OK, this is one of those things I harp on all the time.
The reason for that is because it took me much longer than it should have to figure it out for myself. When I think about all those years I ignored it, it makes me mad.
What I’m talkin’ about here is eliminating the natural instinct to try and do everything for free.
Sure, it would be nice to get up in the morning, click a few things… push a few buttons and, BOOM! Instant traffic and sales.
But, it really doesn’t work that way.
And, IT NEVER WILL!
Take a look at this Ugly Morning Video I posted to my YouTube channel a while back and see what you think:
You can get free traffic and sales, and in the long run it could work out for you, but it’s going to cost you DEARLY to do it.
In fact, it’s going to cost you WAY more than if you simply busted out a few hundred bucks to get the same result.
Why?
Because… TIME.
Time is the one unrenewable resource.
You can always get more money, but you can never get more time.
I see this all the time…
“Hey, William, do you know the best way to get free traffic to my website?”
Yeah… spend a few minutes creating an ad that leads to an opt-in page connected to a cheap impulse offer that pays for that ad.
“But, I want FREE traffic… you’re telling me to spend money on advertising.”
*Headslap*
If the end result is zero dollars, it’s ZERO DOLLARS!
That means it’s free, you imbecile!
Look… you can spend 6-months SEOing your website and creating backlinks and posting articles and ignoring your kids and staying home and working instead of spending time with your friends and a whole lot of other crap…
OR… you can spend $15 on a facebook ad that gets some visitors to your site so you can start making some money right away.
“But, what if I spend fifteen bucks on an ad to get people to my website, but they don’t buy anything? I just wasted fifteen bucks!”
D’oh! I’m going to headslap YOU this time!
If you spent $15 to find out your website doesn’t convert, you should THROW A PARTY!
You just saved yourself 6-months of your LIFE!
What’s 6-months of your life worth?
It better be worth more than $15…
Let all that sink in for a minute, then click one of the share buttons at the bottom of this article to help those poor unenlightened souls out there desperate for your help.
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Promise me you won’t use this for evil… OK?
In their classic writing book, The Elements of Style, Strunk & White recommend you avoid using negative phrases whenever possible—especially, those containing the word, “Not.”
For example, instead of writing a negative phrase such as, “Simon is not honest,” you should change it into a positive one by rewriting it as, “Simon is dishonest.”
In other words, it’s better to tell what Simon “is” rather than what Simon “is not.”
The word, “Don’t,” is a contraction of the phrase, “Do not,” and should therefore be avoided as well.
HOWEVER…
In the world of online sales (or, even more diabolical forms of mind manipulation), using these “negatives” is a sneaky way of influencing someone to do what you want.
WARNING: Do NOT read past this line unless you want to uncover secrets far too shocking for the average human mind to withstand.
You’re still here, right? Even after the full-blown warning above.
In fact, you probably want to read this section EVEN MORE than if I hadn’t issued the warning at all.
So, what type of witchcraft is going on here?
Some will recognize this as a classic NLP sales trick. For example, if you want someone to buy your eBook, you could say:
If making millions overnight isn’t important to you, then DON’T BUY THIS EBOOK!
The phrase, “DON’T BUY THIS EBOOK!” is a special kind of phrase. It’s what a lot of NLP gurus, hypnotists and con-artists call a “negative command.”
The phrase actually inspires those who read it (or hear it) to take a positive action on the negative command; in this case, they would be more inclined to “buy” the eBook than they would be if you didn’t use the phrase at all.
There are several things at work here.
The first is that the human brain does not visualize a state of “don’t.”
Go ahead; try to visualize yourself in a state of “don’t.” You can’t do it!
You might visualize yourself in an empty room sitting in a chair doing nothing, but you’re still visualizing a “positive action” in which you are in a state of “doing” nothing.
You can visualize yourself “buying” an eBook, but you can’t visualize yourself “not buying” an eBook.
You could see in your mind a picture of yourself buying an eBook and then visualizing a big red circle with a line through it superimposed over that image, but you can’t visualize that without first visualizing yourself in a positive state of buying the eBook!
