you read recently? Leave links in the comments! 

7 Posts That Will Make Your Business Better + Your Blog Bigger

Posted on in Helpful links

Wait! Before you get to those awesome links!  

Last year my friend Rachel finished her degree, continued to be the only person I know who can pull off her hair color, and had a freak accident in a mosh pit that left her with thousands and thousands of dollars in medical bills. I wanted to do my part to help out so over on Facebook, I’m running a little silent auction for four hours of my time - even copywriting! Which I don’t offer anymore!  If you’ve interested, pop over and leave a comment on the picture with your bid; auction ends February 28th at 6 pm CST.

Anyway. Here are some of the best, brightest things I’ve found online recently!

This is insaaaaanely helpful, no matter what time of year you read it. Finding inspiration and motivation to blog better this year.
New Stimuli - one of the best ways to get your creativity levels up is to expose yourself to new stuff. Buy a book, watch a movie, meet someone new, go for a walk, spend time with your family, listen to some music – get out of your normal daily rhythm and expose yourself to some new sights, sounds, tastes, touches and smells. Remember that what you put into your life has a direct baring on what comes out.

Related: if you’re feeling uninspired, think about why you follow your favorite bloggers.

This is a long read that’ll inspire you to take a lot of action when you’re finished: how to optimize your hottest posts.

Reminder: it’s totally possible to work on projects you’re excited about.  AND ACTUALLY MAKE MONEY WHILE DOING SO.  And you don’t have to get an accounting degree if you don’t want to. When everyone is making the same bet, there’s more competition. And when there’s more competition, there’s fewer winners. Those winners range from soul-sucking middle-management at T-Mobile to soul sucking stockbroker at Goldman Sachs.The money’s different, but the sad man in the uniform is the same.

Yes!  I struggle with this soooo much: when to do something important (but not urgent.)

If you have a physical product that you regularly pitch to magazine editors, you probably need this.

Almost every women I know (myself veeeeery much included) would benefit from watching this: five tips to start negotiating like a badass.

What posts have you loved as of late?  Leave ’em in the comments!

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