The second thing that happens with phrases like this is that human beings are naturally resistant to commands anyway. People don’t like to be told what to do.
So, if you say, “Buy my eBook,” the natural human impulse is to resist by saying, “No.”
That’s because saying, “No,” is the safest choice. It takes away the commitment and allows time to evaluate the consequences before considering a “Yes.”
Another thing to recognize is by agreeing with your command they are, in essence, giving you a degree of power over them. You are telling them what to do and they are obeying.
This produces a naturally uncomfortable psychological situation which also adds to the resistance.
But, what if you say, “DON’T buy my eBook”?
This starts to mess with their mind a little bit, doesn’t it?
Now, the only way to “not buy your eBook” is to agree with your command thus giving you a degree of power over them and by saying, “Yes,” which opposes the natural human impulse. Nasty!
For fun, let’s dissect the following headline:
Don’t buy this eBook Unless You Want to Get Rich!
First, let’s remove the words and phrases that carry zero visual impact.
Don’t Buy this eBook Unless You Want to Get Rich!
So, now… logically, what are the ONLY two visual conclusions the reader could possibly come up with from that headline which may-or-may-not influence their next course of action?
Buy this eBook. You. Get Rich!
Ahem…
Look, I’m not saying the use of dastardly NLP tactics like this will have a major impact on your sales, but I’m not NOT saying it either.
Just remember this: the next time you hand someone a delicate vase and say, “Now, don’t drop it!” you are in essence increasing your chances of cleaning up broken glass.
By the way, my latest product, Easy eBook Outline, is getting rave reviews, but don’t buy it unless you want to learn my easy, step-by-step method for cranking out dozens of high quality eBooks that sell like hotcakes.
Here’s the link: Easy eBook Outline: How to turn your scrambled thoughts into finished products
Muahahahah…
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In this article, I’m going to show you how I’m able to pump out tons of content every day while the average content creator is busy sipping coffee and rewriting a title 15-times.
Unfortunately, this is not going to be an instant transformation; but, if you follow the steps I’ve laid-out for you here, you should notice an enormous improvement over your current productivity in about three weeks.
Getting Ready to Create Content
If you’re one of those “hunt-and-peck” typists, I recommend you take the time to learn touch-typing before you proceed.
If you’re going to create your own content, and you’re serious enough to make it your profession, it only makes sense to hone the skill you’ll be using every day. The faster you type the faster you’ll create content.
Also, it helps if you find an isolated room or place where you won’t be interrupted while you’re creating your content. In order to train ourselves to become prolific content creators, there’s going to be some life-changing work involved. It’s too important for constant interruptions.
OK, if you’ve got those two things handled, you’re ready to begin your transformation into a blistering-fast content creator.
STEP ONE: Find out what you’re capable of doing in 10-minutes
OK, so open up your favorite word processing application and let’s rock.
Set a timer for 10-minutes. I personally use a physical timer I can wear around my neck because I use it for a lot more than just product creation. But, productivity—whether online or offline—is my “thing,” so, for me, a physical timer is essential.
For working online I suggest you set the countdown timer at http://www.online-stopwatch.com for 10-minutes. It will sound an alarm when 10-minutes are up.
Start the timer then immediately go back to your word processing app and start typing one long, non-stop paragraph by following these rules:
- Type whatever’s in your head without thinking.
- DO NOT stop to think about what you’re writing.
- DO NOT stop or backspace to correct any mistakes.
- DO NOT hit “enter” or otherwise start a new paragraph.
- If you don’t know what to write, type “blah, blah, blah…” until something comes up.
- Keep your fingers moving until the timer goes off.
The idea here is to find out how productive you’d be if you didn’t have to think about what you were writing. In other words, if it just flew out of your head as fast as you could type, how much content would you be able to produce?
You need to find this out for two reasons:
- You need to know the current limits your productivity.
- You need to measure your improvement over time.
Although it’s important to know these parameters, they’re not the main reason you’re doing this step. The main reason is to train yourself into the habit of prolific content production and to eliminate stumbling-blocks associated with writing.
When the timer goes off STOP WRITING IMEDIATELY… even if you’re in mid-sentence. Write down the number of words you finished with (your word processing app should tell you).
Do this five or six times in a row (should take about an hour) and write the word-count down each time. Your highest total is your current productivity limit.
Now, do this first-thing every morning until it becomes natural to type without thinking. Unhook your brain and stop judging yourself. Instead, amuse yourself with what your fingers produce. Let it happen.
Really work at it! You need to make this a habit by the end of the first week. It’s critical.
Once you get there, keep practicing.
Keep measuring your progress and notice your increase in typing speed and the ease in which you can produce words.
I did this every day for over a year and I still do it once-in-a-while if I feel my natural state of productivity has tapered off. It’s a great exercise.
DO NOT PROCEED UNTIL YOU CAN CONSISTIENTLY SIT DOWN AND TYPE NON-STOP FOR 10-SOLID MINUTES WITHOUT THINKING.
STEP TWO: Train yourself to work in Focused Time-Blocks
Now it’s time to add some focus. So far, you’ve been writing whatever comes out of your brain indiscriminately without stopping to fix mistakes or change anything.
The rules haven’t changed. You’re still going to keep your fingers moving and type whatever’s in your head without fixing any mistakes along the way… the only difference is now you’re going to consciously attempt to guide your writing along a specific topic.
If you start to veer off-track, just write something like, “Oops… got to get back to my topic…” and continue writing about your topic.
Try to choose a topic you know something about. If you start to run out of ideas while you’re typing, then write about what you don’t know—or what you’d like to know—about the subject, but stay on topic and keep your fingers moving.
An alternate idea is to spend 10-minutes “pre-researching” a subject. Pick a topic you think you’d like to write about if only you knew more about it, then spend 10-minutes writing about all the things you think you’ll need to learn before you could produce actual content.
Later on, you can use this technique to build usable content. Spend 10-minutes “pre-researching,” then go do some research based on what you just wrote, then come back and spend 10-minutes writing about what you now know about the subject. Keep alternating back-and-forth until you have enough material to create an actual piece of content.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!
This is incredibly important! Get to where you’re able to hold a specific topic for the entire 10-minutes and put out focused content.
You’re NOT trying to create a finished piece, you’re NOT trying to have proper paragraph breaks, and you’re NOT trying to produce anything useful; you’re just trying to hold a topic successfully for 10-minutes.
Making this step a spontaneous habit should be your goal for the second week (or sooner if possible).
Once you can do it consistently, you’re ready to begin working.
STEP THREE: Produce a perfectly crappy first draft
The next thing you’ll need to do is abandon the 10-minute time-limit and start working in content sessions.
I know… I just had you get comfy with the 10-minute sprint strategy, but that was only an exercise to help create the habit of working in a constant state of motion.
Believe me, it was not a waste of time; it’s the single most important trait you can adopt when it comes to content productivity.
And, if you actually practiced what I showed you, it worked… didn’t it?
Anyway, now that you know how to keep yourself in a constant state of motion it’s time to attempt some actual content.
The way you should do this is to start by allowing yourself to create a perfectly crappy first draft.
Now, if you’re reading this, I’m going to assume that you’re somewhat of a perfectionist and the idea of writing crap on purpose goes against your very nature. But, you’ve got to overcome this curse.
In order to do that I’ve come up with an ingenious idea: Instead of fighting with your perfectionism, use it to your advantage… focus on creating a perfectly crappy first draft.
Hey… it’s not just crappy, it’s perfectly crappy!
Learn to amuse yourself with its crappiness.
Go ahead and bust-out a quick outline if you want… that’s what I do for the more involved articles and blog posts (such as this one). However, if you do create an outline, make sure you do it fast. Use the same non-stop word-blast techniques you’ve already learned.
Personally, I think having a set outline procedure for your content is a major advantage, but if outlining isn’t your style or if you don’t really know how to do it THEN DON’T DO IT! You’re only going to add more confusion and slow yourself down. That’s the LAST thing we want.
Write your crappy first draft. Go ahead and spit it out. Amuse yourself.
Utilize some of the writing rules you learned earlier:
- Don’t think… just write.
- Keep your fingers moving.
- Don’t disrupt the flow by fixing mistakes or typos… FIX IT LATER!
You should also adopt these qualities as well:
- Don’t stop writing to look up details; instead, use brackets to leave yourself a note and look them up later:
Columbus sailed the ocean blue in [What year was it? 1492? I’m not sure… look it up].
- Don’t stop writing to think about what you should write. Again, use brackets:
So, in conclusion, I’d like to say… [add more stuff here]
The idea is to get through a first draft as quickly as possible. At least get the framework of what you’re trying to produce finished quickly. Do all the editing, spell-checking, rewriting, detailing and fact-checking later.
Usually, it’s the beginning stages that slow you down and take up all the time. Get through this crappy first draft and the rest will happen much easier.
STEP FOUR: Turn it into a “non-crappy” first draft
Now’s the time to go through the mess you’ve just created and salvage what works.
Add content, remove content, rearrange, add sub-heads, fix convoluted sentences and make sure the piece makes logical sense.
Also, you’ll want to check the bracketed notes and fill-in-the-blanks by looking things up and adding unfinished paragraphs. Still, keep your fingers moving and just work through it as fast as possible.
Add structure. Perform whatever reconstructive surgery you need to get it to a legitimate “first draft” stage. In other words, it should take the shape of a complete piece ready for editing and polishing.
Do all this without stopping to ponder or meditate! Keep speed of execution foremost in your mind. Remember, this is still just a first draft.
STEP FIVE: Finish it up and release into the wild
Here’s where the perfectionists in the crowd are going to blow the whole deal.
Look… you’ve gone this far so just do as I say and no one gets hurt, OK?
Edit your work. But, do it like this:
- Read your piece and fix any obvious typos, misspellings or nonsensical sentences.
- Read it again OUT LOUD. If you verbally stumble on anything there’s a good chance you should rewrite whatever sentence you stumbled upon.
- If you feel yourself sighing during the reading, mark that spot because it might mean that section either needs a little more excitement or should be eliminated altogether.
- Take one last look and rewrite anything you just can’t live with. Leave everything else alone.
- Publish the darn thing! It doesn’t have to be perfect; you’re not trying to win an award. Just move on to the next one.
Learn to let things go when they’re less than perfect. You will NEVER get it perfect. If you try, you’ll be rewriting forever. DON’T DO THAT.
At first, maybe you should give yourself a half-hour for editing (set your timer) and then squeeze it down to only 10-minutes after you get better at it.
Don’t give up! This stuff can be life changing!
The first few times you do this it’s going to be ugly, but as you do it more and more and become accustomed to these techniques, you’ll find a pattern emerging for attacking your writing projects.
Your “crappy” first drafts won’t be as crappy and you’ll find less and less need for reconstructive surgery. The more you produce the better and faster you’ll get.
If you follow the steps above and really work at it, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t become a content producing machine!
In fact, those were the exact steps I took to free myself from the familiar writer’s block/general stagnation that plagues so many writers. It changed my life.
Taking it to the next level
If everything I’ve shown you so far makes sense and you’d like to take it even further, why not expand upon what you’ve learned to create full-blown digital products you can sell online?
If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, I’ve created an advanced training to help you actually make money doing this!
You can get the full scoop here, but here’s a quick overview of what’s covered:
- A simple process for creating high-quality eBooks that sell so you can finally get paid for what you love to do.
- An ingenious new way to use Google to instantly find in-demand product ideas in any niche so you can create a product someone wants and is willing to pay for.
- My top-secret outlining templates so you can stop wondering what sections to include in your eBook and what to write in each of those sections.
- My 5-step speed-outlining procedure so you can blast through the outlining process faster than a jackrabbit.
- A bonus section on how to descramble your brain so you can stop being overwhelmed and start producing products.
The training itself is contained in a single 64-page eBook (along with two supporting text files) detailing every aspect of product creation with plenty of step-by-step examples and illustrations to guide you along the way.
Look… I know this training isn’t for everyone. Some of you will be happy enough with the content productivity techniques you learned in this article…
But, if you’ve ever wanted to make money with your writing, or just want to have a go-to system for finding ideas and turning them into high-quality eBooks, then you’d be silly not to get immediate access to this right now.
Either way, thanks for reading and I hope you found it useful.
Sincerely,
William McCamment
P.S. Just in case you’re one of those people (like me) who jump to the end before you read the page, here’s what’s in the above article:
- A five-step plan to increase content productivity
- A fast way to get ideas out of your head and into articles and blog posts
- An advanced training for creating digital products you can sell online. (If you want to skip the article and check out the training, you can do that here.)
*** If you found this article useful, please use the share buttons below.
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No one believes you can make money online.
You’ve been telling everyone how you’re going to do it, but over the weeks, months or even years, they’ve grown skeptical. Why? Because, even though you know the mechanics of online marketing and can probably match wits with the average successful marketer, you’ve yet to produce anything to prove your ideas are legitimate.
But, why haven’t you?
I believe I know the reason and that’s what we’re going to correct here today.
See, you have a great interest in making it as an online marketer, but what you don’t have is a commitment. What I want to do is get you to jump off the “interest” track and on to the “commitment” track.
Knowing how to do online marketing isn’t enough.
Trying to do your best isn’t enough.
And, even taking action isn’t enough.
You hear that last one all the time: “Take action, take action, take action…”
I’m sick of it! There’s more to it than that. If you polled the people spouting that two-word phrase all the time you’d probably find out 95% of them are just as broke as you are.
In fact, it’s a really great illustration for what I’m about to explain because the people giving that advice and never making money are precisely the people who don’t understand the difference between “interest” and “commitment.”
These people have a great interest in online marketing and, in a lot of cases, they’re very knowledgeable; they know that “taking action” is a key element to success. However, 99.9% of the time, they don’t understand commitment.
Here is the difference put perfectly by Kenneth Blanchard (author of The One-Minute Manager):
There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.
And, for all the “take action” gurus out there, I’d just like to say, it’s one thing to know something and quite another to make a commitment to it.
There are actually three levels here:
Level one — You let everyone know that taking action is important to success.
Level two — You say to yourself, “I’m going to take action,” and really mean it.
Level three — You don’t even think about the concept of “taking action”; instead, you make a commitment by actually performing the action and then looking at the results.
The act of writing an eBook may be “taking action,” but it’s not commitment, it’s interest. In order to bridge the gap to commitment, you have to finish the eBook and start making sales because that’s what a legitimate online marketer does.
Go legit. Make a commitment.
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This is the first in a series of articles covering the essential plugins for the WordPress platform. There are several WordPress plugins that I ALWAYS install on every interactive website I create no matter what the topic of interest, and this is one of them.
I’m starting with this one because it’s a no-brainer for anyone serious about creating popular content for their blog. If you use WordPress and want perfectly targeted content for your visitors (and, if you don’t, leave and never come back), then this plugin is a must.
It’s called, Search Meter.
Here’s why it’s so powerful: It TELLS YOU what your visitors want to see on your website!
If you’ve ever sat in front of your computer wondering what to write about then this will be the answer to your prayers. All it does is keep track of the keywords your visitors type into your search bar.
Now, you DO have a search feature on your website, don’t you? If not, you’d better get one if for no other reason than to use this plugin.
Knowing what your visitors want to see is a major advantage. As the legendary poker player Amarillo Slim used to say, “Guessers are losers, neighbor!”
If you’re trying to guess what people want to see on your website you are gong to lose. Search Meter gives you the answer.
Here’s a screenshot of the search results for this website (Note: this website is brand-new and hasn’t had a single visitor yet, so I just stuck in some keywords off the top of my head):
As you can see, it puts them in the order of most-frequently searched, or, in other words, the order of popularity.
Can you see how this would help you decide on your next blog topic?
But, it goes even further; just below that it reveals the most searched keywords that didn’t turn up any matches. In other words, the stuff people want to see that hasn’t been posted yet!:
These are the searches from visitors that didn’t find what they were looking for. So, maybe you should give it to them!
This is a really simple plugin that I always install because it’s just stupid not to. Go get it now!
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD SEARCH METER
Oh, and did I mention, it’s FREE!
The plugin survives on donations only, so if you use it, it might be cool to drop them a few bucks to keep it going.
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You’re in the kitchen and the roast is ready to be pulled from the oven. Everything is perfect; place settings, fine china, the house is warm and inviting. Soon, guests will arrive.
But, as you’re basking in the glory of your accomplishments and daydreaming about the forthcoming reactions, the first visitor arrives and, somehow, you didn’t include this particular visitor in your vision: a wet and muddy dog.
The dog tracks blobs of dark, unidentifiable goo all over your perfectly manicured floor. Then, with a smile as big as a broiler pan, shakes-off the mud and your beautiful dining room is instantly transformed into a Jackson Pollack painting (not one of the good ones).
There’s mud everywhere, even on the ceiling.
The doorbell rings.
You are instantly and understandably mortified, but the thing that burns you the most?
It’s not even your dog.
Somehow, a random neighborhood dog with inferior decorating skills wandered into your house uninvited. Maybe you left the door cracked to vent some of the heat from the oven.
But, where we need to focus as online marketers is with the dog:
- Dogs love stinky mud and this dog wanted to share it with you out of the kindness of his heart.
- The dog KNOWS you’ll love his stink every bit as much as he does.
- He saw the open door and seized his opportunity.
- He made a grand entrance… there was no way anyone could ignore him.
- Now that you’ve seen it, he knows you’ll want to hire him to come shake mud all over your dining room again and again.
I see the online marketing equivalent of this on forums and social media all the time. You launch your new product then immediately start posting as many free links to it as possible in as many places as possible.
If this is how you’re planning to promote your products, don’t be surprised if you get ignored, flamed or unfriended.
You may have the greatest product in the world, but if you’re randomly plastering it all over the internet, you’re acting like this wet dog.
Don’t be a wet dog.
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OK, so I guess I better define what this site is all about.
First of all, this site is more about YOU than it is about ME. What I mean by that is everything within its digital walls is here for your benefit. Sure, I’m selling my products and services, but my philosophy is this: I don’t get paid to create products or provide services, I get paid to help you get better results.
I’m also, free of charge, posting helpful articles, audios and videos to clarify and explain the essentials of online marketing for anyone who cares to learn about it.
While I’m defining things, how about I list some of the categories I intend to cover here:
Marketing Philosophy — This category will cover the basic science and psychology of effective marketing.
Productivity and Motivation — This category is all about “making things happen.”
Product Creation — Advice and techniques related to creating better products.
Online Marketing Tools — Anything that helps save time, money or sanity will be covered.
Getting Better Results — Cutting edge tips and techniques to take your business to the next level.
I think these will do. I considered taking out “Getting Better Results” and anything I intended to put in there would go into “Marketing Philosophy,” but I think there’s enough of a distinction between the two categories. For example, anything basic and proven over a period of time would go into the “Marketing Philosophy” section whereas anything ground-breaking or cutting edge would go into the “Getting Better Results” section.
Now, after defining these differences, I know a lot of you would tend to race to the “Getting Better Results” section, but in reality the more effective and financially rewarding advice would be found in the “Marketing Philosophy” section. Just sayin’.
Anyway, now that I have some category ideas to work with for my new website, I guess I’d better get busy.
Talk to ya’ later…
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Hello, and welcome to Digital Progress Report!
This is my first post on this brand-new site so there’s really nothing here yet. But, don’t worry, I have great plans for this spot on the web.
The main reason I created this website is so I can have a central hub for all my products and services. I also wanted a place to upload articles and other helpful content related to online marketing.
I could go on and on, but I’ve got a website to build and this is my first post (it’s supposed to be a throw-away post so why am I fiddling around here?)
Stay tuned!
William
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